We continue our newest feature by making projections for the post-season in Class 2A and 3A girls’ basketball.  Our post-season picks will serve as a replacement for weekly top 10 rankings we’ve posted in the past.
In Class 2A, the top four finishers in six districts earn automatic bids to the regional tournament.  District 3 gets three bids and District 5 earns five bids.  District champions also earn the right to host regional events and those clubs will be seeded one through eight based on RPI.
In Class 3A, the top two teams from each district (league) tournament automatically advance to the 32-team state tournament with remaining teams selected by RPI.  District champions also earn the right to host the first two rounds and again they will be seeded one through eight determined by RPI standings.
To get us started in Class 2A, we are simply predicting district champions.

District 1:  Del Norte

District 2:  Yuma

District 3:  Ignacio

District 4:  Limon

District 5:  Vail Christian

District 6:  Swink

District 7:  Highland

District 8:  Simla

RPI will be used to seed the teams one through eight and the first official standings won’t be released until January 16th.  But projecting ahead, we’ve come up with this order.

#1 Yuma

#2 Swink

#3 Limon

#4 Simla

#5 Del Norte

#6 Vail Christian

#7 Highland

#8 Ignacio

Turning to Class 3A, our first release involves choices of the official qualifiers from each district tournament.  As mentioned, these teams would be guaranteed a spot in the 32-team state tournament bracket and the district champions will serve as hosts in the first two rounds.

Frontier:  Bennett & Academy

Patriot:  Sterling & Resurrection Christian

Metro:  Lutheran & Kent Denver

Tri Peaks:  St Mary’s & Colorado Springs Christian

Intermountain:  Centauri & Pagosa Springs

Western Slope:  Cedaredge & Delta

Confluence/Colorado 7:  Weld Central & Eagle Ridge Academy

The first team listed is our selection as district champion so those teams and along with the highest ranked team in RPI get to host the first two rounds.  Below is our projected seed order with Colorado Springs Christian getting our nod as the “at large” team that will host based on RPI.

#1 St Mary’s

#2 Centauri

#3 Colorado Springs Christian

#4 Sterling

#5 Lutheran

#6 Cedaredge

#7 Weld Central

#8 Bennett