The N.C. High School Athletic Association will release the official state playoff brackets on Sunday, a process that has been delayed due to the winter storm that hit North Carolina this week.

Initially, the NCHSAA was scheduled to release the brackets on Saturday. However, the NCHSAA delayed the release by one day to allow schools and conferences impacted by the storm an opportunity to complete conference tournaments and tie-breaker games on Saturday.

Seeding is expected to begin on Sunday afternoon, but the NCHSAA has not released a specific time. It will likely take several hours for the process to play out.

The Seeding Sunday Process

On Sunday, the NCHSAA will post the final conference standings and RPI rankings for schools to review. It is possible there could be some reporting errors, which could cause delays in beginning the seeding process.

The deadline for schools to report results is 11:59 PM on Saturday. However, if results have to be updated or changed on Sunday, the NCHSAA will have to wait for the RPI rankings to be updated before the seeding process can begin.

Once the standigns and rankings are set, the NCHSAA will begin the seeding the process.

The first version of the brackets will be preliminary. The NCHSAA releases the preliminary brackets to give schools an opportunity to check for any issues or errors. The NCHSAA will give schools a deadline to report errors or ask questions.

If any corrections are needed, the NCHSAA will issue updated versions of the preliminary brackets. After any corrections are made, the NCHSAA will declare the brackets final. These will be the official state playoff brackets.

Playoff Projections

Throughout the season, we’ve been updating our official HighSchoolOT playoff projections for boys and girls basketball. These projections are exclusive for HighSchoolOT Insiders.

We use the same formula the NCHSAA will use when they release the official brackets on Sunday.

Basketball Playoff Schedule

Here is the schedule for the NCHSAA basketball state playoffs. Check with your local school for official start times for each round.

• Feb. 25: First Round @ Higher Seed
• Feb. 28: Second Round @ Higher Seed
• Mar. 4: Third Round @ Higher Seed
• Mar. 7: Fourth Round @ Higher Seed
• Mar. 10-13: Regional Championships @ Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem
• Mar. 14-15: State Championships @ Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem

For the second straight season, the NCHSAA will hold all regional championship and state championship games at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. The “Final Four” style setup was introduced for the first time last year.

On Mar. 10-13, the NCHSAA will hold the regional championships. In each classification, all boys and girls regional championships, which are the state semifinals, will be played on the same day. That means there will be four games per day.

Teams who win regional championships on Mar. 10 or Mar. 11 will meet to play for state championships on Mar. 14. Teams that win semifinal games on Mar. 12 and Mar. 13 will play in state championship games on Mar. 15.

HSOT Playoff Coverage

HighSchoolOT will have full coverage of the boys & girls basketball state playoffs. Here are some helpful links to follow along: