INDIANAPOLIS – A proposed change to the state high school basketball tournament was voted down by IHSAA executives Monday.
The committee agreed unanimously (17-0) against the measure that was presented to them in August by a study committee made up of representatives from Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, the IHSAA Board of Directors and IHSAA staff.
The proposal, which would have begun with the 2015-16 school year, called for the largest 64 schools by enrollment to make up Class 4A. Sixteen sectionals would have been played with four teams each and all games played on Saturday.
The remaining schools in Classes 3A,2A and 1A would have been evenly distributed with seven or eight schools per sectional and played in a Tuesday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday format.
Additional portions called for the IHSAA staff to determine host sites at each level of the state tournament with the same site hosting both years of the alignment window. In recent years, school administrators within each sectional have determined the host site with some rotation between schools
“I want to commend the Executive Committee for their thoughtful deliberations surrounding the basketball tournament format proposals,” IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox said following the meeting.
“The Committee entertained two different proposals throughout this process and in the final analysis, those varied proposals did not significantly improve the current tournament format. While the Association is not presently modifying the four class tournament, several salient points were raised during the conversations and those objectives will be considered during the next reclassification and realignment exercise which will occur in April of 2015.”
