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The potential of a new transfer rule being added to New Mexico鈥檚 prep landscape is sure to be a focal point this coming week for both the New Mexico Activities Association and its member schools, but it鈥檚 far from the only item at Thursday鈥檚 upcoming NMAA Board of Directors meeting that is going to attract attention.

One of the discussion items revolves around something NMAA executive director Dusty Young said he wanted to do when he took over the organization just over 18 months ago: examine how all the individual sports are managed.

Basketball, for example, could see several notable changes in the next couple of years.

It is possible, Young said, that the mandatory playoff game in basketball districts, the game that is needed when there is a tie for first place and which determines the top two seeds for the district tournament, could be eliminated, possibly as soon as next season. It would then be left to each district to decide how to break a tie for first place. According to an NMAA survey, less than 30% of the schools that responded want to keep that playoff game.

Moreover, there are talks about either removing or modifying the district tournament format. One idea that鈥檚 been floated is to make the district tournament champion the only automatic qualifier for state, rather than both the district tournament champ and the regular-season champ being AQs.

The mercy rule and running clock could be tweaked. The clock is supposed to run continuously 鈥� with a couple of minor exceptions 鈥� if one team gains a 35-point lead. There is discussion about lowering that number to 30 for high school games, and keep it running until the margin falls under 20 points.

But the single most interesting possibility 鈥� not for next season, but possibly starting in 2027-28 鈥� is changing how teams are seeded and selected for state. Not just in basketball, but in all the major team sports.

An initial proposal would "reduce/remove seeding and selection criteria and move to MaxPreps for ranking.鈥�

In short, the MP computer, which the NMAA says has a 90% accuracy rate in the postseason seeding process, could become the sole determining factor in seeding and selection. The working theory is that the current system 鈥渄oes not always represent the top teams making the tournament and 鈥� (a basketball-specific committee) unanimously supports moving to straight MaxPreps ranking.鈥�

This last item is in a "kicking the tires" phase at the moment. New Mexico High School Coaches Association executive director Angel Castillo told the Journal that he believes there is considerable pushback on this change from many of the coaches he serves.

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at .