Bracketology continues for Colorado Preps as we now look at the projected district results and regional pairings for Class 1A girls. District tournaments start next week with six of the districts awarding three regional spots and Districts 1 and 8 advancing just two.  We make predictions on which teams will advance and how they will be paired up.

 

WESTERN REGIONAL

This is the smallest regional bracket as the top two teams from Districts 1 and 8 cross-bracket for regional finals and winners of each advance to the state tournament.  Flatirons Academy is the defending state champion and will be the overwhelming favorite to win the District 8 tournament.  Rocky Mountain Lutheran ended up second in the league race so they’re a good bet to land second place.  The District 1 title game should be a good pairing between Dove Creek and North Park and we use RPI to select Dove Creek as the champion.  If those scenarios pan out here are the regional finals and again winners from each advance to the state bracket.

  • Flatirons Academy vs North Park
  • Dove Creek vs Rocky Mountain Lutheran

 

NORTHEAST REGIONAL

Nine teams advance to the bracket with three apiece coming from Districts, 4, 5 and 7.  These teams, according to the CHSAA Basketball bulletin will be then seeded by RPI and placed in three team pods.  The top three seeds will earn a bye and face a winner from the previous day.  Winners from the three games on day two of the regional will earn a trip to the state tournament in Greeley.

For District 4, we will advance Briggsdale, Fleming and Merino.  We stair step the bracket as Briggsdale owns a win over Fleming and Fleming topped Merino.  Merino also has a win over a very good Haxtun club that could also contend for a regional berth but we pick the Rams based on their head-to-head win.

For District 5, Lone Star and Idalia finished one-two in the YWKC standings so we go with them in the top two spots.  Stratton is battling some injuries down the stretch but still get our nod as the third pick since they finished as the top 1A club in the Union Pacific conference.

In District 7, there’s a key game remaining between Simla and Evangelical Christian this week that could jumble our bracket a bit but right now Simla is alone in first in the Black Forest standings so they get our nod as the District champion.  Kiowa and ECA share second and Kiowa is our pick at number two since they won the head-to-head matchup.

Using RPI from Monday February 14th before games open that night, the teams would be seeded in this order.

  1. Briggsdale
  2. Fleming
  3. Merino
  4. Lone Star
  5. Stratton
  6. Kiowa
  7. Idalia
  8. Evangelical Christian
  9. Simla

Using those standings, the regional pods would shape up in this manner.  Again, the three winners from day two would advance to the state quarterfinals.

  • #4 Lone Star vs #9 Simla – winner plays #3 Merino
  • #5 Stratton vs #8 Evangelical Christian – winner plays #2 Fleming
  • #6 Kiowa vs #7 Idalia – winner plays #1 Briggsdale

 

SOUHEAST REGIONAL

Nine teams advance to the bracket with three apiece coming from Districts, 2, 3 and 6.  These teams, according to the CHSAA Basketball bulletin will be then seeded by RPI and placed in three team pods avoiding district rematches in the first round.  The top three seeds will earn a bye and face a winner from the previous day.  Winners from the three games on day two of the regional will earn a trip to the state tournament in Greeley.

For District 2, we will advance McClave, Cheyenne Wells and Kit Carson.  McClave has beaten the other two while Cheyenne Wells also has a win over Kit Carson.  Kit Carson earned the third-place finish by beating Cheraw in overtime last week.

For District 3, South Baca collected the Ark Valley title by beating Kim/Branson last week so the Patriots grab the number one spot.  Kim/Branson and Springfield play this week so spots 2-3 could be flipped based on that result.

In District 6, Sangre De Cristo is the easy choice at number one as the T-Birds have dominated the Southern Peaks race.  Centennial beat Sierra Grande over the weekend so they got the number two spot with Sierra Grande at #3.  Cotopaxi could also factor in.

Using RPI from Monday February 14th before games open that night, the teams would be seeded in this order.

  1. McClave
  2. Cheyenne Wells
  3. Sangre De Cristo
  4. Kit Carson
  5. Kim/Branson
  6. South Baca
  7. Springfield
  8. Centennial
  9. Sierra Grande

Using those standings, the regional pods would shape up in this manner.  Again, the three winners from day two would advance to the state quarterfinals.

  • #4 Kit Carson vs #9 Sierra Grande – winner plays #3 Sangre De Cristo
  • #5 Kim/Branson vs #8 Centennial – winner plays #2 Cheyenne Wells
  • #6 South Baca vs #7 Springfield – winner plays #1 McClave

Since South Baca and Springfield are from the same district, the Longhorns would probably be dropped all the way to ninth to face Kit Carson.  Sierra Grande and Centennial could then each be bumped one spot in the seed line to set up the final district pairings.

  • #4 Kit Carson vs #9 Springfield – winner plays #3 Sangre De Cristo
  • #5 Kim/Branson vs #8 Sierra Grande – winner plays #2 Cheyenne Wells
  • #6 South Baca vs #7 Centennial – winner plays #1 McClave

 

Please note that the eight regional champions will then be reseeded for the state tournament.  RPI standings will be the dominant data point for seeding but head-to-head matchups could come into play along with district/conference finishes.