Many N.C. High School Athletic Association automatic girls basketball playoff bids have been decided as of Monday, but there are still some that need to be worked out.

Here is a look at the playoff bids that have been secured and the ties that need to be broken during this week’s conference tournaments.

Keep in mind the following intricacies:

• In single-classification conferences, the overall champion wins a trophy, gets to hang a banner, and is seeded with the other first place teams first in the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s state playoffs.
  • In the instances where there is a tie for first place, the teams will be considered co-conference champions. A head-to-head victory of one tied team over the other doesn’t matter when it comes to hanging a banner. While each team will get the trophy, only one can be seeded first with the other conference champions in the playoff brackets. Most often, this piece comes down to who won the head-to-head matchup.
    • For example: Team A & Team B finish tied for the conference championship in a 4A-only league. Team A & Team B will be considered co-conference champions. Team A beat Team B in their matchup, but Team A lost to Team C to force the tie with Team B. Since Team A has the head-to-head tiebreaker over Team B, Team A will be treated as the only conference champion when it comes to the playoff seeding process. All first place teams are seeded first in the process and will host a game in the first round.
• In split-classification conferences, the overall champion wins a trophy/hangs a banner, but the highest finishing conference opponent in the other classification will also be seeded as a top playoff seed in its separate playoff bracket, provided that that other team finishes with an overall win percentage of .500 or better OR finishes in the top three of the final overall conference standings. If the team does not meet this criteria, it’s still guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, but will be placed among the at-large teams in the RPI-based playoff seeding process.
  • For example: In a 3A/4A split classification conference, the top overall finisher/conference representative could be a 4A team, but the highest 3A team will also be considered a 1-seed in the 3A bracket, as long as the 3A team was .500 or better OR finished in the top three spots in the standings.
    • All top finishers out of a split classification will be seeded first with the 1-seeds from single-classification conferences, as long as they meet the criteria of finishing .500 or better OR in the top three of the conference standings.
• For conferences with six or more teams, the second place team will receive an automatic playoff spot. This team will still be seeded with the other at-large teams, but it would assure that they get into the group of 32 playoff teams from their region. For conferences with nine or more teams, the third place team will also receive and automatic playoff spot.
• The Leapfrogging Provision: The standings of the conferences are important for playoff qualification. A team cannot make the playoffs if a team that finished above it in the rankings does not make it, thanks to the NCHSAA’s leapfrogging provision. For example, if a team that finished in fourth place had an RPI good enough to be one of the 32 teams to make the playoffs, but the third place team is outside of that top 32, the fourth place team will be boxed out of the playoffs by the third place team.

NCHSAA Tiebreaker Procedure

1. Head-to-head competition
2. If the two teams are tied after being eliminated from the conference tournament, or if a conference tournament is not held, a special playoff game can be played. Both teams can mutually agree to forego this step if they agree to break the tie in another fashion. A special playoff game cannot violate the daily or weekly limitations for a particular sport though. A meeting between the two tied teams in a conference tournament would count as the tie-breaker game.
3. If both teams are eliminated from the conference tournament and can play the playoff game without violating the weekly limitations, the game should be played unless a team advances to the conference tournament championship game. In that case, the team that gets to the finals wins the tie-breaker.
4. If three or more teams are tied, the team that advances furthest in the conference tournament will win the tie-breaker.
5. If the tie cannot be broken after step No. 4, all previous head-to-head competition is used to break the tie. This step cannot be used when there are multiple ties though.
6. If there is still a tie, the tie will be broken based on how the teams fared against the rest of the conference, starting with the No. 1 team and moving down the list until the tie is broken.
7. If the tie is still not broken, the RPI ranking will be used to break the tie.
8. On the off chance the two teams have the same RPI, a random draw will be held.

As an HSOT Insider, you have access to our playoff projections, as seen below:

4A Conferences

Cap-6

• Leesville Road has clinched the top seed out of the Cap.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Athens Drive and Broughton finished the regular season tied for second in the conference at 7-3. They split the season series. The break will likely come down to which does better in the conference tournament. If not, Athens Drive owns the one win over first place Leesville, which would grant it the break.

