There was a time when it seemed all roads to Missouri high school state tournaments led to Columbia.
Now, they seem lead anywhere but Columbia.
During the 2017-18 school year, Columbia hosted the football and wrestling state championships. That's it.
Remember when Columbia hosted the state softball championships? They went to St. Joseph for a while, then they firmly placed themselves in Springfield.
Remember when Columbia hosted the state baseball championships? They moved around as well, and have found a home in O'Fallon.
Remember when Columbia hosted the state basketball championships? That was as recent as last year, but not anymore.
In April 2016, the Missouri State High School Activities Association announced it reached a five-year agreement with Springfield to hold the state basketball championships at JQH Arena - the current home of the Missouri State basketball teams - and the Hammons Student Center - the Bears' and Lady Bears' former home.
I rolled my eyes when I heard the announcement. To me, it meant another sporting event was leaving Mid-Missouri and would turn a half-hour trip to Columbia into a two-hour drive to the southwest corner of the state.
Distance is usually the No. 1 complaint when a state tournament moves from Mid-Missouri. For example, Clark County, a Class 3 girls semifinalist, is located in Kahoka, the upper northeast corner of the state. It would have been a shorter drive for the Lady Indians to the Wisconsin state tournament in Madison (4 hours, 35 minutes) than it would be to Springfield (4 hours, 54 minutes) for the Missouri state tournament.
But after attending the Class 1-3 state championships last weekend, I won't be complaining anymore.
The setup is much better in Springfield than Columbia. While there was a short walk between the Hearnes Center and Mizzou Arena in Columbia, JQH Arena and Hammons Student Center are practically connected in Springfield.
It's much more advantageous for the media. In Springfield, the two buildings are connected underground, so it took me less than two minutes to get from one court to the other.
And I can't emphasize this next part enough, because this is why Springfield is more deserving of the Final Four than Columbia. If there's a tunnel connecting the Hearnes Center and Mizzou Arena, I haven't found it yet.
Unlike the Hearnes Center, Hammons Student Center has a basketball court, not a volleyball court with taped markings for a basketball court. When players have a difficult time trying to determine the out-of-bounds line in a state semifinal game, then that venue shouldn't be hosting a game of that magnitude.
If that wasn't enough, Springfield is becoming the mecca of high school basketball in Missouri. Each January, JQH Arena hosts the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions, arguably the best high school tournament in the country.
High school state tournaments may be becoming sparse in Columbia, but you won't hear me complain about the state basketball championships being in Springfield anymore. They're where they belong.