The schedule for the state basketball championships March 8-11 at Georgia and Georgia Tech is set, the Georgia High School Association announced Thursday afternoon.
Championships in classes AAAAAA, AAAAA, AAA and A public division will be played at Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday and Thursday, March 8-9, while classes AAAAAAA, AAAA, AA and A private will be played at Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion on Friday and Saturday, March 10-11.
The dates and tipoff times had been set previously, but the GHSA finalized on Thursday which classifications will be played in which venues and time slots.
The GHSA made the decisions based on ''consideration given for competitive balance between the two final sites as well as travel issues for the teams likely to be vying for the trophies,'' according to GHSA media director Steve Figueroa.
Georgia is a host site for a high school state tournament game for the first time since 1941, when finals were played at old Woodruff Hall. Stegeman Coliseum has never been used for the state tournament.
Tech's McCamish Pavilion was a site for state championship games as recently as 2003.
This will be the first time since the 1940s that at least some of the finals are not played in Macon. The finals were moved out of the Macon Coliseum this year in part over the controversial 2016 finals, played with rims positioned too closely to the baselines.
2017 state-finals schedule:
Wednesday, March 8
Stegeman Coliseum, University of Georgia, Athens
2 p.m. - Girls A Public
4 p.m. - Boys A Public
6 p.m. - Girls AAAAA
8 p.m. - Boys AAAAA
Thursday, March 9
Stegeman Coliseum, University of Georgia, Athens
11 a.m. - AAASP Wheelchair Championship
2 p.m. - Girls AAA
4 p.m. - Boys AAA
6 p.m. - Girls AAAAAA
8 p.m. - Boys AAAAAA
Friday, March 10
McCamish Pavilion, Georgia Tech, Atlanta
2 p.m. - Girls A Private
4 p.m. - Boys A Private
6 p.m. - Girls AAAA
8 p.m. - Boys AAAA
Saturday, March 11
McCamish Pavilion, Georgia Tech, Atlanta
2 p.m. - Girls AA
4 p.m. - Boys AA
6 p.m. - Girls AAAAAAA
8 p.m. - Boys AAAAAAA
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