Bracketology: Division I Boys Basketball (March 2)

The Division I boys basketball regular seasons are done and tournament pairings are expected to be released by the NHIAA on Monday.

But if you don’t want to wait that long to get an idea of where and when each team will be playing in the tournament, here are projections of what the D1 tournament will look like when the brackets are released.

Division I

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

Playoff field (record, rating, previous)

1. Exeter (18-0, 4.0000, 1st)
2. Salem (16-2, 3.5556, 2nd)
3. Spaulding (14-4, 3.1111, 4th)
4. Londonderry (14-4, 3.1111, 5th)
5. Winnacunnet (14-4, 3.1111, 3rd)
6. Portsmouth (13-5, 2.8889, 6th)
7. Keene (11-7, 2.4444, 7th)
8. Concord (11-7, 2.4444, 8th)
9. Alvirne (11-7, 2.4444, 10th)
10. Nashua North (10-8, 2.2222, 9th)
11. Manchester Central (10-8, 2.2222, 11th)
12. Dover (9-9, 2.0000, 12th)
13. Nashua South (8-10, 1.7778, 13th)
14. Merrimack (6-12, 1.3333, 14th)
15. Goffstown (6-12, 1.3333, 15th)

Eliminated: Trinity (5-13, 1.1111); Bishop Guertin (5-13, 1.1111); Bedford (5-13, 1.1111); Windham (4-14, 0.8889);  Pinkerton (4-14, 0.8889); Manchester Memorial (2-16, 0.4444); Timberlane (1-17, 0.2222).

Tiebreakers

• Spaulding wins the three-way tiebreaker with Londonderry and Winnacunnet thanks to a better rating in head-to-head games.
• Londonderry wins the tiebreaker with Winnacunnet thanks to a head-to-head victory.
• Keene (7-5, 2.3333) wins the three-way tiebreaker with Concord (6-6, 2.0000) and Alvirne (5-7, 1.6667) thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.
• Concord wins the tiebreaker with Alvirne thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.
• Nashua North (5-7, 1.6667) wins the tiebreaker with Manchester Central (2-8, 0.8000) thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.
• Merrimack (2-10, 0.6667) wins the tiebreaker with Goffstown (1-10, 0.3636) thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.

First-round bye

• No. 1 Exeter

First-round matchups

• No. 9 Alvirne at No. 8 Concord
• No. 13 Nashua South at No. 4 Londonderry
• No. 12 Dover at No. 5 Winnacunnet
• No. 15 Goffstown at No. 2 Salem
• No. 10 Nashua North at No. 7 Keene
• No. 14 Merrimack at No. 3 Spaulding
• No. 11 Manchester Central at No. 6 Portsmouth

Tournament schedule

• Preliminary round: Tuesday, March 5, at home of higher seed.
• Quarterfinals: Friday, March 8, at home of higher seed.
• Semifinals: Wednesday, March 13, at University of New Hampshire
• Championship: Saturday, March 16, at University of New Hampshire