It turns out that Georgia is a basketball state. Women’s basketball, that is.
There are twice as many former Georgia high school players in the NCAA women’s tournament this year than in the men’s tournament, a search of rosters reveals. The count is 48 to 23.
One factor — Georgia Tech and Georgia didn’t make the men’s tournament, but made the women’s — doesn’t explain the large difference in numbers. Tech and Georgia have seven in-state players between them, but Mercer, the only state men’s team to qualify, has four. Subtracting those, Georgia women’s players who get a taste of March Madness outnumber the men 41 to 19.
There is a Georgia player on each of the No. 1 women’s seeds, from two Georgia schools — Andraya Carter (Tennessee) and Kristina Nelson (Notre Dame) of Buford and Brianna Banks (Connecticut) and Elem Ibiam (South Carolina) of Fayette County. Carter and Ibiam are starters.
The men’s tournament is not without its Georgia standouts. Former Greater Atlanta Christian star and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution state player of the year Malcolm Brogdon is the leading scorer for No. 1-seeded Virginia. Tekele Cotton from Whitefield Academy starts for No. 1-seed Wichita State.
But there are perhaps more on the women’s side.
Former Georgia players of the year Diamond DeShields of Norcross and Allisha Gray of Washington County start as freshmen for 12th-ranked North Carolina. Lexie Brown of North Gwinnett starts as a freshman at ninth-ranked Maryland. Tori Waldner of Milton starts at 14th-ranked Penn State.
“It shows what kind of talent we have in the state,’’ Buford girls coach Gene Durden said. “You can see that by the different avenues that kids are taking, going all across the nation and playing at top-level programs. I’d definitely think Georgia is ranked at the top in producing female talent.’’
GACA all-star games come to Savannah: Several of the leading contenders for basketball players of the year will be in Savannah on Saturday for the GACA North-South All-Star games.
Missouri-signee JaKeenan Gant of Effingham County, the consensus No. 1 men’s recruit in Georgia, will play for South’s senior boys team. Tookie Brown, the Morgan County point guard who scored 36 points in the Class AAA championship game against Buford, will play for the South’s junior team.
The junior girls game matches the state’s two mostly highly rated class of 2015 players — Asia Durr of St. Pius for the North and Te’a Cooper of McEachern for the South. Both led teams to state titles and are rated among the top five prospects nationally.
Kahlia Lawrence, who averaged 27 points per game in leading Kendrick to a AA title and undefeated season, will team with Georgia signee Mackenzie Engram of Hillgrove on the South senior girls team.
The games begin at 11 a.m. at Armstrong Atlantic’s Alumni Arena.
Alpharetta hires football coach: Alpharetta introduced Jacob Nichols as its head football coach this week. Nichols was offensive coordinator for the past two seasons and coached the offensive lines in 2010 and 2011. He also is Alpharetta's strength-and-conditioning coordinator. Nichols played on Parkview's 1997 state championship team.
Nichols will replace Jason Dukes, who took a head coaching job at Smiths Station in Alabama. Alpharetta won two region titles and was 34-21 in Dukes’ five seasons.
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