In the current Class 1A girls’ basketball post-season format, only the top two teams in Districts 1 and 8 and the top three from the remaining brackets will advance to the regional tournament.  But this week, we’ve expanded our list of district finishers to the top four as we want to lay out a projected bracket if the 1A division followed the same format as Class 2A.  (more on that later).
First up is determining the order in each district and as you can see, there’s not much movement this week.
North Park and DeBeque remain one-two in District 1 with Dove Creek now solid at number three based on a second win over Ouray last week.  Even though Cheyenne Wells has a win over Eads, we moved the Eagles into the third spot in District 2 this week since they scored a huge win over Holly.  Despite that loss, we keep Holly at number two ahead of Kim/Branson since they have the head-to-head win there.  The key game in the district has yet to be played as Springfield meets Kim/Branson next week.
Briggsdale moved past Heritage Christian 50-27 last Saturday so the Falcons are a solid choice at number two in District 4.  Fleming is the top seed as they have two wins over Briggsdale.  Prairie and Weldon Valley will battle for fourth place in the bracket and both teams could knock off Heritage Christian in the district tournament.
In District 5, Flagler/Hi Plains jumps into the top three for the first time as they beat Otis last week.  Otis can climb back into the top three as they meet Idalia this week.  District 6 remains in the same order but could change this week as Antonito meets Sangre De Cristo on Saturday.
District 7 will likely remain unchanged until Kiowa and Edison collide in the final week.  Both teams have a loss to Genoa Hugo so the Pirates are a solid choice at number one.
Rankings in District 8 change almost on a daily basis and we’re still waiting on results from a key game on Monday between Front Range Baptist and Belleview Christian.  Otherwise the clubs have spent the past few weeks beating up on each other.  Belleview Christian has 10 wins thus far but is not in our top four due to a loss to Denver Jewish Day.
Our projections for district tournament finishes.

DISTRICT 1 DISTRICT 2 DISTRICT 3
#1 North Park #1 Kit Carson #1 Springfield
#2 DeBeque #2 McClave #2 Holly
#3 Dove Creek #3 Eads #3 Kim/Branson
#4 Ouray #4 Cheyenne Wells #4 Wiley
DISTRICT 4 DISTRICT 5 DISTRICT 6
#1 Fleming #1 Idalia #1 Sangre De Cristo
#2 Briggsdale #2 Arickaree/Woodlin #2 Sierra Grande
#3 Heritage Christian #3 Flagler/Hi Plains #3 Antonito
#4 Prairie #4 Otis #4 La Veta
DISTRICT 7 DISTRICT 8  
#1 Genoa Hugo #1 Front Range Baptist
#2 Kiowa #2 Cornerstone Christian
#3 Edison #3 Rocky Mountain Lutheran
#4 Elbert #4 Denver Jewish Day

 
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 morning of Tuesday February 6th.
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 advance to the state tournament.
 

REGION ONE

#1 North Park vs #2 Cornerstone Christian

#1 Front Range Baptist vs #2 DeBeque

 

REGION TWO

#4 Arickaree/Woodlin vs #9 Edison (winner plays #3 Heritage Christian)

#5 Idalia vs #8 Kiowa (winner plays #2 Briggsdale)

#6 Genoa Hugo vs #7 Flagler/Hi Plains (winner plays #1 Fleming)

 

REGION THREE

#4 Antonito vs #9 Sierra Grande (winner plays #3 Holly)

#5 Springfield vs #8 Eads (winner plays #2 Kim/Branson)

#6 McClave vs #7 Springfield (winner plays #1 Kit Carson)

Note:  Eads and Sierra Grande would likely be exchanged in the bracket to avoid first round pairings of teams from the same district

 
This week, we’re adding a twist to our post-season projections as we want to layout a sample 1A girls 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 6th, the 1A seeds line up in this order.  Please remember, the top four teams in each district would advance to the regional round.

  1. Kit Carson (District 2 champ)
  2. Fleming (District 4 champ)
  3. Springfield (District 3 champ)
  4. Sangre De Cristo (District 6 champ)
  5. North Park (District 1 champ)
  6. Idalia (District 5 champ)
  7. Genoa Hugo (District 7 champ)
  8. Front Range Baptist (District 8 champ)
  9. Kim/Branson
  10. Holly
  11. Antonito
  12. Briggsdale
  13. McClave
  14. Heritage Christian
  15. Eads
  16. La Veta
  17. Sierra Grande
  18. Arickaree/Woodlin
  19. Cornerstone Christian
  20. Wiley
  21. Cheyenne Wells
  22. Denver Jewish Day
  23. Flagler/Hi Plains
  24. Prairie
  25. Dove Creek
  26. DeBeque
  27. Edison
  28. Kiowa
  29. Otis
  30. Elbert
  31. Rocky Mountain Lutheran
  32. Ouray

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

REGION 1 REGION 2
#1 Kit Carson vs #32 Ouray #2 Fleming vs #31 RM Lutheran
#16 La Veta vs #17 Sierra Grande #15 Eads vs #18 Arickaree/Woodlin
REGION 3 REGION 4
#3 Springfield vs #30 Elbert #4 Sangre De Cristo vs #29 Otis
#14 Heritage Chr. Vs #19 Cornerstone Chr. #13 McClave vs #20 Wiley
REGION 5 REGION 6
#5 North Park vs #28 Kiowa #6 Idalia vs #27 Edison
#12 Briggsdale vs #21 Cheyenne Wells #11 Antonito vs #22 Denver Jewish Day
REGION 7 REGION 8
#7 Genoa Hugo vs #26 DeBeque #8 Front Range Baptist vs #25 Dove Creek
#10 Holly vs 23 Flagler/Hi Plains #9 Kim/Branson vs #24 Prairie