Leading off today: Fewer teams competing in smaller tournaments with fewer classes.

   That may be what's in store for high school teams in the coming months and years based on very preliminary discussions during a conference call among top New York State Public High School Athletic Association officials reported on by Brian Hillabush of TheBatavian.com this week.

   The context for the brainstorming session is this: New York is in the midst of a severe budget crisis that has the state projected to be up to $15 billion in the red next year without drastic cuts in expenses and/or an unlikely substantial uptick in revenue.

   State aid to school districts will not come close to what many districts were projecting as they began the 2009-10 budgeting process late last year, so virtually anything and everything is regarded as fair game for cuts — and that includes athletic budgets, which will trickle down to the respective sections and the NYSPHSAA itself.

   Citing minutes of the meeting, Hillabush reported that suggestions for cutting costs included:

Doing away with the "final four" format in sports such as soccer and basketball, with state semifinals instead being played at regional sites closer to home.

Reducing the maximum number of regular season games in various sports, such as from 20 to 18 in basketball and 18 to 16 in lacrosse.

Ending "open" tournaments, in which all schools are allowed to participate in sectionals regardless of records.

Cutting back from five to four state tournament classes in most sports and conducting just one class tournament in individual sports such as wrestling and track.

Having cross country, track and wrestling competitors wear school uniforms rather than state-issued apparel.

Trimming administrative expenses by having more state meetings conducted via teleconference and limiting the number of Executive Committee trips to state tournaments.

   Hillabush reports there is a follow-up conference call scheduled for Jan. 20.

   Basketball player, 12, dies: Yesterday was to have been the first girls basketball game of the season for the Hoover Middle School modified team in the Kenmore-Tonawanda district. Instead, students mourned classmate and

Also worth checking out Boys basketball page 2008 all-state football team

teammate Desha Sanders.

   Sanders, 12, collapsed early Wednesday evening while practicing with the team in Tonawanda and was taken to Kenmore Mercy Hospital, where she died about an hour later, The Buffalo News reported.

   The basketball game and all other after-school activities were canceled yesterday. "Today is the day when you mourn the death of a student,” district spokesman Michael Haggerty told the paper. "It was clear in the building there were many, many sad people."

   Police arrived within two minutes of the 911 call, and other emergency personnel followed almost immediately, the paper reported. The Erie County medical examiner is looking into the death.

   Going for No. 400: Gloversville boys basketball coach Don Landrio goes for career win No. 400 tonight when the Dragons (9-1) take on Hudson Falls (9-1) for first place in the Foothills Council.

   Landrio, 60, is 399-167 in 26 seasons, the last 23 at Gloversville. He has a pair of Section 2 championships to his credit.

   "Any time you have someone in your league that gets to the 400-win mark, it is quite a milestone," Scotia coach Jim Giammattei told The Times Union. "You don't get there on accident. You watch how well they are organized and coached. Don brings a tremendous amount of consistency to this league."

   Extra points: George Beamon scored a school-record 56 points -- including 22 in the fourth quarter -- as Roslyn beat Calhoun, 89-74, in a non-league boys basketball game. . . . Noah Nwachukwu, the driver in the SUV accident Dec. 31 that left Sweet Home football teammate Deshanaro Morris unable to walk, has been charged by Amherst police with driving too fast, The Buffalo News reported.

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