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District 9 Sets Format for 2016-17 Basketball Playoffs

BROCKWAY, Pa. – District 9 has released information on how the 2016-17 basketball playoffs will be seeded.

District 9 will run four tournaments in Classes 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A with DuBois, a 5A school, playing in a tournament with another district.

The tournaments will be “open format” meaning that anyone can elect to participate regardless of record.

Unlike in past years, if a team commits to play in the tournament before the end of the regular season they cannot “opt out” if their record is below .500 and the school has a .500 policy. Because of that change, teams will not have to declare for the postseason until midnight of the day/night of their final regular-season contest, although teams in Class 1A and 2A must declare no later than midnight Feb. 16.

Seeding for the District 9-run tournaments in 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A will be done by winning percentage with a minimum of 11 games vs. PIAA opponents. All seeding will be done as soon as all regular-season games have been played.

Tiebreakers in seeding will be done as follows: (1) Head-to-head results (2) record vs. common opponents (3) winning percentage vs. District 9 teams (4) power rating and (5) coin flip.

The power rating is as follows: (1) 5 points for a win (2) 3 points for playing a 6A team (3) 2.5 points for playing a 5A team (4) 2 points for playing a 4A team (5) 1.5 points for playing a 3A team (6) 1 point for playing a 2A team (7) 0.5 points for playing a 1A team. The rating will be determined by the total number of points divided by the number of regular-season games.

In deciding winning percentage for teams and any tiebreakers only regular-season contests will be counted. Conference playoffs/championship games will not be counted.

Game locations will be determined using the following criteria:

For games in Classes 1A, 2A and 3A all games up to the quarterfinals will be played on the home court of the higher seeded team provided the host school waives any rental charges for the use of their gym. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played on neutral courts to be determined by the district.

In Class 4A, the semifinals will be played on the home court of the higher seeded team provided the host school waives any rental charges for the use of their gym. The championship games will be played on a neutral court to be determined by the district.

If either of the DuBois’ teams elect to participate in the 5A playoffs they will compete with another district, and the seeding method will be based on the number of teams to be involved and is yet to be determined.

The district will charge each participating team a $75 entry fee. Spectator pricing for games will be $6 per adults and $3 per students with the exception of “Super Saturday”. Pricing for “Super Saturday” hasn’t been announced. Only District 9 passes will be honored, and the pass number will be checked off as they are used.

District 9 reminds fans of the spectator decorum policy:

The presence and/or the use of balloons, banners, laser pointers, noisemakers, pom-poms (by spectators), shakers, signs, sirens, strips of material, towels, whistles, and/or portable listening devices (without earphones) are prohibited. The Principal and Athletic Director of each school will be requested to confiscate these items from their cheerleaders and/or the spectators from their school and community. The use of pom-poms by cheerleaders and small portable listening devices with earphones is permitted. During basketball Contests cheerleaders may utilize portable signs in their cheer performances and confirm that this does not violate the intent of the “no sign” policy. Spectators are prohibited from removing their shirt and/or using body paint while in attendance at District and Inter-District Championship Contests. Principals and Athletic Directors of competing schools shall announce and publicize these regulations.

The District 9 playoffs will most likely start Tuesday, Feb. 21 with the championship games having to be played no later than Saturday, March 4.

The classifications breakdown by team is as follows:

GIRLS

Class 5A

DuBois

Class 4A

Bradford, Clearfield, Punxsutawney, St. Marys

Class 3A

Brookville, Karns City, Moniteau

Class 2A

Clarion, Clarion-Limestone, Coudersport, Cranberry, Curwensville, Kane, Keystone, Port Allegany, Redbank Valley, Ridgway

Class 1A

A-C Valley, Austin, Brockway, Cameron County, DuBois Central Catholic, Elk County Catholic, Forest Area, Johnsonburg, North Clarion, Northern Potter, Oswayo Valley, Otto-Eldred, Sheffield, Smethport, Union

BOYS

Class 5A

DuBois

Class 4A

Bradford, Clearfield, Punxsutawney, St. Marys

Class 3A

Brookville, Kane, Karns City, Moniteau

Class 2A

Brockway, Clarion, Clarion-Limestone, Coudersport, Cranberry, Curwensville, Keystone, Redbank Valley, Ridgway, Smethport

Class 1A

A-C Valley, Austin, Cameron County, DuBois Central Catholic, Elk County Catholic, Forest Area, Johnsonburg, North Clarion, Northern Potter, Oswayo Valley, Otto-Eldred, Port Allegany, Sheffield, Union, Venango Catholic

District 9 will send a minimum of nine boys’ and eight girls’ teams to the PIAA playoffs.

In boys, there will be four teams out of Class 1A, three in Class 2A, one in Class 3A and one in Class 4A. DuBois could qualify for the PIAA playoffs through District 6.

In Class 1A, the D9 champion will play the fifth-place team out of the WPIAL, the D9 second-place team will face the District 10 second-place team, the D9 third-place team will take on the District 10 champion and the D9 fourth-place squad will matchup against the WPIAL champion.

In Class 2A, the D9 champion faces the fourth-place team out of District 6, the second-place team from D9 takes on the third-place team out of the WPIAL and the third-place team matches up against the District 4 champion on the “Eastern” half of the bracket.

In 3A, the D9 champ plays the District 10 third-place team, and in 4A the District 9 champion battles the fifth-place team out of the WPIAL. If DuBois would qualify for the PIAA playoffs, it would take on the second-place team out of District 10.

On the girls’ side, there will be four teams qualify for the PIAA playoffs in Class 1A, three in Class 2A and one in Class 4A. The District 9 3A champion will play some type of subregional with District 8 (the Pittsburgh City League) to give District 9 a possible ninth girls’ team in the field and DuBois could qualify for the PIAA playoffs through a District 6 and District 8 subregional type of tournament.

The District 9 Class 1A champion will face the WPIAL fifth-place team, the second-place team in 1A out of D9 will take on the WPIAL third-place team, the third-place team out of D9 battles the District 6 champion and the fourth-place team out of District 9 takes on the WPIAL champion.

In Class 2A, the District 9 winner plays the fifth-place team out of the WPIAL, the District 9 runner-up takes on the District 6 third-place team and the District 9 third-place team takes on the WPIAL champion.

In Class 3A, if District 9’s champion comes out of the subregional it will face the WPIAL third-place team, and in Class 4A the District 9 winner takes on the fifth-place team out of the WPIAL. If DuBois qualifies for the PIAA playoffs it would play the the fifth-place team out of the WPIAL.

The PIAA playoffs will start Friday, March 10, and Saturday, March 11. Second-round games will be played Tuesday, March 14, and Wednesday, March 15, with quarterfinals games taking place on Friday, March 17, and Saturday, March 18. Semifinal contests will be played on Monday, March 20, and Tuesday, March 21, with the championship contests now being spread over three days starting Thursday, March 23, and going through Saturday, March 25.

The girls’ Class 2A and Class 4A and the boys’ Class 1A and Class 3A title games will be Thursday, March 23, at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., the girls’ Class 1A and Class 6A and the boys’ Class 2A and Class 5A title games will be Friday, March 24, at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., and the girls’ Class 3A and Class 5A and the boys’ Class 4A and Class 6A championship games will be Saturday, March 25, at the Giant Center in Hershey.