LHSAA Boy’s Basketball Playoffs 101: How The Brackets Are Determined

GEAUXPREPS.COM BOY’S BASKETBALL POWER RATINGS

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NOTE: GeauxPreps.com Power Ratings are unofficial. The LHSAA will release official playoff brackets on Monday, February 13.

OVERVIEW

With less than 24 hours remaining until the 2023 LHSAA boy’s basketball playoff brackets are released, GeauxPreps.com wanted to give an insight as to how the postseason fields are determined.

Below are a few bullet points, referenced in the LHSAA handbook, to remember when looking at the power ratings before the bracket release.

LHSAA To Release Unofficial Power Rating Report Before Bracket Release

The LHSAA will post a power rating report Monday morning for each division. The list includes playoff-eligible teams, ranked accordingly, as well as squads who did not meet the 15-game limit or chose to opt out. Schools will have a few hours in the morning to file appeals related to the seeding of teams or forfeitures in each division.

Seeding The Brackets

NON-SELECT BRACKET

DIVISIONBRACKET SIZE
Division I28
Division II28
Division III28
Division IV28
Division V28

SELECT BRACKET

DIVISIONBRACKET SIZE
Division I24
Division II24
Division III24
Division IV24
Division V14

District Champions Earn One Bonus Point Towards Final Power Ratings

In lieu of an automatic bid, district champions earn one bonus point which is applied to the final power rating number.

15-Regular Season Game Minimum For Seeding Purposes

In completing the playoff bracket, all teams qualifying for the state playoffs shall be selected on the basis of the established power rating system. Schools that fail to play 15 contests during the regular season, including district play and tournament games, shall be ranked separately using the same ranking system that is used to rank schools that played at least 15 contests or more during the regular season. These schools shall be ranked at the bottom of the bracket and seeded accordingly until all remaining positions on the bracket are filled.

Out-Of-State Team Reporting Procedures

Games played against Out-of-State opponents do not count towards a team’s final power rating but do count towards total games played.

Power Rating Tie-Breaking Procedures

The LHSAA has a tie breaking procedure to be used when determining seed placement for two or more schools that have the same power rating:

Tie-breaking procedures to be used when two or more schools have the same power rating are as follows:

  1. If two schools are tied and played each other during the season, the school that won the most games against the other school shall be the higher seeded team.
  2. If after applying the first criterion and the tie is not broken or if the two schools did not play each other during the season, or if there are more than two schools involved in a tie, the tie shall be broken by applying class play percentage (schools that were played in the individual school’s classification). The school with the higher percentage shall be the higher seeded team.
  3. If after applying the second criterion and the tie is not broken, the school with the highest won-loss percentage in district play shall be the higher seeded team.
  4. If after applying the third criterion and the tie is not broken, the school with the highest won-loss percentage in overall regular season play shall be the higher seeded team.
  5. If a tie still remains, the higher seeded team shall be determined by having a “draw” conducted by the LHSAA office.