District 3 sets dates for playoffs
Basketball tournaments begin March 1
The District 3 basketball tournaments will begin March 1, but what they’ll look like and how many teams are included won’t be announced until later this month.
Dave Bitting, the District 3 basketball chairman, said during Thursday’s virtual meeting that the district committee will monitor how things play out as the season gets underway this weekend.
He didn’t mention the coronavirus, which led to tournament fields being truncated in the fall, but then he didn’t have to: COVID-19 remains the elephant in the room any time plans are considered for sports seasons and tournaments.
With no games being played for the last month following Gov. Tom Wolf’s mandated shutdown, there’s little data to consider in regard to winter sports and the potential spread of COVID-19.
All Bitting would say is that the tournament could be the same as in recent years — when there were 12 qualifiers in Class 6A, 16 in 5A, 10 in 4A, eight in 3A for boys and six for girls, four in 2A and 10 in 1A — or it could be reduced. If there are further COVID-related shutdowns leading to a shortened season, then it follows that the district tournament fields and playing dates could be reduced as well.
Precise tournament details are expected to be determined at the committee’s Jan. 19 meeting.
At this point, the District 3 basketball playoffs are set to tip March 1 and conclude with championship games March 10-12.
The PIAA Tournament, which will be just four rounds this year, begins March 16-17 and concludes with championship games March 2526.
Everything in this COVID era, of course, remains subject to change.
One thing the District 3 Committee did make clear Thursday is that it wants to eliminate schools scheduling lateseason games that can influence power ratings. That became a big issue during the fall season.
The committee voted Thursday to establish a deadline for scheduling games that will count toward the power ratings (which establish tournament qualifiers and seeding). Games must be scheduled 14 days prior to the power rating deadline in order to be considered.
For basketball, that means games must be on the schedule by Feb. 13 and played by Feb. 27 for them to count in the power ratings.
Games added to the schedule after Feb. 13 will not be factored into the power ratings. Teams may continue to schedule regular season games throughout the PIAA Tournament and may continue to play even after being eliminated in tournament play.
The power ranking freeze deadline for wrestling is Jan. 30 for individuals, Feb. 13 for teams.
The section wrestling tournament will be Feb. 20 at six sites, two for Class 2A, four for Class 3A; sites have not been announced.
The Class 2A wrestling championships will be Feb. 21 at Central Dauphin East; 3A will be Feb. 27 at Spring Grove.
The PIAA Class 2A Southeast Regional will be Feb. 27, site TBA; the PIAA Class 2A and Class 3A Super Regionals will be March 6, sites TBA.
Team championships have been delayed until after the PIAA individual championships March 12-13.
The entry deadline for district swimming will be Feb. 25 (diving deadline has not been determined).
The Class 2A diving championships will be Feb. 24 at Big Spring High School; the 3A championships will be Feb. 27 at Wilson.
The Class 2A swimming championships will be held at Central York; 3A will be held at Cumberland Valley. Dates have not been announced.
The District 3 individual bowling championships will be Feb. 27 at Hiester Lanes.
The committee also announced that it will continue to make its power ratings pages visible throughout the season. There was discussion in the fall that it might close those pages to the public so that schools would not be tempted to manipulate schedules based on the ratings.
Committee chairman Doug Bohannon said the district will maintain the policy it established in the fall and freeze the tournament fields once they are selected. If a team cannot participate because of COVID-19 issues, it will not be replaced.