GHSA basketball state tournament: Best first-round games, storylines to watch

The first round of the state basketball tournament is usually a buffet feast for top-10 teams, but four of them from the highest classification will be fighting to survive Wednesday night when No. 9 Walton plays at No. 4 Hillgrove and No. 6 Pebblebrook plays at No. 5 Cherokee.

All four teams have been top-10 regulars this season, but they play in Class 6A’s deepest regions — 5 and 6 — which were matched against each other in the first round this year. Their region champions are No. 1 Wheeler (5-6A) and No. 2 McEachern (6-6A).

Pebblebrook coach George Washington’s teams have won 14 straight first-round games, but he knows a road trip at Cherokee won’t be picnic. Both teams are 19-8 against two of the state’s toughest schedules.

“Oh lord, they’re good,” Washington said. “But typically, you want to play good teams in the first round. It gets you battle-tested. You just don’t want to be that team that loses in the first round. We’ve been drawing some tough first-round games, and our kids are used to these environments. Region play helps when you’ve been to Hillgrove and McEachern.”

The first round will have two other games between top 10 teams. They are No. 8 Southwest DeKalb at No. 6 Griffin in Class 4A boys and No. 8 Marietta at No. 9 Hillgrove in Class 6A girls.

Here is a closer look at state tournament, particularly the first round, which will be played Tuesday and Wednesday.

Format: It’s 508 teams playing in eight boys classes and eight girls classes, each with 32-team draws, requiring five rounds to complete. Games are played over three weeks on the home courts of higher-seeded teams until the finals, which are March 11-14 at the Macon Coliseum.

Boys teams to beat: The No. 1-ranked boys teams are Wheeler (6A), Gainesville (5A), St. Pius (4A), Sandy Creek (3A), KIPP Atlanta Collegiate (2A), Rabun County (A Division I), Chattahoochee County (A Division II) and Holy Innocents’ (3A-A Private). Wheeler, Sandy Creek and Holy Innocents’ are defending champions. St. Pius, KIPP, Rabun County and Chattahoochee County have never won state titles.

Girls teams to beat: The No. 1-ranked girls teams are North Forsyth (6A), Milton (5A), Marist (4A), Luella (3A), Josey (2A), Bremen (A Division I), Wilcox County (A Division II) and Hebron Christian (3A-A Private). Wilcox County is a defending champion. North Paulding, Milton, Luella and Bremen have never won state titles.

Other good games: Milton’s boys dropped out of the top 10 after finishing third in Region 5-5A, but they are formidable, as usual, with a 21-6 record. The Eagles will play at Decatur, the No. 5 team in Class 5A. Norcross’ girls are unranked but 20-8. They’ve won 17 straight first-round games. They play at No. 2 Newton on Tuesday.

First-timers: Five teams are in the state tournament for the first time. They are Elite Scholars Academy (boys), Coretta Scott King (girls), Mount Vernon (girls), Seckinger (girls) and Weber (girls). Seckinger, a 4-year-old Gwinnett County school in Class 5A, and Elite Scholars, a Clayton County charter school in Class A Division II, are playing at home and favored to win. King, an all-girls Atlanta city school, qualified by upsetting higher-seeded Lovett in the Region 5-2A quarterfinals. Mount Vernon and Weber, just getting their programs established, have only four wins combined but got automatic berths as there are only 29 girls teams in the girls Private division.

Drought breakers: Teams breaking droughts of 10 years or more are East Paulding’s boys (2002), Haralson County’s boys (2002), Ridgeland’s girls (2004), Atlanta International’s boys (2005) and Groves’ girls (2010). Only Ridgeland, the No. 9 seed in Class 3A, is favored to win, playing at home against Long County.