All ‘A’ Classic tournaments called off despite teams’ creative efforts to play on
The All “A” Classic boys’ and girls’ state basketball tournaments for small-school teams were canceled Tuesday because of this week’s snow storm with some teams already on site in Richmond.
As late as 10:25 a.m. Tuesday, tournament organizers signaled their intention to move forward with the event at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena despite a heavy accumulation of snowfall across the state overnight.
But as word of Kentucky State Police turning back some team buses from interstate highways reached Richmond, the plans fell apart, said Lyon County boys’ coach Ryan Perry. Perry’s team made a 250-mile trek from Eddyville to Richmond on Monday for its scheduled Wednesday tip-off against Kentucky Country Day.
“It was wild. We drove up through all that stuff yesterday to make sure we were here, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Perry said. “I had to deliver the news to the guys and they were obviously pretty bothered by it.”
News of the cancellations began trickling out from individual schools on Twitter as each was notified.
The event’s Twitter account confirmed the news at 12:10 p.m. Tuesday, just a short while before the first teams were set to arrive at the arena.
“UPDATE: The 2021 All “A” classic is cancelled. Thank you for your patience and understanding,” @kentuckyalla tweeted.
Bethlehem, the No. 6 girls team in the state, was scheduled to tip off the event against Walton-Verona at 1:30 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s finals. Since the teams were already in town and the arena was available, the game remained scheduled as a KHSAA sanctioned event, just not as part of the tournament.
Lyon County’s Perry confirmed his team would play the Walton-Verona boys’ team later in the afternoon and the Lyons would head back home Wednesday.
“I said call them back and try to get us two games tonight. We don’t care who we play,” Perry joked, trying to make light of the disappointment. Kentucky Country Day later announced it planned to host Lyon County on Wednesday at 5 p.m. as the Lyons stop over on their way back to western Kentucky
Pikeville’s athletic department also confirmed via Twitter that its boys’ team would play Knott County Central as scheduled at 4 p.m.
All three games remained set to be streamed for a $10 fee by PrepSpin.com, the event’s online partner.
Since 1990, the All “A” Classic has held a statewide small-school tournament in the middle of the Kentucky high school basketball season that has included representation from all 16 regions with the girls’ event reaching the same level in 1993. Some observers believe the tournaments have lessened the demand for state organizers to break high school basketball into distinct classes by size for postseason play as other states have done.
