One division of play in the Maui Interscholastic League basketball puzzle has determined its plan going forward in the midst of numerous postponements due to COVID-19 and the state tournament being moved up a week.
Jon Conrad, the Lahainaluna athletic director and MIL basketball coordinator, sent a statement to The Maui News on Wednesday outlining a plan that is very similar to the way the league usually decides its two state berths.
“The body of work that is done with the completion of the 2nd round and make up games for those rounds, as well as the head to head tiebreakers in what could be called a ‘modified third round’ will determine the seeding for the MIL tournament and a regular season champion,” the statement read.
“The regular season champion will get a berth to states and will be ranked the #1 seed in the tournament. The MIL tournament champion will get the 2nd berth to the state tournament if they are different from the regular season champion,” the statement continued. “If the regular season champion is different from the tournament champion they will play off to see who will be the 1st and 2nd seed to the HHSAA state tournament.”
The MIL D-I boys tournament is slated to begin Feb. 14 with the No. 4 vs. No. 5 game, at the home of the fourth seed. The semifinals are set for Feb. 17 and the tournament championship game Feb. 18, all at King Kekaulike.
An overall championship game, if necessary, is set for Feb. 19.
The boys state tournaments are now set for Feb. 24-26 on Oahu, with D-I first-round games to be played on Feb. 21.
Heading into today’s slate of games, Baldwin leads the boys D-I standings at 7-0, with Kamehameha Maui (5-2) second and Lahainaluna (4-3) third. The Warriors host the Bears in a make-up game tonight, two days after Baldwin held off the Lunas 70-65 in a game that was tied going into the fourth quarter.
Conrad said in an email sent around the league Monday, “The D2 Boys schedule is being looked at right now for the purpose of equitable seeding and will be addressed soon.”
* Robert Collias is at [email protected]
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