Central Piedmont

• Davie County has clinched the top seed out of the CPC. East Forsyth secured the automatic second place bid.

DC-VI

• Chapel Hill has clinched the top seed out of the conference. Jordan has secured the automatic second place bid out of the conference.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Hillside and East Chapel Hill finished the season tied for third place with 5-5 records. They split the season series and have the exact same wins and losses outside of their games. The tie will be solved by which team advances further in the conference tournament or if not, by RPI.

Greater Metro

• Lake Norman has clinched the top playoff seed. Hickory Ridge has secured the automatic second place bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – West Cabarrus and South Iredell finished tied for fifth place at 4-8. They split the season series. If the teams are bounced in the same round of the conference tournament and don’t play a tiebreaker game, the break could come down to West Cabarrus’ win over third place Cox Mill from the regular season, which is a better win than South Iredell’s best win (against fourth place Mooresville).

Greater Neuse

• Southeast Raleigh has clinched the top playoff seed. South Garner has secured the second place automatic bid.
• Corinth Holders and Willow Spring finished tied for third place, but Corinth Holders swept the season series, which breaks the tie.

Metro

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Grimsley and Northern Guilford ended the season as co-conference champions with 10-4 records. They split the season series. This tie will most likely come down to how they perform in the conference tournament.
  • If the teams are bounced in the same round, it will come down to this:
    • Grimsley was swept by fourth place Ragsdale and dropped a game to Northwest Guilford
    • Northwest Guilford also split with Northern Guilford. However, Northern Guilford swept Ragsdale, the fourth place team. Due to this, Northern Guilford will get the break because it performed better against the higher finishing team at the first instance of a difference in performance when going down the standings.

Northern Athletic

• Wakefield has clinched the top playoff spot out of the conference. Rolesville has secured the second place automatic bid.

South Meck

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Ardrey Kell, Myers Park, and South Mecklenburg finished the season as 10-2 conference champions. They all split against each other. This to playoff seed will come down to which lasts the longest in the conference tournament.

Southern Carolina

• Marvin Ridge has clinched the top playoff seed out of the Southern Carolina and the conference championship.

Southwest Wake

• Apex Friendship clinched the conference championship and top playoff seed.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Green Level and Panther Creek finished the regular season tied for second place with 11-3 records. They split the season series and have the same wins and losses outside of their games. The tie will be broken by which advances further in the conference tournament or by RPI if that fails.

Southwestern

• Butler has clinched the top playoff spot out of the Southwestern. Charlotte Catholic has secured the automatic second place bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Rocky River and Providence finished tied for third place with 7-5 records. They split their season series. The tie will be broken by how far they advance in the conference tournament or by RPI if that doesn’t solve it.

3A/4A Conferences

All-American

• Overhills clinched the top 4A seed out of the All-American.
• Terry Sanford clinched the top 3A seed out of the All-American.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – E.E. Smith and Westover finished tied for second place among the six 3A teams at 9-5. The second place 3A team will get an automatic playoff bid. They split the season series. The team that advances further in the conference tournament will get that bid. Both were swept by Terry Sanford and split against second place overall Overhills and fifth place overall Pine Forest. They have the exact same wins and losses. If they lose in the exact same tournament round, it will go to the RPI break.

Big Carolina

• D.H. Conley clinched the top 4A seed out of the Big Carolina.
• South Central clinched the top 3A seed out of the Big Carolina.

Mideastern

• Hoggard clinched the 4A portion of the Mideastern Conference.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – New Hanover and Topsail finished tied for second place after splitting the season series. They share the same wins and losses outside of their games together. It will be solved by the conference tournament or by RPI if that fails.
• South Brunswick clinched the 3A portion of the Mideastern Conference.

Mountain

• McDowell clinched the top 4A seed out of the conference as it has an eight-game lead.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – A.C. Reynolds (9-3) and Erwin (9-3) finished in a tie for the top 3A spot out of the Mountain Athletic Conference. They split the season series, so this tie for the top seed among the 3A teams in the conference will have to be broken in the conference tournament.

