After the ladies led the way, the boys basketball playoffs in Class 6A, 5A and 4A get underway across the state on Wednesday.

Atop the 6A bracket are No. 1 Fruita Monument, followed by Mountain Vista, Chaparral, ThunderRidge and Rock Canyon.

5A: Northfield, Vista PEAK Prep, Windsor, Mesa Ridge, Silver Creek.

4A: Kent Denver, Resurrection Christian, Lutheran, Pagosa Springs, Colorado Academy.

For now, though, let’s put aside the class favorites and dive into a few sleepers lower in the brackets.

Class 6A

No. 6 Valor Christian: The Eagles sit outside the top five despite an impressive resumé this winter.

The Eagles (21-2), whose only losses are to No. 4 ThunderRidge and No 7 Smoky Hill, have the highest-scoring offense in the class, averaging 68.1 PPG.

Cole Scherer (21.1 PPG) scored 30-plus points three times this season, two of which coming over the last three games of the regular season. In those February wins over Arvada West and Lakewood, he scored 33 in each, shooting 50 and 67% from the field.

Valor Christian hosts No. 27 Mullen in the first round. The winner gets No. 11 Doherty/No. 22 George Washington.

No. 21 Arvada West: The Wildcats (16-7) have been tested, with five of their seven losses coming to 6A teams ranked inside the top nine.

Their first-round opponent, No. 12 Douglas County, is similar, coming out of a loaded Continental League, which features four of the top five seeds in the bracket.

The Wildcats have the advantage of playing and learning through tight games as they played nearly everyone on their schedule close — averaging 63.1 PPG, allowing 56.8.

They head into the postseason without a big-time scorer, instead relying on a balanced attack led by six players averaging at least 6 PPG this winter. Keegen Balistreri is their leading scorer at 11.7 PPG.

The AW-DC winner gets No. 5 Rock Canyon/No. 28 Rocky Mountain in the second round.

Class 5A

No. 9 Palmer: The Terrors (19-4) were the top-ranked team in the Colorado Preps Coaches and Media poll for much of the season.

They dropped a bit in both the poll and seeding index late in the season after two losses by a combined six points to defending champ Mesa Ridge, and a road loss to 6A No. 11 Doherty.

Their other loss was back in December, falling to No. 26 Thompson Valley by a point.

Walker Asp (13.9 PPG) leads four players averaging double-digit points for them. In six of his last eight games, he averaged 16.2 PPG while shooting 50% or better from the field.

They host No. 24 Eagle Valley in Round 1, with the winner getting No. 8 Mead/No. 25 Pueblo West.

No. 17 Pueblo South: Maurice Austin is the top scorer in the state, averaging 31.7 PPG for the Colts (13-10).

The 5-8 guard makes Pueblo South a tough out for anybody. Even for a stingy defense like the one it’ll get in the opening round at No. 16 Longmont.

Strength against strength, the Trojans are allowing just 40.5 PPG this winter, while Austin has scored 40 or more in five games.

The winner gets No. 1 Northfield/No. 32 Thornton.

Class 4A

No. 13 Holy Family: Not only did Holy Family win the 4A title last winter as a 17 seed. Coach Pete Villecco had his team head-and-shoulders above the rest of the bracket, winning each game in the playoffs after the first round by double figures.

Senior Gabe Tafoya was a big-time contributor for that team before taking another leap forward this winter, going from 6.3 PPG as a junior to a team-leading 14.6.

He scored in double figures in six of his last seven games in the regular season, leading a team coming out of a 5A-heavy league featuring top 10 seeds in Windsor, Mead and Silver Creek.

The Tigers split with 5A No. 16 Longmont in league play, and lost to 5A No. 2 Vista PEAK Prep by three and 4A No. 4 Lutheran by six outside of it.

They host No. 20 Denver West in Round 1. The winner gets No. 4 Pagosa Springs/No. 29 Delta.

No. 18 Eaton: The Reds (13-9) have a strong scoring tandem in Mitch Haythorn (18.3 PPG) and Lucas Stone (16).

If they can get enough production from a third player, they could be dangerous.

Their first-round opponent is No. 15 Fort Lupton, a team it lost to by 16 in its second game of the season. Haythorne and Stone combined for 31 of their 48 points in the loss, though that was before going through a tough schedule featuring No. 1 Kent Denver, No. 2 Rez Christian and defending champ Holy Family.

The Reds will have to turn the page on a tough final few weeks of the regular season, though. They lost four of their last six, including a bad loss to five-win Valley.

The winner of Eaton-Fort Lupton gets No. 2 Rez Christian/No. 31 Basalt.