Archive for the ‘6ABlog’ Category

The Georgia High School Association published the 2013 football schedules this week.

Football schedules during odd years (ie, 2013) generally feature the same opponents as the previous season because they are generally played under two-year contracts, but there are several good exceptions.

Here are the 10 best ‘’new’’ games on the 2013 schedule:

1. Booker T. Washington (Fla.) at Norcross: Norcross returns 16 starters – including three blue-chip recruits – from a team that went 15-0 and won Class AAAAAA last season. That’s the kind of glitz that attracts national TV audiences, especially when matched against Florida’s reigning Class 4A champion. The game is set for Aug. 24. Each team has three prospects who are rated four stars by Rivals.com. They are DE Loenzo Carter (rated No. 1 at his position nationally), WR Myles Autry and LB Kevin Mouhon for Norcross and QB Treon Harris, DE Chad Thomas and DB Nigel Patten for BTW, which was 13-1 last season. Expect both to …

Continue reading 2013 football schedules: 10 best ‘new’ games »

Here is a class-by-class look at the boys quarterfinals.

For a rundown on the girls semifinals, go here.

AAAAAA – Tift County had to turn 400 fans away Saturday for its 100-81 victory over Westlake. Expect the same for the quarterfinals against North Cobb unless Tift is able to find a way to squeeze them in. Tift is ranked No. 1, North Cobb No. 2. Tift led by as many as 30 against Westlake, which is ranked eighth. … The other quarterfinal that is between ranked teams matches No. 6 Peachtree Ridge at No. 7 Wheeler. AJC.com’s David Purdum is slated to cover that one from The Lip in Marietta. … Unranked Brunswick is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1982. The Pirates will be at home against fifth-ranked Hillgrove, another second seed. Hillgrove made the quarters in 2010. Neither has made a state semifinal. … No. 3 Norcross plays Berkmar in the other quarter. The two Gwinnett County schools have won some six state titles since 2000, although it’s been a …

Continue reading Boys quarterfinal primer: No. 1 Tift vs. No. 2 North Cobb … Columbia-Marist III … GAC-Manchester rematch »

Here are the Maxwell Ratings’ computer-generated odds of winning the state championship for each of the 64 Class AAAAAA boys and girls playoff teams.

The odds are based on team strength, but also the difficulty of each team’s draw. For example, in the girls draw, second-ranked Parkview might play third-ranked Norcross in the second round. That hurts their chances, while helping the chances of No. 1-ranked North Gwinnett. Hillgrove’s boys, though seeded second from its own region, have a decidedly easier path than any other Top 10 team because of their light draw.

Here’s a definition of terms:

Rating = Strength of the team.

Draw = Strength of opponents this team might face. (Low number means a favorable draw.)

Wins=Number of times team would win out championship in 100 tries.

Odds = Chances of this team winning the title.

Here are the odds for other classifications:

AAAAAA

AAAAA

AAAA

AAA

AA

CLASS AAAAAA

BOYS

1. Tift County Rating: 97.04 Draw: 83.44 Wins: 29.29 Odds: …

Continue reading AAAAAA odds: Maxwell pegs Tift, North Gwinnett as favorites »

Here is the Class AAAAAA state basketball playoff draw.  It’s unofficial.

On Sunday afternoon, AJC.com will post first-round matchups in all classifications. This is a sneak preview in the highest classification. If you see errors, let us know.

The region Cinderellas on the boys side (let’s call them Cinderfellas) are Tri-Cities and Druid Hills, both finishing fifth or worse in the regular season, then winning their region tournaments. Both are in the top quarter of the draw.

The second quarter of the draw looks really tough.  No. 1-ranked Tift County could face Westlake in the second round.

In the girls side, check out the possibility of second-ranked Norcross at third-ranked Parkview in the second round.

Girls games are scheduled for Tuesday, boys for Wednesday, but they could go on the same night as double-headers if a school has both a boys and girls home game. Those schools include Norcross, North Cobb, Tift County, Alpharetta and Archer. Unless we missed …

Continue reading AAAAAA first-round state-playoff matchups »

Schedules for region tournaments in all classes will be posted Sunday on AJC.com.

Meanwhile, until seeds are set, here are the schedules for Class AAAAAA. Seeds won’t be determined officially until Sunday.

