Division I

Playoff Picture: Division I Basketball (Feb. 26)

The regular season is done for Division I boys and girls basketball and the playoff pairings are set to be released Thursday by the NHIAA.

Update: The NHIAA released the Division I brackets early and they’ve been added to the Playoff Pairings posts that are at the top of the righthand column on the home page.

Looks like there are a few things I got wrong with the girls brackets. One should have been obvious in that Bishop Guertin losses a point for its out-of-state win over Mercy, of Middletown, Conn., as I believe it has happened before when the two have played.

Mercy’s most recent recorded enrollment is only 375, which would make it a Division III school if it were part of the NHIAA. Therefore, Bishop Guertin is only awarded three points instead of four for the win, which gives it a lower rating than Concord Christian.

The other difference is the seeding for Dover and Salem. I had the tiebreaker going to rating against tournament teams, which is worded as follows:

Rating against NHIAA divisional opponents selected for the tournament including all teams involved in a tie for the last position. Once the tournament teams have been selected, the teams that were tied for the last position are no longer used in breaking ties as they are not considered tournament teams.

I included Winnacunnet and Trinity in this tiebreaker as tournament teams, since they are tied with Manchester Central-West for the final playoff spot. That gave Dover an 8-6 record and a 2.2857 rating and Salem a 7-6 record and a 2.1538 rating. If those two teams aren’t included, Dover’ drops to 6-6 and 2.0000.

I’ve reached out to the NHIAA and am waiting for clarification on the tiebreaker.

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The regular season is done for Division I boys and girls basketball and the playoff pairings are set to be released Thursday by the NHIAA.

But who wants to wait until then? Here is our best guess at what the brackets will look like when they are released.

Note: With the NHIAA’s 70-percent rule in place for the postseason, Division I boys will have 15 teams and Division I girls will have 16 teams. Standings based off results reported to NHIAA.org and other media outlets. These are not official.

Division I Boys

Team (record, rating, previous)

Bedford (15-3, 3.3333, 1st)
Portsmouth (15-3, 3.3333, 2nd)
Trinity (14-4, 3.1111, 3rd)
Nashua South (14-4, 3.1111, 4th)
Exeter (13-4, 3.0588, 5th)
Keene (13-5, 2.8889, 6th)
Alvirne (13-5, 2.8889, 7th)
Bishop Guertin (10-8, 2.2222, 10th)
Windham (10-8, 2.2222, 9th)
Manchester Memorial (10-8, 2.2222, 8th)
Londonderry (9-9, 2.0000, 12th)
Goffstown (9-9, 2.0000, 11th)
Merrimack (8-10, 1.7778, 13th)
Winnacunnet (7-11, 1.5556, 14th)
Salem (7-11, 1.5556, 15th)

Eliminated: Dover (7-11, 1.5556);Spaulding (6-12, 1.3333); Pinkerton (5-13, 1.1111); Nashua North (5-13, 1.1111); Manchester Central (3-14, 0.7059); Timberlane (1-17, 0.2222); Concord (0-18, 0.0000).

Tiebreakers

Bedford (11-3, 3.1429) wins the tiebreaker with Portsmouth (10-3, 3.0769) thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.
In a three-way tiebreaker, Trinity (10-3, 3.0769), Nashua South (10-4, 2.8571) and Exeter (8-4, 2.6667) finish in that order thanks to rating against tournament teams.
Keene wins the tiebreaker with Alvirne thanks to a head-to-head victory.
In a three-way tiebreaker, Bishop Guertin (6-6, 2.0000), Windham (6-7, 1.8462) and Manchester Memorial (6-8, 1.7143) finish in that order thanks to rating against tournament teams.
Londonderry wins the tiebreaker with Goffstown thanks to a head-to-head victory.
In a three-way tiebreaker for the final two playoff spots, Winnacunnet (3-10, 0.9231), Salem (2-10, 0.6667) and Dover (2-11, 0.6154) finish in that order thanks to rating against tournament teams. The Warriors and Blue Devils get the final spots and the Green Wave are eliminated.

First-round bye (changes in bold)

No. 1 Bedford

First-round matchups (changes in bold)

No. 9 Windham at No. 8 Bishop Guertin
No. 12 Goffstown at No. 5 Exeter
No. 13 Merrimack at No. 4 Nashua South
No. 15 Salem at No. 2 Portsmouth
No. 10 Manchester Memorial at No. 7 Alvirne
No. 14 Winnacunnet at No. 3 Trinity
No. 11 Londonderry at No. 6 Keene

Playoff Schedule

Prelims: March 5, at home of higher seed.
Quarterfinals: March 8, at home of higher seed.
Semifinals: March 12, at the James W. Foley Memorial Community Center, Rochester.
Championship: March 16, at the University of New Hampshire, Durham.

Division I Girls

Team (record, rating, previous)

Bedford (18-0, 4.0000, 1st)
Londonderry (17-1, 3.7778, 2nd)
Windham (16-2, 3.5556, 3rd)
Bishop Guertin (14-4, 3.1111, 4th)
Concord Christian (14-4, 3.1111, 5th)
Pinkerton (13-5, 2.8889, 6th)
Dover (12-6, 2.6667, 7th)
Salem (12-6, 2.6667, 8th)
Exeter (11-7, 2.4444, 10th)
Alvirne (10-8, 2.2222, 9th)
Timberlane (10-8, 2.2222, 11th)
Portsmouth (9-9, 2.0000, 12th)
Keene (8-10, 1.7778, 13th)
Nashua North (8-10, 1.7778, 14th)
Nashua South (8-10, 1.7778, 15th)
Manchester Central-West (6-12, 1.3333, 16th)

Eliminated: Winnacunnet (6-12, 1.3333); Trinity (6-12, 1.3333); Goffstown (5-13, 1.1111); Manchester Memorial (3-15, 0.6667); Merrimack (2-16, 0.4444); Spaulding (2-16, 0.4444); Concord (0-18, 0.0000).

Tiebreakers

Bishop Guertin wins the tiebreaker with Concord Christian thanks to a head-to-head victory.
Dover (8-6, 2.2857) wins the tiebreaker with Salem (7-6, 2.1538) thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.
Alvirne wins the tiebreaker with Timberlane thanks to a head-to- head victory.
In a three-way tiebreaker, Keene (2-0, 4.0000), Nashua North (1-1, 2.0000) and Nashua South (0-2, 0.0000) finish in that order thanks to rating in head-to-head games.
In a three-way tiebreaker for the final playoff spot, Manchester Central-West (2-0, 4.0000), Trinity (1-1, 2.0000) and Winnacunnet (0-2, 0.0000) finish in that order thanks to rating in head-to-head games.

First-round matchups (changes in bold)