TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) Executive Board and Board of Directors met Thursday, April 24 to approve several changes starting in the 2025-26 school year. Changes include postseason format changes for basketball and volleyball, approval of a postseason shot clock mandate, and classification changes for 8-Man and 6-Man football.
The biggest change in basketball is the approval of a shot clock in the postseason, starting with the 6A, 5A, and 4A classifications in the 2025-26 season. The clock will be held in 3A and 2A postseasons starting in 2026-27 and 1A DI & DII will begin their shot clock era in 2027-28.
Shot clocks in high school hoops have been a hot topic in recent years. High School Basketball in Kansas had their first look at a 35-second shot clock in an optional trial period. The majority of 4A, 5A, & 6A schools opted into a shot clock for the 2024-25 season, while the majority of 3A, 2A, and 1A schools opted out.
The Executive Board put together a survey with member schools in April asking if the schools want a shot clock and when they want to start mandating a postseason shot clock. 97% of 6A schools who responded wanted a postseason shot clock starting next season while only 21% of 1A schools answered the same. Out of all schools who responded, 49% wanted a postseason shot clock starting in 2026.
However, 28.6% of responses said they never want a shot clock. Only three combined schools in 4A-6A said they never want a postseason shot timer, but 1A-3A had 69 schools say the same. 41 of the 72 “Never” responses cite cost as the biggest reason. CLICK HERE to view the survey results.
The basketball postseason had already announced changes in a Board Approval meeting in June 2024 to move the postseason to four sites to align with the new changes that football and soccer had. The KSHSAA Board approved the next step for the state quarterfinal rounds to be held in a select group of neutral sites so the higher seeds could play closer to home in the opening round. The Board did acknowledge that there will be certain cases where the travel distance is too great, which will cause the neutral site to be played more in between the two schools. The semifinal, 3rd place, and championship games will be held in four sites total, which have not yet been selected.
State Volleyball will receive changes starting in the 2025-26 season as well. The state tournaments will now move from a two-day format to a three-day tournament. Even-numbered classifications will have pool play on the Thursday of state week on even-numbered years. Following pool play, they will play bracket play Saturday mornings. The same will go for odd-numbered classes on odd-numbered years. The classes that don’t play Thursday will have pool play Friday then bracket play Saturday afternoon. The exception to this rule is for 1A-DII, who will keep their current format.
The KSHSAA Board of Directors also made adjustments to football classifications limits for 8-player and 6-player football. The new rule lists that for 8-player district participation, assignments will be limited to schools with maximum enrollment of 110 students for grades 9-11. 6-player assignments will be limited with a max enrollment of 65 students for grades 9-11. The change will be in effect starting in the next football districting cycle.
CLICK HERE to view the KSHSAA Meetings & Agendas page.
