High school basketball: 5A tourney format expanded

When new region alignments were announced last summer, Jordan boys basketball coach Rob Geertsen knew he had to do something about the way teams enter the high school state playoffs.

With the opening of Herriman's new school in 2010, there will be 30 5A schools in the new alignment, "but only 16 teams going to the state tournament," said Geertsen, who approached his athletic director about the possibility of expanding the tournament field.

Geertsen was told that if he wanted to change things, he needed to come up with a specific plan. The Beetdigger coach called Lone Peak head coach Quincy Lewis and then quickly set about trying to accomplish two things. "We wanted to expand the tournament so more teams get the opportunity to play," he said. "And we wanted the best teams to get to the tournament."

Because some regions are tougher than others, oftentimes a No. 4 seed in one region can beat a top seed in another region. Geertsen said he and Lewis brainstormed with other coaches about how regions could play crossover games between No. 4 and 5 seeds on the Thursday before the state tournament started.

"Then they pulled the rug out from under us when they moved the first round of the tournament to home sites," he said.

Still, the effort to expand the tournament continued and was finally approved by the UHSAA a couple of months ago for both boys and girls 5A teams. One of the things Geertsen had to do was poll the other schools — 20 of which approved of the new playoff system. Four schools voted no, one school didn't care and five didn't respond with an official vote. Of those that didn't respond, Geertsen said several have since expressed support.

"We couldn't have made it any more fair," he said, noting the uneven number of schools in each region. Region 1 will have nine schools, Region 2 and Region 4 will each have seven and Region 3 will have six schools for a year and then seven after the new Herriman school opens in 2010.

"We wanted a system where everyone had the same playoff opportunity," he said.

Region 1's sixth-place team will always get a chance to play another region's fourth-place team. Then the other regions will have their fourth- and fifth-place teams square off in crossover games, with each region taking a turn at having their fifth-seeded team sit out to accommodate Region 1's sixth-place team.

The top three teams from each region will automatically make it to the second round.

"It's very complicated," said Geertsen. "It was a ton of work. …We tried to make it as fair as possible by having the best teams make it into that second round."

E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com