This year’s Makoshika Basketball Tournament looked more like the event post-COVID after over a quarter of the registered teams forfeited last minute due to a drastic change in the weather.
On Friday morning, opening day of the 31st Annual Makoshika Basketball Tournament, the Glendive Chamber of Commerce and tournament partner Makoshika Wellness recorded a total of 90 teams registered to participate in the event.
By 5 p.m. that evening, however, Makoshika Basketball Tournament Committee member Terra Burman noted a total of 25 teams forfeited, leaving the committee to rapidly readjust the game schedule.
“We had an obvious curveball thrown at us when the weather drastically changed on Friday morning,” Burman said.
“Moving things around is hard when you involve about 90 teams,” MBT Committee member Denny Malone said. “Even with the cancellations, things are set up and scheduled for that many.”
The committee reworked the tournament brackets and schedule “several times” due to so many unexpected team cancellations, which proved its biggest challenge throughout the weekend.
“We thought we had the last calls and then there were five more (cancellations) at 5 p.m. on Friday and so we had to redo the game schedule once again,” Burman said, adding setting up the schedule took at least two weeks time to prepare for a 90-team tournament. “Not only did we have late nights the two weeks working up to the tournament, but we had to redo all of our work in one day.”
Although so many teams cancelled last minute, MBT Committee member Sara Plummer added a majority of the volunteers scheduled to work the event still made every effort to show up.
“The biggest part in ensuring they all showed is communication,” Plummer said, noting every volunteer was contacted in the days leading up to the event reminding them of when and where they were stationed to work. “This allows for the opportunity to make sure they did not forget or to fill holes if someone needs to cancel.”
Cancelling or rescheduling this year’s Makoshika Basketball Tournament was an option for the MBT Committee, however it was decided the event would continue after teams from farther away informed them they were either already in town or on the road.
“We made the decision not to cancel after we had heard from some Richardton, N.D., teams saying they were on their way,” Burman said. “At that point, we hadn’t had too many cancellations.”
Some of the teams left for Glendive early in order to beat the forecasted winter storm, including teams from Dickinson and Minot, N.D., Glasgow, Poplar, Jordan and many more.
Additionally, local business and nonprofits involved would have taken an economic hit had the MBT Committee decided to cancel the event altogether.
“With many teams already here, we had to consider the impact on our local businesses and on the teams that had made it or were still willing to make it,” Malone said. “Many businesses have said in the past the tournament is bigger than Christmas for them. I can’t imagine preparing for the influx of people as a restaurant owner and having to deal with perishable items.”
Despite the downturn in the number of teams participating in the Makoshika Basketball Tournament, several local businesses still report having a successful weekend.
“It was still a good weekend,” Gust Hauf owner BJ Berry said. “It was down a little bit, but not where it was really noticeable.”
Additionally, Berry noted he had a full staff working this year, which contributed to the success of the weekend both from an operational standpoint, as well as customer service-wise.
“All the customers were very polite and very understanding and it went very well,” he noted.
Manager at Fantastic Finds Tina Carter noted Saturday was “really busy” as she met many visitors from out of town.
“Sometimes I’ll ask them if they’ve been in here before and they’ll tell me where they were from,” Carter said.
Knowing many of the “glitches” that occurred over the course of the weekend, Carter commended the MBT Committee for their efforts to push through the challenges and still host a successful event.
“I think the crew that worked on the tournament did a fantastic job,” she said. “They did a fantastic job rolling with the punches and keeping it going. Everybody had a good time.”
Although not everything went according to plan, Malone and Burman said those refereeing the games received the most attention and made the difficulties of the weekend all worthwhile with their positive and encouraging attitudes.
“Many parents and coaches commented on their skill, enthusiasm and willingness to coach the kids on their calls and how to improve,” Malone noted.
“We can’t thank the parents enough for giving us grace and rolling with us,” Burman said. “We had to pivot so many times to keep up with the changes (and) so many people came with positive attitudes.”
As the event came to a close Sunday, the MBT Committee is already looking ahead to planning the tournament in 2024.
“We love to see this event every year and it takes our entire community to make it happen,” Burman said. “That doesn’t go unnoticed.”