All Oklahoma high school basketball state tournaments to be played at 'The Big House' in 2025

OSSAA classes 5A and 6A girls, boys championships moving venues in Jim Norick Arena's final season

A Lomega High School (Oklahoma) player releases a shot in Jim Norick Arena in Oklahoma City, also known as "the Big House," the venue for all Oklahoma state high school basketball championships in 2024-25. / Michael Kinney

For its final year of operation, the arena known as "The Big House" will be getting a big send-off.

The iconic Oklahoma City sports venue, officially known as Jim Norick Arena, will be getting to host the entire high school boys and girls state basketball tournaments for the 2024-25 season before the arena closes its doors for good, which was announced by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association on Wednesday.

That includes the state tournaments for Classes 5A and 6A, after having played its respective tournaments the past three seasons at the University of Oklahoma's Lloyd Noble Center. Prior to that, the 5A and 6A events had been held for several years at Oral Roberts University's Mabee Center while the majority of the 4A through Class B state tournaments, including all the championship games, were at "The Big House."

But with Jim Norick Arena entering its farewell season before a new arena - which will be called OG&E Coliseum - adjacent to the current facility located at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds officially opens at a later date in 2025, every basketball team in the state, from the highest level to the smallest, will now get to experience one final thrill of playing at "The Big House," once they qualify for state.

With the addition of the 5A and 6A tournaments to "The Big House," the Class 2A state tournament will now be played along with the Class A and B tournaments. Those will be held from Tuesday, March 4 to Saturday, March 8.

Then the following week, from Monday, March 10 through Saturday, March 15, the state tournaments for 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A will take place at Jim Norick Arena. However, some state semifinal games will continue to be held at subsite locations.

The upcoming basketball season will mark the 60th and final year for the Oklahoma state tournaments to be held at Jim Norick Arena, which also serves as the site for the Oklahoma state wrestling championships each February.

-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveok