The Alexander boys team and the River Ridge girls will put their championship reigns on the line when the Class 6A basketball state tournament begins Tuesday.
The defending champions will be among 32 boys teams and 32 girls teams that will compete in the five-round event. First-round play will continue Wednesday night, with the winners advancing to Round 2 on Friday and Saturday. The Class 6A champions will be crowned March 8 at the Macon Coliseum.
Here’s a look at the tournament.
*The favorites: The River Ridge girls and Alexander boys won their first titles last season and come into the state tournament ranked No. 1. River Ridge is 23-4, its only loss to a Georgia school coming against Class 3A No. 2 Wesleyan, 69-65 on Dec. 9. The Knights have won 15 consecutive games since a loss to St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) on Dec. 19. Alexander is 25-2 and rides a 12-game winning streak into the tournament. The Cougars’ losses came against Class 7A No. 2 McEachern and Class 4A No. 4 Holy Innocents’.
*Best first-round game (boys) – Riverwood at Lee County, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday: A week ago, this would have been a matchup of top-five teams. However, then-No. 4 Riverwood was upset twice in the Region 4 tournament last week and enter the state tournament as most likely the toughest No. 4 seed. Their first test will be a tough one, travelling to third-ranked Lee County, the regular-season and tournament champion in Region 1 and the Class 6A runner-up last season. Lee County (23-3) has won 10 consecutive games.
*Best first-round game (girls) – Sequoyah at Lassiter, 7 p.m. Tuesday: Both teams were ranked in the top 10 until losing in their region tournaments against teams they had beaten twice in the regular season. Lassiter was the No. 1 seed in the Region 7 tournament but lost to second-place Pope in the final to earn a No. 2 seed for the state playoffs. Sequoyah was the No. 2 in the Region 6 tournament but lost to Rome in the semifinals, salvaging the No. 3 seed at state by beating Etowah in the consolation game.
*Rallying down the stretch: The Morrow girls team was 14-1 and in second place in Region 3 after the first week of January, but the GHSA later ruled that the Mustangs had to forfeit five region victories because of an ineligible player, dropping Morrow to 9-6 and into last place in the eight-team league. The Mustangs managed to finish as the No. 6 seed for the region tournament, where they ousted No. 3 seed Jonesboro to grab a state tournament berth. Morrow will make its first appearance in the playoffs since 2017.
*Streak continues: Tift County’s boys extended the longest tournament streak in the modern era (since 1950) to 31 years by finishing in third place in the Region 1 tournament. The Blue Devils entered the six-team region tournament as the No. 5 seed and had to win a first-round game against a Thomas County Central team that had beaten them twice during the regular season. Tift County avenged the losses and, after a loss to Lee County in the semifinals, beat No. 3 seed Veterans in the consolation game. Tift last missed the state tournament in 1993.
*Hot at the right time: Fourteen teams (nine boys, five girls) seeded No. 5 or lower in their region tournaments worked their way into the top four to earn trips to the state tournament. Three were seeded No. 6 – the Brunswick boys, Blessed Trinity boys and Morrow girls. The other 11 were seeded No. 5 at region. They are the boys teams from Tift County, Evans, Rockdale County, North Atlanta, Douglas County, Allatoona and Lanier and the girls from South Effingham, Mundy’s Mill, South Paulding and Etowah.
*Who’s missing: Lassiter’s boys were ranked No. 10 two weeks ago and entered the Region 7 tournament as the No. 3 seed, but their season ended with a 50-39 loss to sixth-seeded Blessed Trinity in the quarterfinals. … The Lovejoy girls team’s season ended with a loss to Rockdale County in the Region 3 quarterfinals. Lovejoy had made seven consecutive trips to the quarterfinals or beyond, with two state titles (2018, 2022) and two runner-up finishes (2019 and 2023). … Forest Park’s girls failed to reach the tournament for the first time since 2018. The Panthers made nine trips to at least the semifinals from 2010 to 2022, with a state title in 2020.
*Looking ahead: If the higher-seeded teams win their first-round games, there will be six games in Round 2 matching teams ranked in the top 10. On the boys’ side, No. 1 Alexander would face No. 6 Etowah, No. 2 Shiloh would take on No. 7 Pope, and No. 8 Hughes would meet No. 10 Sprayberry. Top girls second-round games could include No. 1 River Ridge against No. 6 New Manchester, No. 4 Hughes against No. 10 Rome and No. 8 Veterans against No. 9 Brunswick.
*First-round state tournament matchups:
Girls
(R4 #3) Lakeside-DeKalb at (R1 #2) Veterans
(R3 #4) Mundy’s Mill at (R2 #1) Brunswick
(R7 #3) Sprayberry at (R6 #2) Rome
(R8 #4) Gainesville at (R5 #1) Hughes
(R1 #3) Thomas County Central at (R4 #2) St. Pius
(R2 #4) South Effingham at (R3 #1) Woodward Academy
(R6 #3) Sequoyah at (R7 #2) Lassiter
(R5 #4) Alexander at (R8 #1) North Forsyth
(R5 #3) South Paulding at (R8 #2) Habersham Central
(R6 #4) Etowah at (R7 #1) Pope
(R2 #3) Lakeside-Evans at (R3 #2) Rockdale County
(R1 #4) Houston County at (R4 #1) Marist
(R8 #3) Lanier at (R5 #2) New Manchester
(R7 #4) Blessed Trinity at (R6 #1) River Ridge
(R3 #3) Morrow at (R2 #2) Glynn Academy
(R4 #4) Riverwood at (R1 #1) Tift County
Boys
(R4 #3) North Atlanta at (R1 #2) Houston County
(R3 #4) Rockdale County at (R2 #1) Grovetown
(R7 #3) Alpharetta at (R6 #2) Etowah
(R8 #4) Gainesville at (R5 #1) Alexander
(R1 #3) Tift County at (R4 #2) Marist
(R2 #4) Brunswick at (R3 #1) Woodward Academy
(R6 #3) Sequoyah at (R7 #2) Pope
(R5 #4) Douglas County at (R8 #1) Shiloh
(R5 #3) Hughes at (R8 #2) Habersham Central
(R6 #4) Allatoona at (R7 #1) Sprayberry
(R2 #3) Glynn Academy at (R3 #2) Jonesboro
(R1 #4) Veterans at (R4 #1) St. Pius
(R8 #3) Lanier at (R5 #2) South Paulding
(R7 #4) Blessed Trinity at (R6 #1) Woodstock
(R3 #3) Mundy’s Mill at (R2 #2) Evans
(R4 #4) Riverwood at (R1 #1) Lee County
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