The district tournaments are set and the regional round of the playoffs are a week-and-a-half away. We thought it might be interesting to try our hand at some “Bracketology” and try to determine the shape of the regional playoffs.
This year is different as the regional round will be “re-seeded” at the end of the district tournament and will include results from both the last week of the season as well as the district tournament. In the past, rankings at the end of the next to last week of the season, the last week for district play, was used for district seeding purposes as well as to determine the at-large seeds.
We used assumptions to get to the brackets. We based them on the idea that the district tournament will play out as seeded, with no upsets. From there, we used the FHSAA rankings as of January 30th to help determine seeding.
Here goes.
REGION ONE
The four district winners are assumed to be Quincy Munroe in District One (#18), Jacksonville North Florida Educational Institute or NFEI (#3) in District Two, Impact Christian Academy (#5) in District Three and Gainesville Oak Hall (#25) from District Four. The assumed at-large bids would then go to St. Augustine St. Joseph Academy from District Three (#9), Jacksonville University Christian from District Three (#16), Quincy Crossroad Academy from District One (#20) and Tallahassee North Florida Christian from District One (#22). Should Tally St. John Paul II crash the party and make the District One final, then one of the previous two will fall out.
Because of re-seeding, Oak Hall, despite being a district winner, is the projected eight seed and would go on the road to play one seed NFEI. The rest of the bracket is projected to be:
One Seed NFEI (#3) vs. Eight Seed Gainesville Oak Hall (#25) at NFEI
Four Seed Jacksonville University Christian (#16) vs Five Seed Quincy Munroe (#18) at Quincy Munroe as they are district champ and seeding has them against a district runner-up
Three Seed St. Augustine St. Joseph Academy (#9) vs. Sixth Seed Quincy Crossroad Academy (#20) at St. Joseph Academy
Two Seed Jacksonville Impact Christian (#5) vs. Seven Seed Tally North Florida Christian (#22) at Impact Christian
REGION TWO
The four district winners are assumed to be Lecanto Seven Rivers Christian (#34) from District Five, Mount Dora Christian (#14) from District Six, Orlando Christian Prep (#1) from District Seven, and Lakeland Victory Christian (#4) from District Eight. The assumed at-large bids would go to Ocoee Central Florida Christian (#8) from District Seven, Ocoee Legacy Charter (#21) from District Eight, Orlando Faith Christian (#26) from District Seven and Daytona Beach Halifax Academy from District Six. City of Life Christian out of Kissimmee (#35) could squeak in should they reach the district final.
Because of re-seeding, Seven Rivers, despite being a district winner, is the projected eight seed and would go on the road to play one seed OCP. The rest of the bracket is projected to be:
One Seed Orlando Christian Prep (#1) vs. Eight Seed Seven Rivers Christian (#34) at OCP
Four Seed Mount Dora Christian (#14) vs. Five Seed Ocoee Legacy Charter (#21) at Mt. Dora Christian
Three Seed Ocoee Central Florida Christian (#8) vs. Six Seed Orlando Faith Christian (#26) at CFCA
Two Seed Lakeland Victory Christian (#4) vs Seven Seed Dayton Beach Halifax Academy (#32) at Victory
REGION THREE
The four district winners are assumed to be Tampa SLAM (#11) out of District Nine, St. Petersburg Canterbury from District Ten, Bradenton St. Stephen’s Episcopal from District Eleven and Naples Neumann from District Twelve. The assumed at-large bids would go to Clearwater Lakeside Christian (#30) from District Ten, Valrico Foundation Christian (#42) from District Nine, Naples Seacrest Country Day (#43) from District Twelve and St. Pete Admiral Farragut (#47) from District Ten. Should Brandon Academy (#51) of District Nine and/or Largo Indian Rocks Christian (#52) of District Ten surprise and reach their respective district final, that would most likely change things.
It appears that this region will have all four district winners as the home team in the first round of the regional playoffs.
One Seed Tampa SLAM (#11) vs. Eight Seed St. Pete Admiral Farragut (#47) at Tampa SLAM
Four Seed Naples Neumann (#31) vs. Five Seed Clearwater Lakeside Christian (#30) at Neumann
Three Seed Bradenton Saint Stephen’s Episcopal (#19) vs. Six Seed Valrico Foundation Academy at Saint Stephen’s
Two Seed St. Petersburg Canterbury (#17) vs. Seven Seed Naples Seacrest Country Day (#43) at Canterbury
REGION FOUR
This region is loaded as seven of the top eight ranked teams are in the top fifteen overall for the classification. At this point, the district winners are assumed to be Vero Beach St. Edward’s (#38) out of District Thirteen, Jupiter Christian (#6) out of District Fourteen, Sagemont (#2) from District Fifteen and Miami True North Classical Academy (#10) from District Sixteen. Based on rankings, the assumed at-large teams are Miami Dade Christian (#7) from District Fifteen, West Palm Beach Atlantic Christian (#12) and Lake Worth Christian (#13) both from District Fourteen and Miami Christian (#15) from District Sixteen. Grandview Prep of Boca Raton (#23) could crash the party should it reach the district final.
Because St. Edward’s is the lowest rated team, they will go on the road to play Sagemont in the first round despite being a district winner.
The rest of the projected seedings are as follows:
One Seed Sagemont (#2) vs. Eight Seed Vero Beach St. Edward’s (#38) at Sagemont
Four Seed Miami True North Classical (#10) vs. Five Seed WPB Atlantic Christian (#12) at True North
Three Seed Miami Dade Christian (#7) vs. Six Seed Lake Worth Christian (#13) at Dade Christian
Two Seed Jupiter Christian (#6) vs Miami Christian (#15) at Jupiter Christian