Article updated at 3:00pm as the preliminary brackets have become final.  The first round, across NC will be played on TUE and WED.

The post-season is here.  Part of the new seeding process is for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to work through their rankings and begin to pair teams for the State Tournament brackets.  The final bracket has been released and play will begin in the next couple of days.  Each pairing will work out whether they are playing on Tuesday or Wednesday and game time swill be set accodingly.

At the 1A and 4A levels 48 teams are split into an eastern and western bracket.  The top 8 seeds in each bracket will receive byes in the first round.  At the 2A and 3A levels, 64 teams are bracketed and seeded 1 – 32 on the east and west brackets. 

You can see the full NCHSAA Brackets HERE. 

Bracket Quick Hitters

+ No. 1 seeds include Providence and Holly Springs at the 4A level, Crest and New Hanover at the 3A level, North Lincoln and Whiteville at the 2A level, and East Surry and Voyager Academy at the 1A level.

+ Topsail HS, which was appealing a decision to forfeit 16 games in the 2018 season based on the use of an ineligible player is not in the preliminary bracket, meaning they will not be in post-season.  The issue with the player is complicated as the player in question was certified on several occasions but his classwork was reviewed again last week.  It was determined he had fallen behind a course curriculum due to an illness.  The Wilmington Star has done a tremendous job of reporting on this situation and it is worth reading up on this situation (see here). 

+ At the 4A level, 4 teams earned a berth to the post-season with a losing record.  Many coaches are still working to figure out the formula for entry into the tournament as an at-large, and these brackets may raise more questions about how to schedule a season.  Five 3A teams got in with a sub-.500 record.  At the 2A level 10 teams, and 1A level 8 teams entered with sub-.500 records. 

+ Several teams are paired to play against a conference rival in round 1 and may meet a conference mate in round 2.  This is an area that has frustrated several coaches PBR has spoken with the last year.  They would like to see the seeding worked to keep conference teams from facing each other in the opening two rounds.