VALLEY ROUNDUP : Conference Changes OKd to End Imbalances in Basketball Playoffs

The City Section Interscholastic Athletics Committee on Monday approved a plan under which most basketball conferences will be divided into 3-A and 4-A leagues, similar to the format used for the past two seasons in football.

The change was undertaken to eliminate playoff imbalances. In boys’ basketball, there previously were only 16 teams competing in the 4-A Division and all teams automatically qualified for postseason play.

All six of the City conferences will be split into a 3-A and 4-A leagues in girls’ basketball. In the boys’ play, four of the six conferences will be split. The Northern Conference will remain entirely in the 3-A, and the Coastal Conference--which includes longtime powers Fairfax, Manual Arts and Westchester--will remain in the 4-A.

As a result of the plan, schools such as North Hollywood and Fremont, favorites in the 3-A, will be moved into the 4-A. In football, teams are adjusted back and forth from 3-A and 4-A on an annual basis based on their final league records. However, in basketball, because of scheduling considerations, the divisional releaguing cycle will take place every two years.

For the 1992-93 basketball season, coaches and administrators within each conference will be allowed to determine the placement of teams into the 3-A and 4-A leagues.

Additionally, IAC authorized conferences to study a schedule in which many league games would be played before the semester break begins in mid-December. Last season, a majority of league games were played in January and February, when most high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were closed under the guidelines of the district’s year-round academic calendar.

The committee also voted to keep in place the current time frame of the basketball schedule--with one slight alteration. A two-week “dead period” in January, in which contact between coaches and players was prohibited, has been eliminated. Wrestling also will be kept in place.

Boys’ and girls’ soccer, however, has been moved back several weeks and will be played in November and December, with playoffs set for early January. The move could create a conflict at some schools whose football teams share practice or game facilities with soccer.