CHSAA has proposed adding a sixth class to boys’ and girls’ basketball and that idea this week received the second of three needed approvals to become a reality. The proposal has advanced to the full legislative body and if that group gives the OK in April then Class 6A will be in place starting with the 2022-23 season.
In developing another division, CHSAA has also placed teams in their new classification and those placements became public earlier in the week. If 6A moves forward, the next step will be the development of new playoff formats for each classification. As in the past, those formats can be different from class to class.
Colorado Preps has already projected that district tournaments will remain in place for divisions 1A and 2A but that question may be up in the air for Classes 3A and 4A. Both divisions have schools that have competed in district tournaments as recently as 2019-20, but its likely to be a hot topic moving forward. Should Classes 3A and 4A conduct district tournaments or simply use the format of combining RPI, Packard, MaxPreps and CHSAA polls to select 32 or 48 qualifiers and play through a straight playoff bracket.
We believe that Class 3A conduct district tournaments. As we mentioned in our 1A and 2A projections, the events typically generate nice revenue for the schools and coming off a tough budget year and future dollars not looking that generous, schools will be interested in additional sources of income.
Now in the past, Class 3A has often worked with six or seven districts, but our proposal stretches that out to eight to follow the 1A-2A structure. The number of teams is also nicely balanced as all but one district has seven or eight members. The exception is District 8 where geography for West Slope clubs limits the number to just six. Balancing out the numbers also allows for each district to receive the same number of qualifiers to the regional/state tournament. With our format, the top four from each district could move on to create a 32-team state tournament bracket. Currently in Class 3A, some districts get three, others four or five qualifiers because of the unbalanced number of teams in a given district.
And again, to follow our 1A-2A setup, we recommend that district teams play one another during the regular season and outcomes of those games determine seeding for the district tournament. It prevents arguments or debate about RPI and allows the seeding format to be consistent across ever district.
On the flip side, this format could cause some concern for the likes of Wray, Yuma, Rocky Ford and Rye. They are three former 2A teams that are bumping to Class 3A this year. Because of geography, it might make sense for Wray and Yuma to remain in the 2A Lower Platte and for Rocky Ford-Rye to remain in the 2A Santa Fe conference. Under that scenario, the four clubs could compete for a regular season championship in 2A and district title in Class 3A. That type of schedule would burn up a ton of games. Wray-Yuma could play eight 2A conference games and then six more against 3A district rivals. That gives them a regular season tournament (3 games) and two “non-conference” games to fill up the schedule. Rocky Ford and Rye would have up to 10 conference games in the Santa Fe and then possibly six more against 3A district rivals. That allows them just one three-game tournament to fill out the 19 regular season games allowed.
So here is our layout for Class 3A. We’ve basically split the Tri Peaks into Districts 1 and 2 since there are so many Colorado Springs area-based clubs. This also moves Buena Vista and Salida from that conference and into District 8 (Southwest). Gunnison and even Crested Butte could be moved there but we keep Gunnison in District 7 to remain with traditional West Slope rivalries. Crested Butte then is moved there since they are located very close to Gunnison.
Several new schools are included with this division including Poudre Academy, Timnath, Wellington and Windsor Charter. All are placed in district 6 with other Northern teams; Estes Park, Highland, Liberty Common and Lyons.
