High school boys basketball in our area will get a big boost when the Class 3A and 4A substate games are held at the U.S. Cellular Center on March 2 and March 3.

It's always nice to see people doing good things for the community. In this case, the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the folks at the arena in downtown Cedar Rapids hit the jackpot.

Kennedy High School deserves credit as well for agreeing to act as the host school, whether the Cougars are playing in the substate finals or not.

These will be the first substate games at the U.S. Cellular since 2011. The facility was not available for two years during a major renovation project, and nobody took charge of staging the games there last year.

This time, the IHSAA and U.S. Cellular Center officials got together and hammered out a deal last week that made both sides happy. And the big winners will be the eight schools and their fans that make the substate finals.

The city of Cedar Rapids will be a big winner as well, with thousands of fans flocking to the downtown area for the games.

There will be a Class 3A substate doubleheader on Monday, March 2 and a Class 4A doubleheader on Tuesday, March 3. Tickets cost $8 per night.

There's a chance the Xavier Saints or Marion Indians will play in one of the Class 3A games. And there's a good chance Kennedy and Linn-Mar will tangle in one of the Class 4A games, with Washington possibly facing Iowa City West in the other.

There are many other fine teams that feed into these substates, so it should be a grand occasion regardless of who makes it to "The Cell" for these contests. The winners will head to the state tournaments in Des Moines, so there will be plenty at stake.

Substate games deserve to be played on a grand stage like the U.S. Cellular Center rather than in a high school gym. It's a shame "The Cell" was not available for that memorable substate game in 2012 between Linn-Mar and Kennedy, because that was a real doozy.

That was the night Linn-Mar senior Marcus Paige poured in 49 points and personally lifted the Lions past a talented Kennedy squad that was worthy of a state tournament bid itself. They packed the Prairie gym with about 2,500 fans and had to turn others away. If they had played in downtown Cedar Rapids, everybody would have had a comfortable seat for one of the greatest games in Metro history.

This year's teams are just about finished jockeying for good seeds for the postseason tournament. The pairings will be released soon and theneveryone will be able to map a path to the U.S. Cellular Center. Some teams will be favorites - heavy favorites, in the case of Iowa City West - and other teams will be long-shots, but everybody will get an equal chance.

Circle March 2 and March 3 on your calendar. If you like high school basketball, the only play to be on those nights will be in downtown Cedar Rapids.