The Arkansas Activities Association's decision to push regional and state basketball tournaments back one week across the state gives the 6A-West Conference a second chance to finish out its regular season.
Games that were called off this week because of inclement weather will now be played next week, then the conference tournament will be re-seeded following those games and held the following week. The announcement was made Friday afternoon following a meeting with the conference's athletic directors.
It was good news for Bentonville High's girls, who now get another chance to secure the top seed in the conference tournament. The Lady Tigers were seeded second because the postponed games -- as well as a postponed game against Rogers High -- left them with 10-1 league record, while Fayetteville's girls had the top seed with an 11-1 mark.
"One thing I like about this decision is the opportunity to take that top seed was taken from our girls," Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier said. "The first decision took that opportunity away. After the AAA's ruling, we now control our destiny against and we can control the outcomes by playing the games.
"I'm excited for the girls because they can finish out the regular season like it should be done."
The 6A-West Conference tournament schedule will look different because of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's decision earlier this week to allow more than two schools to be in the same facility at the same time. The tournament will now begin March 2 with four first-round games and conclude with the championship, third-place and fifth-place games Friday, March 5.
The difference comes in the semifinal round, where the previous schedule had the girls teams play on Wednesday and the boys teams play on Friday. All four semifinal round games will instead be played March 4 at the higher-seeded teams' home floor, and any school that hosts two games must have 3 hours between games to clear and clean the facility.
Class 6A wasn't the only classification affected by Friday's announcement. Inclement weather also wreaked havoc on the lower classification schools' conference tournaments, which impacted their regionals as well.
Conferences in smaller classifications announced their tournaments will resume after originally being canceled. The 4A-1 will play its scheduled games Monday -- Gravette at Berryville and Shiloh Christian at Farmington in girls play and Shiloh Christian at Berryville and Harrison at Huntsville in boys action -- then play semifinals Tuesday and championship and third-place games on Monday, March 1.
The 4A-4 will have four quarterfinal games Tuesday, followed by semifinals Thursday and championship games Saturday. The 3A-4 has yet to release its revised conference schedule as of press time Friday, while the 3A-1 will play its boys semifinal games Tuesday, the girls' semifinal games Wednesday and championship games Saturday.
Athletic directors in the 5A-West Conference met Friday and elected to have Tuesday's postponed games rescheduled for next week. It will then begin the conference tournament next Friday with first-round games, with quarterfinals set for March 1, semifinals on March 2 and championship and third-place games March 4.
The 6A-Central, which was scheduled to have a conference tournament for its girls teams only starting Monday, was also discussing an alternative plan late Friday.
More News
6A-WEST CONFERENCE
Here is the revised schedule of games for the 6A-West Conference for next week.
Tuesday
Rogers at Springdale Har-Ber
Springdale High at Bentonville High
Fayetteville at Rogers Heritage
Bentonville West at FS Southside
Thursday
FS Southside at Rogers Heritage (boys only)
Friday
Springdale Har-Ber at Fayetteville
Bentonville High at Bentonville West
Rogers Heritage at Rogers High
FS Southside at Springdale High
Makeup game (date and time TBD)
Bentonville High at Rogers High (girls only)
6A-West Conference Tournament
Boys
Tuesday, March 1
Game 1 — No. 8 seed at No. 5 seed
Game 2 — No. 7 seed at No. 6 seed
Wednesday, March 2
Game 3 — Game 1 winner at No. 4 seed
Game 4 — Game 2 winner at No. 3 seed
Thursday, March 3
Game 5 — Game 3 winner at No. 1 Bentonville High
Game 6 — Game 4 winner at No. 2 seed
Friday, March 4
(games will be played at home of higher seed)
Game 7 — Fifth-place game
Game 8 — Third-place game
Game 9 — Championship
Girls
Tuesday, March 2
Game 1 — No. 8 seed at No. 5 seed
Game 2 — No. 7 Springdale at No. 6 Bentonville West, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 3
Game 3 — Game 1 winner at No. 4 seed
Game 4 — Game 2 winner at No. 3 seed
Thursday, March 4
Game 5 — Game 3 winner at No. 1 seed
Game 6 — Game 4 winner at No. 2 Bentonville, 7 p.m.
