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Ohio high school basketball: What to know about OHSAA tournament's return to Taft Coliseum
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- Ohio high school basketball: What to know about OHSAA tournament's return to Taft Coliseum
The high school basketball postseason draws ever closer, with the girls district tournament brackets to be determined Sunday and the boys following seven days later.
The Central District tournament will have a familiar look, at least to veteran fans, as games will return to Taft Coliseum – better known as the Fairgrounds Coliseum and affectionally known as "The Barn" – for the first time in a decade.
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At least 36 games will be played in the 107-year-old facility, with the possibility of a few more. The move was made official Nov. 25 .
Here are some things to know about the move:
The Ohio Expo Center Coliseum is prepared for the first round of boys basketball district tournament games in 2008. The Coliseum would continue as primary host for Central District games until 2014, after which Ohio Dominican became the main site for those games.
What is Taft Coliseum?
Taft Coliseum, formerly known as the Fairgrounds Coliseum and Ohio Expo Center Coliseum, is a multipurpose arena situated within the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds on Columbus' North Side. It has 5,003 permanent seats and has hosted basketball tournaments, minor league hockey, consumer and horse shows, circuses and more.
Opened in 1918, the Coliseum hosted high school basketball throughout the next 97 years , including the state tournament from 1923-57, and even was home to the Ohio State men's team from 1920-56.
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The facility was renamed for former Gov. Bob Taft in 2010.
Why were games moved in the first place?
A combination of increased rental fees and smaller crowds pushed the Central District to hold earlier-round tournament games at home sites, and by 2014 only district finals were at the Coliseum.
The next year, the district finals were pushed out by the annual Arnold Sports Festival , a bodybuilding event that has been held in Columbus since 1989. Ohio Dominican hosted the district finals that year, although Division I regional games returned to the Coliseum one last time.
Why are tournament games returning now?
While Ohio Dominican has hosted district and regional games in all four divisions at one point or another over the past decade, it has been unable to escape complaints about limited seating and parking.
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Alumni Hall's seating capacity is 2,000, and there is only one route in and out of the parking lot from Sunbury Road. This often caused long backups, and consequently fans could arrive at their games as late as the second quarter.
With basketball growing from four to seven divisions under the Ohio High School Athletic Association's tournament expansion , more facilities were needed, and talks that had been taking place since as early as 2021 gained intensity over the past year before the move was made official the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Why is the Coliseum an ideal tournament host?
For starters, vastly more seats, more concession stands and options and better parking than Ohio Dominican – not to mention almost any central Ohio high school.
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The history and prestige of the venue are bonuses.
Teams, officials and media also have more room given the size of the floor, which is large enough to accommodate a hockey rink and is farther from fans.
Which OHSAA postseason games will be at the Coliseum?
According to the Central District brackets and boys and girls regional draws published on the OHSAA's website, 36 games are confirmed for the Coliseum. OHSAA executive director Doug Ute said in November that the Coliseum will host 38 games, so it would stand to reason that the facility could host at least two boys or girls state semifinals.
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Semifinal sites will depend on matchups. The OHSAA prefers to pick as geographically neutral a site as possible by that stage of the postseason.
For now, the Coliseum is confirmed to host 13 boys and 11 girls district games in divisions I, II and III between Feb. 19 and March 2. In regional play, the Coliseum will host the Region 2, 7 and 11 boys tournaments in those same divisions and the Division I, Region 2 girls semifinals and final.
Pickerington Central's Rodney Culver (top) and Upper Arlington's Kevin Vannatta chase a loose ball during a Division I regional semifinal at Taft Coliseum in March 2014.
What about the remaining central Ohio teams?
Other divisions, and some other teams in the large-school divisions, will be farmed out to other sites.
On the boys side, two Division I district champions go to Wittenberg for the regional. The remaining Division II team heads to Wooster, Division IV regionals are at Bowling Green and Ohio University, Division V is at Mansfield Senior, OU will host a Division VI regional and Division VII teams will be split between Ohio Dominican and Vandalia Butler.
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In girls, the other area district champion in Division I travels to Fairborn. The Division II regional is at Pickerington North, Division III champions go to Bluffton and Zanesville – the latter of which also hosts Division IV – Division V goes north to Morral Ridgedale, Division VI is split between Pickerington North and Springfield and Division VII champions go to Butler and Logan.
What about Ohio State?
Unlike other colleges around the state that host district and regional basketball, including Bowling Green, Cleveland State, OU, Toledo and Xavier, OSU is unable to guarantee availability for Value City Arena because of either Buckeye events or the state wrestling tournament , which usually coincides with the weekend of boys district and girls regional games.
The OHSAA moved the state basketball tournament from OSU to University of Dayton Arena before the 2021 season, and boys and girls basketball finals will remain there through at least 2026.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OHSAA basketball tournament returns to State Fairgrounds: What to know
