With the final week of the regular season upon us, we’re changing gears a bit in our 2A boys basketball report.  Instead of breaking down each conference race, we’ll turn our attention to district tournament seeding.  Pairings for all eight district tournaments will be released over the next few days and we’ll post as they become available, but we try to get a jump on where teams will end up in their respective bracket.
District 3 sends three qualifiers to the regional tournament and District 5 gets five qualifiers.  The remaining district tournaments will send their top four finishers to the regional tournament.  District champs are seeded one through eight based on RPI for the regional bracket with remaining qualifiers placed in the bracket by RPI.  Teams 25-32 could be moved for travel purposes and there may be movement to avoid district pairings in the first round of the regional tournament.
 

DISTRICT #1

Del Norte and Sanford play for a second time this Friday but we don’t believe that game will impact the district tournament pairings.  Del Norte won the first game between the two which counted in the league standings so they should be the number one seed for the district event. Sanford has beaten all other league teams so the Indians should land the number two spot.
Sargent and South Park are battling for third and fourth.  South Park has the better overall record but the Farmers won the head to head meeting 57-40.  Cripple Creek is 10-6 on the season and will be placed in the bracket by RPI but cannot gain a top three seed since they’ve not played any Southern Peaks opponents this year.
 

DISTRICT #2

Yuma clinched the number one seed with their convincing win over Holyoke on Tuesday.  That result also locked the Dragons into the third spot with Sedgwick County sitting in-between at #2.
The race for the fourth seed and final home game in the quarterfinals is not yet complete.  Haxtun and Akron are tied for the position with identical 4-3 records with Merino still in contention at 3-4.  Akron and Haxtun are underdogs in their final games as the Rams visit Yuma on Thursday and the Bulldogs go to Sedgwick County on Friday.  Merino has their last conference game with Caliche on Friday.
Haxtun earns fourth win with a win since they have a head-to-head win over Akron.  The Rams though can move to fourth with a win if Haxtun falls to Sedgwick County.  If both Haxtun and Akron both come up short, then a three-way tie is the end result.  Under the second tiebreaker which is a points system, Akron gets the fourth spot and then Merino takes fifth due to the head-to-head over Haxtun.
If both Haxtun and Akron lose, then Merino gets into the mix with a win over Caliche.  That would result in a three-way tie and a point system would likely be used since the head-to-head results among the three are a wash.  If Haxtun, Akron and Merino all lose this week, then Haxtun gets the #4 seed and will host Akron in the district quarterfinals.
 

DISTRICT #3

About the only seed known for sure is Ignacio.  Despite an upset loss to Ridgway last week, the Bobcats remain atop the district pairings.  But the next four positions behind Ignacio are still wide open with games left on the schedule helping to decide the order.
Going into the weekend, Mancos (8-3) is alone in second with Telluride (8-4) in third.  Dolores and Ridgway both have five losses but still have a chance to move into the top three.  Norwood is locked in as the #6 seed.
Mancos hosts Ignacio on Thursday and then goes to Dolores on Friday.  Telluride wraps up the San Juan slate at Ridgway on Friday and beat the Demons 58-47 in the first meeting.
Concerning the potential tiebreakers, Mancos and Telluride split two contests and Telluride also split games with Dolores.  Dolores won the first meeting with Mancos 67-32.
 

DISTRICT #4

This is a mixed district involving teams from the Mile-High and Union Pacific conferences so league standings are not the ultimate decider.  Head-to-head results are the first order of seeding with RPI in place to break potential ties.
Based on head-to-head results, Byers would be the number one seed based on their win last week over Limon.  The Badgers have a win over Denver Christian so they currently sit at #2.  Denver Christian is the third seed since they beat Front Range Christian and the Lions are fourth based on a win over Burlington.  Denver Academy topped Nederland on Tuesday so Denver Academy is the likely #6 seed with Nederland #7.
One game left on the schedule that could impact the order is Thursday between Limon and Front Range Christian.
 

