Regular season play concludes this week in 3A girls basketball with a few district tournaments set to open on Saturday.  Since we’re that close to the postseason, Colorado Preps can look at potential qualifiers and project the state pairings.

Every team enters district tournaments later this week or next with the top two finishers in each bracket receiving automatic bids into the 32-team bracket.  The remaining 18 slots will be considered wildcards and determined by RPI standings following the conclusion of district play.

Let’s start the projection process by picking the top two teams in each district tournament.  For this, we simply use league standings and hope the district event plays out close to how the regular season ended up.

  • Intermountain:  Centauri #1, Alamosa #2
  • Metro:  Lutheran #1, Skyview Academy #2
  • Patriot:  Platte Valley #1, Eaton #2
  • Tri Peaks:  Vanguard #1, St Mary’s #2
  • Western Slope:  Delta #1, Moffat County #2
  • Confluence:  DSST-Byers #1, Eagle Ridge Academy #2
  • Frontier:  Academy #1, Bennett #2

DSST-Byers currently shares the Confluence lead with Lotus School and Addenbrooke Academy but both of those programs go into Class 2A for the postseason.  Eagle Ridge Academy and Englewood come into that bracket from the Colorado and could easily challenge for the top two spots.  Englewood though has lost to both Eagle Ridge and DSST-Byers so we leave them off the list.

District champions earn a top eight seed UNLESS they finish outside the top 16 of RPI.   That guideline factors into the Confluence district as none of the three top contenders that we mentioned, DSST-Byers, Eagle Ridge Academy and Englewood are in the top 32 of RPI.  As a result, that district champion will not host the first two rounds.

So we take those remaining conference champions and the top two teams from the RPI that did not win a league title (University & Eaton) and seed those eight teams 1-8 based on RPI.  Platte Valley and University collide on Tuesday and if the Bulldogs upset the defending state champions, this order will also change.

  1. Platte Valley
  2. University (at-large)
  3. Vanguard
  4. Eaton (at-large)
  5. Delta
  6. Lutheran
  7. Academy
  8. Centauri

The committee does have the ability to move teams based on previous district matchups, head to head results and common opponents and that aspect of seeding could alter the top four.  Vanguard and Eaton have both beaten University this year so we see the committee dropping the Bulldogs to fourth behind those two.  This changes the top eight to this order.

  1. Platte Valley
  2. Vanguard
  3. Eaton (at-large)
  4. University (at-large)
  5. Delta
  6. Lutheran
  7. Academy
  8. Centauri

The rest of the field is then decided by the second place teams in the district tournaments and RPI standings.  As mentioned, the two qualifiers from the Confluence district would likely fall outside the top 32 but each will get an automatic bid.  But as they get in, then Denver West and Jefferson Academy are bumped from our current field.  They are #30 and #31 in the RPI as of Monday the 14th.  Bennett is behind them at #32 but the Tigers also get an automatic bid in our bracket as a second place finisher in the Frontier.

With those changes, the rest of the field is seeded in this order by RPI:

  1. Colorado Springs Christian
  2. St Mary’s
  3. Ellicott
  4. Grand Valley
  5. Coal Ridge
  6. Resurrection Christian
  7. Pagosa Springs
  8. Moffat County
  9. Skyview Academy
  10. Colorado Academy
  11. Highland
  12. Kent Denver
  13. Prospect Ridge
  14. Lamar
  15. Alamosa
  16. North Fork
  17. Valley
  18. Strasburg
  19. Manitou Springs
  20. La Junta
  21. Brush
  22. Bennett
  23. DSST-Byers
  24. Eagle Ridge Academy

And then we combine the two groups into a full 32-team bracket.  The teams are listed in bracket order with the highest eight seeds hosting the first two rounds.  Winners from each region carry into the state quarterfinals at the University of Denver.  The bracket is played out from start to finish and NOT RESEEDED at any point.

REGION 1
#1 Platte Valley
#32 Eagle Ridge Academy
#16 Moffat County
#17 Skyview Academy
REGION 8
#8 Centauri
#25 Valley
#9 Colorado Springs Christian
#24 North Fork
REGION 4
#4 University
#29 Brush
#13 Coal Ridge
#20 Kent Denver
REGION 5
#5 Delta
#28 La Junta
#12 Grand Valley
#21 Prospect Ridge

 

REGION 2
#2 Vanguard
#31 DSST-Byers
#15 Pagosa Springs
#18 Colorado Academy
REGION 7
#7 Academy
#26 Strasburg
#10 St Mary’s
#23 Alamosa
REGION 3
#3 Eaton
#30 Bennett
#14 Resurrection Christian
#19 Highland
REGION 6
#6 Lutheran
#27 Manitou Springs
#11 Ellicott
#22 Lamar

There are only two conference conflicts in the bracket so the committee would move Brush from #29 to avoid a first-round pairing with University and Lamar from #22 to prevent them playing Tri Peaks rival Ellicott in round one.

Travel wise, the bracket appears in good shape so little or no movement would be expected.