With the Class 4A and 3A state basketball tournaments coming up this weekend — brackets here — here’s a quick look at some of the historical precedents that are possible, that are scheduled and that have already happened for the tournament:
Drought: The longest state tournament drought broken this week is by the Worland boys, who are in the state tournament for the first time since 2011.
Streaks: Gillette’s boys and girls continued a pair of current state-best streaks. The Camel girls qualified for the state tournament for the 26th consecutive year, while the boys’ squad qualified for the 28th year in a row. Natrona’s girls qualified for state for the 18th consecutive year, the third-best active streak in the state regardless of gender.
Long-awaited first-round matchups
4A girls: Gillette at Riverton are playing each other at state for the first time since 2002; the other three first-round games are rematches of games played at some point during last year’s state tournament.
4A boys: Natrona and Cheyenne Central are playing against each other at state for the first time since 2004.
3A girls: Lovell and Wheatland are playing each other at state for the first time since 1978.
3A boys: All of the games pit teams that have played each other in the fairly recent past; the longest drought is the one between Powell and Buffalo, who are playing against each other at state for the first time since 2009.
Semifinal potential: The Worland boys have the longest semifinal drought of all boys’ teams playing this week; the Warriors haven’t been to the state semis since 1996.
Gillette’s girls, meanwhile, have one of the state’s most remarkable streaks going into the tournament; the Camels have been to 22 consecutive semifinal rounds at state, having reached the final four every year since 1993. The Gillette boys have made the semis for five straight years, the longest streak of any participating team this weekend.
Title potential: The Worland boys, in addition to having the longest semifinal drought, also have the longest championship drought of any boys’ team playing this week. The Warriors are trying to reach a state title game for the first time since 1966. The Riverton boys are the only team playing this week that doesn’t already have at least one state championship to its credit.
The Riverton girls, meanwhile, haven’t been to a title game since 1989, the longest drought of any girls’ team playing this week. Girls’ teams from Kelly Walsh, Powell, Rawlins and Worland are playing for their first state championships; Powell, Rawlins and Worland are all on the same half of the 3A bracket.
Want to dig deeper? Check out our state basketball tournament score database.
–patrick