Comparing new WIAA plan to Midwest

The states around Wisconsin have a variety of formats, nomenclature and methods of assignment. But they all have one thing in common that Wisconsin no longer shares: four divisions in the high-school basketball postseason.

Confronting the issue of private-school membership is hardly unique to Wisconsin, and the WIAA arrived at a solution to that debate late in June when it voted on a new postseason structure at its Board of Control meeting. To appease middle-level enrollment schools that felt unfairly challenged by private schools in the same postseason bracket, the state berths were re-allotted, and a fifth division was created.

The losers: Division 1 schools that saw a decrease in state representation from eight to four, as well as D2 schools that kept four representatives but will see a major escalation of competition from D1 powerhouses dropping down a level. The winners: Division 3 and 4 schools, ranging in enrollment from 200 to 600 students, now with eight total representatives at the state meet.

More than one area coach took issue with the simple math: How can the governing body of high-school athletics want eight representatives from schools of enrollments at 600 or higher and 12 representatives from schools with enrollments below 600? Moreover, doesn't the concept of five state champions seem "watered down" to a degree?

I tried to get a vibe of what other schools around the Midwest have done.

Iowa - Despite only 376 high schools (the WIAA represents 506 schools), Iowa grants eight state-tournament berths to schools in each of four divisions. That's especially good news for the largest 48 schools in the state which compose Division 1. Proponents of the WIAA plan have pointed out that Division 1 schools are given the benefit of fewer teams battling for the four spots - the 76 schools in D1 are the fewest of any division.

According to Todd Tharp of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, a "multiplier" to enrollment numbers - thus equaling the playing field between public and private schools - didn't make enough sense.

"Overall, it was decided with our open enrollment that we have here, where kids can transfer from public to public the same as a private school (that we would not use multipliers)," Tharp said.

In Iowa, students who transfer without a verifiable change in residency cannot participate in athletics for 90 days. In Wisconsin, an athlete cannot transfer after his or her fourth semester without sitting out an entire year.

Minnesota - Our neighbors to the west actually have a reverse multiplier for urban schools that enroll a large proportion of immigrant students of Somali and Hmong descent. There is no stipulation for private schools.

"We did a study recently whereby we took the number of private schools vs. public schools and created percentages and compared those to the state championships won by each, and they were all pretty equal," said Howard Voigt of the Minnesota State High School League.

Minnesota is perhaps the most comparable of the Midwestern states to Wisconsin in terms of population, with 435 high schools. Like Iowa, eight teams from each of the four divisions make the state field.

Illinois - The most populous of Wisconsin's neighbors expanded from two to four divisions just three years ago, and Illinois High School Association representative Kurt Gibson said the maneuver has gone smoothly.

"Certainly we still hear from folks," he said. "The purists out there would say any kind of expansion should not have been undertaken."

Like Wisconsin's old format, four teams from each of the four divisions make the state tourney, but unlike others in the region, Illinois does employ a multiplier for what it calls "nonboundaried" schools such as private schools. Each student in a private school counts 1.65 toward enrollment figures to determine division classification.

"There was a lot of passion behind that, from both sides," Gibson said.

Indiana - Perhaps the center of the high-school basketball universe, Indiana played in one large division until 1997, when the hotly debated decision was made to create four divisions.

"That was a tremendous change for Indiana," said Phil Gardner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association. With the creation of four divisions from one came a greater concentration on private schools.

"It's debated all the time," Gardner said. "We've studied it, but we really just have made the decision to keep it as is."

The Hoosiers take a more holistic approach to the postseason; rather than a "state tournament," teams simply move up the ladder until reaching the state final at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. "Semi-states" are played at venues around the state feeding into a title game one week later.

Michigan - The Michiganders share Indiana's approach, with a semifinal and championship level at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University.

The preceding batch of games - played at venues around the state - is considered the state quarterfinals, with just two or three days separating that game from the semifinals. Teams reach the quarterfinals by negotiating "districts" and "regionals."

Michigan has no multiplier for private schools.

What I've learned - No matter how dramatic the change to the postseason, basketball enthusiasts around the state will accept the format. But in this small sampling, Wisconsin is entrenched in the middle in terms of population and number of schools, and yet it's the only state offering five gold balls next season. If that didn't feel like too many before, it does now.

Whether or not teams take private-school enrollment at face value, every state comes to the same conclusion at the end of the format: only four champions.

States of play