With 28 of 32 qualifiers now known, we can start to get a good picture of how the 2A girls’ basketball regional pairings may set up. With the data that we have at this point and RPI standings from February 28th, we take a look at where teams may end up.
To project such a bracket, we had to make some assumptions including the choice of district champions. Those eight teams will earn the right to host regional action and will be seeded 1-8 based on RPI. As we did with the boys’ bracket, we simply took the highest remaining seed in each district and put them as the champion.
We also need to determine the final four qualifiers. One will go to the winner of Paonia/West Grand for fifth place in District 5 and our choice was Paonia as they’re the highest seed of the two. In District 3, we need to select all three qualifiers to finish our bracket so we take the top three seeds there in Ignacio, Telluride and Dolores.
Now the bracket comes together with the top eight seeds being placed in spots one through eight. Most of the clubs are heavily favored to win titles as they ran through their league schedules without a loss. Simla could be the exception as the Cubs edged Colorado Springs School by just two points in the Black Forest chase. The two could meet again tomorrow for the District 8 title. Rye could also get pushed by Rocky Ford as the teams have combined for just one loss this season with the Thunderbolts beating the Meloneers in the last week of the regular season. Del Norte and Sanford are also highly ranked as well but Del Norte won both regular season contests.
- Holyoke
- Limon
- Meeker
- Heritage Christian
- Rye
- Del Norte
- Simla
- Ignacio
Now we lay out the entire bracket. Rocky Ford (#5) is the highest ranked team in the RPI that would not host a regional tournament in our scenario. Colorado Springs School is 8th in RPI but would be #10 in our bracket as a district runner-up.
REGION ONE
| #1 | Holyoke |
| #32 | Dolores |
| #16 | Sedgwick County |
| #17 | Denver Christian |
REGION TWO
| #2 | Limon |
| #31 | Telluride |
| #15 | Hotchkiss |
| #18 | Soroco |
REGION THREE
| #3 | Meeker |
| #30 | Loveland Classical |
| #14 | Wray |
| #19 | Calhan |
REGION FOUR
| #4 | Heritage Christian |
| #29 | Center |
| #13 | Dawson |
| #20 | Hayden |
REGION FIVE
| #5 | Rye |
| #28 | Paonia |
| #12 | Sanford |
| #21 | Swink |
REGION SIX
| #6 | Del Norte |
| #27 | Sargent |
| #11 | Peyton |
| #22 | Lotus School |
REGION SEVEN
| #7 | Simla |
| #26 | Byers |
| #10 | Colorado Springs School |
| #23 | Holly |
REGION EIGHT
| #8 | Ignacio |
| #25 | Gilpin County |
| #9 | Rocky Ford |
| #24 | Yuma |
Some conference pairings in the first-round issues with this bracket as Hotchkiss-Soroco and Del Norte-Sargent would likely be separated. There are also some travel concerns with Dolores going to the Holyoke bracket and Telluride headed to Limon. Yuma to Ignacio could also be discussed but Wray went out there a year ago and that’s a farther trip.
We’ll put together at least one more set of projections before the official pairings are released on Sunday.
