The four Indiana High School Athletic Association boys basketball state finals games will be played April 3 instead of March 27, the organization announced Monday.

The change is being made to accommodate the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s decision to host the entire March Madness month of playoffs for 2021 in and around Indianapolis instead of just the Final Four.

That adjustment was planned in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to limit travel during the 68-team college tournament.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, is expected to be heavily used during the NCAAs, but the IHSAA did not wish to abandon the site.

“Our executive committee felt it was most important to preserve the experience for our young people of playing for a state championship in Bankers Life Fieldhouse,” IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig said in a statement.

Taking note of the significant amount of disruption caused by the coronavirus, Neidig said breaking with tradition and holding the boys tournament a little bit later was the best course of action.

This will be just the second time in the 111 state tournaments the finals will extend into April. The only other time that occurred was 1978.

Sectionals leading to the finals are slated to begin March 2 through 6. The first-round pairings will be announced Feb. 21 in a 7 p.m. two-hour event via IHSAA.tv.org and through affiliates of the IHSAA Champions Radio Network.

Pairings for the 46th girls state tournament are scheduled to be revealed Jan. 24 through the same format.

Finals pairings for the 83rd state wrestling tournament will be announced at 4 p.m. Feb. 14 after semistate concludes.