The Study of Sports Podcast, March 14, 2025: A recap of state basketball, and a discussion on the formats of Washington tournaments

A new episode of The Study of Sports Podcast dives into Washington state basketball tournament formats, celebrating standout teams and players, and sharing insights from Spring Training.

Reporter Paul Valencia and sports administrators Tony Liberatore and Cale Piland talk the format for state basketball, give a salute to a few teams and players, plus Tony and Cale talk about their recent visits to Spring Training

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

In this episode of The Study of Sports, reporter Paul Valencia and sports administrators Tony Liberatore and Cale Piland discuss the format of Washington’s high school basketball tournaments and if there is any momentum toward making changes.

We also give a salute to Columbia River and Camas boys basketball teams for their trophy-worthy seasons, and a shout-out to Camas girls basketball seniors who just completed an incredible career.

As far as the state tournament formats, Valencia says he has a big problem with teams that have lost in the state tournament still having the opportunity to win a state championship. He contends if a team loses a state playoff game, that team should not be in the running for a state title.

Under the current format, eight of the 16 (or 20 teams) in each tournament can lose in the Opening Round and still go on to win the championship. Last week, two teams did just that in the 12 WIAA tournaments. (There are six boys classifications and six girls classifications.)

“I don’t know what the end game is going to be. I do agree, though, it doesn’t feel right to me to have a state champ that lost a game in the state tournament,” Piland said.

LIberatore had a different point of view. He said fans could consider those Opening Round games as similar to pool play in the World Cup. There are soccer teams that win the World Cup that have finished second in pool play. He noted that there are different formats for a number of sports. We just aren’t used to having high school teams lose in the state tournament and still win it all.

We also answer a question from one of our readers, and more on high school sports.

Also, Cale and Tony both traveled to Arizona recently for Spring Training. They tell us what it’s like to visit their favorite MLB team before the season starts.

Our podcast format is simple: A longtime sports reporter (Paul Valencia) discusses high school sports, and more, with longtime sports administrators and former coaches. Cale Piland is the former head football coach at Evergreen and Union and is now the athletic director for Evergreen Public Schools. Tony Liberatore is a former assistant coach and athletic director at Columbia River and is now an associate principal at Fort Vancouver.

We’re always interested in subject ideas for a future podcast. Email us a subject idea.

Send us your thoughts at: paul.v@clarkcountytoday.com.