Your team-by-team guide to the final week of the season

I can’t sleep, so I’ve decided to put together a little cheat sheet for next week. I figured out all the possible playoff seeds for every team, except those at the muddled bottom of Class 4A, where there are 15 different seeding possibilities and I didn’t want to work through every possible scenario….

That said, here’s next week’s cheat sheet for playoff seeding, based on my interpretations of the WHSAA tiebreaker guidelines (remember, my interpretations, not necessarily the WHSAA’s, but I tried to be good about it):

Class 4A
Natrona: Top seed, win or lose.
Evanston, Gillette, Sheridan: Right now, all three are tied for second seed. If the three-way tie remains after the end of this week, it depends — if all three win, Sheridan wins the tiebreaker and is the second seed, Evanston is third and Gillette is fourth, but if all three lose, then Evanston wins the tiebreaker, Gillette is third and Sheridan fourth (with Cheyenne Central being the highest-ranked team to compare). In any two-way ties, Evanston has the tiebreaker on Gillette, Sheridan has the tiebreaker on Evanston and Gillette has the tiebreaker on Sheridan. Any way you break it down, none of these teams finishes lower than fourth, win or lose next week.
Cheyenne Central: Is fifth seed with a win over KW and is sixth seed with a loss.
Kelly Walsh: Is fifth seed with a win over Central. With a loss, KW can finish anywhere from sixth to ninth, depending on the outcomes of other games.
Cheyenne East, Green River, Rock Springs: Right now, these three are tied for the seventh, eighth and ninth seeds. Depending on the outcome of their games and the KW-Central game, there are 15 different possible seeding combinations.
Laramie: Right now, in 10th. Can still qualify for the playoffs with a win and a Green River loss. Laramie is guaranteed a spot if they win, Green River loses and Rock Springs wins. If Laramie wins and both Rock Springs and Green River lose, it creates a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots, and I think that Laramie and Rock Springs earn the final two spots, but the WHSAA handbook doesn’t address four-way ties….

Class 3A
East Conference
Douglas: East Conference champ.
Buffalo: Second seed out of the East.
Riverton and Wheatland: Both in; the only question is which one is the three seed and which is the four seed. They conveniently play each other, so that works.
Torrington and Rawlins: Eliminated.
West Conference
Cody: West Conference champ.
Lander: Qualified. No. 2 seed with a win. No. 3 seed with a loss AND a Worland loss; No. 4 seed with a loss AND a Worland win.
Powell: Qualified. No. 2 seed with a win AND a Worland loss. No. 3 seed with a win AND a Worland win. No. 4 seed with a loss.  
Worland: Qualifies for the playoffs with a win OR a Star Valley loss. No. 2 seed with a win AND a Powell win. No. 3 seed with a win AND a Powell loss. No. 4 seed with a loss AND a Powell win. Fails to qualify with a loss AND a Star Valley win AND a Powell win.
Star Valley: Needs a win AND a Worland loss to qualify as the fourth seed.
Jackson: Eliminated.
(Thanks to Kevin for catching my mistake in the 3A West.)

Class 2A
East Conference
Big Horn: East Conference champion.
Thermopolis: No. 2 seed from the East.
Newcastle and Wright: Currently tied for third and fourth seeds. By my calculations, Newcastle has qualified, while Wright has not. Wright is No. 3 seed with win and is eliminated with a loss. Win or lose, Newcastle is No. 4 seed with a Wright win. Newcastle is No. 3 seed with win AND Wright loss. If both Wright and Newcastle lose, Newcastle is the No. 3 seed and Burns is the No. 4 seed.
Burns: The No. 4 seed with a win. Eliminated with a loss.
Tongue River, Glenrock, Moorcroft: Eliminated.
West Conference
Lyman: Conference champion with a win. No. 2 seed with a loss and a Lovell loss. No. 3 seed with a loss and a Lovell win.
Greybull: Conference champion with a win AND a Lovell loss. No. 2 seed with a win and a Lovell win. No. 3 seed with a loss, no matter what Lovell does. Lovell: Conference champion with a win AND a Lyman loss. No. 2 seed with a Lyman win, win or lose. No. 3 seed with a Loss AND a Lyman loss.
Big Piney: Are the No. 4 seed with a win. Are the No. 4 seed with a loss AND a Mountain View loss. Are the No. 4 seed with a loss AND a Mountain View win AND a Pinedale win. Are eliminated with a loss AND a Mountain View win AND a Pinedale loss.
Mountain View: Qualify if and only if they win AND Big Piney loses AND Pinedale loses.
Pinedale, Kemmerer, Wyoming Indian: Eliminated.

Class 1A 11-man
East Conference
Lusk: East Conference champion.
Lingle: No. 2 seed with a win. No. 3 seed with a loss.
Southeast: No. 2 seed with a win. No. 3 seed with a loss, no matter what Sundance does.
Pine Bluffs: No. 4 seed, no matter what anyone else does.
Sundance, Upton, Normative Services, Hulett: Eliminated.
West Conference
Cokeville: West Conference champion.
Dubois: No. 2 seed, win or lose.
Burlington and Rocky Mountain: Both qualified. Rocky Mountain is the No. 3 seed with a win OR a Burlington loss. Burlington is the No. 3 seed with a win AND a Rocky Mountain loss.
Riverside, Saratoga, Shoshoni, Wind River: Eliminated.

Class 1A six-man (REGULAR SEASON COMPLETE THIS WEEK)
Snake River: No. 1 seed.
Kaycee, Hanna, Ten Sleep: Came into Week 7 tied for the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds. Hanna is No. 2, Ten Sleep 3 and Kaycee 4, regardless of how Kaycee does on Saturday.
Midwest: No. 5 seed.
Meeteetse: No. 6 seed.
Guernsey: No. 7 seed.
Farson: No. 8 seed.
(This will be updated to reflect Saturday’s games after those games are complete.)

If the playoffs started today, this is how the brackets would look:
4A: (8) Rock Springs at (1) Natrona; (5) Central at (4) Sheridan; (7) Green River at (2) Evanston; (6) Kelly Walsh at (3) Gillette.
3A: (4W) Powell at (1E) Douglas; (3E) Riverton/Wheatland (coin flip) at (2W) Lander; (4E) Riverton/Wheatland (coin flip) at (1W) Cody; (3W) Worland at (2E) Buffalo.
2A: (4W) Big Piney at (1E) Big Horn; (3E) Wright at (2W) Lovell; (4E) Newcastle at (1W) Lyman; (3W) Greybull at (2E) Thermopolis.
1A 11: (4W) Burlington at (1E) Lusk; (3E) Southeast at (2W) Dubois; (4E) Pine Bluffs at (1W) Cokeville; (3W) Rocky Mountain at (2E) Lingle.
1A 6: (8) Farson at (1) Snake River; (5) Midwest at (4) Kaycee; (7) Guernsey at (2) Hanna; (6) Meeteetse at (3) Ten Sleep.

OK, now I’m going to bed. I’m spent.

–patrick