AURORA — The Class 4A basketball tournaments are likely soon headed for 32-team fields.
CHSAA’s basketball committee on Thursday recommended the change to the postseason format in 4A in hopes the early rounds will be more competitive. It would mean moving from 48 teams in the boys and girls state tournaments to 32.
“The information from the survey indicated that many administrators thought there were too many teams in the tournament,” said committee chair Paul Cain, the district athletic director at Mesa County Schools. “The diversity of 4A, with the travel across the state, and the competition levels of the games, I think were all factors in going from 48 to 32.”
To compile the field of 32, 27 slots will go to automatic qualifiers and five will be at-large berths picked by a selection and seeding committee. That committee will have representatives from each league for both boys and girls.
The change to 32 would leave 5A with the biggest state tournament field at 48 teams.
The Denver Coliseum. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Additionally, the committee recommend moving the Great 8 from the Denver Coliseum to home sites. Those home site will need to seat at least 1,500 people.
The 4A has only held its Great 8s at the Coliseum since last season. The event will be there again this year. Prior to 2013, it was held at the Colorado School of Mines for eight seasons.
“We’re hoping for better attendance and a better atmosphere,” Cain said. “We’re hoping that it will generate some more revenue.”
Because of the need to play eight games (four boys, four girls) in one day at the Coliseum, early-morning tipoffs were a necessity. Those would go away.
“You’re not playing in the middle of the day where you wouldn’t have a crowd,” Cain said.
These changes need to be approved at April’s Legislative Council meeting.
Short stuff.
- The basketball committee gave the 5A seeding committee guidance in that it should use league finish above head-to-head results when determining the tournament field. Once the field is determined, however, head-to-head results may be considered ahead of league finish for seeding.
- 3A kept its postseason at 32 teams, but adjusted the number of qualifiers for each league based upon the new alignment. The classification also had a long discussion about the future of the consolation bracket the state tournament, but retained the format for the upcoming two-year cycle.
- The committee is recommending a format in 2A where boys and girls teams from the same school will be able to stay at the same regional site. It also paired up 2A’s eight districts for regionals. Those regionals will be true seeded by a seeding committee represented by the districts in that region.
- There were no changes the 1A’s postseason format.