Head to head results from the past week helped clear up some of our Class 2A boys basketball regional tournament projections.  Del Norte remained solid as our choice for District 1 champion as they picked up a win over Sanford and Yuma did the same in District 2 by downing Sedgwick County on the road last Friday.
Districts 5 and 8 remain the most difficult to predict.  Right now in District 5, we have Rangely as the top team as the Panthers are alone atop the conference and unbeaten in league play.  They face Hotchkiss this week in a key game as the Bulldogs are tied for second with Paonia and Meeker.  Hotchkiss also meets Meeker so it’s an important stretch out west.  In District 8, Calhan is our choice as the champion as they’ve beaten both Simla and Evangelical Christian.  The Cubs and Eagles though are a close second and third and with rematches coming down the road, we expect that bracket to fluctuate quite a bit.
District 4 remains a tight race between Limon and Byers.  They will meet on February 9th to help decide.  They split games with common opponents as Limon beat ECA but lost to Simla.  Byers lost to ECA but topped the Cubs.  We go with Limon as they have the very slight edge in the RPI (3rd and 4th).
Crowley County is solid at number one in District 6 and they’re followed by Fowler and Rocky Ford.  Swallows Charter rolled Hoehne last week so they jump to the fourth spot ahead of the Farmers.  In District 7, Clear Creek scored a nice win over Pinnacle last week and another win over DSST-Stapleton on Wednesday could push the Golddiggers closer to Highland for the top spot.
Here’s a quick list of our qualifiers in each district.
 

DISTRICT 1 DISTRICT 2 DISTRICT 3
#1 Del Norte #1 Yuma #1 Ignacio
#2 Sanford #2 Sedgwick County #2 Dolores
#3 Sargent #3 Haxtun #3 Telluride
#4 South Park #4 Holyoke  
     
DISTRICT 4 DISTRICT 5 DISTRICT 6
#1 Limon #1 Rangely #1 Crowley County
#2 Byers #2 Meeker #2 Fowler
#3 Denver Christian #3 Hotchkiss #3 Rocky Ford
#4 Burlington #4 Paonia #4 Swallows Charter
  #5 Vail Christian  
     
DISTRICT 7 DISTRICT 8  
#1 Highland #1 Calhan  
#2 Clear Creek #2 Simla  
#3 Dayspring Christian #3 Evangelical Christian  
#4 Union Colony Prep #4 Ellicott  

 
Using the RPI from Monday January 29th, we seed the district champions one through eight.  The number next to their ranking is the current RPI standing.

  1. Crowley County (2nd in RPI)
  2. Limon (3rd)
  3. Calhan (6th)
  4. Del Norte (7th)
  5. Highland (9th)
  6. Yuma (10th)
  7. Ignacio (15th)
  8. Rangely (19th)

 
Also using RPI, we seed the rest of the regional tournament qualifiers.

  1. Sedgwick County
  2. Byers
  3. Haxtun
  4. Evangelical Christian
  5. Meeker
  6. Simla
  7. Fowler
  8. Clear Creek
  9. Dayspring Christian
  10. Paonia
  11. Holyoke
  12. Union Colony Prep
  13. Vail Christian
  14. Denver Christian
  15. Sargent
  16. Rocky Ford
  17. Ellicott
  18. Sanford
  19. Hotchkiss
  20. Dolores
  21. Swallows Charter
  22. Burlington
  23. Telluride
  24. South Park

 
And to wrap up our projections for the week, we place teams in the bracket.  We produce a true seed and don’t try to move any teams subject to geography.
 

REGION 1 REGION 2
#1 Crowley County vs #32 South Park #2 Limon vs #31 Telluride
#16 Clear Creek vs #17 Dayspring Christian #15 Fowler vs #18 Paonia
   
REGION 3 REGION 4
#3 Calhan vs #30 Burlington #4 Del Norte vs #29 Swallows Charter
#14 Simla vs #19 Holyoke #13 Meeker vs #20 Union Colony Prep
   
REGION 5 REGION 6
#5 Highland vs #28 Dolores #6 Yuma vs #27 Hotchkiss
#12 Evangelical Christian vs #21 Vail Christian #11 Haxtun vs #22 Denver Christian
   
REGION 7 REGION 8
#7 Ignacio vs #26 Sanford #8 Rangely vs #25 Ellicott
#10 Byers vs #23 Sargent #9 Sedgwick County vs #24 Rocky Ford

 
Notes:  Regional bracket is determined by RPI as district champions earn a top eight seed and then are placed in order by RPI.  The remaining qualifiers are seeded 9-32 but teams slotted 25-32 could be moved for geographical purposes.  The bracket is reseeded again following the conclusion of the regional tournaments.