We have heard rumblings through the basketball community that there is discussion on the state level to create a new class for Colorado High School basketball. In past years, the thought has been that once the number of team’s creeps toward 350, then an additional class may become a reality. In the current cycle that runs through next season, there are 338 basketball teams in the CHSAA bulletin.
With the idea in mind, we undertook a project to layout a new format involving six classifications. We took enrollment numbers from 2017 (from CHSAA) and started with by giving each classification either 64 or 56 teams.  Then we shuffled teams around the various classifications with the idea of balancing leagues and the number of teams in each classification.
We moved teams based on conference history and competitive balance. For example, Rocky Ford was listed as a 3A team in our enrollment breakdown but that would have taken them out of their traditional Santa Fe conference. We put them back into Class 2A to keep those rivalries intact. Springfield and Wiley were brought back into Class 1A to keep them in the Ark Valley league. Holly was also given consideration for that move but we kept the Wildcats in Class 2A because their enrollment was quite a bit bigger than our 1A cutoff.
Because the list is so long, we have produced two separate stories on our layout. This recap involves our league breakdown of Classes 1A, 2A and 3A. We divided teams in eight districts/leagues in the smallest two classes and devised seven conferences/districts in Class 3A. A second goal was to balance out the number of teams in each league as well as classification. We suggest that district teams all face off during the regular season and results from those conference games determine district seeding. Then we can avoid using RPI to seed the brackets at least in the first round of the playoffs.
There’s nothing official in this breakdown as CHSAA has not yet approved adding a sixth classification to basketball. This is simply designed to start the discussion and get feedback from our readers on the potential for the idea and how it may change the basketball landscape in the future.
CLASS 1A — 58 TEAMS
| SOUTHERN PEAKS | YWKC |
| Lake City | Bethune |
| Creede | Arickaree/Woodlin |
| Centennial | Idalia |
| Antonito | Otis |
| Mountain Valley | Flagler/Hi Plains |
| Cotopaxi | Stratton/Liberty |
| Sangre De Cristo | |
| Aguilar | |
| HIGH PLAINS | ARK VALLEY |
| Kit Carson | South Baca |
| Cheyenne Wells | Walsh |
| Cheraw | Granada |
| Eads | Kim/Branson |
| Genoa Hugo | Springfield (down from 2A) |
| McClave | Wiley (down from 2A) |
| Manzanola | LaVeta |
| Primero | |
| NORTHEAST | WEST |
| Fleming | DeBeque |
| Prairie | North Park |
| Weldon Valley | Nucla |
| Peetz | Ouray |
| Briggsdale | Dove Creek |
| Lone Star | Norwood |
| METRO | BLACK FOREST |
| Denver Academy of Torah | Edison |
| Rocky Mountain Lutheran | Colorado D&B |
| Front Range Baptist | Pikes Peak Christian |
| Denver Waldorf | Kiowa |
| Belleview Christian | Hanover |
| Beth Eden | Deer Trail |
| Mile High Academy | Elbert (down from 2A) |
| Shining Mountain | |
| Cornerstone Christian | |
| Denver Jewish Day (down from 2A) |
NOTES: We brought in four teams from Class 2A to help balance out the number of schools in each class and to keep traditional rivalries together if possible. Springfield and Wiley are both very close to the 1A break in enrollment so we brought them back into the 1A Ark Valley. The same with Denver Jewish Day as they are a 2A school in our enrollment scale but we kept them in the 5280 conference with all their traditional opponents. Elbert was also brought in to help complete the 1A Black Forest. Some teams were moved to different conferences with the goal of balancing the number of teams in each league/district.
CLASS 2A — 57 TEAMS
| COLORADO SPRINGS REGION 1 | COLORADO SPRINGS REGION 2 |
| Evangelical Christian | Byers |
| Colorado Springs School | Simla |
| Cripple Creek | Calhan |
| John Mall | Ellicott |
| Miami Yoder | Limon |
| NORTHEAST | SOUTHERN PEAKS |
| Haxtun | Sierra Grande |
| Merino | Sanford |
| Akron | Sargent |
| Sedgwick County | Custer County |
| Wiggins | Del Norte |
| Holyoke | South Park |
| Wray | Center |
| Caliche (up from 1A) | Crested Butte (down from 3A) |
| SOUTHEAST | WEST |
| Holly | Plateau Valley |
| Crowley County | Soroco |
| Hoehne | Rangely |
| Swink | Hayden |
| Fowler | West Grand |
| Las Animas | Vail Christian |
| Swallows Charter | Paonia |
| Rocky Ford (down from 3A) | Caprock Academy |
| Vail Mountain | |
| SOUTHWEST | METRO |
| Mancos | Dayspring Christian |
| Ridgway | Heritage Christian |
| Dolores | Loveland Classical |
| Telluride (down from 3A) | Twin Peaks Charter |
| Ignacio (down from 3A) | Front Range Christian |
| Denver Christian | |
| Gilpin County | |
| Nederland | |
| Longmont Christian (up from 1A) |
NOTES: Not a lot of change in our setup from the exact enrollment numbers. Rocky Ford, Crested Butte, Telluride and Ignacio were all Class 3A teams in our student numbers but we brought them back into the 2A division for conference and rivalry purposes. Rocky Ford has long been a member of the Santa Fe league while Telluride and Ignacio have been in the San Juan league for many years. Crested Butte is a tough match as we could have kept them in the 3A West but due to competitive value, we left the Miners in the 2A Southern Peaks. Longmont Christian was also brought up to 2A to keep them as part of the Mile-High league since they’ve played those opponents for several years as well. Looking to 3A, Meeker and Hotchkiss were bumped to Class 3A. The Cowboys and Bulldogs were the largest 2A schools in our enrollment breakdown but we jumped them to keep a nice balance in the number of schools in each class.
CLASS 3A — 51 TEAMS
| METRO 1 | METRO 2 |
| Denver Academy | Aurora West |
| Clear Creek | Machebeuf |
| Lotus School | Skyview Academy |
| Platte Canyon | Manual |
| Jefferson | Stargate |
| William Smith | Ridgeview Academy |
| Bruce Randolph | Middle Park |
| SOUTH | TRI PEAKS |
| Dolores Huerta | Buena Vista |
| Thomas MacLaren | Florence |
| Rye | Salida |
| St Mary’s | Monte Vista |
| Vanguard | Centauri |
| Colorado Springs Christian | La Junta |
| Atlas Prep | Trinidad |
| Peyton | Lamar (down from 4A) |
| Fountain Valley | |
| NORTH | EAST |
| Union Colony Prep | Yuma |
| Lyons | Burlington |
| Dawson | Strasburg |
| Highland | Bennett |
| Liberty Common | Platte Valley |
| Frontier Academy | Resurrection Christian |
| WEST | Â |
| Cedaredge | |
| Olathe | |
| Grand Valley | |
| Basalt | |
| Roaring Fork | |
| Gunnison | |
| Hotchkiss | |
| Meeker |
NOTES: While Classes 1A and 2A have eight leagues/districts, we came up with seven for Class 3A. That’s the way the division is now allowing for seven district champions and at an-large team to earn the right for hosting regional tournaments. As mentioned, Meeker and Hotchkiss come up from Class 2A to fill out the Western bracket while Yuma and Burlington are newcomers to the 3A division based on our enrollment breakdown.
