(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
AURORA — A group of basketball minds from Class 2A met at the CHSAA office on Tuesday, and ultimately recommended a change to the way the classification handles its district tournaments.
The group, and ad-hoc committee made up of at least one representative from each of the eight 2A districts, wants the district brackets to rely heavily on the use of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) formula, which will be implemented in a widespread fashion across all teams sports beginning with the 2016-17 season.
The full recommendation for district play in 2A boys and girls basketball is as follows, according to Bert Borgmann, CHSAA’s assistant commissioner in charge of basketball:
- The structure would remain relatively the same — that is, eight districts narrowing to a 32-team regional bracket.
- Districts would crossover and play one another for two seasons during a two-year cycle. Currently, the format rotates on a seasonal basis.
- The district host would rotate season-to-season, allowing each district to host the tournament once during the two-year cycle.
- The basketball committee would set the district crossover pairings, and use geography as a factor. (Schools will continue to determine their placement in an individual district.)
- Four teams would qualify out of each district tournament: The champion, the runner-up, and the next two highest-ranked teams based upon their standing in the RPI formula.
- The basketball committee would set the seeding criteria for the 32-team regional bracket. Eight teams would continue to advance to the state tournament.
- The basketball committee would also set the seeding criteria for the state tournament qualifiers once they are determined.
- These changes would begin in 2016-17.
“The goal was to try and get some consistency with what the classification wanted to do and what they could recommend to the basketball committee,” Borgmann said.
The proposed changes would need to be approved by the basketball committee, which next meets on Feb. 4, 2016. They would then need to be approved by the Legislative Council next April.
During Tuesday’s meeting, each district had one voting member.
In attendance were: Cole Larson, Sanford, District 1; Kevin Jones, Center, District 1; Bryan Dermer, Merino, District 2; Rocky Cundiff, Ignacio, District 3; Jimmie Langford, Dolores, District 3; Greg Swiatkowski, Burlington, District 4; Dirk Pederson, Limon, District 4; Tim Esgar, Paonia, District 5; Carl Lindauer, Las Animas, District 6; Tammy Ridennoure, Rocky Ford, District 6; Kathleen Leiding, Lyons, District 7; Harley Lowe, Dayspring Christian, District 7; and Don Steiner, Evangelical Christian, District 8.