With three weeks left in the regular season, here are Class 7A standings for boys basketball with commentary on where things might be headed in each region.
Region 1: Camden County finished in last place a year ago but stands in first midway into the region schedule. The Wildcats must face its top two contenders, Valdosta and Lowndes, on the road down the stretch. The Valdosta game is Friday. Camden doesn’t have much basketball tradition. It has won two region titles in its history, in 2016 and 2020. Lowndes is the defending champion. Both MaxPreps and the Maxwell Ratings view Lowndes as the strongest team. MaxPreps has Lowndes No. 23 in 7A while Maxwell has the Vikings at No. 28. Neither computer ranking views this as a region to make hay in the state playoffs. And Colquitt County is having an especially rough go. The Packers lost to Lowndes 58-18 on Tuesday.
Region 2: Pebblebrook, ranked No. 5 in the classification, plays at second-place Carrollton on Friday. Four of Pebblebrook’s six losses have come against out-of-state teams. Pebblebrook beat North Carolina’s No. 4 overall team, Cannon, in triple overtime on Saturday. Pebblebrook has made the state semifinals the past two seasons and is the favorite here. Carrollton made the Class 6A quarterfinals last season and is ranked No. 12 in the class by both MaxPreps and Maxwell.
Region 3: McEachern is ranked No. 4 with a good chance to run the table in this region. The Indians beat the No. 3 team in Class A Division I, King’s Ridge Christian, 96-64 on Tuesday. McEachern has lost only twice to Georgia teams, once in Class 7A, to Pebblebrook by one point, and will play Florida’s No. 11 overall team, Oak Ridge of Orlando, on Saturday. The Maxwell Ratings have Hillgrove as the region’s second-best team and ranks the Hawks No. 18 overall in the class. McEachern won in Hillgrove’s gym 68-57 last week.
Region 4: This is Class 7A’s toughest league with No. 3 Grayson, No. 6 Newton and No. 7 Archer (AJC rankings). South Gwinnett is ranked No. 11 by both MaxPreps and Maxwell. In fact, MaxPreps has Grayson and Newton - both nicknamed the Rams - at No. 1 and No. 2. The next big region game is Grayson at South Gwinnett on Friday. Grayson plays at Newton on Tuesday. Grayson has lost only once in state, to Pebblebrook, and blew out Archer 71-44 last week. Newton has lost twice in state, to Norcross and McEachern. Newton made the semifinals last season. Grayson made the quarterfinals and was the state runner-up in 2020.
Region 5: Wheeler is ranked No. 1 while playing mostly an out-of-state schedule. The Wildcats are 5-0 in Georgia, 5-6 otherwise. They beat North Cobb only 58-54 on the road last week. North Cobb is pretty good, ranked No. 14 by Maxwell, but it showed Wheeler is not invincible despite a roster of three of the state’s top 12 senior recruits. Wheeler plays at No. 10 Cherokee on Tuesday. Cherokee has lost by two to Buford and by one to Etowah. History certainly favors Wheeler, an eight-time GHSA champion. Cherokee hasn’t advanced past the second round of the state playoffs in 40 years.
Region 6: Milton is a perennial power and four-time reigning region champion that’s ranked No. 8, but it’s Denmark in the lead. The Danes are a 4-year-old school that made the state semifinals in 2020, though that was in Class 4A. But it wasn’t Denmark that tagged Milton with its only region loss. That would be another Forsyth County school, Lambert, which beat the Eagles 71-69 on Jan. 6. Things could sort out this month as Denmark plays at Lambert on Friday, and Milton plays Denmark on Wednesday and Lambert on Friday, Jan. 27. The computer rankings favor Milton, a three-time former state champion that last won in 2021. Milton is ranked fifth by MaxPreps and eighth by Maxwell. Lambert is 16th and 22nd while Denmark is 21st and 25th in those computer polls.
Region 7: Norcross is the defending champion, and the Blue Devils’ two losses are against North Carolina teams just after Christmas. Norcross is the Maxwell Ratings’ No. 1 team in Class 7A but ranked No. 2 by the AJC and No. 6 by MaxPreps. They have a big non-region game Saturday against No. 5 Pebblebrook. Norcross beat its closest region rival, Peachtree Ridge, 86-51 on Jan. 6. Arch-rival Berkmar, the 7A runner-up the past two seasons, is having a down year but should make the playoffs again.
Region 8: Buford was the Class 6A runner-up last season. This is the Wolves’ first campaign in the highest classification, and they are the region favorites and ranked No. 9 by the AJC. But Collins Hill, playing at home, beat Buford 55-51 on Tuesday night. Collins Hill lost to Mountain View last weekend.
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