| DISTRICT 1 (7) | DISTRICT 2 (7) | DISTRICT 3 (7) | DISTRICT 4 (7) |
| Atlas Prep | CS Christian | Dawson | Bruce Randolph |
| Banning Lewis | Florence | Machebeuf | Clear Creek |
| Dolores Huerta | Rye | Faith Christian | Lake County |
| Ellicott | St Mary’s | Manual | Lotus |
| Peyton | Vanguard | Pinnacle | Platte Canyon |
| Rocky Ford | Woodland Park | Prospect Ridge | Sheridan |
| Thomas MacLaren | Fountain Valley | Skyview Academy | William Smith |
| DISTRICT 5 (7) | DISTRICT 6 (8) | DISTRICT 7 (7) | DISTRICT 8 (6) |
| Bennett | Estes Park | Cedaredge | Bayfield |
| Brush | Highland | Crested Butte | Buena Vista |
| Frontier Academy | Liberty Common | Grand Valley | Centauri |
| Platte Valley | Lyons | Gunnison | Ignacio |
| Strasburg | Poudre Academy | Meeker | Montezuma Cortez |
| Wray | Timnath | Olathe | Salida |
| Yuma | Wellington | Roaring Fork | |
| Windsor Charter |
For Class 4A, having Alamosa and Pagosa Springs as the only two members from the Southwest causes some headaches with the suggested eight district format. Under that type of proposal, Alamosa and Pagosa Springs are left without a district tournament. Our guess is the Moose and Pirates will join Centauri, Montezuma Cortez, Buena Vista, Salida, Ignacio and Bayfield to form a combined 3A-4A league for regular season play. Then Alamosa and Pagosa Springs would bump to 4A for the post-season provided they reached the qualifying guidelines set up. There’s precedent for this type of arrangement with Ponderosa as example A. The Mustangs for basketball, play a predominant 5A schedule in the Continental but drop into Class 4A for playoffs and qualify based on certain criteria.
If that’s cleared up and 4A wants to conduct district tournaments, we can see the breakdown as below. Again, the layout works well with traditional rivalries and past leagues. Districts 3 and 4 have the fewest members (six apiece) so maybe those brackets only get three qualifiers to allow room for Alamosa and Pagosa Springs to get in if they reach certain qualifying data points. Other districts would get four qualifiers in to reach the limit of 32 qualifiers to the state tournament brackets.
Geography also should allow district teams to play one another to develop seeding as mentioned in other classes.
| DISTRICT 1 (7) | DISTRICT 2 (7) | DISTRICT 3 (6) | DISTRICT 4 (6) |
| Academy | Alameda | Berthoud | Fort Lupton |
| Arrupe Jesuit | Arvada | Eaton | Fort Morgan |
| Aurora West Prep | Conifer | Northridge | Sterling |
| KIPP Collegiate | D’Evelyn | Rez Christian | University |
| Highlands Ranch STEM | Englewood | Riverdale Ridge | Valley |
| Strive Prep | Jefferson | Severance | Weld Central |
| Eagle Ridge Academy | Middle Park |
| DISTRICT 5 (8) | DISTRICT 6 (8) | DISTRICT 7 (8) | DISTRICT 8 (7) |
| Classical Academy | Denver West | Aspen | Colorado Academy |
| Elizabeth | Byers (DSST) | Basalt | Holy Family |
| James Irwin | College View (DSST) | Coal Ridge | Jefferson Academy |
| La Junta | Conserv. Green (DSST) | Delta | Kent Denver |
| Lamar | Green Valley (DSST) | Moffat County | Lutheran |
| Manitou Springs | Montview (DSST) | Rifle | Peak to Peak |
| Pueblo Central | Kennedy | Steamboat Springs | Stargate |
| Sierra | Lincoln | Summit | |
| INDEPENDENT | |||
| Alamosa | |||
| Pagosa Springs |
Again, this layout is NOT OFFICIAL and reflects the thoughts of Colorado Preps. Different layouts will not be needed if the Class 6A proposal is rejected in April. Then all current formats with Classes 1A through 5A will likely stay in place.
As always, we enjoy your comments on our looks at the future. You can reach us by text at 970.380.7737 or by email to [email protected]. Links will be set up on Facebook and Twitter so comments can be made there or on the website below this story.
It’s doubtful we will post a projection of districts in Classes 5A and 6A as we believe those two divisions will simply use the current CHSAA model mixing polls from coaches, MaxPreps, RPI and Packard to develop 48 playoff teams and play a straight bracket all the way through to the state championship. That option is also a strong possibility within Class 4A but we still laid out the district format for discussion purposes.