By Eric Poe/sport editor

The NW basketball league will start at 3:30 p.m. March 6, but with the number of teams yet to be decided, the format is up in the air, NW intramural coordinator Ryan Stewart said.

“It depends on how many teams sign up. I expect five minimum,” he said.

Stewart said teams can have a maximum roster of eight, and the league will be 4-on-4 played on a full court with minor rule adjustments.

“We sometimes have to modify the basketball rules,” he said.

“Our facility is limited. Some of the lines are confusing. The out-of-bounds is really close to the wall, so we modify the out-of-bounds rule. And there is no three-point line, so we don’t have three-pointers.”

Stewart said he isn’t sure how competitive the league will be, but that is not what it is ultimately about.

“There will be two or three teams that are pretty good,” he said. “The rest will be average. We aren’t focused on competitiveness, so we don’t want to exclude anyone.”

The goal of the league is to help students stay active, Stewart said.

“I want to try to increase overall participation,” he said. “None of the students here are hardcore basketball players or else they’d be at a four-year university playing. This is just a good way for people to stay and remain competitive.”

While Stewart is running the league, he said he hopes he isn’t called on to referee.

“Hopefully, I can get someone else to ref,” he said. “Reffing is the worst. They [referees] are always wrong.”