Boys Basketball State Tournament Bracket Quick Thoughts and Power Rankings

 

Boys Basketball State Tournament Bracket Quick Thoughts and Power Rankings

Note: This is just my thoughts on the brackets and I will post a full breakdown as the week goes on.

Class 3A

In Class 3A we all saw what the potential matchups could be.  Then the teams hit the courts and then upsets happened.  #1 Sterling took care of business and will make another return trip to the Elite 8 and a shot to defend their State Title.  Strasburg decided to pull one of the first upsets of the tournament.  #9 Strasburg upset #8 DSST-Stapleton in the sweet 16 62-53.  Strasburg now has another shot at upsetting Sterling.  #12 Lutheran had a scare in the opening round holding off La Junta 51-49 and then Lutheran blew past #5 Vanguard 68-50.  I knew this game was going to be close but Lutheran who is playing very good basketball make a trip to the elite 8. #20 Colorado Academy was in a dog fight the first game holding off Roaring Fork 48-44.  I figured Colorado Academy would face Platte Valley but St. Mary’s decided to upset Platte Valley.  Colorado Academy then held off a tough St. Mary’s team 62-57 to advance to the Elite 8.  Colorado Academy will also have another shot at Lutheran.  In the only spot of the bracket that went as planned #2 Alamosa and #7 Bayfield both easily escaped their Region and are set to square off for a fourth time this year.  Bayfield is leading the series 2-1 but now this is the only game that matters.  #6 Faith Christian was nearly upset by Centauri in the opening round and I think woke them up.  Faith Christian then blew past Kent Denver by 32 points.  Faith Christian is probably playing some of the best basketball right now.  Manual also jumped on the upset train beat #3 Coal Ridge 80-77.  I warned that if Manual played basketball like they did earlier in the season they could pull the upset and they played a great game.  Overall all teams are playing a league opponent which I find crazy.  The Metro league got 4 teams into the Elite 8, Patriot 2, and the Intermountain League 2.  My Power rankings for the Elite 8 would be:

#1 Sterling

#2 Faith Christian

#3 Alamosa

#4 Lutheran

#5 Bayfield

#6 Colorado Academy

#7 Manual

#8 Strasburg

Class 2A

The 8 teams that qualified are: Crowley County, Sanford, Highland, Meeker, Byers, Ignacio, Yuma, and Ellicott.  All 8 District qualified 1 team into Regionals and all teams that hosted their Regional.  At least some surprise results for Class 2A were Ignacio blowing past Limon by 15+ points, Sanford who was down 16 at one point coming back and beating Sedgwick County, and Ellicott beating Calhan in OT to keep their magical run going.  All 8 teams that qualified were reseeded and it looks like the committee stuck to the RPI to seed the bracket.  I fully believe that 3 of the 4 game will be very competitive and a few teams will be on upset alert.  The only game and I will probably be wrong is Yuma vs Ellicott.  Yuma has the size to matchup with Ellicott and Yuma I have winning big in this game.  If your Crowley County you probably didn’t want to see Sanford in the first round especially with them coming off a huge win.  Highland and Meeker should be very competitive and will come down to the wire.  Byes vs Ignacio could also be very good.  Ignacio blasted Limon by 32 and Byers will have to be ready for a team who wants to run and gun.  Byers is also playing some of the best Basketball in 2A.  My Power rankings for the Elite 8:

#1 Yuma

#2 Crowley County

#3 Byers

#4 Sanford

#5 Highland

#6 Meeker

#7 Ignacio

#8 Ellicott

Class 1A

Class 1A didn’t disappoint in terms of upsets and this year we will have two brand new teams in the finals.  Region 1 nearly went as planned with Front Range Baptist blowing past North Park.  Cornerstone Christian then upset De Beque to advance to the Elite 8.  Region 2 also nearly went as planned with Peetz and Heritage Christian both winning their games.  Genoa-Hugo like I warned was the big wild card.  They have the potential to upset teams and they did that beating Longmont Christian in the final second of the game.  Genoa-Hugo is still a huge wild card going forward.  And then there was Region 3.  Region 3 like everyone figured was going to be one of the more competitive regions.  South Baca punched their ticket beating McClave 67-51 and then South Baca got past Holly (3^rd times the charm).  South Baca pulled probably the biggest upset of the entire day beating defending State Champions Holly.  Creede punched their ticket by beating a tough Kit Carson team.  Creede gave up an 11 point lead and then had to hold on late against Kit Carson.  Creede was down 3 and had a chance at a 3 point play.  Creede missed the free throw but got the rebound and hit a follow-up shot to take a 1 point lead.  Creede would then have to sweat it out giving Kit Carson the ball with around 5 second left and only a 2 point lead.  Kit Carson would get a shot off at the buzzer but went right of the hoop with Creede holding on to advance to the Elite 8.  Sangre De Cristo punched their ticket by beating Cheraw 54-35 and then upset Sierra Grande 43-39.  Sangre De Cristo held their breath late at Arthur Rodriguez had a wide open look for 3 and would have been a 1 point lead.  The shot was missed and Sangre De Cristo held on to upset Sierra Grande.  In all 1A was very crazy and I feel like the state tournament could be the same thing.  The 1A State Tournament was then reseeded and looks like they stuck to the RPI as well.  Every game I feel is going to be competitive and really seeds do not matter.  My Power rankings for the Elite 8 are:

#1 Heritage Christian

#2 Peetz

#3 Creede

#4 South Baca

#5 Front Range Baptist

#6 Sangre De Cristo

#7 Genoa-Hugo

#8 Cornerstone Christian