Winter Sports

Division II boys basketball seeding determined by a mess of tiebreakers

There is no question who would be the top two seeds in the Division II boys basketball tournament. But the rest of the bracket? It's a mess.

Pembroke and Portsmouth are the top two seeds in Division II, respectively.

There is no question who would be the top two seeds in the Division II boys basketball tournament.

But the rest of the bracket? It's a mess.

Here’s a look at the potential field of 16 teams and where they might end up, based on our interpretation of the NHIAA’s tiebreakers. Official brackets are expected to be released on Monday.

Familiar faces at the top

For the second straight year, the top two teams in the division are the same, with Pembroke (17-1) the No. 1 seed for the start of the tournament on Wednesday, and Portsmouth (16-2) not far behind at No. 2.

Lebanon (15-3) and Pelham (15-3) finished in a tie for third, but because the Raiders won the lone regular-season meeting 69-49 back on Jan. 7, they get the No. 3 seed.

That had been the Pythons last loss before Thursday's setback at Plymouth, which snapped a 13-game winning streak for Pelham, which will be the No. 4 seed. Had Pelham won that game against the Bobcats, the Pythons would have been the No. 2 seed.

Log jam

With the second half of the top eight winning on Thursday and Friday, it created a four-way tie for fifth in the division between Plymouth (13-5), Bishop Brady (13-5), Hollis Brookline (13-5) and Kennett (13-5). The head-to-head tiebreaker can't be used because HB didn't play any of the other teams in the tie.

The next tiebreaker is rating against teams in the postseason - including teams tied for the final playoff - spot and by that criteria, Bishop Brady gets the nod. The Giants were 10-4 against fellow playoff teams and get the No. 5 seed. Next line is HB, which was 9-5 against other postseason squads and the Cavaliers take the No. 6 seed.

So because Plymouth and Kennett played head-to-head, that tiebreaker comes back into play, but they split a pair of games. Both teams were also 7-5 against the playoff field, forcing things to the third tiebreaker, which is quality of wins against playoff teams. Plymouth, with wins over Pelham, Windham and Coe-Brown, ends up ahead of Kennett as the No. 7 seed, while the Eagles will be the No. 8 seed.

Next up

Despite its loss to Windham on Friday, Hanover (11-7) hangs on to the No. 9 seed in the tournament. That win by Windham (10-8) moves the Jaguars into a tie with Coe-Brown (10-8) for the 10th spot. The teams didn't play during the regular season, and Windham should get the nod in the second tiebreaker, having eight wins against playoff teams, while Coe-Brown has just seven. The Bears end up as the No. 11 seed.

There's no confusion over the next three spots, as St. Thomas (8-10) will be the No. 12 seed, Merrimack Valley (7-10) will end up at No. 13 and Goffstown (5-13) takes the 14th seed.

Three teams, two spots, lots of tiebreakers

Oyster River (4-14), Souhegan (4-14) and Milford (4-14) finished in a three-way tie for 15th in the standings, and with only 16 teams making the tournament, someone gets left out.

All three teams played each other, but while Souhegan and Milford played twice - splitting two games - Oyster River only played each team once, beating both. According to the NHIAA procedures, that doesn't meet the head-to-head tiebreaker criteria.

Rating in head-to-head competition which shall be the established team rating system based upon contests against opponents involved in the tie providing they have played each other the same number of times.

So that sounds like the tiebreaker used should be rating against other playoff teams, including teams tied for the final playoff spot.

All three teams had two wins against other playoff teams, with Souhegan beating Milford and Goffstown; Milford beating Souhegan and St. Thomas; and Oyster River beating Souhegan and Milford.

But because Milford played fewer games against playoff teams, the Spartans have the best rating (0.571) of the three. Souhegan comes in next (0.533) with Oyster River third (0.500).

If the NHIAA ends up using the head-to-head tiebreaker, Oyster River would be 15th and Milford would be 16th. But the way that reads, it would go to the second tiebreaker, meaning Milford would be the 15th seed and Souhegan the 16th. We'll know for sure on Monday.