1A BOYS REGIONAL PROJECTIONS

Official district pairings should all be known by a week from Sunday but until then, we will continue to present our projections on how the post-season brackets in Class 1A boys’ basketball may end up.  This week, we expand our district tournament picks to the top four spots as we will use them to layout a sample bracket based on the 2A playoff format as well.
No matchups between top teams in District 1 remain on the schedule but DeBeque and Ouray both face Creede this week so those results could help us project what might happen in a potential district matchup between the Dragons and Trojans.  They remain #1 and #2 in our district tournament.
The top seed in District 2 will wait until a February 16^th matchup between Cheyenne Wells and Kit Carson.  They’re 1-2 in our pairings at this point and that game should determine their district placement.  Cheyenne Wells has important RPI games with Holly and Arickaree/Woodlin on Thursday and Saturday.
Walsh and Kim/Branson collide on Saturday and that game should help determine the third and fourth seed in District 3.  Most teams prefer the 3^rd slot as that will place them opposite defending state champion Holly in the bracket.  The Wildcats and South Baca are solid choices at #1 and #2 again this week but Walsh, Kim/Branson and Wiley should make for an interesting race for the third available regional berth.
Heritage Christian beat Longmont Christian on Monday night so the Eagles gain the advantage in the District 4 chase.  We believe both teams should be seeded behind Peetz in the district bracket as the Bulldogs are unbeaten overall, but Heritage Christian is 2^nd in RPI and Peetz 5^th as of Wednesday morning.
Otis collected an important win over Arickaree/Woodlin last week and that pushed the Bulldogs to the top spot in District 5.  Stratton/Liberty and Flagler/Hi Plains meet in the annual hyphen bowl this week and that should help determine the third and fourth position.
Red hot Sierra Grande used a win over Creede last week to reach #2 in District 6.  The Panthers still have a game remaining with Sangre De Cristo next week so the Southern Peaks crown and top district seed is still up for grabs.  Another key game remaining has Cotopaxi against Primero on the 16^th which could decide spots four and five in the bracket.
District 7 remains steady from last week but the outcome between Elbert and Kiowa on Friday could shake up things a bit.
Front Range Baptist is very close to locking up the top seed in District 8 as they have just one league game remaining.  They face Rocky Mountain Lutheran next week and have a one game lead on Cornerstone Christian, Denver Jewish Day and Shining Mountain.
Our projections for district tournament finishes.

 
Using these results, we can then add RPI to the equation and project regional bracket pairings.  Region 1 involves a cross bracket between Districts 1 and 8.  Region 2 involves the top three teams from Districts 4, 5, and 7 while Region 3 pulls together the top three clubs from Districts 2, 3, and 6.  RPI numbers are pulled from the afternoon of Wednesday February 7^th. #
Winners of both games in Region 1 advance to the state tournament.  In Regions 2 and 3, winners from each of the three second round games on Saturday advance to the state tournament.
 
REGION ONE
#1 DeBeque vs #2 Cornerstone Christian
#1 Front Range Baptist vs #2 Ouray
 
REGION TWO
#4 Genoa Hugo vs #9 Kiowa (winner plays #3 Longmont Christian)
#5 Otis vs #8 Elbert (winner plays #2 Peetz)
#6 Arickaree/Woodlin vs #7 Stratton/Liberty (winner plays #1 Heritage Christian)
Note:  Spots seven and nine would likely be changed to avoid district pairings in the first round.
 
REGION THREE
#4 Cheyenne Wells vs #9 Walsh (winner plays #3 Sangre De Cristo)
#5 Sierra Grande vs #8 McClave (winner plays #2 Creede)
#6 Kit Carson vs #7 South Baca (winner plays #1 Holly)
 
This week, we’re adding a twist to our post-season projections as we want to layout a sample 1A bracket if the classification used the same format as Class 2A.  In that scenario, district champions are seeded one through eight and host four-team regionals with the winner of each advancing to the state tournament.  The remaining qualifiers are seeded 9-32 in the bracket with teams 25-32 possibly moved for geographic purposes.
Using the eight number one teams in our projections and the same RPI standings from February 7th, the 1A seeds line up in this order.  Please remember, the top four teams in each district would advance to the regional round for this format for a total of 32 teams.

1. Holly
2. Sangre De Cristo
3. Peetz
4. Front Range Baptist
5. Cheyenne Wells
6. DeBeque
7. Genoa Hugo
8. Otis
9. Creede
10. Heritage Christian
11. Longmont Christian
12. Sierra Grande
13. Kit Carson
14. South Baca
15. Shining Mountain
16. Cornerstone Christian
17. Cheraw
18. Cotopaxi
19. McClave
20. Denver Jewish Day
21. Fleming
22. Walsh
23. Kim/Branson
24. Arickaree/Woodlin
25. Flagler/Hi Plains
26. North Park
27. Stratton/Liberty
28. Elbert
29. Ouray
30. Kiowa
31. Dove Creek
32. Pikes Peak Christian

Using these seeds, then the eight regional tournament brackets would be paired in this manner