A private school in west St. Louis County, Principia’s meteoric rise as one of the top boys basketball programs in the state has ended with Class 3 state championships the last two years.
At its meeting in June, the board of directors approved modifications to its Championship Factor formula for private schools. The changes were submitted by a MSHSAA Ad Hoc Committee on Competitive Equity. Private schools have been classified based on a six-year cycle of postseason success. The new model depreciates those points over time.
So the title Principia won in 2025 is worth seven points and their championship in March is worth 10. That’s going to bump the Panthers up to Class 5 this school year. Also a private school from St. Louis County, MICDS won the Class 5 title and will move up to Class 6, the highest classification.
Previously, private schools were subject to a two-class maximum shift. Regardless of enrollment, private schools could only move up two classes no matter how many points they’d earned. Now they can move up from Class 1 to Class 6 if they score enough points. Those points fall off over time.
Eureka High is a public school in St. Louis County, and its basketball teams often compete against the best private schools in the state. The Wildcat boys posted a record of 19-8. They played six private schools and finished 3-3 in those games. The Eureka girls were 3-3 in their games against private schools, and were ousted in districts by private St. Joseph’s Academy.
“Where I think it will affect us is if Principia climbs to Class 6, and it’s going to reshuffle our district because they’re in West County,” Eureka boys head coach Austin Kirby said. “Does that move us south? Our district has been pretty unchanged with Lafayette, Marquette and Parkway West, and then we added Rolla the last couple of years.”
“I take pride in our program that we’ll play anybody. We’ll play the best teams. I would have put our team last year up against anybody. We will not back down, that’s our culture, and I love it.”
In California, there are seven divisions for playoff basketball. The top six divisions are separated by enrollment and performance, while the Open Division is strictly for the best teams in the state. There are many proponents in Missouri for separating public and private school playoffs. The state’s basketball advisory committee would have to create a new form of classification for an Open Division. There most certainly would be a debate about the public/private split there too, though.
“I would want any division like that to be more than 12 teams,” Kirby said. “We want to play the best people. Prin is a different story because they’re so new and the teams they’ve created, I don’t know if they can sustain playing on a national level.”
Like Eureka, Fox is a member of the Suburban Conference. Warrior boys head coach Chris Miller has coached at public schools, and he was the head coach at St. Pius X, a private school in Festus.
“A school like Principia will be in Class 6 because there’s no cap on how far they can go,” Miller said. “We expect to be in Class 6. I’ve talked to a lot of people because I’ve been on the public and private side of things. There’s nowhere to go at the top. We’re not the same Class 6 at Fox as Cardinal Ritter, SLUH, Vianney or CBC, so all we’re doing is punishing the big schools.”
Logan-Rogersville is a public school east of Springfield. After beating Vashon in the Class 4 state semifinals, L-R cruised past Clayton to win state. Returning this season for L-R are University of Indiana commit Chase Branham and 6-6, 220-pound power forward Titus Moore. L-R would be a perfect candidate for an Open Division.
“They would probably want to play in an open class, but they can’t,” Miller said. “An Open Division pulls elite schools, now you have more of an equity for the large schools that should be there. You could probably eliminate the public/private debate by doing it.”