State basketball changes

The NSAA voted Friday to make some changes in the start times for the state basketball tournaments. The first- and second-round games will start at 9 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m. The championship games on Saturday will again begin at 9:30 a.m.

For the first two days of the tournaments, games will start at 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 2 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. The time changes may lead into a switch in 2009 to where each class has its own venue for the first two rounds of the tournament.

The board also approved adding a Class B state baseball tournament next year. The top 26 teams in enrollment will be in Class A and the remainder in Class B. This year, the Class B field will be 16 teams. There will be six districts in Class A with two wildcard teams and four districts in Class B with four wildcards.

Also, soccer districts will start the earliest ever on April 28. The state tournament will start on a Wednesday with six matches the first four days of the tournament. The girls state championship will be on the following Monday with the boys on Tuesday.