Northwestern

• Watauga clinched the top 4A seed out of the Northwestern 3A/4A.
• Freedom clinched the top 3A seed out of the Northwestern 3A/4A.

Queen City

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Top 4A teams North Mecklenburg and Mallard Creek finished as co-conference champions with 13-1 records. The tie will come down to which performs better in the conference tournament or by RPI if that can’t solve it.
• West Charlotte has clinched the top 3A seed out of Queen City 3A/4A with a five game lead as of Monday.

Sandhills

• Richmond has clinched the top 4A seed out of the Sandhills 3A/4A.
• Union Pines has clinched the top 3A seed out of the Sandhills 3A/4A.

United 8

• South View has clinched the top 4A seed out of the United 8.
• Seventy-First has clinched the top 3A seed out of the United 8.

3A Conferences

Big South

• Stuart Cramer won the conference championship and will be the top playoff seed out of the league in the 3A West. Hunter Huss received the second place automatic bid.

Central

• Western Alamance has clinched the top playoff spot and the Central Conference championship.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Eastern Alamance and Orange finished the season tied for second place at 8-4 and split their season series 1-1. The conference tournament outcome will be the first thing used to solve this, but if not, Eastern Alamance performed better against fourth place Williams (2-0) than Orange did (1-1).

Coastal

• Croatan clinched the conference with two games to play. Swansboro (6-2) and West Carteret (5-3) are battling for the second place automatic bid.

Mid-Piedmont

• Oak Grove has clinched the top playoff seed out of the Mid-Piedmont. Ledford has secured the automatic second place bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – There is a three-way tie at the bottom of the conference between Asheboro, North Davidson, and Montgomery Central at 2-8. The conference tournament could break this tie.

Mid-State

• Ben L. Smith has clinched the Mid-State Conference championship and top playoff seed. Rockingham County secured the second place automatic bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Atkins and Northeast Guilford finished tied for sixth place at 3-11 after splitting their season series and both sweeping last place High Point Central. If either does better in the conference tournament, the tie will be broken.

Mountain 7

• Pisgah has clinched the conference championship and top playof seed.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Franklin and West Henderson finished the regular season tied for second place at 9-3. They’ll play a tiebreaking game on Tuesday to see which team gets the automatic second place bid.

Quad County

• Fike has clinched the top playoff seed out of the Quad County. C.B. Aycock secured the second place automatic bid.
• West Johnston and East Wake finished the regular season tied for third palce at 8-6, but West Johnston already broke that tie thanks to its sweep over East Wake in the season.

South Piedmont

• Jay M. Robinson has clinched the South Piedmont’s top playoff seed before playing the final two games. Northwest Cabarrus has secured the conference’s second place automatic bid and East Rowan has secured the conference’s third place automatic bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Carson, Concord, and South Rowan finished tied for sixth place at 4-12. The conference tournament could go a long way in breaking this.

Western Foothills

• North Lincoln won the conference at 14-0 and clinched the top playoff seed out of the league. East Lincoln secured the second place automatic bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – North Iredell and Foard finished the regular season tied for third place at 9-5 after splitting the season series and winning the same matchups outside of their contests together. The conference tournament will have to break this one. If not, it goes to RPI.

2A/3A Conferences

Big East

• Rocky Mount has clinched the conference championship and top 3A seed out of the Big East.
• Nash Central has clinched the top 2A seed out of the Big East.

Northeastern Coastal

• For the top 3A seed, Currituck County has clinched
• Northeastern clinched the top 2A seed.
• With six 2A teams, the conference gets an automatic second place bid from one of the next five teams. The regular season finished with a three-way tie between Hertford County, Holmes, and Pasquotank County for second place among the 2As at 6-8. This tie will have to be ironed out by the tournament or by RPI if it comes to that.

Northern Lakes

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Southern Durham and Carrboro tied for first place at 13-1 after splitting the season series. While they won a co-conference championship, the top seed out of this conference for the 3A East playoffs will have to be decided by how the teams fare in the conference tournament.
• Louisburg has clinched the top 2A seed out of this league.

