East Coweta and Camden County haven’t won state-playoff games in boys basketball in 45 years or more. They have good opportunities to break their droughts this weekend.
East Coweta, ranked much of the season, plays at Walton while Camden County, the Region 1 champion, is at home against Hillgrove. Both are scheduled Friday.
East Coweta hasn’t advanced since reaching the Class C semifinals in 1964 and is 0-7 in the state tournament since.
The Indians appeared ready to break the drought in 2019 when they went 24-1 in the regular season. But they lost twice in the Region 2 playoffs, making them the No. 4 seed, and were paired with eventual champion McEachern in the first round. McEachern, one of Georgia’s all-time great teams, won 89-54.
This year’s East Coweta team is 18-9. Walton is 16-12.
Camden County last won in 1975 against Bradwell Institute when Camden was a Class AA school. The Wildcats are 0-9 in the tournament since. They won Region 1 this season and sport a 21-5 record but are unranked. Hillgrove is 10-16.
Other boys teams that haven’t won a state playoff game in some time are Kennesaw Mountain (2005), Parkview (2007) and Central Gwinnett (2010).
Girls teams that haven’t won in the past 10 years are Etowah (2004), Lakeside (2005), Newnan (2006) and Peachtree Ridge (2008).
As typically is the case in the first round, the top teams are generally heavily favored as region champions play No. 4 seeds. The only AAAAAAA game between ranked teams will be No. 6 Campbell at No. 8 Woodstock (girls).
More than a quarter of the first round in the state basketball tournament will be played in Class AAAAAAA tonight as several schools in Forsyth and Gwinnett counties got permission to get them done before the holiday weekend.
Here are those games:
Boys
R8 #3 Newton at R6 #2 Collins Hill
R5 #4 West Forsyth at R7 #1 Berkmar
R5 #3 Lambert at R7 #2 Norcross
R7 #3 Parkview at R5 #2 South Forsyth
Girls
R8 #4 Newton at R6 #1 Collins Hill
R5 #3 South Forsyth at R7 #2 Brookwood
R7 #3 Parkview at R5 #2 Forsyth Central
R6 #3 Duluth at R8 #2 Archer
R5 #4 West Forsyth at R7 #1 Norcross
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