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Class 1A state basketball tournament to double in size

June 10th 2:21 am | Van Williams Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

There are more Class 1A schools in Alaska than 2A, 3A and 4A combined.

Yet when it came to the state basketball tournament, the 1A schools were in the same boat as the others despite having many more participants.

Well, that's about to change.

Starting next season, eight more 1A teams will join March Madness, doubling the size of the field. The 2A, 3A and 4A tournaments will remain unchanged.

Board members of the Alaska School Activities Association - the state's governing body for high school sports - voted unanimously to make the change in 1A starting in 2013.

"It was pretty obvious," said ASAA executive director Gary Matthews.

For years, officials from 1A schools have wanted to expand the state tournament field to 16 teams to better represent the Alaska's largest classification.

Teams had a 1-in-10 shot at making the big dance.

Now it'll be closer to 1-in-5 [not every 1A school fields a basketball team].

"The more opportunity for the kids the better," said Bob Rychnovsky, head coach of the 2012 1A state champion Newhalen boys basketball team. "I feel pretty good about it, but I'm going to wait and see what happens."

The timing of the change coincides with last year's re-classification in which the maximum number for 1A schools increased in student size from 50 to 60. That change also meant an additional 50 schools would be joining the 1A level.

Another change, for example, will see Dillingham drop from 3A to 2A.

The re-classification was also tied into football, where a third class was created for mid-size schools. There were already divisions for large and small schools.

The biggest opposition to the expansion of the state basketball tournament was cost. But it was ultimately trumped by opportunity to get more Alaskans involved with March Madness.

"It's an experience for the kids," Matthews said. "Most of them never get to play in front of a lot of people. Families say it's really been huge for these kids, especially when they get to the championship games."

No teams will earn a title like the 1A squads.

With the state tournament expanding to 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams, the 1A teams will play a combined 62 games from the first round to the championship games.

In the past the state tournament began on a Monday, but with the change, it will now tip off the previous Saturday.

A venue for first round games has not been determined, but Matthews said the games would probably be played at a high school in Anchorage before moving to Sullivan Arena.

"Our region has always produced teams that do well at state," Rychnovsky said. "Last year, for example, New Stuyahok was a state championship game - we just managed to beat them."

Reach Van Williams at sports@reportalaska.com.

 

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