The 98th Georgia high school state basketball tournament begins Friday and Saturday with 224 first-round games on the home courts of the higher-seeded teams.
Here’s a primer on the tournament, which runs through March 6-9.
When: The first round will be played Friday and Saturday. Girls games are typically Friday, and boys games Saturday, but the GHSA allows schools with two home games to schedule double-headers when they are practical. Best to check school Web sites or social media for game times.
Where: The first three rounds are played at the home gym of the higher-seeded teams. In the third round, when same-seeded teams can meet for the first time, a coin flip determines the home team. The semifinals (March 2) and finals (March 6-9) will be played at neutral sites.
Who: There are 240 boys teams and 240 girls teams in the state tournaments. Classes AA through AAAAAAA have 32-team draws. Class A has 24-team draws. There are only some 450 schools in the GHSA, so most Georgia high schools are represented. Just 25 years ago, only 64 boys teams and 64 girls teams made state in all classes. The GHSA doubled the sizes of the draws to 32 teams in 1999 and added a fifth classification in 2001. The have only expanded since.
Best boys teams: The No. 1-ranked boys teams are McEachern (Class AAAAAAA), Tri-Cities (AAAAAA), Buford (AAAAA), Upson-Lee (AAAA), Morgan County (AAA), Woodville-Tompkins (AA), St. Francis (A private) and Calhoun County (A public). McEachern is ranked in the top two of almost every national poll but seeking its first-ever state title. Tri-Cities or Woodville-Tompkins also have never won basketball state titles.
Best girls teams: The No. 1-ranked girls teams are Westlake (AAAAAAA), Lovejoy (AAAAAA), Buford (AAAAA), Carver-Columbus (AAAA), Beach (AAA), Fitzgerald (AA), Holy Innocents' (A private) and Marion County (A public). Westlake hasn't lost to a Georgia opponent since 2017. Carver, Fitzgerald and Marion County have never won state titles.
Here’s a closer look at some of the players, teams and stories that spice up the opening round.
Best boys players: Isaac Okoro, an Auburn signee, is the highest-rated senior prospect in the tournament, and point guard Sharife Cooper is a five-star among juniors. Both play for McEachern. Some other blue-chip prospects are Kyle Sturdivant and Brandon Boston, both of Norcross; Buford's Marcus Watson, Woodward Academy's Walker Kessler, Grayson's Deivon Smith and Southwest DeKalb's K.D. Johnson.
Best girls players: Six players in the tournament are ranked among the 100 best prospects in their graduation years, according to prospectsnation.com. They are No. 15 Jordan Isaacs of St. Francis, No. 28 Javyn Nicholson of Collins Hill and No. 92 Deasia Merrill of Villa Rica among seniors and No. 21 Anaya Boyd of Lovejoy, No. 28 Olivia Cochran of Hardaway and No. 56 Amirah Abdur-Rahim of St. Francis among juniors.
Best boys' first-round matchup: Gainesville travels to eighth-ranked Langston Hughes in a rematch of the 2018 Class AAAAAA title game won by Hughes. Games that match ranked teams are No. 5 East Coweta at No. 1 McEachern (AAAAAAA), No. 8 Chattahoochee at No. 4 Sprayberry (AAAAAA), No. 8 Hart County at No. 5 Pace Academy (AAA) and No. 8 Druid Hills at No. 4 Carver-Columbus and No. 9 Dougherty at No. 7 Henry County (AAAA).
Best girls' first-round matchup: Only one girls game has two ranked teams in it. That would be No. 10 Washington County at No. 8 Bryan County in Class AA. Pebblebrook's visit to No. 8 North Cobb in AAAAAAA should be a good one, too.
First-time girls: Seven girls teams are in the tournament for the first time. They are Cherokee Bluff, East Jackson, Elite Scholars Academy, King's Ridge Christian, Lake Oconee Academy, Stewart County and Tallulah Falls. Cherokee Bluff is a first-year school from Hall County that was only 3-9 in region play but avenged two lopsided losses to Lumpkin County in the Region 7-AAA tournament last week to qualify.
First-time boys: Six boys teams are in the tournament for the first time. They are Denmark, Discovery, Mount Bethel Christian, North Paulding, Pinecrest Academy and Trinity Christian. Two won their regions last week. Denmark, which opened last summer in Forsyth County and has no seniors on its roster, defeated Marist 57-45 in the Region 7-AAAA final. Discovery, a 3-year-old school from Gwinnett County, won Region 6-AAAAAAA. And Mount Bethel of Marietta, new to the GHSA, is a major contender in Class A after winning state titles in the Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association the previous two years.
More long waits ended: It's been at least 10 years since girls teams from Druid Hills (2001), Cedartown (2005), Jones County (2009) and Walker (2009) made the state tournament. It's been at least 10 years since boys teams from Forsyth Central (2001), Galloway (2004), Brantley County (2005), East Coweta (2005), Parkview (2008), Cedartown (2009) and Savannah Country Day (2009) made it. They're all in.
History-seeking boys: There are 25 boys teams in the tournament that have never won a tournament game, and 26 more that haven't advanced in 10 years. The most interesting is East Coweta, which hasn't advanced since 1964. The Indians were ranked No. 2 in Class AAAAAAA after a regular season in which they went 24-1 and finished first in a region with three other ranked teams. But the strong region came back to bite in the region tournament, and now East Coweta is 24-3 and must travel to No. 1-ranked McEachern on Friday in the first round.
History-seeking girls: There are 23 girls teams in the tournament that have never won a tournament game, and 25 more that haven't advanced in 10 years. The most interesting are Therrell (last won in 1981) and Chattooga (1988). The two meet on Friday night in Summerville.
Noticeably absent: Only one boys team that entered last week's region tournaments with a top-10 ranking failed to get through. That was Paulding County, which finished 21-5 after losing in the Region 7-AAAAA quarterfinals to Villa Rica, which qualified with a 13-14 record. Monroe of Albany was ranked No. 9 and winning Region 2-AAAAA when the weight of 18 forfeits ended the Tornadoes' season. Every top-10 girls team entering region tournaments got through.
Old faithfuls: Dodge County's girls are in the state playoffs for the 28th straight year. Tift County's boys are in for the 26th straight time. Both are modern GHSA records. Westover's boys have gone each year since 2000. Norcross's boys, Laney's girls and Wesleyan's girls have appeared each season since 2001.
What's next: The second round is Feb. 20-21, again at the home gyms of the higher-seeded teams. The championship games will be March 6-9 in Macon.
