With district tournaments wrapping up on Saturday, now 3A girls basketball fans can turn their attention to the state tournament bracket.  the 32-team pairings will be announced by CHSAA today with games to begin next Friday.  Colorado Preps has looked at the district results and RPI standings from this morning (Sunday) and projected our bracket.  These are unofficial but should give a close indication of where teams may end up.

District champions are placed in the top eight if they finish in the top 16 of RPI through play on Saturday.  Seven districts are in the division so that leaves at least one at-large bid for a top eight seed and that will go the highest ranked non-district champion in RPI.  If a district champion is not in the top 16, a second at-large team will be awarded a top eight seed and again that selection will be based on RPI.

The top eight teams host the first two rounds of the tournament next week with the eight champions on Saturday advancing to the Great 8 at the University of Denver March 10-12.  Please note the bracket WILL NOT be reseeded after regional action.

There is room for a second at-large team to get a top eight seed as the Eagle Ridge Academy girls won the Colorado/Confluence district title but are well outside the top 16.  They still get in as automatic qualifier but will not host the first two rounds.

University and Eaton are second and third in the RPI on Sunday morning and neither won a district title as Platte Valley captured the Patriot crown.  But the Bulldogs and Reds are positioned to play at home next week as the two highest non-district champions in the field.  With those two, the top eight could appear in this order.

  1. Platte Valley
  2. University
  3. Eaton
  4. Grand Valley
  5. Lutheran
  6. Pagosa Springs
  7. Academy
  8. Lamar

There could be a discussion about University and Eaton in the seed order but we expect the committee to leave them be.  They split two matchups during the season and while Eaton finished higher in the Patriot regular season standings, University placed higher in the district tournament.

Next up is the rest of the field which consists of 24 qualifiers that will be seeded 9-32 based on RPI.  Eagle Ridge Academy and the second qualifier from their district tournament, DSST-Byers, again come into play here.  They are outside the top 32 of RPI but join the bracket as automatic qualifiers.  They will hold down the final two spots in the pairings and bump Brush and Bennett from the bracket.  They were in spots 31-32 before making room for the two clubs from the Colorado/Confluence bracket.

So we add the top eight to the field and come up with this seed order.

  1. Platte Valley
  2. University
  3. Eaton
  4. Grand Valley
  5. Lutheran
  6. Pagosa Springs
  7. Academy
  8. Lamar
  9. Vanguard
  10. Delta
  11. St Mary’s
  12. Colorado Springs Christian
  13. Ellicott
  14. Centauri
  15. Coal Ridge
  16. Resurrection Christian
  17. Highland
  18. Prospect Ridge
  19. Kent Denver
  20. Colorado Academy
  21. Skyview Academy
  22. North Fork
  23. Moffat County
  24. Alamosa
  25. Denver West
  26. Valley
  27. Jefferson Academy
  28. Buena Vista
  29. Manitou Springs
  30. Strasburg
  31. Eagle Ridge Academy
  32. DSST-Byers

Head to head came into play on several fronts as teams jumped ahead of the club directly in front of them.  St Mary’s beat Colorado Springs Christian twice so the Pirates are now 11th.  Prospect Ridge moved up ahead of Kent Denver due a to head-to-head win.  We also moved North Fork ahead of Moffat County and Buena Vista ahead of Manitou Springs.  In each case, one team won the regular season contest and the other the district battle.  In our pairings, we moved the team that won the most recent game, the district matchup this past week, into the higher seed.

So now we can generate a proposed bracket.  Again there is movement.  We exchanged Moffat County and Alamosa in spots 23-24 so the Bulldogs do not pair up with league rival Delta in round one.  And then we moved Jefferson Academy off the 27th spot and moved them to 26 to avoid a different pairing with Lutheran in the tournament opener.  Otherwise, the bracket looks solid.

REGION 1
#1 Platte Valley
#32 DSST-Byers
#16 Resurrection Christian
#17 Highland
REGION 8
#8 Grand Valley
#25 Denver West
#9 Vanguard
#24 Moffat County
REGION 4
#4 Academy
#29 Manitou Springs
#13 Ellicott
#20 Colorado Academy
REGION 5
#5 Pagosa Springs
#28 Buena Vista
#12 Colorado Springs Christian
#21 Skyview Academy

 

REGION 2
#2 University
#31 Eagle Ridge Academy
#15 Coal Ridge
#18 Prospect Ridge
REGION 7
#7 Lamar
#26 Jefferson Academy
#10 Delta
#23 Alamosa
REGION 3
#3 Eaton
#30 Strasburg
#14 Centauri
#19 Kent Denver
REGION 6
#6 Lutheran
#27 Valley
#11 St Mary’s
#22 North Fork