Non-school participation violations cause shake-up
It’s a busy time of the year for the Arizona Interscholastic Association, getting ready to hand out winter sports trophies.
The workload got heavier in the past few days when three boys soccer teams discovered they had players who participated in a club tournament during the first week of December.
That’s an AIA non-school participation violation that resulted in No. 1 Phoenix Washington (4A) and Phoenix Carl Hayden (5A) having to forfeit all but one of their games this season.
AIA Executive Director David Hines said that both teams are ineligible for the state tournaments next week because a team has to have at least two power-rated games to be considered for the AIA rankings that are powered by MaxPreps.
Tucson had a player compete in two separate club tournaments during the AIA season and had to forfeit eight games. But he didn’t play in four powerrate games, which allows Tucson to be eligible for the 5A tournament with a 3-1 record.
In the AIA/MaxPreps ratings system, forfeits are considered “no contests,” not losses.
That 3-1 record put Tucson among the eight automatic state qualifiers that didn’t have to compete in Thursday’s play-in games to get to the 16-team, 6A tournament. Tucson was already heard by the AIA board, because it asked for the forfeits to be rescinded. The board voted no, Hines said.
“Is it fair or not?” Hines said. “There are a couple of things in play here. Number one is how you qualify based on rankings. For the ratings, you have to have a minimum of two games. They meet the minimum. Number two, we don’t have a bylaw that if you forfeit xnumber of games that you’re not eligible for the post-season competition.
“I understand the concern, but if you don’t have any other bylaws to refer to, I can’t make up the rules.”
The Tucson, Washington and Carl Hayden violations all came to the AIA this week.
It doesn’t mean other schools who move onto the state tournament are in the clear. Hines said if anything comes to the AIA on teams in the state tournament that had a similar situation to Tucson, Washington and Carl Hayden, it could get messy.
“If teams are pulled out of the tournament and know somebody else who has participated, hold onto your hat,” Hines said.
Sabino girls basketball eligible for state
Tucson Sabino’s forfeitures for using an ineligible girls basketball player didn’t hurt its No. 1 spot for the 3A tournament next week. Sabino is ranked at the top with 7-0 record.
Sabino reported the prior-contact infraction to the AIA and forfeited 12 games. But the AIA Executive Board still has to deal with the violation, and that won’t be heard until the next board meeting, Feb. 19, Hines said.
Hines said anything is possible, including Sabino being stripped of its state title if it wins. The board’s decision will be based on the information it receives from Sabino and the Tucson Unified School District during the Feb. 19 meeting.
No boys basketball non-school participation violation
The AIA last week asked 13 schools to investigate whether any of their boys basketball players possibly violated the non-school participation bylaw by having workouts with private instructors that could be viewed as circumventing the rule with multiple players engaged in drills that appear to be practices.
Hines said none of the school submitted a violation report.
He said the video evidence he received came when the AIA season wasn’t in session. He said unless compelling evidence comes forward, no school is in violation.
“Without any additional information, I wouldn’t be able to really say ‘yay’ or ‘nay’,” Hines said.
“There could be someone that says ‘I have more information’, and, if that is the case, OK, we’ll deal with what we find out then.”
AL-Queen Creek parents take AIA to court
American Leadership-Queen Creek’s girls basketball team is hoping to have its season-long probation lifted in time for next week’s 3A tournament by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge today. That hearing will take place at 2:45 p.m.
A group of parents hired an attorney to try to get the ban lifted, believing the AIA’s issued probation over an ineligible foreign-exchange student who played less than two minutes in a blowout win was too harsh.