Winter Sports

Bracketology: Division II boys basketball

The final week of the regular season is here, and a lot still has to be sorted out in Division II.

The Division II boys basketball tournament starts a week from Monday.

The final week of the regular season is here, and a lot still has to be sorted out in Division II.

The regular season comes to a close on March 6 and the first round of the tournament starts on March 9. The top 16 teams in the division make the postseason, and here’s a look at where everyone stands right now.

Top four seeds

Manchester West (16-1)
Portsmouth (15-1)
Bishop Brady (13-3)
Lebanon (13-3)

After an overtime win against Bishop Brady, Portsmouth suffered its first loss of the season, falling to Windham, and momentarily dropping the Clippers to seconds. But Portsmouth holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over West, so as long as the Clippers beat Kingswood (0-16) and Oyster River (5-11) this week, they'll be the top seed. West has won 16 games in a row since opening the season with a loss at Portsmouth and finish the regular season with a home game against Hanover on Tuesday. Brady and Lebanon will likely be playing for the third seed on Tuesday when they meet at Lebanon. With Merrimack Valley close behind, the loser could possibly slip down to the fifth seed.

Next four seeds

Merrimack Valley (12-4)
Windham (12-5)
Hanover (10-6)
Milford (10-6)

If Brady loses to Lebanon on Tuesday, and Merrimack Valley beats Kingswood (0-16) and ConVal (4-12) this week, and the teams end up tied, the Pride hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. Windham ends the regular season Tuesday against Hollis Brookline, and a win would lock up no worse than the sixth seed. Hanover would win a tiebreaker over Milford and Coe-Brown because it holds wins over both teams, and Milford has a win over Coe-Brown, which would make it the eighth seed. However, Coe-Brown finishes the regular season with Plymouth (4-12) and Souhegan (5-11) while Hanover plays West (16-1) and Goffstown (8-8) and Milford plays ConVal (4-12) and Lebanon (13-3).

In the hunt

Coe-Brown (10-6)
Kennett (9-8)
Goffstown (8-8)

Again, as of now, Coe-Brown loses out on tiebreakers to Milford and Hanover, but the Bears finish the regular season with the easier schedule. Kennett or Goffstown would need to win out, and get lots of help, to move up into one of the top eight spots.

Rest of the field

Hollis Brookline (6-10)
Souhegan (5-11)
Oyster River (5-11)
St. Thomas (5-12)
ConVal (4-12)

Souhegan holds the tiebreaker over Oyster River with a better rating against tournament teams. Same goes for ConVal, as it gets the final postseason spot over Plymouth (4-12) based on rating against tournament teams.