Milton boys coach David Boyd will be paying attention to a
big game in New Jersey today, as St. Patrick of Elizabeth and St. Anthony of Jersey City are playing at Rutgers University for the North Jersey, Non-Public B title.
Those schools are undefeated and ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 boys basketball rankings presented by the Army National Guard and almost every other national high school basketball ranking.
Milton is No. 3.
‘'Here's what I'm hoping,'' said Boyd, whose team is in Georgia's Class AAAAA semifinals Thursday. "First and foremost, I'm hoping we can win our games. Then, I'm hoping that St. Anthony can beat St. Patrick. And then I'm hoping somebody in that Tournament of Champions can beat St. Anthony. Then, who knows?"
Milton lost to St. Patrick 69-67 in December in the City of Palms Classic in Florida. It took a shot at the buzzer.
The St. Patrick-St. Anthony winner will play a final game later this month that essentially is a public-private school playoff.
Boyd knows chances are slim for the national title, so his focus is on repeating as Georgia champion. Milton plays
Tift County (Tifton) on Thursday, then the winner of the
Norcross vs.
Valdosta semifinal on Friday.
MaxPreps Georgia boys basketball playoff bracketsRegardless of its finish nationally, Milton will go down as one of the top teams in Georgia history if it wins out.
The title of best team in Georgia history most commonly is given to Southwest Macon's 1979 unbeaten team led by Jeff Malone, who had a long NBA career with the Bullets, and Terry Fair, who starred on the University of Georgia's Final Four team of 1983.
‘'I had one reporter tell me that he really enjoyed watching us play, that we reminded him of the great Southwest Macon team of Terry Fair and company,'' Boyd said. "So just to be mentioned with a group like that is a great compliment.'
WESLEYAN CRUISING TOWARD EIGHTH STATE GIRLS TITLE Wesleyan (Norcross) could have Georgia's best girls team, and it plays in the state's smallest classification, Class A. The results in the state playoffs have been staggering, though not surprising – victories by scores of 77-32, 91-27 and 78-43. Wesleyan plays
Calvary Day (Savannah) in Wednesday's semifinals. "They are like the UConn of Georgia Class A basketball,'' Calvary Day coach Jackie Hamilton told the Savannah Morning News. Wesleyan sits across the road in Gwinnett County from Norcross, the defending Class AAAAA champion. Norcross beat Wesleyan this season, but Wesleyan has beaten teams that have beaten Norcross.
COPELAND'S 40-YEAR COACHING CAREER TO END IN STYLEOne of the best coaches in Georgia history is making a final run in his 40th season this week. Alvin Copeland, who has won five state titles at
Northeast (Macon), is retiring, and his team must've used that as motivation because Northeast (27-3) is in the semifinals for the first time since 2002. "It means a lot to me," Copeland told the Macon Telegraph. "But I certainly hope it means more to our athletes because they've never done this before."
BROTHER HISTORY: BOYDS COULD MAKE HISTORYDavid Boyd's younger brother, Cal Boyd, is seeking his first girls state title as a head coach this week in Macon.
Greater Atlanta Christian (Norcross), led by Georgia-committed point guard
Shannon Cranshaw, is one of the favorites in Class AA. The only brothers to win state titles in Georgia were Render Caswell and R.L. Caswell, according to the Georgia High School Basketball Project. Render won with a 1959 boys team from Roopville. R.L. won with West Haralson's 1961 girls team. The team to beat in AA is defending champion
Buford. GAC is 1-2 against Buford this season.
BOYS-GIRLS SWEEP: IT'S BECOMING MORE COMMONThere are 34 schools represented in Georgia's semifinals this week, and six of them can sweep boys and girls state titles. They are
Norcross (AAAAA),
Fayette County (Fayetteville) (AAAA),
Columbia (Decatur) (AAA),
Laney (Augusta) (AA), Greater Atlanta Christian (AA) and Buford (AA). Columbia, a DeKalb County school that swept titles in 2010, stands the best chance to win both. Norcross and Greater Atlanta Christian also are decent bets. From 1975 to 2005, the only school to sweep boys and girls titles was Clinch County of Class A in 1987. Since 2006, when Southwest Atlanta Christian did it, it's happened four times, twice by Wesleyan (2008, 2010). Probably the most interesting tale of a sweep came in 1959, when Roopville, the hometown of sportscaster Keith Jackson, pulled off the feat. Their coaches were husband-and-wife. Render Caswell coached the boys, and Gladys Caswell coached the girls. The school had long been a state power for years in both but had never won a title until its final chance. The school closed later that year.