Little Ten will open basketball schedules with conference tournaments

In a normal season, the Little Ten Conference would have already crowned its tournament champion in girls basketball, and the boys tourney would be getting started in a week.

However, this – as everyone knows – is not a normal season.

“It is the conference’s signature event. This will be the 102nd consecutive year for the boys and 40th for the girls, so the thought was, ‘Let’s keep that tradition going if possible.’ ”

—  Little Ten Conference Secretary Greg Burks

On Thursday and Friday, the LTC’s ADs and officials met and have released a “fluid” schedule for its league games, beginning with conference tournaments.

“I said to the group, “Am I crazy to suggest that we start the season off with the boys tournament?” said LTC Secretary Greg Burks. “If anyone disagreed with my proposal, they didn’t speak up, and a couple of the long-standing athletic directors thought it is a good way to start off the season.

“It is the conference’s signature event. This will be the 102nd consecutive year for the boys and 40th for the girls, so the thought was, ‘Let’s keep that tradition going if possible.’ ”

The schedule as of now has the boys tournament starting with a play-in game on Tuesday, Feb. 9, the quarterfinals Feb. 10, the semifinals Feb. 12, and the third-place and championship games on Feb. 13. The girls tourney is set to start with the quarterfinals on Thursday, Feb. 18, the semifinals on Feb 19, and the third-place and championship games on Feb. 20.

There will not be a single host school for tournament games. The higher-seeded team will host each game throughout.

“Could this schedule change? Obviously,” Burks said. “It could change several times over the next month, yes, but as of today this is the conference schedule the schools agreed upon,” said Burks. “With no prior games and results to go by, the coaches will seed the teams as they would have in a regular season, but this year based somewhat on players returning and other factors.

“It’s not perfect, there isn’t a right or wrong way to seed teams, but this is the way we’ll do it this year.

“This is just a special situation.”