I can't be selfish if I wanted to -- that's what happens when you're a twin and you share everything from a stroller to a bedroom to a birthday.

So it's my benevolent side that offers some help regarding the Tri-Nine Conference basketball tournament.

The format -- even when I was in high school -- is more like the ACC Tournament than that of surrounding high schools. The semifinals are played back-to-back-to-back-to-back at one site. The site is revisited Friday for both championships.

I like the quadruple-header.

It makes my job 10 times easier. I work three days during conference tournament week instead of four or five, yet I can watch up to eight games -- more than I usually get to cover in a month.

But aside from the reasons that best benefit me, I can't tell you why it's a good idea to stick with this format.

In Wednesday's semifinal round, the 4 p.m. game was dead.

The 5:30 p.m. game was, for the most part, dead.

Fans really didn't start filing in until the start of the day's third game, and even then it was especially quiet in the Athens Drive gym -- granted, it being a 30-point game at halftime had something to do with it.

Other conferences play their semifinals on alternating nights - sometimes at the same location for both boys and girls.

The thought is to give fans ample time to make it to the games which improves attendance and atmosphere, but more importantly it bolsters the lifeblood of high school athletics: gate money.

And those conferences benefit from the bigger crowds.

It's something worth considering, because there's no reason a Middle Creek and Holly Springs girls basketball game -- which started at 4 p.m. but had huge playoff implications for each -- should have about 60 people in the stands. Their games were better attended during the regular season.

Holly Springs had a chance to really pack the place with the boys and girls teams playing back-to-back, but just as many came Friday for the girls team - which should tell you what was the true determining factor.

Starting games before 6 p.m. just doesn't draw a lot of people. It never has.

Parents are still at work, and in this economy it's best to not clock out early any more than you have to. Fellow students are hoping to go home and do homework (ha! insert "play Xbox") for a few hours before returning to school.

CA wrestling 8th: The Cary Academy wrestling team finished eighth in this weekend's NCISAA state wrestling tournament with 90.5 points.

The Chargers' Trevor Pearce, a senior at 215 pounds, was the team's highest initial finisher at third.

Virant commits: Middle Creek senior J.T. Virant has committed to Barton College for baseball.

Ford tops 1,000: Tiece Ford of Holly Springs didn't know what was going on after her team defeated Apex in the first round of the conference tournament.

Unbeknownst to her, but not to her coaches, she had become the first Lady Golden Hawks player to break the 1,000-point mark. Ford was presented with a basketball commemorating her milestone.

She will play for Clemson University next season.