As a University of Kansas graduate, brackets hold a special place in my heart. Picking the Jayhawks to win the NCAA Tournament has ruined my bracket more times than it has helped, but every March, there I am, penciling in KU all the way to the Final Four.

But the basketball tournament is four months away and the state playoffs start this week, so I’ve filled out brackets for the 4A, 3A and 2A playoffs.

I want your opinion, too. You pick the winners in each round of any or all of the 4A, 3A and 2A playoff games. Submit your picks in the comments section here or e-mail them to me at doug.pacey(AT)thenewstribune.com. Those who total the most points in each classification will be invited to participate in our weekly guest picker posts next fall.

Let’s get to it.

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The preliminary round of the playoffs are in the books. We learned quite a bit: The South Puget Sound League 4A is up, WesCo is down and KingCo still reigns in Western Washington.

The SPSL 4A rebounded from last year's miserable 1-6 record in the preliminary round, going 5-3 this weekend. Division champions Auburn and Curtis advanced, Kentwood squeaked past Edmonds-Woodway in overtime and Rogers absolutely looked like a team capable of making a deep playoff run in its 55-14 win over Lake Stevens. But the league's biggest win was Federal Way's 24-19 victory at Gig Harbor.

Olympia and Central Kitsap carried the torch for the Narrows League, with the Tides and South Kitsap both losing.

Four of the six teams from Kingco 4A won, and all three 3A teams did, too.

I know I'm looking ahead, but check out the third quarter bracket in 4A: Woodinville (9-1), Auburn (10-0), Federal Way (8-2) and Skyline (10-0). Wow. Whatever team advances out of that to the semifinals will likely have to travel to Eastern Washington to face Ferris (9-1), Central Valley (9-1) or Southridge (10-0) for a spot in the title game.

In 3A, the three teams -- Bellevue, Ferndale and Lakes -- that have been ranked 1-2-3 since early in the season showed they are worthy of their rating. The Wolverines easily beat Sedro-Woolley, Ferndale rolled up 629 yards of offense against Bonney Lake and Lakes blew out Olympic.

The Lancers were the only SPSL 3A team to win, as No. 2 seed Peninsula was stunned 33-9 by Kingco No. 3 Mount Si. Lakes will host O'Dea next week in a game pitting two traditional powers.

The top-half of the 3A bracket is loaded. No team has a potentially more difficult road to the finals than Ferndale. If the No. 2 Golden Eagles can get past No. 9 West Seattle in the first round, they might have to travel to No. 4 Union in the quarters, then No. 3 Lakes in the semifinals and No. 1 Bellevue in the finals

The fourth-ranked Steilacoom Sentinels didn't get any favors in their first-round matchup in the Class 2A playoffs. Steilacoom will host ninth-ranked Burlington-Edison. The Tigers reached the state semifinals last season and their only loss this season came to No. 3 Lynden.

Top-ranked and defending 2A champion Prosser has homefield advantage through the semifinals and might not play a non-CWAC team until the semifinals.

Here are the state playoff brackets. We'll update the game times, dates and locations as we get them.

Class 4A

Class 3A

Class 2A

Class 1A

Class 2B

Class 1B