Only a week remains for Class 7A’s eight regions to determine their qualifiers and seeds for the state tournament. Regions 1, 6, 7 and 8 are having tournaments. The rest are seeding and qualifying based on the regular season.
Region 7 might have the most interesting region tournament. The top seeds are fifth-ranked Berkmar (19-5, 11-1) and 10th-ranked Norcross (19-6, 11-1).
Also intriguing is South Forsyth’s bid in Region 6. According to the Georgia Basketball Project, a region title would be the War Eagles’ first region title in 23 years. South Forsyth is ranked No. 7 and lost only once in region play during the regular season.
And Walton has won its first region title since 1989.
Below is a region-by-region look at how things are shaping up.
Region 1: The region tournaments starts Saturday with Colquitt County (8-8, 2-4) at Lowndes (6-7, 3-3). The winner plays No. 2 seed Camden County (6-11, 3-3) on Wednesday, and the winner of that plays No. 1 seed Tift County (12-5, 4-2) on Friday. Camden ended Tift’s seven-year reign in this region last season.
Region 2: Fourth-ranked McEachern (21-4, 7-1) and third-ranked Pebblebrook (22-3, 7-1) finished tied for first. Regardless of which wins a coin flip for the No. 1 seed at state, McEachern can claim its seventh straight region title. And that’s five in eight seasons for Pebblebrook. They’ve not always shared a region in that time.
Region 3: Walton (19-5, 7-3) won its first region title since 1989 last week with the Raiders’ 45-40 victory over Marietta (10-11, 6-3). There will be no region tournament, meaning seeding for the state tournament will be based on regular-season standings. The rest of the seeds go North Paulding (No. 2), Marietta (No. 3), North Cobb (No. 4).
Region 4: No. 2 Grayson (19-3, 6-0) clinched the region title with a 76-72 victory over eighth-ranked Parkview on Friday night. There will be no region tournament. That’s three straight region titles for the Rams, who until then weren’t much of a factor in boys basketball. The rest of the seeds remain unsettled.
Region 5: No. 1-ranked Milton (23-2, 10-0) is the region champion. There will be no tournament. Cherokee (ranked No. 6), Etowah and Roswell will fill out the final three seeds in that order. That’s three straight region titles for Milton.
Region 6: Seventh-ranked South Forsyth (21-3, 11-1) enters the region tournament as the No. 1 seed. South Forsyth last won a region title in 1998, when it was a Class 2A school. Gainesville (18-7, 9-3) is the biggest threat.
Region 7: Fifth-ranked Berkmar (19-5, 11-1) and 10th-ranked Norcross (19-6, 11-1) are the co-winners from the regular season. Norcross got the No. 1 seed for the region tournament. Berkmar won the title last season. Norcross last won a region title in 2018.
Region 8: Ninth-ranked North Gwinnett (17-7, 8-0) ran the table in the regular season. But the Bulldogs must win the region to claim the title. They won Region 6 last season.
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