Frequently Asked Questions

A. Yes, that was considered having a combined Class A & Class B girls state tournament and a combined Class A & Class B boys state tournament The issues on this we encountered were as follows.

1. Venues: During the first week of March during the girl’s state tournament, the venues of Bismarck and Fargo could not host a tournament on this weekend. The EDC and WDA have their regional basketball tournaments locked in on this weekend. That leaves the venue of Minot and Grand Forks left that have hosted state tournaments for that weekend. These venues have yet to host a combined state tournament for doing a double state tourney as Bismarck and Fargo have done. The venues used at Fargo and Bismarck are walking distance from each other unlike the venues that would need to be used in Minot and Grand Forks. The venue in Grand Forks also has to work around U.N.D hockey the first week of March.

2. The logistics of hotel availability was also a concern. If a tournament of 16 different teams and communities that qualify come to a state tournament site, would the town selected for the state tournament be able to accommodate those teams and their fans. There was great concern for this as this would more than likely also eliminate some venues to host a combined state tournament.

3. If state tournaments combined for the three classes, it may possibly eliminate some venues and the only venues for a state tournament would be Fargo and Bismarck would be under consideration.

4. Another goal was to have the State Tournament operate somewhat the same as it has been in the past with approximately the same start time of the games and days played. If having a combined tournament, alterations would have to occur in the time schedule of when the games would be played also.

5. Seating for the state tournament was also a concern, especially on championship night if four teams were playing at the same site. More than likely, reserved seating would be eliminated like the current Class A tournament in which they have all general admission seating for all the games. If utilizing two different venues, you would not know which venue you would be playing in also plays a part for reserved seating.

6. For this to occur with combined classes or Girls / Boys combined state tournament is a major undertaking that would need to look at scheduling of games, length of the tournament, venues, the NDHSAA calendar of which tournament order would occur also would have to be looked at and studied.

The focus group was not opposed to this concept, but this would undergo a major overhaul of the tournament structure and could possibly be looked at once a 3-class system is in place.

Q, Has the focus group considered including volleyball or other activities in the three-class system?

1. Yes. This topic was talked about during the initial stages of the focus group. Changing the framework of Basketball is a major undertaking and the focus group wanted to have proper feedback from various stakeholders. Adding a layer of volleyball with different dynamics of the sport layout would put another obstacle to overcome. An example of another obstacle is a state tournament in volleyball with 3 classes in one site – is it possible. The enrollment count would more than likely be different. In football, we count male enrollment. Would a volleyball plan just count female enrollment? The basketball plan counts a total of boys and girls for classification purposes. One of the goals of the focus group is to have a framework for basketball and if this plan is successful, it may provide a building block for other sports to potentially implement with modifications that would be needed for that specific sport. Whether this focus group of another school or group may elect to pursue this if this plan is successful. The timelines for consideration and implementation are also different. A volleyball plan would need to be brought before the NDHSAA board by August 15^th with 60% support of the teams involved. A basketball plan has to be presented with 60% support by November 15^th for implementation.

Q. Could Class A and B divisions proposed plan use a Super Regional format?

Nothing in the current plan would prevent a Region from doing that in the proposed Class A or Class B model. The recommendation if considering this, do that with caution on the onset of the proposed plan. When having a Super Region, you would more than likely be required to play all teams in your region during the regular season for the Class A and Class B level. This would limit the number of non-region games you could play. We encouraging teams to still play Class A and Class B School against each other. There could be potentially 15-19 teams in a region. This would tie up 14-18 games on your schedule. The same rules apply for the number of games you would have. 21 games if there is no District tournament and 19 games if there is a District tournament to play. The goal is to have competitive games where schools can still schedule who they feel is appropriate competition.

Q. Why did the plan presented utilize 6^th grade – 9^th grade enrollment?

1. The football plan which utilizes 4 divisions, uses male enrollment of grades 7^th – 10^th grade for enrollment numbers. The initial thought was to stay consistent with the enrollment count in line with the football plan. Those numbers are supplied from DPI after September 15^th of the year of setting up the plan. Since DPI has only enrollment numbers at the current time for the 2021-2022 school year, the numbers were taken from DPI from 6^th – 9^th grade. If all enrollment stays the same, this would be this school years 7-10 grade student body. As the plan states these are estimates at the current time.

Q. Is the focus group going to continue 7-10 enrollment for the plan?

A. No. After feedback from member schools and suggestions, the focus group is now utilizing a different format for determining enrollment. Grades 9-12 enrollment will be used for the 2021-2022 school year. We will also get enrollment for grades 9-12 after September 15^th of 2022 of this school year also. The focus group will then find the average of those two years to determine placement of what Class to belong to when determining Class AA, Class A and Class B. The plan will be an estimate of the enrollment until we can get enrollment numbers from DPI after schools submit their enrollment by September 15^th. This is an example of great feedback the focus group has received during this time till the final plans are unveiled at the end of September.

Q. Who is responsible for scheduling games for member school in the current proposal?

A. This will still stay with the responsibility of each school to schedule their own games and schedules for each year. There will be no changes in determining your schedule.