I write this with a smile — I’ll be glad not to have to watch another high school basketball game for the next 8 1/2 months.

There’s not one day the entire calendar year I feel more physically and mentally battered than the Sunday after the state tournament. The basketball, the environment … it’s a joyous experience. But it takes a toll. (Longtime radio voice Henry Tafoya actually fell asleep on press row this year. True story. Not while on the air, of course.)

My photo album from 2013:

A KEEPER: There always is one moment that lingers for me every year, an image I know I won’t ever forget. This week, that snapshot was the sight of Cliff boys coach Pete Shock being enveloped by his players in an emotional group hug after the Cowboys beat Hagerman for the Class 1A crown on Saturday night.

What I didn’t know was Shock had just told his players less than a minute earlier that he was retiring after 35 years with the Cowboys. As I reflect on that scene, it resonates even more deeply with me to know that we were watching him say goodbye. Goodbye to his players. Goodbye to Cliff basketball. Goodbye, in a way, to the Pit.

Shock is a Hall of Fame coach for good reason. He possesses a marvelous basketball mind. And he’s a terrific man, too. I think I speak for everyone when I say, New Mexico basketball is going to miss him, more than it knows.

HATS OFF: A hearty congratulations to the 12 state champions — Las Cruces’ boys and Clovis’ girls in Class 5A, St. Pius’ boys and Los Lunas’ girls in 4A, Hope’s boys and Lovington’s girls in 3A, Laguna Acoma’s boys and Navajo Pine’s girls in 2A, Cliff’s boys and Logan’s girls in 1A, and Hondo’s boys and Elida’s girls in Class B.

Laguna, Hondo and Los Lunas are first-time champs. Elida’s girls and Lovington’s girls repeated from 2012.

For the Logan girls, it was the first title since 1980. For the Las Cruces boys, the first since 1976.

Also, this was the first time since 2002 that neither of the 5A championship games had an entrant from Albuquerque.

COACHING NEWS: Several former Lobos who are now coaches in boys 5A — Clovis’ Matt King, Manzano’s David Gibson and Sandia’s Alvin Broussard — were at the Pit this year, Gibson and Broussard for the first time as head coaches.

But the coach who had the best week was former New Mexico State Aggie William Benjamin of Las Cruces.

Albuquerque High principal Tim McCorkle said Sunday that Benjamin is the first African-American coach to win a big-school boys state title in New Mexico. (Readers, is McCorkle right?)

Also, it was nice to see former UNM women’s coach Don Flanagan quietly making the rounds around the Pit and the Santa Ana Star Center.

On the record front, while Shock retires with 10 titles, Hope Christian’s Jim Murphy got his 11th, meaning he can tie Ralph Tasker next March.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Last year, I only correctly picked four of the 12 state champions. I’m happy to report that I got seven out of 12 right this year. But, I completely botched the 5A boys — the bracket that, in theory, I’m supposed to know the most about.

In hindsight, it’s no wonder Eldorado failed me by bowing out before reaching the finals; the Eagles didn’t get a single point from anyone other than their starters in either their quarterfinal win over Cibola or their semifinal loss to Clovis.

That starting five was great, but even they needed at least some help.

COMEBACK TRAIL: It was heartwarming to see a couple of people celebrate championships this year — St. Pius boys coach Damian Segura, who had a cancerous kidney removed two years ago, late in the 2010-11 season; and Cliff post Tate Shelley, who missed the entire 2011-12 school year after suffering a life-threatening injury from falling out of the bed of a truck. He suffered serious brain trauma.

GENEROSITY: For the second year in a row, U.S. Bank, the title sponsor of the state tournaments, presented the New Mexico Activities Association a check for $60,000. That money that will go into the organization’s general account, NMAA executive director Sally Marquez said.

U.S. Bank is the title sponsor for basketball, football and track and field.

OTHER IMAGES: Besides Shock, I will remember the emotion pouring out of La Cueva’s Bryce Alford after Las Cruces ended his prep career in the quarterfinals. We’ve never been privy to a season like the one he just had, where he broke New Mexico’s single-season scoring record with 1,050 points. … The Clovis girls have an interesting tradition, apparently. They fist bump with the Clovis radio media after being introduced. … Benjamin’s 9-year-old son, who the Bulldawgs affectionately refer to as “Deuce” in reference to him being named after his father, took part in Las Cruces’ layup drills and even managed to shoot some jumpshots on Saturday before the finals. It was a wonderful thing.

And, it was a reminder of how the state tournament can summon the inner child in all of us.
— This article appeared on page B6 of the Albuquerque Journal