On Monday the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Executive Board voted to increase the number of teams at each state basketball championship site from eight to 12 and approved the use of a Rating Percentage Index (RPI).
The updated format, which will go into effect for the 2016-17 season, will keep regional sites for the first round. Final tournament sites are staying the same with 4A and 3A at the Tacoma Dome, 1A/2A at the Yakima Valley SunDome and 2B/1B at Spokane.
The RPI system will be used to seed the 16 teams that qualify for the first round (regionals). The system will not be used in the qualification to regional sites, only for seeding purposes after the qualifying teams are in place. The State Basketball Format Committee will continue to refine the details of the RPI system, the WIAA said in the release.
The WIAA said each district will continue to control its respective tournaments to determine the 16 teams for each classification.
You can find an example of the new 16-team bracket here.
The board voted on the changes after garnering feedback from administrators and coaches around the state via an online survey, and from different communities. The format chosen was the most popular with 71 percent in favor of using an RPI to seed tournaments.