If you have questions or see possible errors, let me know. I’ll check back.

Region 1-AAAAAA
at Valdosta

BOYS

Monday

#6 vs. #7, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday

#2 bye

#3 vs. #6-#7 winner, 5:30 p.m.

#4 vs. #5, 8:30 p.m.

#1 Tift County – bye

Thursday

Semifinals, 5:30 p.m. (seeds 2-3-6-7)

Semifinals, 8:30 p.m. (seeds 1-4-5)

Friday

Third-place playoff, 5:30 p.m.

Championship, 8:30 p.m.

GIRLS

Monday

#6 vs. #7, 5 p.m.

Tuesday

#2 bye

#3 vs. #6-#7 winner, 4 p.m.

#4 vs. #5, 7 p.m.

#1 bye

Thursday

Semifinals, 4 p.m. (seeds 2-3-6-7)

Semifinals, 7 p.m. (seeds 1-4-5)

Friday

Third-place playoff, 4 p.m.

Championship, 7 p.m.

Region 2-AAAAAA
at Luella

BOYS

Wednesday

#1 bye

#4 vs. #5, 4:30 p.m.

#3 vs. #6 Druid Hills, 6 p.m.

#2 vs. #7 Alcovy, 7:30 p.m.

Friday

#2-#7 winner vs. #3-#6 winner, 5:30 p.m.

#1 …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Region tournament schedules »

Here’s my 10@10 for Tuesday. Just some random observations and information about basketball in the highest classification.

1. As reported this morning, Morrow has forfeited two games in what Creswell Foy calls an in-house, self-imposed decision. One of the forfeits was to Region 2 rival Newton. That eliminates Morrow (16-8) from getting the No. 1 seed for the region tournament. The Region 2 boys race is the best one going in Class AAAAAA. It probably will come down to the Rockdale County-Lovejoy game Saturday. That game originally was scheduled for December but was moved to accommodate Lovejoy’s run to the football state finals.

2. Region tournaments begin next week statewide.  In Class AAAAAA, they will be held at Valdosta (Region 1), Luella (2), East Coweta (3), Marietta (4), Roswell (5), Alpharetta (6), Mill Creek (7) and South Gwinnett (8).  AJC.com is planning to post schedules and scores in all 48 regions next week, so stay tuned. That’s 96 boys and girls region …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: 10@10 discusses Morrow forfeits, region tourneys, more »

Friday’s edition of 10@10 … Looks like it was closer to 10 at 11, but read on -

1. The computer Maxwell Ratings for girls were published late Thursday, and North Gwinnett is at the top of AAAAAA and all classes. Here’s the top 10 for the highest class. Maxwell views North Gwinnett as a full 22 points better than No. 10 Mill Creek and 14 better than No. 4 Alpharetta. In other words, there are only three teams that Maxwell feels has a decent chance of winning state – North, Norcross and Parkview.

1. North Gwinnett (20-1) SOS:  76.13 Rating:  100.92

2. Norcross (18-4) SOS:  78.92 Rating:  96.9

3. Parkview (22-0) SOS:  59.74 Rating:  93.44

4. Alpharetta (18-4) SOS:  72.18 Rating:  86.77

5. North Cobb (19-3) SOS:  65.02 Rating:  84.93

6. Duluth (15-7) SOS:  73.37 Rating:  83.46

7. Woodstock (16-5) SOS:  66.65 Rating:  81.15

8. Cherokee (20-1) SOS:  60.89 Rating:  80.28

9. North Forsyth (19-3) SOS:  61.25 Rating:  79.11

10. Mill Creek (14-11) SOS:  76.26 …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Girls ratings, big game for Langston Hughes, North Gwinnett-Norcross, and more »

Borrowing from my colleague Chip Towers on the UGA beat, here’s 10@10, Class AAAAAA basketball style –

1. The Maxwell Ratings, which were a regular feature during the football season, were published this morning with rankings of every boys team in the state. Girls rankings will be published later. Below is the Top 10 for AAAAAA. Click on Maxwell Ratings above to see all the rankings.

