Flip wrote:Was there ever a time when only the district champion advanced to the regional?
Here is the history of how it worked:
1934-46: 16 districts. The champion of each district advanced to a one game regional with the winner of that game advancing to state. So Districts 1 & 2 played for the Region A title, Districts 3 & 4 for the Region B title, etc. (yes, the regions were referred to by letter)
1947-49: 8 districts. The top two from each district advanced to either an 8-team Class B East Region tournament in Devils Lake or a West Region tournament in Dickinson. From there, the teams that finished first, second, third and fifth qualified for the state tournament.
1950-55: 8 districts. The top four from each district advanced to one of four 8-team region tournaments with the top two teams from each region advancing to state. This was a confusing time. Most districts were split, so you would have for example a District 1 North tournament and a District 1 South tournament with the top two in each tournament advancing. District 3 (NE part of the state) split into four different sub-districts with one team advancing from each while District 7 (SW part of the state) had one big tournament with the first, second, third and fifth place teams advancing.
1956-63: 16 districts. The top two from each district advanced to one of four 8-team region tournaments with the top two teams from each region advancing to state. The structure was very similar to what was in place prior but much less confusing.
1964-73: 32 districts. The winner of each district advanced to one of eight 4-team regionals with the regional champion advancing to state.
1974-90: 32 districts. The top two teams from each district advanced to one of eight 8-team regionals with the regional champion advancing to state.
1991-92: 24 districts (3 per region), with the top three from two of the districts and the top two from another making eight 3-team regionals. Champion to state.
1993-present: 16 districts, although R1, R2 and R7 have gone to the super regional structure.
Flip wrote:Anyone have history on how many regular season games you've been allowed to play?
Prior to the 1958-59 season: Teams were allowed the same number of regular season games as weeks in the season (20) plus any tournaments, which were not included in the limit. This led to many state tournament teams playing a high number of games because they could compete in multiple in-season tournaments and not have it count towards the 20. For example, the Class C Alsen teams of '57 and '58 both went 34-0.
1958-59 and 1959-60: Teams were allowed 20 games plus one tournament.
1960-61 through 1962-63: Teams were allowed 18 games plus one tournament.
1963-64 through 1979-80: Teams were allowed 20 games or 18 games plus a tournament.
1980-81 through present: Teams allowed 18 games or 16 plus a tournament. Teams in super regions are allowed 20 games or 18 plus a tournament.