Basketball Realignment Proposal

[ballaholic#3]

As it is in the NDHSAA hands and based on this forum, I've made a few assumptions:
1. Travel is a problem
2. Out of Zone- definition is a problem
3. Tournaments are a problem
4. Competition disparity is a problem

Gist: Based largely on most recent proposal, I've attempted to fix problems (haven't thought through everything) as I sit here on another snow day. I've created 4 classes but with only two state tournaments (like current set-up).


Class AA(9)- East- Fargo Davies, Fargo North, Fargo South, Fargo Shanley, Grand Forks Central, Grand Forks Red River, West Fargo, West Fargo Sheyenne, West Fargo Horace

Class AA (9)- West- Minot, Williston, Century, Legacy, Bismarck High, Mandan, Dickinson, Jamestown, St. Mary’s,

Class- A(6)- Minot North, Turtle Mountain, Devils Lake, Watford City, Wahpeton, Valley City (list could go on)

Class AA plays out current WDA, EDC tournament for 8 teams, Class A plays a conference tournament for top 2 teams

State Tournament:
Play in: Class AA EDC #4 v. WDA #4, Class AA (EDC or WDA depending on year) #3 v. Class A winner

State Tournament: #1 WDA v. Winner of #4 play-ins
#2 EDC v. WDA #3
#1 EDC v. Winner of other play-in
#2 WDA v. EDC #3


** The winner of the Class A conference tournament gets labeled as the Class A state champion; like in Legion baseball, there is an advancing component

Benefit: Keeps 1 state tournament for the bigger schools yet gives more teams an equitable chance to win. Also, allows those schools the flexibility to schedule any team they so wish.

____________________________________________________________________________________________


Class B- 4 districts (look at current 3 class proposal), district tournament (2 teams out of each district),
State Tournament Play-ins: (use SD or similar model) and seed the remaining 8 teams for a play-in game to go to state tournament:

Class C: 8 districts (look at current model): Top 4 from each district advances to regional, play regional where top 2 advance to state tournament play-in (seed remaining 8 teams)


Class A & B Combined state tournament (current Class B format): Class B has 4 remaining teams, Class C has 4 teams
Class B has its own bracket, Class C has its own bracket- whoever wins their side of the bracket gets crowned that level’s state champion
- Then, the final night is the championship of each bracket’s winners, 3rd place, 5th, 7th

Benefit is that each Class gets a winner. State tournament is a lot more fun for all 3 days as each level is playing each other. Sets up some cool David v. Goliath atmosphere for final night, and it keeps the ‘B’! No headaches about television. Only tricky part is finding a day to do the play-ins, but that would be a really fun night of basketball.

Every team has flexibility to schedule their current teams along with the teams in their new districts. No more flying around the state especially for the ‘A’ teams. Also, this allows for some flexibility from people smarter than me as to have the ability to have a girls and boys team play at a different level.

[Flip]

I still don't understand where the Class A champ goes in this scenario. It looks like they're just done after their conference tournament.

Also, it doesn't really matter how many classes you have it should be pretty easy to schedule whoever you want. All the NDHSAA would have to say is seeding for tournaments will be based on a formula and not region/district record.

Either way, I feel confident the NDHSAA plan will look very close to the last proposal. That's what the majority of the state voted on.