Region seeds decided as tournament talk begins in Class AAA

The eight region basketball tournaments in Class AAA are in the books, and the four seeds from each region are preparing for the state tournament. Before we look at first-round pairings, let's recap which boys and girls teams advanced to the playoffs and their seedings:

Region 1

Boys – No. 1 Cook, No. 2 Monroe, No. 3 Dougherty, No. 4 Crisp County

Girls -- No. 1 Monroe, No. 2 Cook, No. 3 Dougherty, No. 4 Worth County

Notable: On the boys side, top-seeded Cook closed its season with a 12-game winning streak to finish 18-9. The 14-12 Monroe girls team closed its regular season with two crucial victories against Worth County (73-42) and Cook (65-46) to earn the No. 1 seed.

Region 2

Boys – No. 1 Tattnall County, No. 2 Long County, No. 3 Liberty County, No. 4 Pierce County

Girls -- No. 1 Tattnall County, No. 2 Pierce County, No. 3 Long County, No. 4 Liberty County

Notable: Tattnall County has control of the region on both sides of the classification. The boys team, which compiled a 14-13 record this year, showed resilience after dropping a Feb. 2 game against Liberty County (79-71) by beating Liberty six days later, 72-59, and then winning an overtime thriller against Long County (79-74) to earn the No. 1 seed. The girls, who have have been dominant all season, lost only five games and earned the No. 1 seed with a 53-45 victory against Pierce County last weekend.

Region 3

Boys – No. 1 Johnson-Savannah, No. 2 Jenkins, No. 3 Islands, No. 4 Beach

Girls -- No. 1 Beach, No. 2 Johnson-Savannah, No. 3 Jenkins, No. 4 Islands

Notable: It has been 16 games since the No. 1-seeded Johnson-Savannah boys lost, to second-seeded Jenkins on Dec. 18 (88-52). Since then, the Atom Smashers beat the Warriors two more times – Jan. 23 (67-60) and in the region championship last weekend (72-59). On the girls side, the top-seeded and defending-champion Lady Bulldogs have lost two games this season and are a near shoe-in for the semifinals.

Region 4

Boys – No. 1 Central-Macon, No. 2 Westside-Macon, No. 3 Jackson, No. 4 Kendrick

Girls -- No. 1 Peach County, No. 2 Central-Macon, No. 3 Rutland, No. 4 Pike County

Notable: In a region loaded with talent, Central-Macon (20-5) came out on top in a closely contested 59-56 region championship game against Westside-Macon last weekend. For the girls, the 20-7 Peach County Lady Trojans took the No. 1 seed after closing the season with an eight-game winning streak. Peach earned the No. 1 seed after defeating Central-Macon 37-36 in the region championship game

Region 5

Boys – No. 1 Cedar Grove, No. 2 Pace Academy, No. 3 Towers, No. 4 Redan

Girls -- No. 1 Lovett, No. 2 Pace Academy, No. 3 Cedar Grove, No. 4 Stone Mountain

Notable: Cedar Grove knocked off defending champion Pace Academy, 45-44, in the region championship to earn the No. 1 seed. The Saints closed the season with 10 consecutive victories after a loss to Lovett (47-45) on Jan. 12. On the girls side, top-seeded Lovett went flawless through 14 region games and has not lost in 13 games. It defeated Pace Academy 44-20 in the region championship game.

Region 6

Boys – No. 1 Calhoun, No. 2 Bremen, No. 3 Sonoraville, No. 4 Ringgold

Girls -- No. 1 Haralson County, No. 2 Sonoraville, No. 3 Coahulla Creek, No. 4 Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe

Notable: After losing a game to the No. 3 seed Sonoraville Phoenix on Feb. 2 (76-73), top-seeded Calhoun won four in a row, including a rematch against the Phoenix last weekend (70-55) to earn the No. 1 seed. The Haralson County girls (25-2) closed the regular season with 13 victories, including a 65-55 decision against Sonoraville in the region championship game.

Region 7

Boys – No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian, No. 2 Dawson County, No. 3 East Hall, No. 4 North Hall

Girls -- No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian, No. 2 East Hall, No. 3 North Hall, No. 4 Dawson County

Notable: GAC has a hold on Region 7 on both sides of the class. The 23-3 boys team has not lost in 16 games and has outscored opponents 226-118 in the past three games, highlighted by an 80-17 blowout of Fannin County on Jan. 30. The 21-4 girls team is just as impressive, and despite losing to Class A-Private No. 2 St. Francis (24-4) on Feb. 3, the Lady Spartans defeated Dawson County (58-32) and East Hall (46-28) in the next two games to earn the top seed.

Region 8

Boys – No. 1 Morgan County, No. 2 Hart County, No. 3 Monroe Area, No. 4 East Jackson

Girls – No. 1 Franklin County, No. 2 Morgan County, No. 3 Hart County, No. 4 Monroe Area

Notable: The story-line on the boys side of the classification: Can Morgan County return to the state championship for the fifth season in a row? The Bulldogs are two-for-four and won state titles in 2013-14 (defeated Buford 69-45) and 2015-16 (defeated Jenkins 66-56). Entering the tournament, Morgan is lucky to be the No. 1 seed after going two overtimes against Hart County (71-68) in the region championship game. On the girls side, an equally interesting story-line is brewing -- the Lady Lions of Franklin County put together a flawless 27-0 season and went 11-0 through region play. Last year, however, Franklin fell to Ringgold (53-52) in the first round. This year, the Lady Lions should piece together a solid run in the tournament.

First Round Schedules

(BOYS)

Feb. 16-17

R6#3 Sonoraville at R5#2 Pace Academy

R8#4 East Jackson at R7#1 Greater Atlanta Christian

R2#3 Liberty County at R1#2 Monroe

R4#4 Kendrick at R3#1 Johnson-Savannah

R5#3 Towers at R6#2 Bremen

R7#4 North Hall at R8#1 Morgan County

R1#3 Dougherty at R2#2 Long County

R3#4 Beach at R4#1 Central-Macon

R8#3 Monroe Area at R7#2 Dawson County

R6#4 Ringgold at R5#1 Cedar Grove

R4#3 Jackson at R3#2 Jenkins

R2#4 Pierce County at R1#1 Cook

R7#3 East Hall at R8#2 Hart County

R5#4 Redan at R6#1 Calhoun

R3#3 Islands at R4#2 Westside-Macon

R1#4 Crisp County at R2#1 Tattnall County