There should be a Beehive Classic hoops tourney

Much like leg warmers, waterbeds, 8-track car stereos, rotary phones, Pacman and anything else that was popular or prevalent in the 1970s, the Old Oquirrh Bucket will soon be a thing of the past.

The Bucket, the trophy symbolizing collegiate basketball supremacy in the state of Utah, actually has a proud if somewhat obscure tradition dating back 37 years. Though it was never the focal point for any of the state's college basketball teams, it was certainly something to shoot for in the preseason — compiling the best record against in-state schools — before conference play got under way.

But with the University of Utah and BYU both headed for new conference affiliations based on the West Coast next year, scheduling seems to be getting more difficult. So this past week, officials from the four original Oquirrh Bucket schools — Utah, BYU, Utah State and Weber State — agreed to retire that old Bucket for the foreseeable future.

In other words, the Bucket is gonna kick the bucket, with the trophy being donated to the Utah Sports Hall of Fame.

But if scheduling really is the culprit here, then here's a perfect solution — a Beehive Classic preseason tournament, played in December at EnergySolutions Arena while the Jazz are out of town on one of their extended road trips.

Sure, this idea is nothing new. The concept was first conceived back in the early 1970s, after Weber State's basketball program began to gain prominence and achieved a level of respect previously reserved for its in-state Big Brothers at BYU, Utah and Utah State.

An annual "Big Four" tourney was proposed on more than one occasion, but coaches like BYU's Frank Arnold claimed his program had everything to lose and nothing to gain by participating in such an event, so it never got off the ground.

Now, nearly 40 years later, the time has finally come for the state's athletic directors to put their heads together and try and make this thing happen. Especially with the prospect of Utah perhaps deciding it doesn't want to bother scheduling Weber State any more, and with BYU and Utah State having trouble putting together games against each other in the future.

Don't tell me that it won't work, or that scheduling is going to be a problem. Not when BYU just got done playing somebody called Chicago State, and Utah played host to another Big Sky school, Montana, this past week.