1. Tift County (15-4) SOS:  81.39 Rating:  94.84

2. North Cobb (17-3) SOS:  79.58 Rating:  90.81

3. Hillgrove (19-3) SOS:  75.8 Rating:  89.4

4. Norcross (13-6) SOS:  79.83 Rating:  87.41

5. Peachtree Ridge (13-6) SOS:  82.08 Rating:  87.41

6. Shiloh (14-5) SOS:  78.26 Rating:  86.07

7. North Gwinnett (16-5) SOS:  75.53 Rating:  85.69

8. Westlake (18-4) SOS:  72.91 Rating:  84.34

9. Archer (17-5) SOS:  77.49 Rating:  83.68

10. Morrow (15-5) SOS:  74.11 Rating:  82.43

2. Notice that Wheeler is ranked as low as No. 14 in the Maxwell Ratings. Most close observers would say this …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Quick hitters on Maxwell Ratings, Wheeler, P’Ridge, big games this week »

Region tournaments begin in a couple of weeks. They will determine the seeds for the state tournament. He’s a region-by-region look at the boys region races. We’ll look at the girls next week.

1 – Valdosta (16-4, 8-0) leads fourth-ranked and previous No. 1 Tift County (15-4, 5-1), and the two meet Feb. 2 and Feb. 9, both Saturdays. Coffee (13-3, 5-1) beat Tift 88-83 last week. Tift had won the first meeting 84-67 and is the region’s most talented team, so it was quite an upset. Brunswick (13-5, 3-4) and Lowndes (11-9, 2-4) are the best of the rest.

1. Tift County, 2. Valdosta, 3. Coffee, 4. Brunswick

2 – Luella (14-6, 6-2) has recent losses to Alcovy (6-13, 2-6) and Druid Hills (9-7, 3-5). It’s the one region tournament in which every team could win it. The most consistent team has been Morrow (15-4, 5-2). Rockdale County (11-9, 4-3) and Lovejoy (12-7, 4-4) and Newton (13-7, 4-4) are also there.

Prediction: 1. Morrow, 2. Luella, 3. Rockdale County, 4. Lovejoy

3 – …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Closer look at each boys region race »

Some of Georgia’s best boys teams will find out how they stack up nationally this week.

It started Monday, when Tift County put a scare into  St. Anthony of New Jersey, which won its 78th straight game with a 60-54 victory in Springfield, Mass. St. Anthony is ranked No. 7 nationally by USA Today.

Tift, which dropped to No. 4 from No. 1 in Georgia’s AAAAAA rankings this week after a region loss to Coffee, led St. Anthony 49-44 early in the fourth quarter, but St. Anthony took the lead for good on a 3-point shot with 1:20 left.

Point guard Tadric Johnson scored 13 points and had nine assists. He made only two turnovers, but they came in the final minutes. Donell Tuff scored 17 points, and Brannen Greene, the Kansas signee, had 14 for Tift.

Here are a couple of articles on the game –

http://www.msgvarsity.com/new-jersey/too-close-for-comfort-st-anthony-escapes-1.1352811

http://www.masslive.com/hoophallclassic/index.ssf/2013/01/brannen_greenes_sharp_shooting.html

As we …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Tift County just misses upset vs. New Jersey power on 78-game win steak »

Six of the Top 10 boys teams in AAAAAA lost to unranked teams last week.

This week, it’s happened only once, but it’s early.

On Tuesday, Alcovy (6-11) beat first-place Luella (13-5) in a Region 2 game 60-51. But Luella wasn’t ranked, so that one count. Just thought you’d want to know.

The real one was Lassiter’s 67-51 win over No. 9 Roswell. Lassiter is 4-13. Roswell is 11-6. is Lassiter (4-13).

‘’Inexplicable the egg we laid on Tuesday night,’’ Roswell coach Ty Phillips said in an e-mail on Thursday. “Lassiter has some key pieces back and is much better than their record, so they get tons of credit for playing harder than us. At least now the distraction of being ranked won’t be a problem.’’

Maybe the rankings could be a little better, but it sure seems like there’s some nice parity this season. No mega teams that we’ve seen from Milton, Wheeler or Norcross this year.

A few more observations in Class AAAAAA –

- North Gwinnett’s girls are …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Upsets common in boys rankings … Girls power at North Gwinnett, Parkview … Update on #1 Tift … North Cobb-Hillgrove »

No. 2 Norcross travels to No. 1 North Gwinnett tonight (Tuesday) in what’s probably the biggest game of the girls basketball season so far.

