Sean Williams/MDN Des Lacs-Burlington head coach Christopher Brown (left), Carson Yale (14), and Paxton Ystaas (4) huddle up during a timeout at the MSU Dome earlier this season

The North Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors met on Wednesday, where they voted on and made a big decision that will impact North Dakota basketball next season.

Approving a Three Division Basketball Plan unanimously, the board then approved a subsequent motion to implement the Three Division Basketball Plan starting in the 2023-24 season with an 8-2 vote.

With the vote, there will be a three-class basketball system coming to North Dakota next year. While final details are still being ironed out, there is important information from the Three Division Basketball Plan that was approved.

The proposal has classes broken down by enrollment ranges. The enrollment numbers are calculated by the average of grade 9-12 enrollments in the fall of 2021 and fall of 2022

Class AA will be schools with enrollment of 650+ students, Class A will be schools with enrollment of 162.5-649 students, and Class B will be schools with enrollment below 162.5 students.

According to the proposal, public and non-public schools located in a Class AA school district with 100-399 students will be placed in Class A. Public and non-public schools located in a Class AA school district with 400 or more students will be placed in Class AA.

Additionally, the proposal states that following the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, teams will move classes after their enrollment has been in a different class range for two consecutive years.

It can be possible for a school to have boys and girls teams in separate divisions, which will be outlined in the full class details from the proposal listed below.

Class AA: West Fargo Sheyenne, West Fargo, Fargo Davies, Grand Forks Central, Grand Forks Red River, Fargo North, Fargo South, West Fargo Horace, Shanley, Minot, Legacy, Century, Williston, Bismarck, Mandan, Dickinson, Jamestown, St. Mary’s, and Minot North.

Class A: Wahpeton, Valley City, Central Cass, Kindred, Lisbon, Northern Cass, Oak Grove, Wyndmere-Lidgerwood/Hankinson (girls only), Devils Lake, Grafton, Four Winds/Minnewaukan, Hillsboro/Central Valley, Carrington, Thompson, Turtle Mountain, New Town, Dunseith, Stanley, Des Lacs-Burlington, Bottineau, Rugby, Nedrose, South Prairie/Max (girls only), Watford City, Standing Rock, Beulah, Heart River, Killdeer, Hazen, Shiloh Christian, and Dickinson Trinity.

Class B: Wyndmere/Lidgerwood (boys), Maple River, Enderlin, Hankinson (boys), Richland, Oakes, Tri-State, Barnes County North, Sargent County, Linton-HMB, Ellendale, Kidder County, Napoleon/G-S, Strasburg/Zeeland, South Border, M-P-B, LaMoure/L-M, Edgeley/Kulm/M, Drayton/V-E, Cavalier, North Prairie, North Border, St. John, North Star, Langdon-E-M, Park River, Midway/Minto, New Rockford-Sheyenne, Benson Co., Lakota (boys), Warwick, Dakota Prairie (boys), Larimore, Griggs/Midkota, May-Port-CG, Hatton/Northwood, Hettinger-Scranton, New England, Beach, Solen, Grant Co./Mott-Regent, Richardton-Taylor, Glen Ullin-Hebron, Flasher, Bowman County, Mandaree, New Salem-Almont, Garrison, Wilton/Wing, Center-Stanton, Washburn, Central McLean, Max (boys), White Shield, South Prairie (boys), Divide County, Parshall/NSP, Trinity Christian, Trenton, Alexander, Tioga, Ray, Kenmare/Bowbells, Powers Lake-Burke Co., Lewis & Clark – North Shore (girls), Glenburn, Drake-Anamoose, Velva, Our Redeemer’s, Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood, Lewis & Clark – Berthold, Westhope/Newburg, TGU, Harvey/Wells Co., Bishop Ryan, and Surrey.

Class AA will be broken down into an East Region and West Region, Class A will have four regions, and Class B will have four regions composed of eight districts.

For the state tournament schedule, Class AA will have a combined boys and girls tournament, similar to what Class A currently is, and it will be March 7-9 in Bismarck.

Class A girls will be Feb. 29-March 2 in Minot and Class A boys will be March 14-16 in Fargo.

Class B girls will be Feb. 29-March 2 in Jamestown and Class B boys will be March 14-16 in Minot.

For those wanting to read more on the full proposal, it can be found via Google Docs here. As more information is learned regarding the change in class system, more information will be published.