The Kentucky Sweet 16 tradition of having the semi-final and championship games on same day will not happen this year.

But it will only be for one year.

This year the boy’s championship game will be played on a Sunday, March 10, at 2 p.m. in Rupp Arena in Lexington.

The Saturday schedule conflicted with the University of Kentucky home game on March 9 against Florida. The SEC rivals are set to battle on the Saturday of the semi-finals of the Sweet 16 at 12 noon.

The Sweet 16 semifinal games will move to Saturday evening. Game 1 will be at 7:30 p.m. followed by the second game at approximately 20 minutes after the first one concludes.

The change in format will not be used in the Girls Sweet 16. That tourney is scheduled for March 13-16 at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green.

SHORT STUFF:

… The final game for Williamson Middle School in the old WHS gym on Alderson Street was played on Thursday night. Commonly known as the “Rainbow Gym” in past years (which was its unofficial name), because when it was originally opened back in the mid 1970s, the walls were adorned with bright muti-colored rainbow paint.

The gym was used for many years by Williamson High School’s girls and the junior high teams. These past few years it was the home court of Williamson Middle School.

Williamson Middle School will be moving down to West End and combined with Riverside Elementary School. A new gym is under construction at that site and will be the new home of the Cubpack.

… The annual Mingo County middle school basketball tournaments will start this week. The girls will battle it out this week on February 6, 7 and 9, while the boy’s play next week on February 13, 14 and 16. The games will be played at Mingo Central High School. The host school this year is Gilbert Middle School.

… The WVU football staff has a another verbal commitment from Ohio, according to WVU Illustrated. Grant Lingafelter (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls) switched his verbal commitment from Miami (Ohio) to the Mountaineers following a weekend visit to Morgantown.

The athletic 6’5” 265-pound offensive lineman had offers from Cincinnati, Marshall and a host of MAC schools while accumulating strong interest this month from schools such as Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State.

He was recruited by offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and will not have any trouble academically qualifying. Rivals.com lists him as a three-star prospect.

(Kyle Lovern is the sports editor for the Williamson Daily News. Comments or story ideas can be sent to klovern@williamsondailynews.com or klovern@civtasmedia.com)