For the first time this season, the area high school basketball teams know where they rank as the first power point rankings were released today by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.
The state tournaments start in early February, so the teams have almost exactly one month to move their way into the playoff position they want.
Fort Thomas has little worry at this point because their girls’ team came in at #3 in the early rankings and the boys’ team is #9.
The 1A Conference will seed their tournament based on region standings, the top team in each region will earn an automatic bid to the state tournament. The four (4) Super Regional champions will also earn an automatic bid, if different than the region champion. Remaining teams will be added to the state tournament bracket based on AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps. The 16 teams will be seeded according to AIA rankings. The state tournament will consist of four rounds and be single elimination.
The Pima Roughriders boys and girls’ teams are both atop the rankings again this season. The boys are in at #2 and the girls are #3.
The 2A Conference will seed their tournament based on region standings, the top two teams in each region will earn an automatic bid at minimum to the conference play-in tournament, except for the North Region, Valley Region and South Region. The two teams in the North Region and Valley Region tournament final will earn the region’s two bids to at least the play-in tournament. In the 2A South, the top two teams in the region according to the AIA rankings at the end of the regular season will be the two qualifiers to at least the play-in tournament. The conference play-in tournament will match up teams ranked No. 9 through No. 24. Teams ranked No. 1 through No. 8 according to the AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps, along with the eight winning teams from the conference play-in tournament, will make up the 16-team state tournament. The state tournament bracket will be seeded according to overall ranking of the 16 teams. The state tournament will consist of four rounds and be single elimination.
The area 3A teams have more work to do to get into the playoffs. Currently only the Thatcher girls at #16 would be in the tournament but with 4 weeks left, there is plenty of time of the Thatcher boys (#35), Safford boys (#37), and Safford girls (#34) to work their way into the top 24.
The 3A Conference this year will seed their tournament based on region standings, the top two teams in each region will earn an automatic bid to the state tournament, except for the North Region. The two teams in the North Region tournament final will earn the region’s two bids to the state tournament. The remaining 12 teams will qualify at-large based on the AIA rankings powered by MaxPreps. The state tournament bracket will be seeded according to overall ranking of the 24 teams, with teams ranked Nos. 1-8 receiving a first-round bye. The state tournament will consist of five rounds and be single elimination.
