Latest three-class basketball plan released

An updated draft proposal for a three-class basketball system in the state was released by the North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) for school administration and athletic directors’ consumption and review.

The NDHSAA, upon consultation with legal counsel, made several minor changes to the previous plan presented before the board, and unveiled a 22-page document on Friday, January 27, which details some of the specifics of the draft proposal.

If the governing body plans to implement the new system by the 2023-24 school year, the board must give a final yea or nay vote on or before February 22.

The 11-member Board of Directors is soliciting input on the draft proposal before their next scheduled meeting on Wednesday, February 8.

The latest version of the proposal has subdivided the 29-team Division A, or the middle division in the three-tier alignment, into schools/co-ops with adjusted enrollment numbers of 162.5 students to 649. That represents a slight drop on the bottom end from the threshold in the original proposed plan, and was implemented to satisfy the legal counsel’s request to cut the current Class A/B dividing line of 325 students in half to come up with the new number.

Makeup of the divisions

Division A will consist of four regions, with eight teams in Region 1 (seven for boys), six in Region 2, nine in Region 3 (eight for boys), and eight in Region 4.

Carrington, with 168.5 students as listed in the most recent numbers in the plan, would be placed in Division A – Region 2, along with Devils Lake (495.5), Grafton (275), Four Winds/Minnewaukan (262.5), Hillsboro/Central Valley (219) and Thompson (167).

Meanwhile, New Rockford-Sheyenne would stay in Division B, but face new competition in District 4, Region 2.

Two private schools, Shiloh Christian (154.5) and Dickinson Trinity (148) are below the Division A/B threshold line, but are required to play up to Division A since their schools are in Division AA school districts and have an enrollment of 100 to 399 students.

Another private school, Minot Bishop Ryan, would have qualified for Division A as part of a AA district, but their enrollment sits at 94 students, keeping them in Division B.

In the large-school division with 19 schools, Bismarck St. Mary’s (356.5) and Fargo Shanley (320), below the 650-student threshold, have petitioned to remain in AA. A new school beginning play in 2024-25, Minot North, will also compete in the AA division.

The champions of the four regional tournaments will earn automatic berths to the Division A state tournament, which would be held February 29-March 2 in Minot (girls) and March 14-16, 2024, in Fargo (boys), should the plan get board approval before the specified deadline.

State qualifier games would be held two days later on the Saturday following the Thursday championship night. In this format, for example, the eastern regions (1 and 2) would pit the Region 1 runner-up versus the Region 2 third place team, and Region 2 runner-up versus Region 1 third place. The winners of those two games, along with their counterparts in the west regions (3 and 4), would also advance to the state tournament.

The new Division B will also feature four regions, composed of two districts each for a total of eight.

District tournaments in Division B would largely be conducted in the same manner as the current district format in non-Super Region alignments, with the top four teams advancing to the region tournament.

Where it changes, however, is that Division B would abide by the same regional champion advancement and state qualifier format as would be used in Division A.

State B Tournaments would be slated to be held February 29-March 2 in Jamestown (girls) and March 14-16, 2024, in Minot (boys), again, if the plan passes a board vote.

There are currently no plans to extend the three-class system movement to any other sports at this time.

A copy of the full three-class draft plan is available for download here: https://www.fosterconews.com/home/cms_data/dfault/pdfs/misc/2023-02-06.pdf