By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

When the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association adopted a two division format for its state championships in 2003-04, it was a long overdue breakthrough for the smaller schools.

To see the Kalani girls basketball team and the 'Aiea and Damien football teams, among others, compete for state titles that would have been all but unimaginable years ago, has underlined the wisdom of giving small enrollment schools a more equitably balanced field for the playoffs.

Now, it will be interesting to see if the spirit of the original decision is preserved or if the concept and some deserving schools get trampled by monkeying with the equation.

With its overhauling girls softball and basketball for 2006, reducing the D-I field from 12 teams to eight and raising the D-II bracket from four to eight, the HHSAA board has put at risk some of what has been special about the two division format.

Instead of a format that had provided incentive for schools to move up where the opportunity has been, what has been put in its place is something that could encourage schools to move to D-II where there are now the same number of berths and less demanding competition.

A lot of schools that competed at the D-I level now have to be looking at the odds and pondering jumping to D-II, where the opportunities are greater. If you're any but a handful of confident D-I perennials, you've got to like the chances of switching to D-II, where not only making it to the state tournament but bringing home the trophy is enhanced.

It would be one thing if, as in most states, schools were classified by the state based upon enrollment, power rating or a combination. But here, in many cases, it is left up to the school, through its league, to choose.

That means — in some cases — if a D-I school now decides its chances, with fewer at-large entries available, are better on the D-II level, there is little to keep it from making a move. That's a far cry from what the D-II concept was supposed to be about or what it ought to be.

Indeed, the whole scheme makes little sense on several fronts suggesting this is more about the politics of spite than practicalities. Not only are some of the better teams locked out of the D-I tournaments, but D-I ticket sales have driven the tournaments and reducing the field there while expanding the less lucrative D-II ranks is a curious combination.

The usual rule of thumb is that you don't fix what isn't broken, and this clearly wasn't. Let's hope the HHSAA didn't just mess up one of the best things it has had going for it.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.