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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A new Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball season will bring new divisions, a new playoff format and new uncertainty.</p><p>Divisional realignment and a power-ranking system to determine District 2 playoff seedings were two topics as the coaches gathered Sunday evening for their annual media day.</p><p>First, the new divisions.</p><p>The WVC went from a setup of eight teams in Division 1 and five each in Divisions 2 and 3 to each division having six teams. The change will also alter the schedule with Division 1 and Division 3 teams playing 16 conference games &#8212; up from 14 and 13, respectively. Teams will play divisional opponents twice and cross over with the Division 2 once.</p><p>Division 2 goes from 13 conference games to 17. The Division 2 teams will play every other WVC team once for 17 games.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not a big fan of it,&#8221; said Berwick coach Jason Kingery, whose team along with Tunkhannock shift from Division 1 to Division 2. &#8220;The reason being I like to watch film. It&#8217;s pretty tough to break down 17 different teams in a season. But we&#8217;re looking forward to the different challenges this season.&#8221;</p><p>The change also means one of the top rivalries &#8212; GAR versus Meyers &#8212; will play once instead of twice. The upside is those traditional WVC powers will be playing other perennial strong programs such as Crestwood and Hazleton Area.</p><p>&#8220;There will be some new faces we&#8217;ll be playing against, we&#8217;ll renew some rivalries,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll be playing against John (Beggs) and Nanticoke. We played them a few years back in exhibition, but now we play them in the league again where obviously it means something. Again, it will be great to renew that.&#8221;</p><p>The Division 2 teams will also be at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to the district tournament. All six teams are Class 4A under the PIAA&#8217;s new six-classification system and will have to play everyone from Division 1. Two Class 4A teams in Division 3 &#8212; Hanover Area and Lake-Lehman &#8212; don&#8217;t.</p><p>&#8220;This year is going to be interesting,&#8221; Meyers coach Pat Toole said. &#8220;In Division 2, we&#8217;re going to play everyone once. That&#8217;s a unique situation. It&#8217;s going to be very difficult against teams we&#8217;ve never seen or we&#8217;ve never played. We&#8217;re looking forward to that challenge.&#8221;</p><p>The District 2 playoffs will no longer be an open format where all 43 teams &#8212; 18 from the WVC, 24 from the Lackawanna League and District 4&#8217;s Williamsport &#8212; qualify. However, six classifications mean very few will be sitting home in mid-February. One Class 5A team and four Class 4A teams will not be in the postseason. There are two Class A schools &#8212; MMI Prep and Susquehanna. One is guaranteed a spot in an eight-team subregional tournament with District 11. Both could qualify. All three 6A squads plus Williamsport make up that bracket.</p><p>As for determining seedings, District 2 will use a power-ranking formula used in other districts where teams can also earn points for losses based on the record of the opponent. All games, including exhibition contests, will be calculated into the rankings.</p><p>For example, in District 3 last season Northeastern had a 20-1 record entering districts but was seeded behind Reading (18-3) based on the power-ranking formula. Northeastern finished with a power ranking of 0.789782 while Reading&#8217;s was 0.792459.</p><p>&#8220;You need to be a mathematician to figure it out,&#8221; Toole said.</p><p><strong>SENIOR GAMES SET:</strong> The 48th Dr. George Moses Senior All-Star Classic will be held Friday, March 31, at Holy Redeemer High School. The girls game will be at 6 p.m. and the boys game at 8 p.m.</p><p>The Wyoming Valley Athletic Association raised $35,000 from the games last season. The money was used to help 13 families and individuals with expenses from medical needs. The WVAA also donated money to 12 charities.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_meyers_gar1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meyers&#8217; Omar Kelly goes to the basket. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_meyers_gar1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Meyers&#8217; Omar Kelly goes to the basket. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WVC BOYS BASKETBALL: New season brings about changes to divisions, districts