The 2A Boys basketball playoffs are in their first year of using new playoff rankings, leading to intrigue and some underrated teams. While the new system has produced exciting playoffs in other sports, basketball will test the rankings like no other, as many teams have seemingly outperformed their playoff seedings.
Burke County is currently the No. 16 overall seed, the lowest two-seed in the playoffs. The Bulldogs went 15-6 this season, though three of those losses were to top-seven seeds Butler and Laney, both of whom the Bulldogs defeated earlier in the season. Burke County will host their first playoff game against Hart County, but if they win, they will face top-seeded Carver Columbus.
South Atlanta and Columbia stand as overlooked teams. In Region 6, both teams were dominant in the regular season, with Columbia going undefeated in region play and South Atlanta only losing to Columbia. However, both were upset by Salem in the region tournament. Despite being in the top 10 all season, they fell to the No. 10 and 13 seeds, respectively.
KIPP Atlanta may be the most dangerous low seeded teams in the playoffs. They finished the regular season as a unanimous top-five team in the class, yet they entered the playoffs as the No. 19 seed. This low seeding is partially due to forfeiting five wins because of an ineligible player. However, even without the forfeited wins, the team was dominant, winning 10 of their 12 region games and only losing to top-ranked A-3A private school Holy Innocents’.
Columbia’s first-round opponent, Thomson, is seeded low primarily due to their schedule. The Bulldogs went 12-11 this season, a record that matches their No. 20 seed. However, the team has only one loss to a weak opponent, with all of their in-state losses coming against playoff teams. Of those, all but one have winning records. Their biggest challenge is that three teams in their region are top-13 seeds, leading to four region losses against those teams. However, Thomson also won two of those matchups against Burke County and Laney, making the Bulldogs a tough opponent in the first round.
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