UIL

State Basketball Championships

The first two weekends of March, the University Interscholastic League holds its Girls and Boys Basketball State Championships at the Frank Erwin Center on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. Each tournament showcases high school players from 24 teams around the state and crowns six champions in different classifications. The participants and coaches at the state championships illustrate the level of commitment and effort it takes to win at the highest level. Spectators of the events are treated to the best basketball teams the state has to offer and many times catch glimpses of future and upcoming stars.

The tournaments have grown both in number of participants and spectators from the time the first champions were crowned in 1921. Today, over 150,000 spectators travel to the Austin area for the state tournaments and since moving to the Frank Erwin Center in 1977, the championships have seen thousands of student athletes accomplish their goals of becoming champions. Notable participants of the tournaments include Shaquille O’Neal, T.J. Ford and Chris Bosh of the NBA and Sheryl Swoopes and Tamika Catchings of the WNBA.

Each tournament lasts three days beginning with the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday and culminating with the crowning of state champions on Saturday. There are six games a day beginning at 8AM and running through the end of the last game around 10PM., which makes for a total of 18 contests played over the duration of the tournament. The schedule of the tournament allows fans to attend games and visit the various attractions Austin has to offer throughout the day. Whether spectators choose to watch six games a day or attend only a few, they are guaranteed to see exciting basketball action.

This year, the Girls State Tournament will be held February 28 - March 1 and the Boys State Tournament will be held March 6 - 8. Tournament order forms can be found on the UIL Web site at www.uil.utexas.edu and tickets can be purchased at Texas Box Office Outlets, by phone at 512-477-6060 or 1-800-982-2386, or online at TexasBoxOffice.com.