Rocky River

• Parkwood clinched the top seed among the 3A teams in the Rocky River with an 8-4 record. Even though Parkwood finished the regular season under .500 overall, the Wolfpack finished in the top three in the conference standings, which is one of the requirements to receive a top seed in the 3A West playoffs.
• Forest Hills has clinched the top seed among the 2A teams in the Rocky River.

2A Conferences

Catawba Valley

• East Burke has clinched the top seed out of the Catawba Valley. Maiden has secured the second place automatic playoff spot.

East Central

• East Duplin has clinched the top playoff seed out of the East Central. Kinston has secured the automatic second place bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – James Kenan and Southwest Onslow finished the regular season tied for third place in the conference at 7-5. The teams split their season meetings and have identical results outside of those meetings. The conference tournament should decide which team will finish at the No. 3. If not, RPI will break the tie.

Eastern Plains

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – SouthWest Edgecome and West Craven finished as co-conference champions at 11-1. They split the season series. A conference tournament will likely decide which team will get the 1-seed out of the league. If they find themselves bounced out of the tournament at the same time, the tie will be broken by RPI. The other team will still be in the playoffs as the conference’s automatic second place bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Farmville Central, Greene Central, and North Pitt finished the season tied for third place with 6-6 records. Tey split against each other. A conference tournament could go a long way in breaking this up

Foothills

• North Wilkes won the conference outright and clinched the top seed out of the league for the 2A West playoffs. Forbush secured the second place automatic bid.

Mid-State

• T.W. Andrews has clinched the top playoff seed out of the Mid-State. North Forysth has secured the automatic second place bid.

Neuse

• Goldsboro won the conference championship and clinched the top playoff seed out of the Neuse. North Johnston secured the automatic second place bid out of the conference.

Southeastern

• Fairmont as clinched the conference championship and top seed out of the league for the 2A East playoffs. St. Pauls secured the second place automatic bid.

1A/2A Conferences

Catawba Shores

• Lincoln Charter has clinched the top 2A playoff spot out of the Catawba Shores.
• Christ the King has clinched the top 1A seed out of the Catawba Shores.

Central Carolina

• Lexington has clinched the outright conference championship and top 2A playoff seed.
• North Rowan has clinched the top 1A playoff spot out of this conference. But with an overall record well below .500 and a finish outside of the top three spots, the Cavaliers will not be seeded with the other 1A west conference champions and will likely travel to a top seed in the first round of the playoffs, if they do not opt out.

Coastal Plains

• East Carteret is the only 2A team in the conference. However, the Mariners are required to finish in the top two spots in the conference standings or with a .500 overall record to be gauranteed a spot in the playoffs and a home playoff game, and they will achieve neither of those things.
• Northside-Pinetown has clinched the 1A side of the conference.

Four Rivers

• Martin County is the only 2A in the conference and has done enough to confirm its spot in the playoffs. Martin is six games above .500 with two to play.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Perquimans and Gates County finished as 11-1 co-conference champions after splitting their regular season matchups. The performance of each team in the conference tournament will decide which gets the top 1A East playoff seed out of the Four Rivers. Whichever is standing the longest will get it.

Mid-Carolina

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Seaforth and Southeast Alamance are tied for first place at 14-1 with one regular season game to play each.
• Chatham Central has clinched the top 1A seed out of the conference.

Mountain Foothills

• Hendersonville has clinched the top 2A seed out of the Mountain Foothills. East Rutherford secured the second place automatic bid among the six 2A teams in the conference.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Brevard and R-S Central finished the regular season tied for third place among the 2A teams at 5-7 after splitting the season series. They have the same wins and losses outside of their games against each other. This tie will come down to conference tournament performance or RPI if that fails.
• Polk County is the only 1A team in the conference and it has done more than enough to secure a playoff spot (lone-classification teams in a conference must finish in the top two in the standings or with a .500 or better overall record, Polk is 20-1).

Piedmont Athletic

• Southwestern Randolph has easily clinched the 2A portion of the conference.
• Uwharrie Charter has easily clinched the 1A portion of the conference.

