There will be a lot of activity around Greenwood High School next week when H.B. Stewart Arena will be the home of the 6A state basketball tournament. Hopefully, some of that activity will result in an economic boom for the local business community as well, with hundreds of visitors coming to Greenwood from all over the state.
While those guests will likely find lodging in Fort Smith, they will certainly be spending money for gas, food, and other items while in Greenwood. Besides both GHS squads, 30 additional girls and boys teams will make the trip to South Sebastian County. Tournament play begins on Tuesday, February 26th and concludes with the semi-finals on Saturday, March 2nd.
Although the regular season won’t conclude until this Friday night at Conway, both Greenwood teams are fairly certain of where they will land on the tournament bracket and who they will play in the first round. “I did glance at it the other day,” said Lady Bulldogs’ head coach Clay Reeves last week. “I don’t think there’s any way we can move up to the third seed even if we win all three of our [remaining] games. That stuff is not that big of a deal. We know what type teams we are going to play, whether we’re a two seed, a four seed, or whatever. [It] doesn’t really bother us,” said Reeves.
The 6A power rankings are contrived and convoluted, but the Lady Bulldogs are virtually assured of the fourth seed in the eight-team 6A East, and will probably face Siloam Springs in the first round on Thursday, February 28th, at 1 p.m.
Like Greenwood, the Lady Panthers are in their first season of 6A competition and will likely be seeded fifth in the 6A South. There will be 16 girls’ teams fighting for a chance to win the state title in Little Rock’s Barton Coliseum the following weekend.
As for head coach Brian Martin and his Bulldogs, they appeared headed to the tournament as the fifth seed from the 6A East, and will likely meet El Dorado in a first round game on Wednesday, February 27th, at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats will probably capture the fourth seed from the 6A South. Martin and his Bulldogs hope to win three straight on their home floor to earn the right to play in the state finals in Little Rock.
This is the fifth time Greenwood High School has hosted the state basketball tournament since the opening of H.B. Stewart Arena for the 1996-97 school year. Greenwood Assistant Superintendent and Athletic Director Jerry Cecil has led the effort to organize this year’s event, and hopes it will help the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs advance in the state tournament and stimulate the local economy.
“This will be the fifth time we’ve hosted the state tournament, but the first time in 6A,” said Cecil last Tuesday night while attending the Greenwood-Russellville games at the arena. Asked what the tournament means to the town and the school, the GHS Athletic Director said, “One of the main reasons you want to host the tournament is to help your teams advance, and we hope it will help our teams playing here on their home floor. We [also] hope it will help the community. There will be people from 32 teams here in town, and hopefully they’ll shop here a little bit, eat here, and buy some gas, and help the Greenwood economy.”
Asked if the tournament was fully staffed with enough volunteer workers, Cecil said, “We could probably use a couple more people. We’ve got most people in place, [but] we may still need a couple of hosts for teams. So if anybody would like to help out, they can call me at the office at 996-4142, and we’ll be glad to hook them up.”
The job of a host is to contact the school and/or coach of their assigned team and make arrangements to assist them when they arrive in Greenwood for their games. Hosts usually provide a newspaper on the day of arrival, and may escort the team to the school and the arena, provide directions and information about local stores or restaurants, and generally make their designated team feel welcome. Some hosts also bake cookies or provide snacks for the players, but that’s optional, said Cecil.