Friday, March 5
(games will be played at home of higher seed)
Game 7 — Fifth-place game
Game 8 — Third-place game
Game 9 — Championship
NOTE: In the event a school is hosting two games on the same night, a 3-hour window will be placed between games.
Conference Tournaments
4A-1 Conference
Boys
Friday, Feb. 12
Game 1 E4 Harrison 64, W5 Gentry 26
Game 2 E3 Shiloh Christian 50, W4 Pea Ridge 46
Saturday, Feb. 13
Game 3 Harrison 69, W3 Gravette 66
Monday
Game 4 Harrison at E2 Huntsville, 5 p.m.
Game 5 Shiloh Christian at W2 Prairie Grove, 5 p.m.
Tuesday
Game 6 Game 4 winner at W1 Farmington, 6 p.m.
Game 7 Game 5 winner at E1 Berryville, 6 p.m.
Thursday
Game 8 Third-place game, 6 p.m.
Game 9 Championship, 6 p.m.
Girls
Friday, Feb. 12
Game 1 W5 Gentry 38, E4 Huntsville 28
Saturday, Feb. 13
Game 2 W3 Gravette 50, Gentry 46
Game 3 E3 Shiloh Christian 51, W4 Prairie Grove 41
Monday
Game 4 Gravette at E2 Berryville, 5 p.m.
Game 5 Shiloh Christian at W2 Farmington, 5 p.m.
Tuesday
Game 6 Game 4 winner at W1 Pea Ridge, 6 p.m.
Game 7 Game 5 winner at E1 Harrison, 6 p.m.
Thursday
Game 8 Third-place game, 6 p.m.
Game 9 Championship game, 6 p.m.
4A-4 Conference
Boys
Tuesday
No. 6 Clarksville at No. 3 Dardanelle
No. 5 Subiaco Academy at No. 4 Pottsville
Thursday
Clarksville-Dardanelle winner at No. 2 Ozark
Subiaco-Pottsville winner at No. 1 Morrilton
Saturday
Championship and third-place games.
Girls
Tuesday
No. 6 Dardanelle at No. 3 TBD*
No. 5 Heber Springs at No. 4 TBD*
Thursday
Dardanelle/TBD winner at Morrilton
Dardanelle/TBD winner at Pottsville
Saturday
Championship and third-place games
*— Teams will be determined after a makeup game Saturday between Ozark and Dardanelle. Ozark will be the third seed with a win. Clarksville will be the No. 3 team with an Ozark loss. If the game isn’t play, a coin flip will determine the seedings.
3A-1 Conference
Boys
Friday, Feb. 12
Game 1 No. 6 West Fork 62, No. 7 Greenland 45
Saturday, Feb. 13
Game 2 No. 5 Green Forest 57, No. 4 Lincoln 55
Game 3 No. 3 Valley Springs 68, West Fork 63
Tuesday
Game 4 Green Forest at No. 1 Bergman, 6 p.m.
Game 5 Valley Springs at No. 2 Elkins, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Game 6 Championship at higher-seeded team, 6 p.m.
Girls
Friday, Feb. 12
Game 1 No. 6 Green Forest 44, No. 7 Greenland 40
Saturday, Feb. 13
Game 2 No. 3 Elkins 58, Green Forest 35
Game 3 No. 4 West Fork 51, No. 5 Lincoln 36
Wednesday
Game 4 Elkins at No. 2 Valley Springs, 6 p.m.
Game 5 West Fork at No. 1 Bergman, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Game 6 Championship at higher-seeded team, 6 p.m.
Henry Apple can be reached at happle@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAHenry.