With games complete on Saturday, new RPI standings have been published for Classes 1A and 2A. These standings have been announced as official and will be used to determine qualifiers and help place teams in the bracket.y.
League champions receive automatic bids with the rest of the field filled out by RPI standings. Once qualifiers are determined, a seeding committee will then place teams in the bracket. RPI, common opponents, strength of schedule, head to head results and conference finish all play a role in where teams are placed.
Teams listed in bold are league champions. A champion must finish in the top 10 of RPI to get a guaranteed game at home in round one. That’s a change from previous years where the champions were placed at home regardless for the playoff opener.
In Class 2A, the list of qualifiers did not change from standings released earlier today. Please review the seeding process we listed earlier today concerning how teams come off the board as conference standings play a major role on when teams can enter the bracket. For example, Basalt is four spots higher in the rankings than Rifle, but the Bears will be seeded higher since they are a league champion and won the head-to-head matchup.
It’s the same story in Class 1A where the qualifiers are the same as standings from this morning but the order is different in one spot. Florence moved ahead of Burlington and into the top five but all other teams inside the top 16 are in the same order.
The seeding process for Class 1A is the same as 2A where league champions are placed on the board first and a number one seed is selected. Then the second-place team from the conference of the top seed joins the board and a number two team is selected. So again, conference standings come into play with the other criteria.
CLASS 2A
- Bayfield
- Resurrection Christian
- Basalt
- La Junta
- Salida
- Platte Valley
- Rifle
- Faith Christian
- Kent Denver
- Eaton
- Delta
- Aspen
- Berthoud
- D’Evelyn
- Montezuma Cortez
- Alamosa
- Pagosa Springs
- University
- Sterling
- Elizabeth
- Bennett
- Lamar
- Englewood
- Classical Academy
As we’ve done most of the day, we start with a straight RPI bracket including conference finish. As mentioned, Basalt drops below Rifle in the bracket because of conference finish even though the Longhorns sit four spots higher in the bracket.
- #1 Bayfield vs #16 Alamosa
- #8 Faith Christian vs #9 Kent Denver
- #4 Salida vs #13 Berthoud
- #5 Platte Valley vs #12 Aspen
- #3 La Junta vs #14 D’Evelyn
- #6 Rifle vs #11 Delta
- #2 Resurrection Christian vs #15 Montezuma Cortez
- #7 Basalt vs #10 Eaton
Concerns for league matchups arise with Delta-Rifle and Alamosa-Bayfield. There’s also concern with Faith Christian and Kent Denver. As it stands, the Eagles would host Kent Denver in a battle of league champions but head-to-head must factor in so we could see the teams reversed in seed order leaving Kent Denver as the home team.
We again think the issue with Bayfield-Alamosa will be settled by moving D’Evelyn down to 16 and moving Alamosa and Cortez up one spot apiece. “Fixing” Rifle-Delta is more difficult and the solution may be to bump Berthoud to 11th and drop Delta and Aspen one spot apiece. If you move exchange Eaton and Delta, Delta then pairs up with another league rival in Basalt. And Delta and Aspen are in the same conference so flip-flopping those two is not the solution either. So maybe Berthoud gets the nod of two spots higher. The other alternative could be to keep two Western Slope teams paired up in round one. Avoiding such matchups is difficult this year as the WSL and Intermountain league each have four representatives.
If they leave Delta-Rifle together, I also assume they would then leave Bayfield-Alamosa intact and keep D’Evelyn at 14th. Tradition though carries our bracket as we’ll make the suggested moves to avoid first round pairings of league opponents.
Thus, your bracket is this.
- #1 Bayfield vs #16 D’Evelyn
- #8 Kent Denver vs #9 Faith Christian
- #4 Salida vs #13 Aspen
- #5 Platte Valley vs #12 Delta
- #3 La Junta vs #14 Montezuma Cortez
- #6 Rifle vs #11 Berthoud
- #2 Resurrection Christian vs #15 Alamosa
- #7 Basalt vs #10 Eaton
——————————————————————————————————–
CLASS 1A
- Limon
- Peyton
- Strasburg
- Colorado Springs Christian
- Florence
- Burlington
- Centauri
- Meeker
- Holyoke
- Crowley County
- Paonia
- Wray
- Buena Vista
- Platte Canyon
- Monte Vista
- Highland
- Olathe
- Clear Creek
- Yuma
- Rocky Ford
- St Mary’s
- Cedaredge
- Cornerstone Christian
- Center
As we’ve done most of the day, we start with a straight RPI bracket including conference finish.
- #1 Limon vs #16 Highland
- #8 Meeker vs #9 Holyoke
- #4 Colorado Springs Christian vs #13 Buena Vista
- #5 Florence vs #12 Wray
- #3 Strasburg vs #14 Platte Canyon
- #6 Burlington vs #11 Paonia
- #2 Peyton vs #15 Monte Vista
- #7 Centauri vs #10 Crowley County
The new RPI standings provide a cleaner bracket but there is a conflict with Buena Vista-Colorado Springs Christian as both teams reside in the Tri Peaks. There’s also head-to-head results to factor in with Buena Vista, Platte Canyon and Monte Vista. Monte Vista has a win over Buena Vista and Buena Vista topped Platte Canyon (Correction from earlier today). As a result, we can see the committee moving Monte Vista up to #13 to play Colorado Springs Christian and then Buena Vista goes to 14th to matchup with Strasburg leaving Platte Canyon to pair up with Peyton in the opening round.
Thus, your bracket is this.
- #1 Limon vs #16 Highland
- #8 Meeker vs #9 Holyoke
- #4 Colorado Springs Christian vs #13 Buena Vista
- #5 Florence vs #12 Wray
- #3 Strasburg vs #14 Buena Vista
- #6 Burlington vs #11 Paonia
- #2 Peyton vs #15 Platte Canyon
- #7 Centauri vs #10 Crowley County
