YOUR GUIDE TO QUARTERFINALS IN BASKETBALL

The state basketball tournament has arrived at the quarterfinals, when region champions for the first time can meet each other. That’s where five No. 1-ranked teams find themselves today and Wednesday. One is Westside-Macon’s boys, who visit No. 2 Pace Academy, a reigning champ, in a Class AAA game that might be the best of show in any class. Here are more facts and figures from the quarters:

Favored still: The tournament’s 16 No. 1-ranked teams are 28-0 thus far. In fact, topranked boys teams haven’t lost since Jan. 3 and are 124-1 against Georgia opponents since Christmas. Those No. 1’s include McEachern (Class AAAAAAA), South Paulding (AAAAAA), Buford (AAAAA), Upson-Lee (AAAA), Westside-Macon (AAA), South Atlanta (AA), Greenforest Christian (A private) and Calhoun County (A public). The No. 1 girls teams are Norcross (AAAAAAA), Northview (AAAAAA), Griffin (AAAAA), Cross Creek (AAAA), Johnson-Savannah (AAA), Laney (AA), St. Francis (A private) and Pelham (A public).

Not neutral: While playoff games through the quarterfinals are played on the courts of the higher-seeded teams, the quarters mark the first round in which teams might face the same seed. In those cases, a coin toss decides the venue. As a result, No. 1-ranked AA South Atlanta’s boys are going to unranked Washington County. No. 1-ranked girls teams Norcross, Griffin and Laney are on the road, as is No. 1 Westside-Macon’s boys. The quarters were played at neutral sites from the start in 1922 until 2013, when the GHSA split Class A into public and private divisions, making for 12 state champions and tournament draws.

Best boys games: Pace vs. Westside has a championship feel. Pace has the consensus No. 1 senior recruit, Wendell Carter Jr. (Duke signee), while Westside has the consensus No. 1 junior recruit, Khavon Moore (uncommitted). In AAAAAAA, No. 2 Pebblebrook is at home against No. 5 Norcross and No. 6 Wheeler travels to No. 1 McEachern. All four teams have been nationally ranked.

Best girls games: No. 1 Griffin travels to sixth-ranked Jackson-Atlanta, the 2016 AAA runner-up, in a AAAAA game. Neither has won a state title in girls basketball. Fourth-ranked Collins Hill, in its first quarterfinal since the 2007 champion team of Maya Moore, travels to third-ranked Lambert in AAAAAAA. Threetime defending champion McEachern, whose 17-game state-playoff winning streak is a new record for the highest classification, travels to fifth-ranked Mill Creek. Harrison and Douglas County have spent all season in the top four of the rankings. They play at Douglasville in AAAAAA.

First quarters (boys): Four boys teams are in the quarterfinals for the first time, three of them in AAAAAA. They include Langston Hughes and Tri-Cities, both in south Fulton County, and Northside-Warner Robins, which won its first-ever state playoff games this year. Northside entered the tournament with a losing record (13-14) but beat No. 8 Pope 80-61 last week. Savannah’s Islands High (AAA) also is making its quarterfinal debut.

First quarters (girls): Even more girls programs, including No. 1-ranked Northview in AAAAAA, are in the final eight for the first time. The oldest is Fitzgerald, which dates back to the 1800s. Other first-timers are third-ranked Lambert in AAAAAAA, seventh-ranked Lovejoy in AAAAAA, Eagle’s Landing in AAAAA, Tattnall County in AAA, ninth-ranked Hapeville Charter in AA, fifth-ranked Marion County and Woodville-Tompkins in Class A public and eighthranked Pinecrest Academy and Prince Avenue Christian in Class A private.

It has been a while: Bryan County’s girls are in the quarters for the first time since 1961. They had lost 12 consecutive round-of-16 games, according to the Georgia Basketball Project. Ranked No. 6 in Class AA, Bryan County (24-4) carries a 10-game winning streak to No. 2 Model, some 300 miles away to the northwest. Perry’s boys team is back for the first time since its 1998 Class AA runner-up team. Three other teams, all boys, are making their first quarters this century: Brookwood (for the first time since 1999), Chattooga (1996) and Clinch County (1996).

Started from the bottom: Brookwood is one of just three No. 4 seeds still playing. Lithonia’s boys in AAAAA and Stephenson’s girls in AAAAAA likewise have won two road games to advance.

Boys & Girls clubs: Fourteen schools qualified their boys and girls teams: Buford, Carver-Columbus, Henry County, Holy Innocents’, Lakeview Academy, Laney, McEachern, Morgan County, Norcross, Sandy Creek, St. Francis, Taylor County, Treutlen and Warner Robins. That’s a first for Sandy Creek. Morgan County won both titles last year in AAA.

What’s next: The semifinals will be Saturday at eight neutral sites.