Alaskan basketball fans are knee deep in March Madness, with both NCAA and ASAA High school playoffs fully underway - in college ball, half of the games occur today and this weekend, and the Final Four happen next weekend with a championship culminating Monday April 3rd.
In the High School level contests, 3A and 4A schools are at the Alaska Airlines Center this weekend, and 1A and 2A results have been posted on their site as follows:
http://asaa.org/activities/basketball/
The ASAA games are live streamed, with a link here ,
However, some competitions around the state that aren't in the High School and College brackets don't get as much coverage outside of the local area - one of them is the Lonnie O'Connor Iditarod Basketball Classic, held in Nome in honor of the 80-year old Nome Volunteer Fire Department.
A man from Koyuk, Charles Swanson set out to help cover that gap, announcing the games via Facebook Live, and did it so well that there's talk of having him do it officially next time around, or at least with a better Internet connection.
This particular clip was of a game in the Ladies' Open, with a team called Little Louie's playing against Shishmaref. Little Louie's went on to place Second in the Ladies' Open, with a team called RJ's Ninjas in First.
As he was getting ready to board a plane, KNBA caught up with Mr. Swanson. He says he looks forward to next year's games - and plans to announce each and every one:
More information about the Lonnie O'Connor Iditarod Classic can be found on Facebook.
