Utah’s high school basketball season begins this week while the fall sports season officially ends Friday with the last of the state football championship games.

Here are a few items to watch for throughout the year, including details on the early start to the season, new foul rules and some revamped area basketball tournaments in December.

THE SEASON’S EARLY START

First things first: the first prep basketball games in the state were played on Tuesday of this week.

In years past, the UHSAA’s basketball start date was always the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so as not to have any crossover with the end of the fall sports season despite so little left on the fall sports calendar by this time of year.

Last year, the UHSAA moved up the start date for 3A-1A basketball teams to the week before Thanksgiving, which made sense since those classifications’ state tournaments have typically fallen a week or two before the 6A-4A tournaments.

This year, the start date for every basketball team in the state was the same: Tuesday, Nov. 14. Some are taking the chance to play this week and get a game or two in before Thanksgiving. Others are sticking to their normal routine of waiting until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to play.

What the statewide early start date does is, for example, let a 3A school play a neighboring 4A or 5A school during the first week as opposed to the 3A school maybe having to search farther and wider to get a fellow 3A or 2A school for the first game.

This Friday appears to be the unofficial opening day for prep basketball in the stat with nearly 50 games on the schedule.

Some notable games on the area schedule include a varsity doubleheader at Ogden High, with the girls team facing Juan Diego at 5:15 p.m. followed by the boys team playing North Summit at 7 p.m.

Fremont and Bonneville boys teams both have home games, as well.

NEW FOUL RULES

The NFHS overhauled foul and free throw rules for high school basketball back in April. Teams will now shoot two free throws whenever they’re in the bonus — the one-and-one scenario is gone.

Fouls will also be tallied on a quarter-by-quarter basis instead of half by half. According to an NFHS press release in May, teams will reach the bonus when their opponent commits its fifth foul in a quarter.

Under previous rules, a team would shoot one-and-one free throws for common fouls when the opponent committed its seventh foul in a half, then shoot two free throws in the bonus on the opponent’s 10th foul of a half.

Additional rule changes were made to establish the official placement of the shot clock operator at the scorer’s table and clarify questions about uniforms and undershirts.

NORTHERN TOURNAMENTS REVAMPED

Two area prep basketball tournaments have been revamped this season.

The first is the Burchell Classic, a girls basketball tournament that has long been held at Bonneville High.

This year’s tournament will be spread across Ben Lomond, Ogden, Northridge and Bonneville high schools running Tuesday, Dec. 5, to Saturday, Dec. 9.

Instead of a four-team jamboree, it’s now nine schools and it’s predominantly a Northern Utah round-robin. Ben Lomond, Ogden, Bonneville, Weber, Northridge, Bear River, Layton Christian, Logan and Park City are scheduled to participate.

Games will be at Ben Lomond and Ogden on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Ogden and Northridge on Dec. 6, at Bonneville on Dec. 7, at Ben Lomond and Northridge on Dec. 8 and back to Bonneville on Dec. 9.

The same weekend, the boys 6A vs. 5A High School Challenge tournament is at Davis High School. Fremont, Weber, Box Elder, Syracuse, Davis, Viewmont, Woods Cross and Olympus are scheduled to participate.

Varsity games are at Davis High starting Thursday, Dec. 7, to Saturday, Dec. 9. In the past, this tournament was in a bracket format with a championship game on Saturday.

This year’s edition is a round-robin with each game matching a 6A school against a 5A school.

STATE TOURNAMENT LOCATIONS

This year’s prep basketball state tournaments are at the following locations on the following dates:

6A and 5A: Feb. 27 through March 2 at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City

4A: Feb. 26-28 at Utah Valley University, Orem

3A: Feb. 22-24 at Sevier Valley Center, Richfield

2A: Feb. 22-24 at Southern Utah University, Cedar City

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