DISTRICT #5

The top five teams in the Western Slope chase have been determined but three games on tap this week will determine the final seeding order.  Rangely and Meeker are both 10-1 and share the conference lead by one game over Paonia and Vail Christian (both 9-2).  Hotchkiss is fifth (8-3) but all five teams have a chance to move up or down based on results from Friday.
On that day, Rangely visits Paonia, Meeker hosts Soroco and Vail Christian meets Hotchkiss.
Rangely gets the number one seed with a win over Paonia as the Panthers have a win over Meeker.  In that scenario, Meeker is second with Vail Christian taking third by beating Hotchkiss.  Paonia would then be fourth and Hotchkiss fifth.  If Hotchkiss beats Vail Christian, then the Saints, Paonia and Hotchkiss would be tied for third.
If Paonia upsets Rangely, the Meeker becomes the champion by beating Soroco.  If Vail Christian also beats Hotchkiss, then the Saints, Rangely and Paonia would end up in a three-way tie for second with Hotchkiss fifth.  A Hotchkiss win in this scenario, leaves Paonia #2 with Rangely #3.  Hotchkiss then moves to fourth with Vail Christian sliding to fifth.
 

DISTRICT #6

Conference play concluded on Tuesday night so we’re almost sure of the district bracket.  Schools are involved in a league meeting to finalize the order with opening round games set for later this week.
The key result from Tuesday saw Rocky Ford beat Fowler.  The result left both teams at 11-3 in the Santa Fe conference and tied for second behind unbeaten conference champion Crowley County.  Rocky Ford avenged an earlier loss to the Grizzlies, but the Fowler still gets the second seed based on point-differential in the two games.  It’s crucial for Fowler as the Grizzlies join Crowley County as two teams that get byes into the semifinals which automatically advances them into the regional tournament as one of four qualifiers.  Rocky Ford then gets the #3 seed.
A similar situation occurs between Swallows Charter and John Mall for the fourth spot.  The teams finished league play at 6-8 and split two regular season matchups.  Swallows get the higher seed since they beat John Mall by 19 and lost by just one.
That leaves John Mall as the fifth seed and with a likely opening round game against #8 Las Animas.  That winner gets Swallows Charter in the second round.  Hoehne and Swink are #6 and #7 and will play an opening round game with the survivor facing Rocky Ford in round two.
 

DISTRICT #7

Clear Creek comes down from the 3A Frontier to join many members of the Mile-High conference to form the district bracket.  We say many league members as Denver Christian, Nederland, Denver Academy move out to compete in 2A District 4 with Heritage Christian and Longmont Christian going to 1A District 4 for their first post-season action.
Highland is the top seed.  The Huskies are 10-0 and unbeaten in league play for the second straight season.  Clear Creek is the likely #3 seed from the 3A Frontier.  The number two spot is still up for grabs and won’t be decided until games wrap up for the week.
Union Colony was in control of second place until Tuesday’s loss to Twin Peaks Charter.  That dropped the Timberwolves into a tie with Dayspring Christian and Dawson.  All three teams are 7-4 in league play with one conference game remaining apiece.
Dayspring Christian and Union Colony collide on Friday and Dawson meets Longmont Christian.  Dawson has beaten both Dayspring Christian and Union Colony so they’re second with a win regardless of what else happens.  If Longmont Christian beats Dawson, the Mustangs get the fourth seed with the winner between Dayspring Christian-Union Colony second and the loser fifth.
 

DISTRICT #8

Simla and Calhan play on Wednesday night and the winner will lock up the number one seed for the district seed.  Both are unbeaten in the Black Forest conference and each is at least two games up on third place teams Evangelical Christian and Ellicott.  Simla also goes to Ellicott on Friday and if the Cubs fall on Wednesday, their game with the Thunderhawks becomes critical to seeds two through four.
Calhan has a final game with Peyton on Friday as well and the Bulldogs are favored to get that win.  Evangelical Christian beat Ellicott head-to-head so the Eagles have the advantage for third.  They finish the Black Forest slate with games against Colorado Springs School and Miami Yoder Friday and Saturday.  Ellicott has lost to Calhan and ECA so it may be difficult for the Thunderhawks to move higher than fourth unless Simla loses twice.