The state playoffs’ opening round has been completed, and already three No. 1 seeds have gone down. On the girls’ side, Region 8′s No. 4 seed Union County defeated Columbia 54-49 — a win that I predicted earlier in the week. Also, No. 9-ranked Thomasville, Region 1′s top seed, lost 66-56 to No. 4 seed Lamar County. I did not predict that one.
I also didn’t predict Region 7′s No. 4-seed Coosa beating Region 5′s top seed, Callaway, 52-48 on the boys’ side. Callaway was ranked No. 9.
Before I go any further, I wanted to point out a mistake I made in my predictions. I did not mean to pick the Washington County girls to lose in the opening round to Early County. See, what had happened was...I had multiple tabs open while I was filling out my brackets and, you see, Early County’s boys and girls are Region 1′s No. 2 seed, meaning they show up in the same spot on both the boys’ and girls’ brackets. I had the Early County boys beating Dodge County, which they did, and I thought I had the boys’ bracket open when I advanced Early County to the second round. But I moved the Early County girls ahead, over Washington County, and never caught the oversight. Washington County sure did, however, as the Golden Hawks beat Early County 78-27.
I can only assume that my mistake fueled the Golden Hawks to a dominant victory.
Time for some observations and notes.
Boys
(For the updated boys bracket, go here)
- If not for Heard County’s 64-60 win over Dade County, Region 7 would have swept the first round over Region 5. Aside from Coosa’s win over Callaway, top seed Chattooga beat Bremen 74-72, and No. 2 seed Model beat Temple 68-44.
- Aside from Callaway, the only other game I got wrong is Woodville beating Putnam County. Woodville won 60-57 as the No. 2 seed.
- My picks to reach the championship, No. 1 Pace Academy and No. 2 Columbia, won their games, predictably by a large margin. The Knights beat Elbert County 88-37, and the Eagles beat Banks County 81-47.
- As expected, No. 4 Westside beat Jeff Davis (71-39), and No. 3 Butler beat Toombs County (57-42). That sets up a pair of top five matchups in Round 2, with Pace Academy hosting Butler and Columbia traveling to Westside. That means two teams from the top five will go down way too soon. Tough the way the bracket lines up sometimes, but you can’t hide in the playoffs.
Girls
(For the updated girls bracket, go here)
- Region 8 stands above the rest after Round 1 by completing a sweep of Region 6. Not only did Union County beat Columbia, but top seed Rabun County beat Lovett, No. 2 seed Elbert County beat South Atlanta, and No. 3 seed Banks County beat Pace Academy.
- Josey, the defending champions, beat Jeff Davis 72-20. They get Banks County next.
- The only predictions on the girls’ side were the instances in which No. 1 seeds fell — Thomasville and Coosa. Of all the missed predictions, regardless of gender, I only had Thomasville’s girls making it out of the second round.
- Round 2 matchups between ranked teams include a top five matchup in No. 5 Swainsboro at No. 3 Elbert County. No. 8 Dodge County plays at No. 7 Callaway.
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