Playoff Picture: Division I Girls Basketball (Feb. 24)

With the Division I girls basketball regular season schedule done, here is what we expect the postseason pairings to look like when the NHIAA releases the brackets.

This year, 14 teams will make the playoffs in Division I girls basketball, with the top seed getting a bye into the quarterfinals. Here are current standings, along with tiebreakers and matchups. These are not official.

Division I

Team (record, rating, previous)

1. Bedford (18-0, 4.0000, 1st)
2. Pinkerton (17-1, 3.7778, 2nd)
3. Londonderry (16-2, 3.5556, 3rd)
4. Portsmouth (15-3, 3.3333, 4th)
5. Salem (13-5, 2.8889, 5th)
6. Goffstown (13-5, 2.8889, 6th)
7. Dover (11-7, 2.4444, 7th)
8. Windham (11-7, 2.4444, 8th)
9. Exeter (9-9, 2.0000, 11th)
10. Keene (9-9, 2.0000, 9th)
11. Alvirne (9-9, 2.0000, 10th)
12. Bishop Guertin (8-9, 1.8824, 13th)*
13. Nashua South (8-10, 1.7778, 12th)
14. Nashua North (8-10, 1.7778, 14th)

Eliminated: Concord (8-10, 1.7778); Manchester Memorial (5-13, 1.1111); Manchester Central-West (3-14, 0.7059); Trinity (3-15, 0.6667); Spaulding (2-15, 0.4706); Winnacunnet (1-17, 0.2353); Merrimack (0-18, 0.0000).

*-Bishop Guertin’s game against Wachusett was not played. It was not clear whether the NHIAA would count it as a forfeit or not. In the past, in this situation, it has not been counted, so the record shown here is if that’s the case. Both scenarios are included below the tiebreakers.

Tiebreakers

• Salem wins the tiebreaker with Goffstown thanks to a head-to-head victory.
• Dover wins the tiebreaker with Windham thanks to a head-to-head victory.
• In a three-way tiebreaker, Exeter (4.0000), Keene (2.0000) and Alvirne (0.0000) finish in that order thanks to ratings in head-to-head games.

Final three playoff spots

• If Bishop Guertin’s game against Wachusett is not counted, then the Cardinals will be the No. 12 seed because they will have a better overall rating than the three teams tied below them. If that ‘s the case, the three-way tie between Nashua South, Nashua North and Concord can be broken by using head-to-head results. South (2-0, 4.0000) would be the No. 13 seed; North (1-1, 2.0000) would be the No. 14 seed; Concord (0-2, 0.0000) would be eliminated.
• If Bishop Guertin’s game against Wachusett is counted as a Cardinals forfeit, then there is a four-way tie at 8-10 (1.7778). If that’s the case, the four teams did not all play each other during the regular season, so the tiebreaker goes to rating against tournament teams, which includes all teams tied for the final spot. That would put them in this order: Bishop Guertin (4-5, 1.7778), Nashua South (3-10, 0.9231), Nashua North (2-10, 0.6667) and Concord (2-10, 0.6667).
• So if the game is or isn’t counted for Bishop Guertin, the Cardinals still end up as the No. 12 seed. South gets the No. 13 seed. Since North and Concord are left alone still tied, the tiebreaker resets to head-to-head results, which the Titans won the only meeting, giving North the No. 14 seed and knocking Concord out.

First-round byes (changes in bold)

• No. 1 Bedford
• No. 2 Pinkerton

First-round matchups

• No. 9 Exeter at No. 8 Windham
• No. 12 Bishop Guertin at No. 5 Salem
• No. 13 Nashua South at No. 4 Portsmouth
• No. 10 Keene at No. 7 Dover
• No. 14 Nashua North at No. 3 Londonderry
• No. 11 Alvirne at No. 6 Goffstown

Playoff schedule

• Preliminary round: Tuesday, Feb. 27 at higher seed.
• Quarterfinals: Friday, March 1 at higher seed.
• Semifinals: Tuesday, March 5 at TBD.
• Championship: Saturday, March 9 at the University of New Hampshire.