The busiest week in the history of basketball state tournament in Utah is about to tip off.
All six boys tournaments and all six girls tournaments will have games this week, for a whopping 142 contests spread out around the state.
The shift by the UHSAA to an all-comers state tournaments in every classification is the biggest reason for the increased volume of games. Every tournament is now spread out over two weeks, and everything overlaps this week.
The 3A and 2A boys and girls tournaments got underway with two rounds last week, with their conclusion coming this Thursday through Saturday at Salt Lake Community College and the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield, respectively.
Conversely, the 6A, 5A, 4A and 1A boys and girls tournaments tip off this week at home sites, then shift to neutral sites next week.
Of the 142 games, 72 are boys games and 70 are girls games.
In the 3A boys and girls tournaments last week, the new RPI seeding held mostly to form with only one seed outside of the top eight in each tournament advancing to the quarterfinals at SLCC.
In 2A, two boys seeds outside of the top eight advanced to the quarterfinals, while three higher seeds in the girls tournaments advanced.
Those upsets, along with how the RPI seeds played out in football and volleyball tournaments last fall, should be a great reminder to all the higher seeds this week that nothing is guaranteed.
The 6A boys tournament tips off Wednesday with 10 games at home sites, with the top six seeds all getting byes into Friday’s second round — No. 1 Davis, No. 2 Fremont, No. 3 Layton, No. 4 Skyridge, No. 5 Corner Canyon and No. 6 Bingham.
If the seedings hold, No. 7 Herriman and No. 8 Copper Hills would join the top six in next week’s quarterfinals at the University of Utah, but a few upsets seems likely in a classification where each region has featured its share of upsets.
For 6A girls, the top six seeds with byes in Tuesday’s first round are No. 1 Fremont, No. 2 Lone Peak, No. 3 Westlake, No. 4 Syracuse, No. 5 Skyridge and No. 6 Bingham.
The biggest change for 6A and 5A girls this year is the venue. Once those tournaments reach the quarterfinal stage, all remaining games will be played at the University of Utah on the same days as the boys games from the same classification.
Previously, the 6A and 5A girls tournaments were always held at SLCC, but the change provides the girls with a chance to play in a bigger venue like the boys.
With three more teams in 5A than 6A, only three 5A teams earn first-round byes.
The top three seeds for 5A boys are No. 1 Maple Mountain, No. 2 Springville and No. 3 Woods Cross, while the top girls seeds are No. 1 Lehi, No. 2 Farmington and No. 3 Highland.
In the quirky nature of the RPI seeding — where all preseason and region games count the same — Maple Mountain finishes ahead of Springville in the final RPI rankings despite losing to Springville twice.
Perhaps the biggest head scratcher comes out of Region 7 boys. Lehi got off to a slow start in the preseason, but was the most consistent team in Region 7, winning the league two games over Timpview, Orem and Timpanogos, who all tied for second. As luck would have it, the three teams who tied for second all ended up higher seeds than No. 7 Lehi.
From week to week, 5A boys has been incredibly unpredictable and that figures to spill over into the state tournament this week.
On the girls side, Lehi has been the unquestioned No. 1 team all season and it would take a big upset for anyone to knock off the undefeated Pioneers.
In 4A boys and girls, 11 of the 21 teams receive first-round byes. The big question is whether any of the teams seeded No. 12 through No. 21 are capable of winning a couple games this week and crashing the quarterfinal party next Thursday through Saturday at Weber State.
Defending champion Cedar City earned the No. 1 seed for the girls tournament after a perfect regular season, while Sky View’s defending champion boys team also earned the top seed in 4A.
In 1A, the final RPI rankings and brackets will be announced on Tuesday morning. The top nine seeds in the boys tournament receive first-round byes, while the top 12 girls seeds earn byes.
The remaining seeds will play in the first round on Saturday.