Going to take our basketball bracket projections in two phases this year. Now that we have posted our unofficial composite rankings from the end of the season, we will first post the pairings in true seed format where we simply place teams in the bracket based on their final ranking. Phase two will consist of then reviewing those pairings and moving some teams based on other seeding criteria.
That criteria includes moving some of the lowest seeds around a bit to lessen travel. Some teams could also be moved to avoid league matchups in the opening round and if teams that played one another are touching on seed line, they could be adjusted based on head-to-head results. For example, if team 17 beat team 16, then team 17 may be moved up one spot since they won the direct contest. But please note, this only applies if the teams are next to one another on the seed line.
League champions receive automatic bids to the tournament but are not given any special treatment for winning the crown. First round games are Tuesday night with the Sweet 16 set for Thursday and the Great 8 on Saturday. State semifinals will be played on Tuesday March 15th with the state finals March 19-20 at World Arena in Colorado Springs.
We will not post two different stories with the two sets of brackets. Our first headline will say “step one” and then we would move teams around, the headline will change to “updated”. Hope you follow our process. Please remember our brackets are for projection only. CHSAA will release official pairings on Monday.
CLASS 1A BOYS (True Seed)
- #1 Belleview Christian – BYE
- #16 Eads vs #17 Cheyenne Wells
- #8 Denver Jewish Day – BYE
- #9 Briggsdale vs #24 Rocky Mountain Lutheran
- #4 Granada – BYE
- #13 Evangelical Christian vs #20 Hi Plains
- #5 Cheraw – BYE
- #12 Sangre De Cristo vs #21 Pikes Peak Christian
- #3 DeBeque – BYE
- #14 Genoa Hugo vs #19 Longmont Christian
- #6 Primero – BYE
- #11 Haxtun vs #22 Simla
- #7 Mile High Academy – BYE
- #10 Caprock Academy vs #23 Fleming
- #2 Merino – BYE
- #15 Kim/Branson vs #18 Denver Waldorf
THOUGHTS: We have corrected our earlier bracket to reflect that Flatirons Academy is not eligible for the postseason due to quarantine. They are 16th in our unofficial numbers so that would move every team behind them up one spot in our projections including Rocky Mountain Lutheran. They were 25th in our final standings but would still grab a spot in the pairings due to Flatirons Academy’s absence. Another run through of the rankings puts Denver Jewish Day at #8 so they get a first round bye – which is different from our first set of rankings. Under this new situation, Fleming could be the hard luck team for travel as they’re slated for a drive to Caprock Academy. Flipping them with RM Lutheran gives them a league pairing with Briggsdale so the Wildcats may have a major road trip ahead of them. Still would flip Cheyenne Wells and Denver Jewish Day in our order to limit travel for both and avoid a league rematch of Eads-Cheyenne Wells in the first round.
CLASS 1A GIRLS (True Seed)
- #1 Briggsdale – BYE
- #16 Haxtun vs #17 Idalia
- #8 South Baca – BYE
- #9 Shining Mountain vs #24 Manzanola
- #4 Flatirons Academy – BYE
- #13 Merino vs #20 Eads
- #5 Kim/Branson – BYE
- #12 Cotopaxi vs #21 Evangelical Christian
- #3 Sangre De Cristo – BYE
- #14 Elbert vs #19 Kiowa
- #6 Fleming – BYE
- #11 Simla vs #22 Longmont Christian
- #7 Dove Creek – BYE
- #10 McClave vs #23 Belleview Christian
- #2 Kit Carson – BYE
- #15 Lone Star vs #18 Springfield
THOUGHTS: Please note that Manzanola gets into the bracket as a league champion; replaced Sierra Grande as the 24th qualifier. A difficult pill to take for the Panthers who beat Manzanola 63-22 over the weekend but it’s the Bobcats that move forward based on winning the Fishers Peak conference. Overall the bracket looks very good except for the league pairing of Elbert and Kiowa at 14-19. We believe the seeding committee would flip Kiowa with Eads to avoid that matchup. Travel would still not be a major issue for either of the new pairings. That appears to be the only change needed if the composite numbers we generated match the official numbers.
Manzanola and Belleview Christian both face some longer road trips but flipping them in the bracket creates a league matchup between Shining Mountain and Belleview Christian so the committee likely leaves that situation as is.
