North Dakota Is One Step Closer To 3 Class Basketball

The NDHSAA board held a special meeting last week to discuss a proposal to implement a three-class basketball system in North Dakota.

The NDHSAA Board of Directors approved a Focus Group's recommendation to introduce a third basketball division on December 1, 2022. On January 17–19, 2023, the Board of Directors and other Board Committees got together and extensively discussed the plan. The majority of member schools provided data and feedback specific to the teams included in the proposed divisions A and B.

A draft of the proposal, which was made public by 740 The Fan on their website, was sent to member schools.

Member schools are requested to share their input on the proposal by their next meeting which is scheduled for February 8 and has also set a deadline date of February 22 to make a decision on this proposal.

Classification of schools for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 basketball seasons will be in three divisions of basketball with the following enrollment ranges:

Division AA – Enrollment of 650+: Calculated using the average of grade 9-12 enrollments in the Fall of 2021 and Fall of 2022.

Division A – Enrollment of 162.5 – 649 students: Calculated using the average of grade 9-12 enrollments in the Fall of 2021 and Fall of 2022.

Division B – Enrollment below 162.5 students: Calculated using the average of grade 9-12 enrollments in the Fall of 2021 and Fall of 2022

Public and non-public schools located within a Division AA school district with 100-399 students shall be placed in Division A.

Public and non-public schools located within a Division AA school district with 400 or more students shall be placed in Division AA.

Teams may choose to participate in a division higher than their enrollment places them for a minimum of two seasons.

Following the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, teams will move divisions after their enrollment has been in a different division range for two consecutive years.

Filed Under: basketball, High School, NDHSAA, North Dakota

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