March Magic Hoopfest Returns to MSU
March 17, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Special to Second Half
March Magic Hoopfest will return to Jenison Field House for this weekend’s Michigan High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball Finals, marking the fifth championship weekend the event has run concurrent with the games being played at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
A number of favorite attractions will return including slam dunk (on lowered rims), 3-point shootout and full-court rainbow shot areas where fans can come at any time and participate. Also returning is the Walk of History, showcasing championship games, life-size photos and display boards from throughout the MHSAA Finals’ near century-long run. A large video screen will play a series of “Buzzer Beaters,” “Battle of the Fans” and other MHSAA-produced videos.
Two Hoopfest center courts will host a number of games throughout the event, including the “JumpBall Jamboree” made up of teams of boys and girls in grades 5-8, a wheelchair basketball tournament and a series between four Special Olympics Project UNIFY high school teams.
Admission to the March Magic Hoopfest is $2 per person, and fans attending the MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals will be admitted free with their game tickets. Hours on March 20 and 21 will be 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.; the event is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 22. Jenison Field House, site of Hoopfest, also was the site of the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals for 31 years. To find out more general information about the event, visit the March Magic Hoopfest Website.
Hoopfest also will be home to Hoopie, the event’s mascot who made his first public appearances during the MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals. Click for video of Hoopfest’s newest volunteer as he helped prepare for this weekend’s event:
The March Magic Hoopfest is being conducted in a partnership between the Greater Lansing Sports Authority (GLSA), a division of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the MHSAA, with vital support coming from the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at Michigan State University.
“March Magic Hoopfest is a giant playground. There are opportunities for fun all over Jenison – and it’s a great way to spend an hour while waiting for the next round of games to start,” MHSAA Director of Brand Management Andy Frushour said. “All of us can remember reenacting games of our high school heroes. What better place to let kids do so now than across the street from Breslin Center in one of the most storied buildings in this state’s basketball history.”
The Greater Lansing Sports Authority’s mission is to be the leading voice of sports tourism in the Greater Lansing area and to promote economic growth by attracting a diverse range of sporting events to the region. The GLSA strives to enhance the quality of life for area residents through the development of local sports and fitness programs for all ages and supports the continued development and maintenance of safe, high-quality athletic facilities.
Hoopfest was not held at the 2013 Finals due to a Big Ten championship event being hosted by Jenison Field House.
"The GLSA is excited to partner with the MHSAA on the re-launch of March Magic Hoopfest," said Mike Price of the Greater Lansing Sports Authority. "While Hoopfest was absent in 2013, planning and improvement were ongoing. We are excited to showcase an improved Hoopfest that includes new games and activities, as well as the launch of our new mascot, Hoopie!”
PHOTO: Hoopie made his first public appearance during the weekend's MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals at the Breslin Center.
MHSAA Announces 2021-22 School Year Classifications
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 5, 2021
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2021-22 school year have been announced, with enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments posted to each sport’s page on the MHSAA Website.
Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 10. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to September 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.
All sports’ tournaments are conducted with schools assigned to equal or nearly equal divisions, with lines dependent on how many schools participate in those respective sports.
For 2021-22, there are 746 tournament-qualified member schools. Schools recently were notified of their classification, and sport-by-sport divisions were posted to the MHSAA Website today (April 5). MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said schools may not subsequently lower their enrollment figure. However, if revised enrollment figures are higher and indicate that a school should be playing in a higher division, that school would be moved up.
Only three MHSAA Finals champions awarded so far during the 2020-21 school year will be playing in different divisions in 2021-22. Grass Lake, which won the Division 4 boys bowling title in 2020, will be back in Division 4 for that sport next season after also winning the Division 3 championship this winter. The Okemos boys tennis team, fresh off a Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship, will return to Division 2 where it most recently won Finals titles in 2017 and 2018. Clinton last week claimed its second-straight Division 4 team wrestling championship and will be competing in Division 3 next season.
Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website to review the divisional alignments for all MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports.
Traditional classes (A, B, C, D) – formerly used to establish tournament classifications – are used only for MHSAA elections. To determine traditional classifications, after all counts are submitted, tournament-qualified member schools are ranked according to enrollment and then split as closely into quarters as possible. For 2021-22, there are 186 member schools in Class A and Class B and 187 member schools in Class C and Class D.
Effective with the 2021-22 school year, schools with 835 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 399-834, Class C is 189-398, and schools with enrollments of 188 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B increased four students from 2020-21, the break between Classes B and C increased seven students, and the break between Classes C and D also is seven students more than the 2020-21 school year.
The new classification breaks will see 13 schools move up in Class for 2021-22 while 24 schools will move down:
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Coopersville
Moving Down from Class A to Class B
Bloomfield Hills Marian
Ionia
New Boston Huron
Moving Up from Class C to Class B
Detroit Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
Detroit Southeastern
Otisville LakeVille Memorial
Redford Westfield Prep
Watervliet
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Blissfield
Brooklyn Columbia Central
Buchanan
Canton Prep
Dearborn Riverside Academy West
Detroit Voyageur Prep
Grayling
Southfield Bradford Academy
Tawas
Moving Up from Class D to Class C
Burton Madison Academy
Detroit Cornerstone Lincoln King Academy
International Academy of Flint
Lawrence
St. Helen Charlton Heston Academy
Warren Michigan Math & Science Academy
Westland Universal Learning Academy
Moving Down from Class C to Class D
Birmingham Roeper
Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart
Detroit International Academy
Eau Claire
Ironwood
Jackson Prep
Munising
New Buffalo
Norway
Petersburg Summerfield
Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary
Vestaburg
New Postseason Eligible Tournament Schools in 2021-22
Detroit Skills & Trade Prep
Hamtramck Oakland International Academy
Highland Park Sigma Academy for Leadership
Shepherd FlexTech
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2021-22
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 835 and above (186 schools)
Class B: 399 – 834 (186)
Class C: 189 – 398 (187)
Class D: 188 and below (187)
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.