A state basketball tournament on the move

(Third of three parts)
     Consider the 60-year history of the Louisiana boys state basketball tournament and this question arises:
     Why, oh, why, did it ever leave Lafayette?
     The fifth home of the tournament -- which went from being known as the Top Twenty to the Top 24 and then to the Top 28 -- was in Lafayette, home of what was the University of Southwestern Louisiana (we've heard it called other names).
     In the university's Cajundome, from 1997 to 2011 (so 15 years), the Top 28 had unprecented success in attendance and revenue.
     The tournament had grown steadily, with an occasional decline, from its start in Shreveport (Hirsch Youth Center) in 1961-66 through several moves -- to Alexandria's Rapides Coliseum (1967-76), the Lake Charles Civic Center(1977-78), Alexandria again (1979-82) and to a very successful 14 years (1983-96) in Baton Rouge (at LSU's Assembly Center).
     There was one glorious day in Alexandria in 1970 -- a full house in the afternoon, a packed-to-the-rafters, immovable crowd at night -- that showed how much of a draw the state tournament championship games could be. 
     That 1970 tournament (total attendance: 49,385) was by far the best of the event's first 30 years. 
     The final year in Alexandria (1982) was a blip in what had been the format from the start. That year, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association powers-to-be decided to try something different: a combined boys/girls "Tournament of Champions," 12 championship games in three days.
     It wasn't the event's worst move (just wait another 20 years), but perhaps it prompted this long-anticipated happening: The move to Baton Rouge, to the Assembly Center (and its 14,327 seats).
     There, attendance for nine years was no greater than it had been in the previous homes. But boosted by success of Baton Rouge-area teams, its last five years brought some of the biggest crowds in tournament history ... to that point.
     Still, Lafayette loomed. Its organizing committee presented the LHSAA with a financial package that Baton Rouge could not match, and hardly tried.
     Fifteen years later, how good was that move?
     In the Cajundome, at SLI/USL/ULL/UL, the first-year attendance (43,973) was the fifth-best in tournament history; the second year (48,418) was the third-best.
     It got better, peaked by 1999 (69,269), 2007 (67,559) and 2004 (63,428). In 2002-03, the total attendances were 56,430 and 52,305. Only one year in Lafayette, the draw was under 40,000.
     Crowds of 13,000-plus to 16,000-plus were routine for the Saturday night finals. (It was almost like being in Indiana.)
     Everyone agreed that Lafayette's bluecoated organizers topped all previous efforts.
     At the same time, the girls tournament had moved to Hammond (Southeastern Louisiana University Center) in 2001 and established a solid base. 
     This is certain: The state tournaments have never been the same since. 
      Sure, the excitement is still there for the (boys and girls) teams that make the tournaments. But attendances and interests no longer match anything like the Lafayette/Hammond days.
     Why leave Lafayette? Well, maybe it was Shreveport's fault.
---
     The same city that took the (financial) baby steps, in 1959-60-61, to bring the state tournament into existence, in 2011 brought the LHSAA a lucrative proposal for the new Century Tel Center in Bossier City. 
     The LHSAA liked the terms and, at the same time, its brainpower -- and I use that term facetiously -- decided to change the state-playoff format, and have playoff games through the semifinals be contested on three or four regional neutral courts, then bring all the championship games (boys and girls) to one site. 
     The LHSAA voted in the new format, but Shreveport's bid -- accepted for 2012 and 2013 -- fell through. It could not meet the financial promises made.
     Hastily, the LHSAA had to play the boys/girls finals in Ruston (at Louisiana Tech's Assembly Center) in 2012 and in Monroe (at Louisiana-Monroe's Fant-Ewing Coliseum) in 2013. 
     Nice, but temporary. And it was obvious to most that the boys and girls tournaments needed their separate time and space.  
      It was on to Lake Charles and Burton Coliseum (domed roof, rodeo-arena base, home of McNeese State University basketball, seating for up to 8,500) ... and there it has been since 2015.           
---
     Which brings us to now. Seems to me that the state championships these days are a diluted version.
     Not having lived in Louisiana since 1988, only following from a distance (and not from a point of knowledge), please correct us if we are being too cynical, or if we are wrong. 
     Our reasoning: (1) These days, competition isn't as difficult; there are not nearly as many schools, especially in the lower classifications, many having folded through consolidation with bigger -- or parish -- schools; (2) there are too many classes, too many state championship decided because of (3) the select/non-select split of schools in Louisiana, a split that has so weakened athletics in the state (my opinion).
    It is a feud, the public schools not wanting to compete for championships against the private and magnet schools because of jealousy/resentment of how the privates/magnets draw their students. 
     (The magic word here: recruiting. It's all in how you interpret what goes on. The LHSAA always has had a tough time policing this area).
      So, 12 state champions (seven non-select, five select). Too many.  
      And now, in a throwback to the pre-1960 days, the non-select playoffs again are being played on one school's home court, based on pre-playoffs seedings. No state tournament for them.
     But put 12 classes (semifinals and finals) together in one place for one week -- so, 36 games total -- that's enough basketball to make a spectator, or sportswriter, spin. That's impossible.  
       We have been told that the LHSAA no longer even publishes attendance figures for the state basketball tournaments. We know it's not anywhere near Lafayette level.
      Still, there was a strong North Louisiana representation in the Lake Charles boys tournament, including two of our favorites and perennial basketball powers -- Bossier and Woodlawn.
     Bossier, which won the last top-class boys title prior to the state-tournament era (1960, Class AAA), added two last-decade titles (2011, 2016), has been the runner-up six times (1968, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2019) and has -- best we can tell -- made nine Top 28 appearances in the last 12 years. 
     The Bearkats reached the state-championship game again and might -- depending on what the LHSAA decides -- face Wossman (Monroe) on Saturday afternoon in the 3A final. 
     Woodlawn, my old school, has three boys state basketball titles (1969, 1972, 1980), has been the runner-up three times (1971, 1979, 2018) and made its third Top 28 in four years. The Knights lost to Peabody (Alexandria) in the 4A semifinals.
      Maybe it's not what it used to be, but it's still the state tournament and, for those kids, that's exciting. It's not 1961 anymore, and we just can't turn back the times, can we?