Both are undefeated in Georgia. North Gwinnett is 15-0 overall and ranked No. 3 nationally by MaxPreps and No. 13 by USA Today. Norcross is 14-2 and has been in and out of national rankings as well.

Both teams have two players ranked in the top 60 nationally as recruits by ESPN.  They are Diamond DeShields (signed with North Carolina) and Shayla Cooper (Georgetown) of Norcross and Lexie Brown (Maryland) and Peyton Whitted (Penn State) of North Gwinnett.

“Our girls are excited to play Norcross because we’ve had some great games against they, and our players have friends over on their team,’’ said Sellers, noting that DeShields and Brown, both top 15 national recruits, have been AAU teammates and friends for some time.

DeShields led Norcross to state championships in 2010 and 2011 and is one of six finalists for the Naismith Girls …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: No. 1 North Gwinnett, No. 2 Norcross play for lead in Region 7 »

Five observations on Class AAAAAA on a rainy Friday –

- Terrible Tuesday for Top 10: Four Top 10 boys teams have lost this week, all to unranked or lower-ranked teams. No. 3 Archer (12-3) lost to No. 7 Shiloh (11-2) in Region 8, which now has those teams essentially tied for first with one loss, Archer at 7-1, Shiloh at 6-1. No. 5 Morrow, featured in our Tuesday blog, lost to Luella 69-65. No. 6 Hillgrove, which started 11-1, lost to Kennesaw Mountain 70-67. No. 10 Westlake, heavily favored to win its region, lost to Douglas County 96-91.

http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia-high-school-sports/2013/01/08/aaaaaa-basketball-blog-morrow-is-ranked-no-5-without-a-player-with-a-scholarship-offer/

- Speaking of Westlake: Westlake’s boys and girls teams were ranked, and beaten, on Tuesday against Douglas County. Westlake’s girls, ranked No. 10, lost 54-51. Not a huge upset, really. Douglas County’s girls have won nine straight after an 0-2 start. But Douglas County’s boys are only …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Slew of upsets Tuesday … Key games tonight … Wheeler-Milton »

The most surprising thing about the Class AAAAAA boys rankings this week might be the presence of Morrow at No. 5.

The Mustangs were 12-14 in 2011-12, their sixth losing season in eight years, and their best player, 6-9 Dante Ottley, transferred.

What’s new is head coach Creswell Foy, who led Andrew Jackson of Jacksonville to four state quarterfinal appearances before new administration came in last and dismissed him and his staff. Georgia Tech’s Stacey Poole was one of Foy’s players at Jackson.

At Morrow, Foy doesn’t have a single player with a scholarship offer, which is hard to believe for a Top 10 team. But Morrow is 11-1. Its most impressive victory came against Westlake on the road last week.

‘’Beating Westlake was a big win for us,’’ Foy said. “It was a big stage for our kids that they’ve never been on before. We had to deal with the crowd, but we fought hard and hung in there and led the entire game.’’

What Foy does have is experience. There are …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Morrow is ranked No. 5 without a player with a scholarship offer »

The AJC’s first rankings since preseason will come out Sunday as teams get into the heart of their regions schedules.  Here’s a look at some contenders for top-five rankings, if not the No. 1 ranking, in Class AAAAAA.

Who else is playing like a Top 10 team? Let us know what we’re missing.

BOYS

- Archer is 11-2 and leads Region 8 with a 6-0 record, but a loss last week to Valdosta, 91-75, was a setback. Archer has big games on Friday at Dacula (9-3) and on Tuesday at home against Shiloh (10-1)

- North Cobb is 11-2 and went 2-1 at the Nike/Upward Classic in Spartburg, S.C., with wins over Rock Hill and Peachtree Ridge and a loss to eventual champion Dorman. Rock Hill is ranked No. 8 overall in South Carolina by MaxPreps. Dorman is No. 4.

- North Gwinnett is 10-2 and had holiday wins over North Florida Educational Institute of Florida and Vance of North Carolina, which were ranked in the top 20 overall in their states by MaxPreps.  North reached the final of the Upward …

Continue reading AAAAAA basketball blog: Who’s No. 1? We’ll find out soon »