Forward Ivan Harris and the Erie BayHawks have earned a spot in the D-League playoffs, but who will they play in the first-round? With a 2-0 record against Erie, Colorado may chose to play the BayHawks.

The D-League playoffs is no longer a lump of clay.

It has finally taken shape, sort of. We won’t know the pairings until Sunday evening, but this is what we do know.

1. The divisional winners: Colorado (Southwest), Utah (West), Iowa (Central).

2. Austin is the fourth seed and will host a first-round playoff game.

3. Defending D-League champion Idaho, Dakota, Erie and Bakersfield are the remaining wild-card teams available for the divisional winners to pick to play in the first round.

4. Colorado and Austin are on one side of the bracket while Utah and Iowa are on the other side.

The question is which divisional winner will pick Erie or will all three pass on the BayHawks, thus forcing Austin to play them?

Hmmmm.

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Whoever faces Erie in the playoffs better have an serious plan for how to defend Maureece Rice. He's averaging 26.2 points in his last 10 games and has scored a combined 73 points in his last two games.

The D-League playoff format is going to make things very interesting.

For those who don’t know, the three divisional winners will have home-court advantage for their first round games.

The twist to all this is they also get to pick their first-round opponent out of the four lowest wild-card teams. The divisional champion with the best record will pick first, followed by the champions with the second and third best records, respectively.

Now Erie (26-23) is among those final four wild-card teams along with Dakota (27-23) and Bakersfield (26-24). The fourth team will be determined after Saturday’s games.

So which divisional winner will pick Erie?

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Maureece Rice and the Erie BayHawks play the first of back-to-back road games tonight at Utah .

Erie BayHawks (23-19) at Utah Flash (23-15)

Today, 9 p.m., McKay Center, Orem, Utah

▀ On the air: WFNN-AM/1330, www.nba.com/dleague (live streaming)

▀ Fast facts: Erie — The BayHawks ended a two-game losing skid with 114-106 home win against Austin on Wednesday night. Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Darnell Jackson scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in his second stint with the BayHawks, but was called back up to the Cavaliers on Thursday … Since the all-star break, Erie combo guard Maureece Rice has been averaging 24.8 points on 53.2 percent shooting from the field … Erie is seventh in the overall D-League standings as eight teams make the playoffs … The BayHawks have won 12 of their last 15 games. Utah — The Flash are 0-1 against the BayHawks, losing 101-89 in Erie last month … Utah is in the midst of an eight-game home stand. The Flash are 3-2 so far during this home stand … The Charlotte Hornets signed Utah star forward Dontrell Jefferson to a 10-day NBA contract on March 11 … The Utah Jazz assigned guard Morris Almond and center Kyrylo Fesenko to the Flash on March 7. In their five games with the Flash, Almond has averaged 24.2 points while the 7-foot Fesenko has averaged 11 points and 6.2 rebounds. Neither player has played against Erie this season.

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