Finding the right formula for determining the lone berth to state boys and girls basketball from the three-team 4A Inland Empire League has always been a work in progress.

For years, the 4A Region 1 tournament was a true double-elimination. The second- and third-place teams met on the first night, with the winner traveling to the top seed. That winner waited while the loser played the loser of the game on the first night. That survivor then had to beat the team on the winners side of the bracket twice to claim the lone berth to state.

When you have a distance of 41 miles between Sandpoint and Lakeland, and 96 miles between Lakeland and Moscow, and 127 miles between Sandpoint and Moscow, well, that’s a lot of time on a school bus in a short amount of time.

A few years ago, the league switched to a single-elimination tournament, and played it at North Idaho College. The No. 2 and 3 seeds met on the first night in a loser-out game, and the winner played the No. 1 seed two nights later for a trip to state.

By playing right after the 3A District 1 tournament at NIC, the 4As gained a neutral court and a tournament atmosphere — but the top seed had no margin for error.

THIS YEAR, the 4As — as well as a couple others — are trying something new.

The 4A Region 1 girls tournament will start at NIC on Monday (the boys start theirs two weeks later at NIC), with the second and third seeds meeting in a loser-out game. The winner plays the No. 1 seed on Wednesday at NIC in the first game of a best-of-3 series for the regional title and the region’s lone berth to state.

Games 2 and 3 would be Friday and Saturday, if necessary.

“The format was changed in order to create more ‘meaningful’ games at the end of the season,” Lakeland athletic director Tim Cronnelly said.

Also, the league wanted to shorten the gap between regionals and state; the last few years, the regional champ didn’t play at state until eight days later.

The league threw in the caveat that if the 4A IEL champion finished undefeated, that school would play host to Games 2 and 3, no matter who won Game 1. That will happen in the boys tournament, as Moscow finished 4-0, and could happen in the girls tournament if Sandpoint beats Moscow tonight.

If the top seed didn’t go unbeaten in league, then the winner of Game 1 of the best-of-3 finals would host Game 2, and the winner of Game 2 would host Game 3, if necessary.

“The idea for the format has been kicked around by the three coaches for two years,” Lakeland boys basketball coach Dave Stockwell said. “We voted on it the year before last but it didn’t happen until this year. The whole idea for the best-of-3, rather than a one-and-done, is to allow our teams to play a few more pressure games possibly, and to make sure the best team is represented at the state tournament.”

Does Stockwell like the new format?

“I’ll let you know if we play in the best of-3,” he said with a laugh. “As far as the winner of the league hosting all the games because they went undefeated, I would have preferred the underdog be allowed to ‘steal’ home court by winning the Wednesday game, but I guess you should be awarded for going 4-0 in league. I just think it would really put a lot of pressure on both teams in that Wednesday night game and make it more interesting.”

THE 5A Region 1 tournament, which begins Friday for the girls, is keeping its double-elimination format. The 5As get 1 or 1 1/2 berths to state, depending on the year, so there’s not a do-or-die feeling in the regional championship game. Same with the 3A District 1 tourney, where the district gets two berths to state this year. They’ll play two games Monday and Wednesday at NIC, followed each night by the 4A game for a nice little tripleheader.

In 1A Division II, they’ve added the caveat in the boys and girls tournaments that if a team goes undefeated in league play, it must be beaten twice at districts to be eliminated. That would go into effect if the Genesis Prep girls wrap up a perfect North Star League slate Friday by beating Wallace, and will likely happen with the defending state champion Genesis Prep boys in a couple of weeks.

Like the 4As, the 2A District 1-2 tournament has three teams — St. Maries, Grangeville and Orofino.

Often, that district gets 1 1/2 berths to state, but this year, it only gets one.

Because of that, the Central Idaho League is also going to a best-of-3 format in the championship round. The girls tourney is at Genesee High starting Monday with the loser-out game between the No. 2 and 3 seeds. The winner will play the top seed on Wednesday in Game 1, Thursday in Game 2 and, if necessary, Saturday in Game 3.

St. Maries is the No. 1 seed in the girls tournament.

“It does give you a second chance if you come out and have a bad game, which is good,” St. Maries girls coach Jay Sines said.

The boys will do the same thing in two weeks, at Troy. St. Maries will be the likely top seed in that one, too.

“The only nice thing is, it protects you if you lose that first game,” St. Maries boys coach Bryan Chase said. “But it could be a long week of beating up on each other. I wish there was some way to give the No. 1 seed a little more of an advantage.”

Maybe they’ll figure that one out down the road. After all, finding the right formula for these tournaments has always been a work in progress.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.