Playoff time....Explain how your do it State does it

[zm1283]

Missouri has five classes in basketball. Class 5 is the biggest and Class 1 the smallest. Each class is split into 16 districts, and the postseason starts with the district tournaments. Everyone qualifies for them. They are 5-8 teams depending on the class. Bigger classes sometimes only have 5-6 teams while smaller classes usually have 6-8. All of the district tournament managers for each area of the state have an officials draft to select officials for their tournaments. Starting with district tournaments, every postseason game is 3-person.

The 16 district winners in each class play in the sectional round. The quarterfinal round of 8 is next. These are assigned by the state office using recommendations from assigners/observers around the state. These are all neutral site games at bigger high schools or colleges.

The final four is also assigned by the state with recommendations from observers as well. It has been played in Columbia for a long time but is moving to Springfield for the next five years I believe starting this year. A wrinkle this year is that they are assigning final four officials but they will only work semifinal and state final games. They are bringing in another group of officials to work the third place games in each class. In the past this was not the case. The officials who worked the semis worked the third place games too.