GDWs pros and cons on county basketball tournament sites:
Cullman Co plays at Wallace, Morgan Co rotates at its 5 schools:
GDW Analysis:
Cullman County schools recently held its basketball tournament with the event taking place at a neutral venue, Tom Drake Coliseum at Wallace State CC.
The tournament has endured wonderful moments for the past 34 years.
Nevertheless, public comments via social media seeks that the tournament returns to the local schools. This association ended in 1992, the year Wallace State built the Coliseum and was able to develop a relationship that has covered three and a half decades.
In my involvement with the tournament as coordinator of the all tournament selection for 22 of the past 23 years, the thoughts of if going to the 7 schools is considered, but to me not in the best of the current situation.
The reason?
Space.
Drake Coliseum is an arena that allows fans to sit in a comfortable environment.
The facility is adequate for a certain group of people, those who are handicapped.
GDW has seen more fans attending local basketball games in recent years from wheelchairs, to walkers, etc.
Also, the increase of media participation with the school system having its own TV network as well as WKUL FM being there to broadcast each game in the girls and varsity division live, a total of 12 in all.
More photographers are roaming the baselines through media organizations or individuals that have their own photography business.
Flash counted at least 10 photographers on January 23 when the county tournament was into the championship segment.
The space at the local schools would not be convenient for this group from the countless hours they spend for the week long enjoyment of Cullman County High School basketball.
A first time opportunity to see a county tournament championship day from a neighboring county came into play when Morgan County Schools had to postpone the finals until January 31 from the previous weekend of winter weather situations.
Morgan County uses its 5 schools as the tournament host. In 2026, the competition battled for supremacy from Tom Drake Gymnasium at Falkville High School.
The facility that opened in 1979 when yours truly got to play on the floor while being a member of the Good Hope Raiders with our coach being future Hall of Famer Danny Welborn.
Upgrades have been a plus by the school and the support it gets from the community as well as the Morgan County Board of Education (MCBOE).
However, the capacity is 1,000 with very few if any empty seats for the 4 games that were played Saturday as GDW arrived on campus at halftime of the JV girls final between Brewer and West Morgan.
West Morgan had its 4 teams in the title games of each division. Priceville was there with JV, girls and varsity.
GDW saw plenty of people in the colors of black and gold for Priceville to maroon and white for West Morgan throughout the evening.
The walls on the baseline were lined up from one end to the other.
No doubt the atmosphere was breathtaking, especially for GDW's role of seeing the title games with Priceville winning the girls 55 to 46 over West Morgan for its 5th consecutive championship.
West Morgan presented former Cullman/Vinemont coach Bobby Meyer a Morgan County crown in his 2nd season with the Rebels. West Morgan got past Priceville in OT 46 to 43.
Flash was able to get a seat behind the Priceville girls bench in their game, then watched the first half of the varsity title bout in the hospitality room with the game being shown live on the NFHS Network.
In the 2nd half, yours truly found a good friend in former West Point native Phillip Key, now an assistant coach on the varsity staff at Danville High School.
Yours truly quickly left the gym getting ahead of the crowd, going into the cold to get into his vehicle, get it warmed up right away and make the 15 minute drive back to my residence in West Cullman with no traffic issues.
An interesting twist on Morgan County seedings:
Cullman County requires all schools to play its county opponent one time to set up seeding procedures for the county tournament.
That's not the case in Morgan County.
They seed their groups on winning percentage in county play.
Priceville and West Morgan didn't play in the regular season and that added to the intensity between the two programs in the girls and varsity divisions.
Priceville girls were the top seed as were West Morgan in the varsity. Neither had lost to the county teams they played in the regular schedule, Brewer, Falkville and Danville.
In a 5 team field, you had a play in game of the 4 vs, 5 seed with the winner getting the top seed in the semifinals. The other semi was a matchup of No. 2 against No. 3.
Final thoughts from GDW:
Falkville's administration were top notch in its time to host the Morgan County Tournament.
A huge gathering of fans is positive to the schools in the major task of presenting an event where profit can be gained.
Tracie Turrentine is the Superintendent of the Marshall County School system. Her appearance was well seen during the postgame awards presentation.
She has interest in Morgan County for she is an alumnus of Brewer High School and has children that attends Priceville High School.
It was indicated to GDW that West Morgan will be the site for the 2027 county tournament. They have a facility that is not that old, but will be no doubt with large crowds once the tournament gets through the semifinals and has the scene set up for championship play.
Cullman County has 7 schools involved and with everyone fielding a team from JV to the girls and varsity, a total of 28 are competing for top honors.
On championship day for 2026, West Point had three teams playing for a title, Good Hope two, Cold Springs two and Holly Pond one.
More teams reaching the finals means attendance will be a very good numbers and the case in point by GDW is people can spread out without having to be in so tight like going through a checkout at a local grocery store when items are on sale for discount or given away for free.
Folks that flood social media with chatter in some ways seen through Flash, use this as leverage in a tactic of "verbal bullying."
My thoughts is for the Cullman County to continue at Wallace State well into the future for the kids love to play at this basketball mecca for one week where the rewards to many of them reach a high honor in performing and taking home a county championship.
Photo of Priceville Lady Bulldogs' coach Shane Childress with his team prior to the Morgan County championship game January 31 at Falkville High School. Next to the coach is senior center Abby Langlois, the MVP of the 2026 county tournament.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.
