Delco Madness: Sweet 16 Weekend arrives, schedules, ground rules set

The Sweet 16 weekend of Delco Madness is about to begin. By Monday, the mythical boys and girls tournaments to determine the best high school basketball teams in Delaware County history will be down to two Final Fours.

Here are some tournament ground rules:

• As in the NCAA Tournaments, all rounds are single elimination.

• Doubleheaders will be played at neutral sites. The No. 1 seed in each tournament shall be scheduled to play close to home.

• The current 3-point line will be in effect for all games, even if teams from the pre-3-point era are playing each other. That will give earlier teams the opportunity, at long last, to show that their players would have shot well from distance.

• Referees will be from New Jersey, eliminating the perceived risk of bias from regular officials from certain leagues.

• The higher-seeded team will be considered the home team.

• The boys tournament will open Friday, with results hitting delcotimes.com and papreplive.com late Friday night and in the Saturday Daily Times.

• The girls tournament will start Saturday, with results hitting delcotimes.com and papreplive.com late Saturday and the Sunday Daily Times.

• The Elite Eight games for both tournaments will unfold Sunday for publication in the Monday Daily Times.

Here is the mythical first-round Friday boys schedule:

• Noon, at Neumann University: No.10 Haverford School (2019) vs. No. 7 Chester (1983)

• 2:30, at Neumann University: No. 2 Darby-Colwyn (1963) vs. No. 15 Bonner (1983)

• 6 p.m., at Widener: No. 8 Carroll (2009) vs. No. 9 Chester (1967)

• 8:30 at Widener: No. 16 TCA (1992) vs. No. 1 Chester (2012)

• 4:30 p.m., at Finneran Pavilion: No. 6 Penn Wood (2009) vs. No. 11 Haverford (1958)

• 7 p.m., at Finneran Pavilion: No. 14 Darby Township (1967) vs. No. 3 Chester (2008)

• 5 p.m., at Cheyney University: No. 12 Darby-Colwyn (1972) vs. No. 5 Chester (2005)

• 7:30 p.m., at Cheyney University: No. 4 Chester (1989) vs. No. 13 Yeadon (1953

Here is the first-round Saturday girls schedule (also mythical):

• 11 a.m., at Swarthmore: No. 10 Collingdale (1979) vs. No. 7 Carroll (2012)

• 1:30 p.m., at Swarthmore: No. 2 O’Hara (1993) vs. No. 15 Notre Dame (1992)

• 5:30 p.m., at Jake Nevin Field House: No. 8 Penncrest (1978) vs. No. 9 O’Hara (1997)

• 8 p.m., at Jake Nevin Field House: No. 16 Garnet Valley (2019) vs. No. 1 Carroll (1979)

• 4 p.m., at Cabrini: No. 6 O’Hara (1969) vs. No. 11 Carroll (2019)

• 6:30, at Cabrini: No. 14 Prendergast (1985) vs. No. 3 Darby-Colwyn (1976)

• 4:30 p.m., at Haverford College: No. 12 O’Hara vs. No. 5 Nether Providence (1983)

• 7 p.m., at Haverford College: No. 4 Carroll (2009) vs. No. 13 Chester (1981)

The boys Elite Eight will meet Sunday at Hagan Arena at Saint Joseph’s University. The girls Elite Eight will play Sunday at the Palestra. Schedules will be printed in the Daily Times. Both Final Fours will be played at the Wells Fargo Center the following weekend.

Keep those bracket sheets handy.