Three weeks remain in the regular season for teams in Class 3A and teams continue to jockey for better placement in district tournaments.  The top two clubs from each district tournament receive automatic bids to the 32-team state tournament with the remaining slots determined by RPI points.  District champions earn the right to play at home in the first two rounds if they finish in the top 16 of RPI.
Our choices for the automatic qualifiers remain virtually intact from the past couple of weeks.  Questions remain in the number two spot for the Frontier and Western Slope conferences.  Pinnacle stayed at number two in our Frontier lineup as they beat DSST-Stapleton head-to-head.  DSST remains number one as they will likely get a better seed and easier route to the district tournament finals.  Out west, a crucial game is set for Tuesday between Grand Valley and Coal Ridge.  Roaring Fork is also very much in the discussion but Coal Ridge can get very close to clinching the top district seed by winning on Tuesday.  They beat the Rams last week.  Roaring Fork has an earlier win over Grand Valley.
 

FRONTIER PATRIOT
#1 DSST-Stapleton #1 Sterling
#2 Pinnacle #2 Platte Valley
METRO INTERMOUNTAIN
#1 Kent Denver #1 Alamosa
#2 Lutheran #2 Bayfield
TRI PEAKS WESTERN SLOPE
#1 Vanguard #1 Coal Ridge
#2 Colorado Springs Christian #2 Grand Valley
CONFLUENCE/COLORADO 7  
#1 Weld Central
#2 DSST-Green Valley

 
With those predictions in mind, we first seed the district champions and at-large teams in order by RPI as published on Monday January 29th.  Please note that DSST-Stapleton and Weld Central are not in the top 16 so at large teams Grand Valley and Platte Valley move into the top eight.  Manual is already in the top eight as the highest rated non-league champion.

  1. Sterling
  2. Alamosa
  3. Coal Ridge
  4. Kent Denver
  5. Manual (at-large)
  6. Vanguard
  7. Grand Valley (at-large)
  8. Platte Valley (at-large)

 
Next up is the rest of the bracket which is filled out by automatic qualifiers and at-large teams based on RPI standings.  Weld Central is ranked 42nd in RPI and DSST-Green Valley is 36th but both move into the bracket based on our projections that they will qualify automatically from their district tournament.  With the current RPI standings, Frontier Academy (32nd) would be bumped from the tournament.

  1. Strasburg
  2. Bayfield
  3. Resurrection Christian
  4. Roaring Fork
  5. Colorado Academy
  6. Arrupe Jesuit
  7. Delta
  8. Faith Christian
  9. DSST-Stapleton (projected district champion outside top 16)
  10. La Junta
  11. Lutheran
  12. Cedaredge
  13. Centauri
  14. Colorado Springs Christian
  15. Pagosa Springs
  16. Pinnacle
  17. Jefferson
  18. Montezuma Cortez
  19. Manitou Springs
  20. Estes Park
  21. Academy
  22. Salida
  23. Weld Central (projected district champion outside top 16)
  24. DSST-Green Valley (projected qualifier outside top 32)

 
With 32 teams selected, the field can now be projected.  Teams seeded in spots 25-32 could be moved to help limit travel.  Also note that the field is NOT RESEEDED once the first two rounds are complete and the bracket will be played out completely from start to finish.  For our projections, we produce a true seed and do not move any teams within the bracket.
 

REGION ONE REGION EIGHT
#1 Sterling vs #32 DSST-Green Valley #8 Platte Valley vs #25 Jefferson
#16 Faith Christian vs #17 DSST-Stapleton #9 Strasburg vs #24 Pinnacle
REGION FOUR REGION FIVE
#4 Kent Denver vs #29 Academy #5 Manual vs #28 Estes Park
#13 Colorado Academy vs #20 Cedaredge #12 Roaring Fork vs #21 Centauri
REGION THREE REGION SIX
#3 Coal Ridge vs #30 Salida #6 Vanguard vs #27 Manitou Springs
#14 Arrupe Jesuit vs #19 Lutheran #11 Resurrection Christian vs #22 CS Christian
REGION TWO REGION SEVEN
#2 Alamosa vs #31 Weld Central #7 Grand Valley vs #26 Montezuma Cortez
#15 Delta vs #18 La Junta #10 Bayfield vs #23 Pagosa Springs