UIL

State Basketball Championships

The goal of every basketball team in the state of Texas at the beginning of the season is much the same, to compete in the University Interscholastic League Basketball State Championships and have a chance to reach the pinnacle of Texas high school basketball. The annual tournaments are held the first two weekends of March at the Frank Erwin Center on The University of Texas campus and showcase some of the best high school talent from around the state. Each year, over 150,000 spectators travel to Austin to watch the best teams in the state and the tournaments have provided some of the most exciting and intriguing moments in Texas high school basketball.

In 2002, Dallas Kimball led San Antonio Jay 53-51 with :08 seconds left in the Boys Class 5A championship game. After Kimball got its own rebound off a missed free throw, Jay guard Chris Ross stole the ball and heaved a fifty-foot jumper that found the middle of the basket and gave San Antonio Jay the championship 54-53. To add to the excitement, the game was telecast live on Fox Sports Net and the buzzer-beater Ross hit occurred on his 17th birthday.

In another televised game, spectators at the 2007 Girls Tournament had the privilege of seeing two undefeated teams match up to decide the Class 5A Championship. Rockwall and Houston Cypress Fairbanks squared off and the overtime Rockwall victory allowed them to join only a handful of teams to finish a season with a perfect record. Their 59-54 win was the 40th of the season, and they became only the third girls team along with the 1997 Duncanville and 1980 Dallas South Oak Cliff squads to finish the season with 40 wins and no losses.

Every year, the UIL honors athletes and teams that have won previous state championships by bringing them back to celebrate their tenth and 25th anniversaries of the girls and boys state championships respectively. This year, the 1998 Girls State Champion teams Karnack, Comanche, Hamilton, Canyon Randall and Alief Elsik will be honored during the Girls Tournament and the 1983 Boys State Champions Snook, Morton, Dimmitt, Waxahachie and Bryan will be recognized during the Boys Tournament.

Each state tournament runs three days and is jam-packed with basketball action as semi-finals are played Thursday and Friday and state championship trophies are handed out Saturday. The six game-a-day format means that fans have the chance to see eighteen contests over the duration of the tournament and can choose to watch all the action the weekend has to offer or attend games in between visiting some of the many attractions in the Austin area.

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 information and ticket 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.