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The High School basketball season will come to a close this week as the 2008 boys’ state tournament will start Wednesday and end on Saturday.

No area teams qualified for the state tournament. Minnesota River Conference (MRC) squads also fell short of state tourney berths.

Rockford, the team that defeated Sibley East in the sub-section semifinals, is in the Class AA state tourney field. The Rockets tripped the Wolverines 56-52 earlier this month. That proved to be Rockford’s closest contest throughout the postseason thus far.

It will be a tough opening round test for Rockford. The Rockets (28-2) will play Crosby-Ironton (30-0) in the Class AA quarterfinals. That contest will be played Wednesday (today) at Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. Game time is scheduled for noon.

Other teams in the Class AA field include La Crescent (28-1), Saint Bernard’s School (27-2), Maple River (27-1), Montevideo (27-4), New London-Spicer and Braham.

Ellsworth in Class A and St. Thomas Academy in Class AAA return to the state tournament to defend their 2007 championships. A new state champ will emerge in the other two classes since the Class AA champions from Holy Family Catholic of Victoria and Class AAAA champions from Buffalo failed to qualify.

Teams making their first state tournament appearance include: Minnesota Transitions Charter of Minneapolis and Granada-Huntley-East Chain in Class A; La Crescent in Class AA; and Rochester Mayo and Henry Sibley of Mendota Heights in Class AAAA.

This year marks the 12th year of the four-class format, and the fifth year with all state tourney games being played in Minneapolis. It is also the first year that the top four teams in Class AAA and Class AAAA were seeded and their opponents determined by a blind draw.

Head coaches of the 16 schools in Class AAA and AAAA ranked the teams. Benilde-St. Margaret’s was selected No. 1 in Class AAA while Minnetonka received the top seed in AAAA.

State tournament action begins Wednesday March 26 with quarterfinal games at the Target Center and at Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. These two sites will also host quarterfinal games on Thursday.

Semifinal action will be played Thursday and Friday at the Target Center. This will also be the site of all four championship game on Saturday. Third-place games will be played Saturday at Concordia University in St. Paul.