District tournaments conclude today across the state in Classes 1A, 2A and 3A and regional pairings will be released by CHSAA on Sunday. To stay ahead of the game and preview how those brackets may shape up, Colorado Preps will provide notes throughout the day to update where teams may be placed. Check back throughout the day as scenarios will change as results come in.
1A NORTHEAST
Fleming beat Haxtun early on Saturday to become the third qualifier from District 4 and that result locked down the top seven seeds in the bracket. Of course teams could be moved to avoid district tournament matchups in round one. Briggsdale, Fleming and Merino will earn first round byes regardless of outcomes throughout the day.
Stratton qualifies for regionals with their win over Hi Plains and eliminate the Patriots. The Eagles as seen below are looking at the number six seed in regionals next week. That would put them in the same pod as top seeded Briggsdale. Elbert also gets into the tournament by beating Evangelical Christian to capture third in District 7. Those results leave the nine automatic qualifiers in this order by RPI.
- Briggsdale
- Fleming
- Merino
- Lone Star
- Kiowa
- Stratton
- Idalia
- Simla
- Elbert
With those seeds locked in, the regional bracket could end up as below. The top three seeds get first round byes and face winners from Friday. Winners of each game on Saturday advance to state.
- #6 Stratton vs #7 Simla – winner faces #1 Briggsdale
- #5 Kiowa vs #8 Idalia – winner faces #2 Fleming
- #4 Lone Star vs #9 Elbert – winner faces #3 Merino
The lone move involves Simla and Idalia switching spots to avoid a Idalia-Stratton matchup in the opening round.
1A SOUTHEAST
Going into Saturday, McClave and Sangre De Cristo are guaranteed the top two seeds in the regional tournament and both will earn first round byes. Both are favored to win district tournaments today but regardless of outcome, they cannot be moved out of the top two spots. Cheyenne Wells will be the third seed if they win the third place game against Cheraw in District 2. They will not advance to the regionals if they lose.
Cheyenne Wells has beaten Cheraw to win third in the District 2 tournament and based on RPI from the end of the season, the Tigers not only qualify for regionals, they will be the third seed and get a first round bye. Cheraw is eliminated from the playoffs.
Kim/Branson has also scored a win over La Veta today and that determines the nine regional qualifiers for next week. The seeds should be in this order.
- McClave
- Sangre De Cristo
- Cheyenne Wells
- Kim/Branson
- Kit Carson
- South Baca
- Springfield
- Centennial
- Sierra Grande
With those seeds, the regional pairings are projected as below. The top three seeds earn first round byes and then play a winner from a game on Friday. All three winners from Saturday advance to the state tournament March 10-12th in Greeley.
- #6 South Baca vs #7 Centennial – winner plays #1 McClave
- #5 Kit Carson vs #8 Springfield – winner plays #2 Sangre De Cristo
- #4 Kim/Branson vs #9 Sierra Grande – winner plays #3 Cheyenne Wells
We swapped Springfield and Centennial in spots seven and eight to avoid a first round pairing of district rivals Springfield and South Baca.
1A WESTERN
The four qualifiers have been determined and results today will set up final pairings. North Park and Dove Creek play for the District 1 crown and that winner will likely face Rocky Mountain Lutheran in regionals. The loser lines up against Flatirons Academy if the Bison beat Rocky Mountain Lutheran as expected. Flatirons beat Rocky Mountain Lutheran by 60 points in the regular season.
Results are in from today with Dove Creek beat North Park and Flatirons Academy downing Rocky Mountain Lutheran so the pairings are set. The tournament will be in Grand Junction next weekend.
- Flatirons Academy vs North Park
- Dove Creek vs Rocky Mountain Lutheran
2A REGIONALS
As of 10:30am this morning, it’s a little early to lay out much of a bracket as Rye is the only team to clinch a district championship. The Thunderbolts downed Hoehne on Friday to clinch a top eight seed. Hoehne and Swink are the other two automatic qualifiers from District 6. Rye is currently fourth in RPI behind Holyoke, Sanford and Limon.
District champions all host regional tournaments and will be seeded one through eight based on RPI. After districts are complete, eight wildcards will be selected among the teams that do not receive an automatic berth.
As district champions continue to be crowned, we can get a better feel for how the top eight seeds will pan out. The list below involves the current RPI order of those teams that have either won a district crown or remain in contention to do so.
These numbers are updated with fresh RPI data at 8:15pm. They do not include Holyoke’s win over Wiggins in the district championship game.
- Sanford
- Holyoke
- Limon
- Soroco
- Rye
- Cedaredge
- Dayspring Christian
- Peyton
Now once the list of 24 automatic qualifiers is determined, eight more teams will be added to the bracket through wildcard selections. These will be based on RPI as well and the top list is below. Again, the RPI standings will change as more results come in.
- Sedgwick County
- Akron
- Yuma
- Center
- Fowler
- Burlington
- Del Norte
- Front Range Christian
- Olathe
- Plateau Valley
3A REGIONALS
We’ll have to wait until much later in the day to get an idea of the top eight seeds. District champions get there if they finish in the top 16 of RPI. Eagle Ridge Academy is the lone district champion determined as they captured the Colorado/Confluence title on Friday night. They are just 35th in RPI and won’t host a regional next week which opens up another at-large berth in the top eight. DSST-Byers is the second qualifier from that district and are 38th in RPI and could be the 32nd seed in the bracket next week; depending on what else happens today.
With just two conference championships yet to be played, we can start see how the top eight seeds in the bracket may end up. District champions get automatic berths into the 32-team field and will be seeded one through eight provided they finish in the top 16 of RPI. There are seven district champions and only one will fall outside the top 16. That’s Eagle Ridge Academy so they will not host the first two days of the tournament.
But let’s first look at fresh RPI numbers from 7:00pm on Saturday night. This is the top 12
- Platte Valley
- University
- Eaton
- Vanguard
- Delta
- Grand Valley
- Colorado Springs Christian
- St Mary’s
- Lutheran
- Pagosa Springs
- Ellicott
- Academy
- Centauri
- Lamar
- Resurrection Christian
- Coal Ridge
Of those 16, Platte Valley, Academy, Pagosa Springs, Lutheran and Grand Valley have won title. Those five teams plus the Tri Peaks winner of St Mary’s-Lamar will be at home next week.
That allows room for two at-large teams to also host and based on current RPI numbers, both will come from the Patriot league as University and Eaton are second and third. University’s loss to Platte Valley and Vanguard’s win over CSCS is not factored into the numbers so that order could change before the RPI becomes final.
We’ll later in the night look at the at-large teams that will make up the rest of the 32-team bracket.
