POULSBO — There are fewer 2A teams but more seeds to the West Central District playoffs in Olympic League basketball this season.

With Klahowya moving to 1A at the beginning of the school year, there are seven 2A teams remaining in the division. However, an additional seed to the playoffs was added for the 2A division.

So, instead of eight teams battling for four district playoff seeds like they did last year, there are seven teams and five seeds.

The reason for the added seed to the playoffs is because of the expansion of the playoff bracket. The bracket increased from 12 to 16 teams. The bracket increased because Liberty and Sammamish from the 2A KingCo League were added to the West Central District this school year.

“With [four] leagues now fighting for District seeds, it was determined that we could more fairly do this with a larger tournament,” Mark Swofford wrote.

The South Puget Sound League will also have five seeds to the playoffs. The Seamount League gets four. And KingCo two.

The added seed will mean more Olympic League teams guaranteed some postseason play. It’s a change that would have made a big difference last season for the North Kitsap Vikings, who finished fifth.