Southern Piedmont

• Shelby clinched the top 2A seed out of the Southern Piedmont.
• Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy has easily clinched the 1A portion of the Southern Piedmont and the overall conference championship.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Highland Tech and Cherryville finished the season tied for third palce among the 1A teams with 3-9 records. They split the season series and had identical results against the rest of the conference. The tournament or RPI will break this tie.

Super Six

• NCSSM: Durham clinched the 2A portion out of the conference. The Unicorns finished in third place and with a record above .500 and will be one of the top seeds in the 2A East playoffs as a result.
• Wake Prep has clinched the 1A portion of the conference.

Waccamaw

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Whiteville and Trask finished the resgular season tied for the top 2A teams in the Waccamaw with 7-5 records. They split the season series. The conference tournament will have to break this tie as they have identical results outside of the games against one another. If the conference tournament can’t solve who gets the top playoff seed, it will be done by RPI.
• East Bladen has clinched the 1A side of the conference with a two-game lead and a head-to-head tiebreaker over East Bladen with two games to play.

Western Highlands

• Madison has clinched the 2A half of the Western Highlands Conference. However, Madison will not be seeded with the other 2A West conference champions as it has not met the thresholds that are required of a split conference team (finish top three in the final standings or above .500).
• Mountain Heritage has clinched the 1A half of the Western Highlands Conference.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Mitchell and Avery County finished the regular season tied for second place among the 1A teams at 11-3. They split the season series and have identical results against the rest of the conference. The conference tournament will have to break this tie. If not, it will go to RPI.

Yadkin Valley

• Mount Pleasant already clinched the 2A portion of the Yadkin Valley thanks to its 3.5 game lead with one game to play.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Albemarle and Union Academy won a co-conference championship after finishing the regular season tied at 9-1. The conference tournament will decide which team will receive the top playoff seedin the 1A West out of this conference.

1A Conferences

Atlantic

• Bear Grass Charter won the conference and clinched the top 1A East playoff seed out of the Atlantic. Cape Hatteras (6-2) has to fend off Columbia (4-3) for the automatic second place bid.

Carolina

• North Duplin won the Carolina 1A outright and clinched the top playoff seed out of the conference. Neuse Charter will be the second place automatic bid.

Central Tar Heel

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Triangle Math & Science tied for a co-conference championship with Chatham Charter at 10-2. They split their head-to-head matchups and also split with third place Clover Garden School. A conference tournament could solve this tie, if one advances further than the either. If not, RPI will have to break the tie.

Metro 8

• Queen’s Grant already clinched the top playoff spot out of the conference. Jackson Day has secured the second place automatic bid as well.

Northwest

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Starmount and South Stokes won a co-conference championship with 9-3 final records. They split their head-to-head matchups and both split against third place Mount Airy. The teams’ performances in the conference tournament will have to sort this out, otherwise the top playoff seed out of the Northwest will be decided by RPI.

Northwest Piedmont

• Bishop McGuinness has clinched the conference championship and top playoff seed out of the Northwest Piedmont. Carver has secured the automatic second place bid.

Big Smoky Mountain

• Cherokee has clinched the conference with a three-game lead and two games to play. Andrews secured the second place automatic bid.
• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Hayesville and Robbinsville finished the season tied for third place at 5-5 after splitting the season series. A conference tournament could solve this. Otherwise, Hayesville will get the edge for third place because it outplayed Robbinsville against second place Andrews (2-0 vs. 0-2).

Little Smoky Mountain

• TIEBREAKER TO SOLVE – Highlands and Hiwassee Dam tied for first place in the Little Smoky at 3-1 each. A third game would solve this, otherwise it will be done by RPI, which Hiwassee Dam has a considerable lead in.

Tar-Roanoke

• Wilson Prep (14-0) has clinched the Tar-Roanoke conference championship and top playoff seed. North Edgecombe secured the second place automatic bid and Warren County secured a third place automatic bid as there are nine teams in the conference.

Triangle North

• Roxboro Community has clinched the top playoff seed out of the Triangle North 1A. Vance Charter has secured the automatic second palce bid as well.