Colorado Preps has released the second edition of our weekly projections into the 2A and 3A Boys’ basketball post-season.  We have expanded coverage in both divisions this week as we look ahead to where teams could be placed in their respective brackets.
 

CLASS 2A

After simply projecting regional tournament champions and seeding them 1-8 last week, our post-season prognostications expand a bit this week.  We will again select district champions and seed them 1-8 but also look at the runner-up teams in each district and place them in the bracket 9-16.  While the eight district champions are guaranteed a top eight seed, the runner-up squads though are not locked into the next eight spots.  Seeds 9-32 in the bracket can be placed in any order with the final eight selections (25-32) possibly moved to keep teams from traveling long distances.
We begin with the district champions and the runner-up teams in each district.

District 1:             #1 Del Norte, #2 Sanford

District 2:             #1 Sedgwick County, #2 Yuma

District 3:             #1 Ignacio, #2 Dolores

District 4:             #1 Byers, #2 Limon

District 5:             #1 Vail Christian, #2 Rangely

District 6:             #1 Crowley County, #2 Fowler

District 7:             #1 Highland, #2 Clear Creek

District 8:             #1 Evangelical Christian, #2 Simla

 
The first official RPI standings are set for release on Tuesday but we’ll try to seed the teams in the bracket before that announcement.  RPI standings will be used to seed clubs 1-8 and the remaining teams as well.
Here are the top eight seeds for Class 2A.  Remember, only district champions qualify for these spots.

#1 Sedgwick County

#2 Crowley County

#3 Vail Christian

#4 Del Norte

#5 Ignacio

#6 Evangelical Christian

#7 Byers

#8 Highland

Now we take the runner-up teams from each district and place them in the bracket 9-16.  We only predict that some teams may be shifted a bit after RPI standings after finalized to avoid having the top two teams from the same district tournament in the same regional bracket.

#9 Yuma

#10 Simla

#11 Limon

#12 Sanford

#13 Rangely

#14 Fowler

#15 Clear Creek

#16 Dolores

 
Several other clubs that may not finish in the top two of their district could easily sneak into the top 16 for regional tournament seeding.  Those teams include Meeker, Holyoke, Haxtun and Hoehne.
 

CLASS 3A

The top two teams from the seven districts automatically qualify for the state tournament.  The seven district winners and the top non-champion according to the final RPI standings earn the right to host the first two rounds.  RPI will then be used to seed the bracket 9-32 with again the final eight spots available for movement (25-32) for geographic purposes.
Our choices for the automatic bids from each district have not changed much from last week.  We did add Jefferson in the Frontier and Colorado Academy inside the Metro to the list.  Jefferson earned a nice win over Pinnacle and Colorado Academy also stuffed Faith Christian.  There are at least three games on the schedule this week that could impact this list.  Those games include Platte Valley at Resurrection Christian, Vanguard vs Colorado Springs Christian and Alamosa at Bayfield.

Frontier:              #1 DSST-Stapleton, #2 Jefferson

Patriot:                 #1 Sterling, #2 Platte Valley

Metro:                  #1 Kent Denver, #2 Colorado Academy

Tri Peaks:            #1 Colorado Springs Christian, #2 Vanguard

Intermountain: #1 Alamosa, #2 Bayfield

West Slope:        #1 Grand Valley, #2 Coal Ridge

Confluence:       #1 Weld Central, #2 Fort Lupton

 
Ahead of the first RPI release, we also place the teams in order 1-8.

#1 Sterling

#2 Alamosa

#3 Kent Denver

#4 Grand Valley

#5 Platte Valley (non-champion with highest RPI)

#6 DSST-Stapleton

#7 Colorado Springs Christian

#8 Weld Central

 
Colorado Preps will continue projections for the 2A and 3A post-season each week of the regular season which ends on February 17th.  Post-season pairings will then be announced on February 18th