State hoop tourneys
may grow to 16 teams

Athletic directors also will consider
regional play on the Neighbor Islands
at their annual conference this week

Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Looking for a way to revive flagging attendance at state basketball tournaments, Hawaii's high school athletic directors will consider regionalizing first-round games and expanding entry fields.

Maui and the Big Island would get a chance to host first-round games before the tournaments move back to Honolulu for quarterfinals at the Blaisdell Arena.

This is expected to be the major proposal taken up at the Hawaii High School Athletic Directors Association conference tomorrow through Saturday on Maui.

The measure drafted by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Equity/Scheduling Committee, would increase the fields at both the boys' and girls' state basketball tournaments from 12 to 16 teams.

That would give the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (3), the Oahu Interscholastic Association (6), the Maui Interscholastic League (3) and Big Island Interscholastic Federation (3), one more tournament berth apiece. The Kauai Interscholastic Federation has one.

By regionalizing the tournament -- or giving first-round pool play tournaments to Maui and the Big Island -- HHSAA executive director Dwight Toyama said he hopes the Neighbor Islands would embrace the events.

Toyama said the boys' basketball tournament (Blaisdell Arena), which netted $30,000 in 1996, netted only $18,0000 this year.

He said the girls' tournament netted $24,000 last year in the University of Hawaii's Special Events Arena (although rental and operating expenses ate up the gate and then some). The net was down to $21,000 this year at the Afook-Chinen Civic Center in Hilo.

"This would be a major change in format for state tournaments," said Beth McLachlin, athletic director of LaPietra. McLachlin was on the ad hoc committee that drew up the proposal.

The format would eliminate first-round byes for teams that won their league titles.

"The bye was giving four teams too much advantage" McLachlin said.

Both Toyama and McLachlin said they hope local fans will jump at the opportunity to see their island's best basketball team participate in state tournament pool play.

"We feel it would make money on the neighbor islands -- especially because it will be keeping island champions home," Toyama said.

If approved by the general assembly of ADs on Saturday, the plan moves on to the monthly meeting of the HHSAA executive board.

"Of course, if the outer islands don't support it, we're in trouble," McLachlin said, adding that she believes the measure has enough support to pass.

In a first for the HIADA conference, principals will join ADs for the duration of the conference and conduct breakout sessions. Among the topics they're expected to broach is membership dues.

Toyama has said that the HHSAA members pay one of the lowest dues rates in the nation: $500 per school. He said that because dues are a key means of support for independent organizations, he might support a base-sum scale in which a school pays a basic fee for each season then pays extra per student-athlete involved in the sports programs.

Robert Kanaby, executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, will address the entire conference Friday.