This plate full of March Madness sure to be special

Holy March Madness, Batman, what have I come home to?

Friday night of the state girls basketball tournament at Redbird Arena is always one of my favorite nights of the season. There's the hoopla of a state tournament, and that never gets old, and then there's the constant refreshing of the IHSA ScoreZone to see how the boys teams are doing in regional finals.

Wireless Internet, the ScoreZone and text messaging has put that information a click away while on press row and this past Friday was one of the most interesting yet.

First came Bartlett's halftime score. The Hawks were obviously having their way with Batavia. Then came the text message that Burlington Central was ahead of Oswego at Sycamore. Another text message -- Elgin had the lead on St. Charles North at halftime at Larkin. And then word that the Jacobs vs. Cary-Grove game was close.

Some regional sites posted updates through the second half, the text messages continued, and when the dust settled we learned that for the first time I can ever remember, our area has five regional boys champions.

Welcome to Four Class Madness.

Actually, after watching the state tournament over the weekend, I've come to the conclusion four classes is OK. It sure will keep the interest sparked around here this week, whereas in years past we were already thinking spring previews by this week when, normally we'd only have one or two teams still standing.

But now we have five -- Elgin, Jacobs, Bartlett, Burlington Central and Huntley -- still in the hunt for a spot in the Final Four of their respective classes in Peoria next weekend.

The road won't be easy for any of them, but if the chips fall in favor of the Fox Valley area, we could have an Elgin-Jacobs sectional final in Class 4A Friday night, and we could have a Burlington Central-Huntley final in Class 3A. If Bartlett can dispose of Cinderella Glenbard West at East Aurora tonight, we'll have a Valley against Bartlett in a final Friday night -- either Waubonsie or Neuqua.

I know that right now coaches Mike Sitter, Jim Hinkle, Chris Payne, Marty Manning and Jim Wolfsmith are all yelling for me to shut up -- one game at a time they're preaching to their kids, as they should be.

But just the thought of the possibilities we have for sectional finals Friday night is enough to get the blood flowing as winter lingers and lingers and lingers.

Three of those five games are tonight. Jacobs takes on Rockford Boylan at Jacobs, Huntley meets Rockford Lutheran at Freeport and Bartlett tangles with Glenbard West at East Aurora. Wednesday night, Elgin meets up with Hononegah and former Elgin coach Mike Miller at Jacobs while Burlington Central takes on Sterling, a team it beat a couple weeks ago, at Freeport.

If all of the above doesn't draw some packed houses to Jacobs, Freeport and East Aurora nothing will.

There are many weeks during the high school sports season that are special.

But there is no season in IHSA sports more special than March Madness.

Get on board people. This one promises to be a great ride.