Regional pairings for Class 2A boys and girls basketball are set for official release today. Colorado Preps made an initial projection on Saturday night but is revisiting the bracket since RPI standings were updated once again and they now include all results from district tournament play. We reset the bracket and go through the adjustments in each division.
BOYS
In our first projections, Vail Mountain was third and Sanford fourth but they’ve been flipped in the bracket below. Both are district champions but Sanford’s win over Lake County in the District 1 finals late last night was enough to push them ahead of the Gore Rangers and into third. That’s the only change in the top eight.
Next up is a move between Denver Christian and Wray. DC is now ninth as Wray fell behind them in the RPI with last night’s district championship loss to Yuma. They are the two highest ranked non-district champs but now have different destinations next week. Denver Christian could head to Thomas MacLaren and Wray to Heritage Christian.
The rest of the bracket is solid to what we projected late Saturday night but now let’s move teams around to avoid district pairings and alleviate some travel issues.
First up, we flipped Meeker and Rye in the 17th and 18th position. Meeker was scheduled to face Vail Christian in round one and they’re from the same league and district.
Byers should be moved out of their first round matchup with Lotus School since they just played for third in the District 4 bracket. But where to move Byers is a tough one because it creates more travel. Moving them one spot up or down leaves them with a trip to Sanford or Mancos. Neither is a great option because the exchanging teams of Ignacio and Crested Butte could result for even greater travel. So let’s drop Byers to #22 and exchange with Cedaredge moving up to #20.
The final move is to exchange Wiggins and Plateau Valley in spots 23-24 to avoid Wiggins facing league rival Wray in their tournament opener.
So now we have our final boys bracket before the official release by CHSAA later today.
| REGION 1 | REGION 5 | |||
| #1 | Yuma | #5 | Mancos | |
| #32 | Dawson | #28 | Custer County | |
| #16 | Vail Christian | #12 | Peyton | |
| #17 | Rye | #21 | Crested Butte | |
| REGION 2 | REGION 6 | |||
| #2 | Limon | #6 | Crowley County | |
| #31 | Telluride | #27 | Lake County | |
| #15 | Holyoke | #11 | Holly | |
| #18 | Meeker | #22 | Byers | |
| REGION 3 | REGION 7 | |||
| #3 | Sanford | #7 | Heritage Christian | |
| #30 | Calhan | #26 | Golden View Classical | |
| #14 | Fowler | #10 | Wray | |
| #19 | Ignacio | #23 | Plateau Valley | |
| REGION 4 | REGION 8 | |||
| #4 | Vail Mountain | #8 | Thomas MacLaren | |
| #29 | Lyons | #25 | Del Norte | |
| #13 | Lotus School | #9 | Denver Christian | |
| #20 | Cedaredge | #24 | Wiggins | |
GIRLS
Very minor changes in our girls projected bracket from Saturday. The top eight remains in the same order with a very tight race between Sanford and Holyoke for the top two spots. In RPI released today, the Indians and Dragons are a virtual tie with .692 RPI numbers for each. But since Sanford is listed first, we believe they will get the one seed as if CHSAA expands the percentage out past three decimal points, the Indians likely have a very slight lead. That’s happened before in RPI and the team listed higher has the advantage with stretching out the numbers. A second reason could be winning percentage. Both clubs have one loss but Sanford has one more win (21-20) as the Dragons missed a game with a first round bye in the district tournament.
Elsewhere, Swink and Akron have changed seeds at numbers 15 and 16. Swink edged ahead of the Rams in RPI today so they get the higher seed. Also notice that Dolores Huerta Prep is in the bracket at number 32. We had them there last night but there was some confusion so let’s lay it out. DH Prep is not in the top 32 for RPI but gets in as automatic qualifier since they finished third behind Peyton and Fountain Valley in district 3. That means the Scorpions are in with Olathe bumped from the field. They were 32nd in RPI.
Concerning league issues, there is a concern for Burlington-Holyoke and Fowler-Rye in the bracket. Since Burlington and Holyoke are in different leagues the committee could keep that matchup in place but since they’re in the same district tournament, I believe the committee will move the Cougars elsewhere. Rye and Fowler is a must-move since they’re in the same Santa Fe conference.
But the concern with moving both teams up or down one spot in the bracket is increasing travel. Burlington could exchange with DH Prep but that puts the Cougars all the way to Sanford and DH Prep up to Holyoke. The Cougars can’t be moved to 30 because that pairs them with league rival Limon in round one. Rye’s options are concerning because moving them up or down one spot sends them to Soroco or Cedaredge and forces teams from those brackets to possibly increase travel as well.
Our resolution probably won’t happen but let’s just exchange Burlington and Fowler in the bracket. Fowler comes north to Holyoke and Burlington heads to Rye; some big travel for both but it doesn’t upset the rest of the bracket. Likely won’t happen, but it’s a solution that should be considered.
With that weird move in place, let’s project our latest bracket.
| REGION 1 | REGION 5 | |||
| #1 | Sanford | #5 | Rye | |
| #32 | Dolores Huerta | #28 | Burlington | |
| #16 | Akron | #12 | Heritage Christian | |
| #17 | Denver Christian | #21 | Yuma | |
| REGION 2 | REGION 6 | |||
| #2 | Holyoke | #6 | Cedaredge | |
| #31 | Fowler | #27 | Fowler | |
| #15 | Swink | #11 | Hoehne | |
| #18 | Mancos | #22 | Monte Vista | |
| REGION 3 | REGION 7 | |||
| #3 | Limon | #7 | Dayspring Christian | |
| #30 | Front Range Christian | #26 | Ignacio | |
| #14 | Wray | #10 | Sedgwick County | |
| #19 | Meeker | #23 | Rangely | |
| REGION 4 | REGION 8 | |||
| #4 | Soroco | #8 | Peyton | |
| #29 | Del Norte | #25 | Center | |
| #13 | Wiggins | #9 | Sargent | |
| #20 | Gilpin County | #24 | Fountain Valley | |
