2017 Playoff Format and Qualification Process – as approved by the Board of Directors at the 2017 Spring Board Meeting
4.1.17 Bracket Sizes
(a) Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Softball, Volleyball
(1) 1A, 4A: 48 team brackets
(2) 2A, 3A: 64 team brackets
(b) Football
(1) 1A & 4A: 48 team brackets
§ Subdvided into 1A, 1AA, 4A, 4AA (24 team brackets)
(2) 2A & 3A: 64 team brackets
§ Subdvided into 2A, 2AA, 3A, 3AA (32 team brackets)
4.1.18 Playoff Berths/Qualification
(a) Conference automatic qualifiers are determined by the number of teams from a
given classification in each conference as follows:
(1) 1 – 4 teams = 1 automatic qualifier
(2) 5 – 8 teams = 2 automatic qualifiers
(3) 9 or more teams = 3 automatic qualifiers
(b) Conference tournament champions automatically qualify
(1) If the regular season champion also wins the tournament, no additional berth
will be awarded.
(2) If a team other than the regular season champion wins the tournament, it will
automatically qualify for the playoffs. The team will be seeded as an at-large
berth in the playoffs unless already automatically qualified based upon their
regular season conference finish.
(c) Split conference application
(1) The highest finishing team from a given classification will automatically
qualify, regardless of overall conference finish.
(2) Two teams that finish 1st and 2nd overall in the conference from the same
classification will automatically qualify regardless of rule 4.1.18(a)(1-3).
**Ties for 1st place in the overall conference or for highest finisher in a classification must
be broken using the established tie-breaking procedure [rule 4.1.13].
(d) If too many teams qualify using the above criteria, adjustments to the established
bracket size will be made to accommodate the automatic qualifiers.
(e) If not enough teams qualify using the above criteria, the bracket will be filled by
non-automatic qualifiers in that classification
(1) Teams in their classification with the highest MaxPreps ranking (or other
NCHSAA selected ranking system) will be selected to fill the remaining slots
in the bracket.
4.1.19 Seeding
(a) Once the qualifying teams in each classification are determined, they will be divided
into two regions of equal size (East and West) based on the longitude of each school.
(b) The teams in each region will be seeded as follows:
(1) Seed all 1st place automatic berths and highest finishing team in each
classification of a split conference by MaxPreps ranking (or other NCHSAA
selected ranking system); then
(2) Seed all 2nd place automatic berths by MaxPreps ranking (or other NCHSAA
selected ranking system); then
(3) Seed all 3rd place automatic berths by MaxPreps ranking (or other NCHSAA
selected ranking system); then
(4) Seed all conference tournament champions and at-large berths by MaxPreps
ranking (or other NCHSAA selected ranking system).
(c) Once seeding is complete:
(1) Existing byes will be awarded to the highest seeds possible.
(2) The higher seed is the home team unless otherwise determined by the
NCHSAA.
