Announcement
Playoff Information
Who makes the playoffs?
In Texas public high school basketball, the top four varsity teams in each 6A district advance to the playoffs. This is also true for 5A and 4A. For the years when the number of teams allowed to advance to the playoffs in 6A changed, see below.
Who plays whom in the first round of playoffs?
Within each region in the first round of 6A play (bi-district), adjacent districts play each other. For example, District 23-6A teams play District 24-6A teams.The first place team plays the fourth place team. The second and third place teams in a district are paired with the third and second place teams in the adjacent district. For example, District 24 second place finisher plays District 23 third place finisher. For every round of the playoffs, only the winners advance to the next round.
What is the order of playoff games and where are they played?
Within each region the order of each round of the playoffs is as follows: bi-district (32 teams), area (16 teams), regional quarterfinals (8 teams), regional semifinals (4 teams), and regional finals (2 teams). It is a misnomer to call these "state playoffs". They are regional playoffs held within each of the four regions. For boys the playoffs occur during the last week in February and the first week in March (Girls schedule is one week ahead of boys).
The first three playoffs: bi-district, area, and regional quarterfinals, are played at a time and a neutral site determined by both head coaches for the teams involved. For 6A Boys basketball the regional semifinals and finals are held at the Berry Center in Cypress, Texas. (see the Directions to schools page for directions on how to get to the Berry Center or any school where Clear Lake might play in a playoff game).
Explain classification and conference
In Texas there are six classifications (properly, but not commonly referred to as Conferences) for public high schools based on enrollment, Class A (smallest) through 6A (largest) (6A started in 2014-15).There are four geographic Regions in the state. Each region is divided into eight districts (some exceptions exist for Class A). The regional boundaries vary for each classification so a 6A region would be different from a 5A region due to the location of the schools. In fact, the regions often vary by sport also.
In 6A football there are "division" designations where school are divided into 2 divisions in the playoffs but this has not yet been applied to 6A basketball.
Who goes to the state tournament and where and when is it?
For each of the four regions in each classification (conference), until 2015 the winner advanced to Austin for the state tournament* which was played on The University of Texas campus at the Frank Erwin Center (aka The Drum). Starting in 2015 the games were moved to San Antonio to the Alamodome. The Boys state tournament is held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the second weekend in March. 6A semifinals begin on Friday afternoon at 3pm. Make your hotel reservations early.
What does the regional playoff bracket look like for our region?
The following is the link to the playoff bracket for 6A Regions 1 and 3. This shows which districts will vie against each other based on final position in their district. Final district position is designated by: W=winner, R=runnerup, T=third, and F=fourth on the bracket. The right side of the bracket is Region III. Venue for the regional playoffs might vary from year to year.
http://www.uiltexas.org/basketball/playoff-brackets/boys/6A/1-3
*For playoff purposes the UIL uses a large division and a small division within Class A for basketball. The large schools use two divisions for football playoffs.
prior to 1989 - only district winner advanced to playoffs
1989 - top two teams in district advance to playoffs
1993 - third team in district added to playoffs
2007 - top four teams in district advance to playoffs
2014-15 - UIL went to 6 conferences
