4A State Playoff Outlook
How do you take 74 boys basketball team and whittle it down to a 32 team field? Easy, each league gets a slotted amount of qualifiers and then there are five at large teams.
The number of slotted teams for each league is from the CHSAA Basketball Bulletin. The teams listed are based on current standings on Maxpreps as of 2/2/16 with the At Large bid based on Basketball Colorado’s opinion.
This second round of league games are so important for a number of teams to make the playoffs.
Colorado 7 (3)
Fort Morgan
Vista Peak
Skyview
(Weld Central and Fort Lupton are in the running but will need help)
Colorado Springs Metro 4A (3)
Sierra
Mitchell
Widefield
Northern (3)
Longmont
Thompson Valley
Mountain View
Silver Creek is lurking
Pikes Peak (3)
Lewis-Palmer
Vista Ridge
Palmer Ridge
All three have a shot to knock off the top three – it’s separation time
Cheyenne Mountain
Sand Creek
Air Academy
Denver Prep (2)
Denver South
Thomas Jefferson
South Central (2)
Pueblo South
Pueblo West
Tri-Valley (3)
Windsor
Holy Family
Mead
Jefferson County (4)
Yes Jeffco does everything a little different including it’s playoff slotting – This is the easy version as explained by Valor Head Coach Troy Pachner,
“It is not really a league tournament – with the two divisions the top 2 from each division play each other as crossover games at the opposite site from the regular season. These games count toward your league winning percentage. Teams 3-5 play two games total against opposite division which also count toward standings. The top two teams before these crossover games are guaranteed playoff spots. Spots are based upon overall winning percentage in league but top two in each division prior to crossover games are guaranteed the top four spots.”
Division I – Valor, Golden, Evergreen, Conifer, Littleton
Division II – Wheat Ridge, D’Evelyn, Green Mountain, Standley Lake, Arvada.
So that would put in at the moment
Valor
Golden
Wheat Ridge
D’Evelyn
Green Mountain is right there as well
Western Slope/Southwestern (4)
Rifle
Palisade
Glenwood Springs
Battle Mountain
At Large (5)
- Pueblo Central
- Durango
- Silver Creek
- Evergreen
- Sand Creek (whoever finishes fourth in Pike’s Peak)
There are a few other teams that could jump up in the at large like Denver North they have a brutal schedule the last three week but if they can scrap and get wins vs Wheat Ridge, TJ and beat one of the 5A teams …they could be in.