The Towns County boys and the Calhoun County girls emerged as first-time state champions last season, but just one of those teams will be around Tuesday and Wednesday when the first round of the state basketball playoffs begin.
Towns County’s boys enter the tournament as the No. 9-ranked team in Class A Public; the Calhoun County girls failed to advance to the state tournament.
Here’s a breakdown of the first round:
Top-left quadrant
Boys: No. 5 Manchester and No. 9 Towns County open tournament play in this quadrant. Manchester will face the Region 7 No. 4 seed Georgia Military, and Towns County will play the Region 6 No. 3 seed Bowdon.
Girls: No. 7 Claxton, No. 4 Schley County and No. 8 Clinch County will enter tournament play in this quadrant. Claxton will play host to Region 1 No. 3 Pelham in the opening round, and Schley County will play Region 7 No. 4 seed Warren County. If Pelham and Schley win their first round games, they will play in the second round.
Bottom-left quadrant
Boys: No. 6 Warren County, No. 8 Turner County and No. 3 Dublin will try to survive this quadrant. Warren County will play the Region 5 No. 4 seed Taylor County. Turner County, the Region 2 No. 4 seed, will face off against Dublin in a first-round meeting between ranked teams.
Girls: No. 2 Montgomery County and No. 10 Bryan County begin title treks in this quadrant. Montgomery County will play host to Region 2 No. 4 seed Brooks County. Bryan County will travel to Region 1 No. 2 seed Terrell County in the first round.
Top-right quadrant
Boys: No. 1 Drew Charter, No. 7 Lanier County and No. 10 Chattahoochee County begin tournament play in this quadrant. Lanier County will face Dooly County in the first round. Top-ranked Drew Charter will play host to Region 8 No. 4 seed Washington-Wilkes. If Drew and Lanier win their first-round games, they will play each other in the second round. Chattahoochee County will host Region 7 No. 3 seed Wilkinson County to open the tournament.
Girls: No. 6 Mt. Zion-Carroll, No. 9 Dublin, No. 5 Taylor County and No. 3 Screven County each will begin their tournament in this quadrant. Screven will play host to Region 1 No. 4 Randolph-Clay, and Taylor County will play Region 7 No. 3 Wilkinson County. If both programs win, they will meet in the second round. Mt. Zion-Carroll begins tournament at home against Region 8 No. 4 Towns County. Dublin will play host to Region 2 No. 3 seed Turner County.
Bottom-right quadrant
Boys: No. 2 Calhoun County and No. 4 Social Circle will begin their tournament here. Calhoun County will be at home against Region 3 No. 4 seed Metter. Unbeaten Social Circle (27-0) will play Atlanta Classical in the first round.
Girls: Top-ranked Lake Oconee Academy is the only ranked program in this quadrant and will face Region 6 No. 4 Gordon Lee in the first round. Seminole County is the other No. 1 seed in the quadrant (Region 1) and will face Region 3 No. 4 Jenkins County.
(For more information you can follow the links to the past boys and girls champions, the boys and girls brackets or the Basketball Scoreboard powered by Score Atlanta.)
