IHSA approves new state tournament schedule for basketball

The IHSA on Tuesday announced that the boys and girls basketball state tournaments will change their format, reverting to a similar schedule used when the single-weekend format was introduced in 2022 until 2024.

Class 1A and 2A semifinals and third-place games will both be played on the first day of the state tournament on Thursday, with the 3A and 4A semifinals and third-place games the next day on Friday.

All four state championship games will be played on the final day on Saturday.

“The single-weekend state final format is still in its relative infancy, and we’ve been very transparent about our willingness to tweak the time and game schedule until we get it right,” IHSA executive director Craig Anderson said. “We tried a different variation last year and the immediate feedback from nearly everyone involved was that the schedule we utilized from 2022-2024 was far superior. As a result, we are making some slight changes to that original schedule for 2026.”

This past season, Class 1A, 2A and 3A held their semifinal games Thursday. Third-place games for those classes were Friday, along with the semifinals for Class 4A. The third-place game for 4A was on the morning of Saturday, followed by the four championship games.