MHSAA district tournament games will be played on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings for every team from the area, with the girls districts taking place the following week, the actual first week of March.

By the time March arrives — quite possibly like a lion if recent weather is any indication — the four divisions of boys will be onto their regional tournaments that will have culled the field to only district champions.

After getting through the quarterfinals, the boys semifinals and finals will be held at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing. Semis are Thursday and Friday, March 12-13, with state championship games on Saturday, March 14.

One team in western Marquette County — Westwood — would like to make a repeat trip back to the Breslin after reaching last year’s Division 3 semifinals.

Ishpeming’s Grady Gauthier, center in air, goes up for a shot against Westwood’s Aaron Pizziola, right, as the ball wouldn’t go in during their high school boys basketball game played at the Patriots’ gym in Ishpeming on Feb. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

A half-dozen district tourneys involving area teams across all four divisions open Monday, but only four area squads will actually be in action that night — Ishpeming, Gwinn and Manistique in Division 3 and Munising in Division 4.

And it’s only the Hematites and Mustangs who will play those district quarterfinal openers at their home gyms.

Everybody who doesn’t play Monday will definitely get into action on Wednesday, joining Monday’s survivors, with the six district championship games right now all scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday. The only fly in that ointment is that it apparently is 6 o’clock local time, so some Central time sites will actually play those finals at 7 p.m. EST. And depending on the weather and how far teams have to travel, there could be other adjustments to those times.

Five of the six districts are in the “nontraditional” format, meaning that every game is hosted by one of the schools involved in that game.

Just one is “traditional,” where all games are played at one site — that’s a Division 4 tourney being hosted by Rudyard that includes Newberry.

Over the past few years, there’s been some question on which team would host second-round and even championship games. Previously, the team listed on the top line of every bracket on the MHSAA website (www.mhsaa.com) would always host in a nontraditional bracket, but that’s been put in question, so some sites on Wednesday and Friday can only be considered tentative if the top-line-team-as-host doesn’t hold true in a particular instance.

Here is a rundown of tourneys:

Monday

Division 1, hosted by Marquette: Gaylord at Traverse City Central, 6 p.m.; Alpena at Petoskey, 6 p.m.

Division 2, hosted by Kingsford: Houghton at Escanaba, 6 p.m.

Division 3, hosted by Menominee: Manistique at Ishpeming, 6 p.m.; Gwinn at Bark River-Harris, 6 p.m. EST

Division 3, hosted by Westwood: Calumet at Jeffers, 6 p.m.; Hancock at Ironwood, 7 p.m. EST

Division 4, hosted by North Dickinson: Mid Peninsula at Munising, 6 p.m.; Big Bay de Noc at Rapid River, 6 p.m.

Division 4, hosted by Dollar Bay: Chassell at Lake Linden-Hubbell, 6 p.m.

Division 4, all games at Rudyard: Engadine vs. Maplewood Baptist, 6 p.m.

Wednesday

Division 1, hosted by Marquette: Gaylord-Traverse City Central winner at Marquette, 6:30 p.m.; Alpena-Petoskey winner at Traverse City West, 6 p.m.

Division 2, hosted by Kingsford: Gladstone at Negaunee, 6 p.m.; Houghton-Escanaba winner at Kingsford, 6 p.m. EST

Division 3, hosted by Menominee: Ishpeming-Manistique winner at Menominee, 7 p.m. EST; Gwinn-Bark River-Harris winner at Iron Mountain, 7 p.m. EST

Division 3, hosted by Westwood: Calumet-Jeffers winner at Westwood, 6 p.m.; Hancock-Ironwood winner at West Iron County, 7 p.m. EST

Division 4, hosted by North Dickinson: Munising-Mid Peninsula winner at Superior Central, 6 p.m.; Big Bay de Noc-Rapid River winner at North Dickinson, 7 p.m. EST

Division 4, hosted by Dollar Bay: Baraga at L’Anse, 6 p.m.; Chassell-Lake Linden-Hubbell winner at Dollar Bay, 6 p.m.

Division 4, all games at Rudyard: Newberry vs. Brimley, 7 p.m.; Engadine-Maplewood Baptist winner vs. Rudyard, 5:30 p.m.

Friday

Division 1, hosted by Marquette, championship, tentatively at Marquette, Gaylord or TC Central, tentatively at 6 p.m.

Division 2, hosted by Kingsford, championship: tentatively at Houghton, Escanaba or Kingsford, 6 or 7 p.m. EST

Division 3, hosted by Menominee, championship: tentatively at Ishpeming, Manistique or Menominee, 6 or 7 p.m. EST

Division 3, hosted by Westwood, championship: tentatively at Westwood, Calumet or Jeffers, tentatively at 6 p.m.

Division 4, hosted by North Dickinson, championship: tentatively at Big Bay de Noc, Rapid River or North Dickinson, 6 or 7 p.m. EST

Division 4, hosted by Dollar Bay, championship: tentatively at Dollar Bay, Chassell or Lake Linden-Hubbell, 6 p.m.

Division 4, at Rudyard, championship: 6 p.m.

Story contents based on an examination of the MHSAA website at www.mhsaa.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.