Several schools opted out of competing during the 2020-21 season due to Covid concerns. As a result, the NJCAA revised their District assignments. The East District, formerly District 3 (Regions 15, 19, and 20) was eliminated. Several of the teams from those regions suspended play for the year. And the others were combined with the nearby Atlantic District for postseason play.
The West District, which used to be District 1, was a combination of Region 1 (AZ) and Region 18 (Scenic West Athletic Conference)each having six teams. With the elimination of the East District, the NJCAA decided to split the West District. Region 1 (AZ) became the West District, and the Rocky Mountain District (Region 18) was added.
What they didn’t anticipate, however, was that three teams from Region 1 and two from Region 18 opted out at the last minute. Therefore, the West District had three teams involved in the District Tournament to decided one of the 16 automatic qualifiers to the National Tournament. While, the Rocky Mountain District had four teams fighting it out for their automatic bid.
Normally, Regions with that few teams would have their respective winners compete in a District Championship, for just one spot at Hutch. Since these defects happened so late, the NJCAA felt it was necessary to just leave the revised format alone.
There are 193 schools competing in DI basketball this season. Which is pretty much back to “pre” covid participation. A few schools have dropped to DII, and one team, Community Christian College (AZ), in Region 1, is playing in DI this season.
Here are the District assignments for the upcoming season (2021-22), barring a covid or other set back:
- West (preciously District 1) – Regions 1 & 18 – 12 teams
- South Central (District 2) – Region 2 – 9 teams
- East (District 3) – Regions 15, 19 & 20 – 8 teams
- Midwest (District 4) – Regions 4 & 16 – 13 teams
- Southwest (District 5) – Region 5 – 17 teams
- Plains (District 6) – Region 6 – 13 teams
- Appalachian (District 7) – Region 7 – 10 teams
- South Atlantic (District 8) – Region 8 – 16 teams
- Northwest Plains (District 9) – Region 9 – 13 teams
- Atlantic (District 10) – Region 10 – 7 teams
- North Central (District 11) – Regions 11 & 13 – 9 teams
- South (District 12) – Region 22 – 15 teams
- Southeast (District 13) – Region 17 – 9 teams
- Mid-South (District 14) – Region 14 – 14 teams
- Gulf (District 15) – Region 23 – 18 teams
- Central (District 16) – Regions 12 & 24 – 10 teams