Two rounds are done in the state basketball tournament, and now it’s about to get interesting in Class AAAAAAA.
Rounds one and two have been predicable. This blog correctly forecast seven of the eight quarterfinalists in both the boys and girls brackets. That’s a testament to predictability, not the predictor.
The boys’ elite eight is a quartet of blockbusters and looks like this:
No. 1 McEachern at No. 2 Norcross
No. 9 Wheeler at No. 3 Newton
Campbell at No. 6 Meadowcreek
No. 8 Grayson at No. 4 Pebblebrook
No. 8 Grayson ‘’upset’’ No. 5 Peachtree Ridge 75-66 on Thursday night as Travis Anderson scored 27 points (Peachtree Ridge’s Devin Vassell scored 32).
Campbell got through as an unranked team and a No. 4 seed, but that was predicted. The Spartans beat defending champion Tift County in the first round. Tift was good this season, but unranked and vulnerable. Campbell then defeated unranked Woodstock in round two. Kiya Randolph scored 27 points and had six steals in the Woodstock game.
And though the favorites won, there were some outstanding second-round boys games. The best was Wheeler’s 60-57 victory over Etowah in double overtime. Five-star recruit E.J. Montgomery, a 6-foot-10 power forward, scored 21 points and made a put back to give Wheeler the lead for good in the final minute of the final OT. Etowah’s Jackson Etter scored 33 points. Etowah’s Nick Nagy hit a 3-pointer just a split-second late on the final play of regulation. Wheeler had trailed by eight in the fourth quarter.
Another good one was Newton’s 85-81 win over Mountain Vivew. Newton trailed by eight in the first half but took the lead for good in the fourth quarter. Mountain View hit 12 3-pointers in the rematch. But Newton made eight. Mountain View’s Nahiem Allenye scored 23 points. Newton’s Ashton Hagans scored 28 points and had 11 assists. Dre Butler scored 23.
Here are the revised predictions:
Quarterfinals
McEachern d. Norcross
Newton d. Wheeler
Meadowcreek d Campbell
Pebblebrook d. Peachtree Ridge Grayson
Semifinals
McEachern d. Newton
Pebblebrook d. Meadowcreek
Final
McEachern d. Pebblebrook
The girls’ draw didn’t have the same suspense as the average margin of victory in the eight games was 20.1 points. The girls’ story is about the future and some great story lines in the quarters. Here are those matchups:
No. 6 McEachern at No. 3 Norcross
No. 4 Cherokee at No. 7 Newton
No. 10 Hillgrove at No. 5 North Forsyth
No. 1 Westlake at No. 2 Collins Hill
McEachern-Norcross is a rematch of the 2017 state final. In fact, these two programs have won every state title in the highest class this decade. That’s three for Norcross, five for McEachern, including each of the last four.
Cherokee can make the semifinals for the first time since 1987. Newton isin the quarters for the first time since 1973 and can make its first semifinal since a 1963 Class AA runner-up finish.
North Forsyth is after its first-ever semifinal. Hillgrove hasn’t been to the semis since a 2012 state runner-up team.
And then there’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 – Westlake at Collins Hill. Westlake has never won a state title, though is always knocking on the door. Collins Hill hasn’t won one since 2007, when Maya Moore was on campus.
Here are the update girls predictions:
Quarterfinals
Norcross d. McEachern
Cherokee d. Newton
North Forsyth d. Lowndes Hillgrove
Collins Hill d. Westlake
Semifinals
Norcross d. Cherokee
Collins Hill d. North Forsyth
Final
Collins Hill d. Norcross
