MT. JULIET — The TSSAA Board of Control voted 12-0 on Aug. 17 to maintain the current TSSAA basketball Division I district tournament format, ensuring for now that third- and fourth-place district tournament finishers both advance in the playoffs.
Some coaches want to change the district tournaments so third-place game winners advance to the region tournament and losers are eliminated; the game is currently a consolation round with both teams advancing. A proposed change to that format would've given district champions a quarterfinal bye in region tournaments, which would be reduced from eight to six teams.
During the 2025-26 season, of the 320 total boys and girls teams in Division I, four No. 4 seeds from their district tournament advanced to state quarterfinals and two to state semifinals.
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The Board tabled a vote in June so it could gather survey information. Coaches were closely divided among 351 responses, with 26% strongly supporting eliminating the third- and fourth-place elimination game and 23% strongly opposing; 18.4% said they would generally support eliminating it and 17.2% were generally against.
Support was highest among 2025–26 district champions (58.9%) and runners-up (50.0%). Opposition was highest among third-place teams and teams that did not advance (53.7% each).
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The survey outlined benefits of the change including a simpler system, having more meaningful postseason games, reduced travel expenses and reduced games overall. Among concerns were less opportunity for athletes to compete, less gate revenue, departure from the current format and competitive fairness.
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean's high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why TSSAA basketball district tournaments in Division I won't change in 2026-27