Winning a high school basketball state championship is always a challenge regardless of the state, classification or matchups along the way. Today, we examine the toughest hardwood state tournament brackets in 2022-23. Hundreds of classifications across 50 states were narrowed down to the 10 most challenging to win this season.
Determining factors include MaxPreps Top 25 teams in the field, quality of favorites and top contenders, depth and quality of the tournament field and overall difficulty of capturing the championship.
One notable omission from this year's toughest playoff brackets is the New Jersey Tournament of Champions title, which was canceled after crowning a champion last season. The NJSIAA no longer follows the intriguing format of naming just one state champion across the entire state and will instead be naming multiple champions across different divisions. With a somewhat watered down postseason, the Garden State didn't earn a mention despite featuring three teams in the MaxPreps Top 25 this week.
1. CIF Open DivisionState: California
Favorite: No. 5 Centennial
Rundown: Centennial headlines the toughest state tournament bracket in 2022-23 as the Huskies are favored to repeat as CIF Open Division state champions. An experienced rotation has shown balance throughout postseason play with five-star Duke signee
Jared McCain, four-star UCLA signee
Devin Williams and Loyola-Marymount pledge
Aaron McBride leading the way. No. 14 Harvard-Westlake, No. 17 West Ranch and St. John Bosco are among the biggest challengers after each team finished with a record of 2-1 in CIF Southern Section Open Division pool play. Brackets are set to be released Sunday.
2. UIL Class 6A
State: Texas
2021-22 winner: Duncanville
Rundown: Winning the highest classification in the Lone Star State is always a challenging task with seven wins required against quality opponents. This year will be no different as the field features two teams ranked in the MaxPreps Top 25 with No. 8 Lake Highlands and No. 13 Beaumont United. Both teams have talented rotations led by star players as top-ranked junior
Tre Johnson leads the way for Lake Highlands, while four-star Washington signee
Wesley Yates III leads the charge for Beaumont United. No. 2 Duncanville was barred from the state tournament this season due to UIL sanctions, otherwise this bracket would have been at the top of list.
Rundown: Following a three-year hiatus, the New York Federation state championships return with a strong field of competitors looking to capture the first title in the Empire State since 2018-19. No. 4 Long Island Lutheran is an overwhelming favorite to capture their ninth Federation title and receive their first GEICO National invite this season behind Connecticut signee
Jayden Ross, senior
Jayden Reid and junior
V.J. Edgecombe. Although no team has emerged as the the clear No. 2 team in the state, a handful of teams have emerged as quality teams across Class AA including Archbishop Stepinac, Cardinal Hayes, Christ the King and Eagle Academy.
4. FHSAA Class 7A
State: Florida
Favorite: No. 10 Columbus
Rundown: No. 10 Columbus comes into the Class 7A state tournament in the Sunshine State as a heavy favorite to capture its second consecutive state title. The Explorers have played one of the most difficult schedules in high school basketball this season with signature victories over No. 3 Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) and No. 6 Camden (N.J.). Top-ranked sophomore
Cameron Boozer has been dominant. Oak Ridge and Winter Haven are among the top challengers for Columbus in its quest for back-to-back state championships.
5. NCHSAA Class 4A
State: North Carolina
Rundown: The highest classification in the Tar Heel State features a pair of teams ranked in the top 50 nationally as Myers Park and North Mecklenburg have all the pieces needed to escape the rigors of the 64-team Class 4A state tournament field. Myers Park features the most talented unit in the state as four players average double-figures in Wofford-bound
Elijah Strong , four-star juniors
Bishop Boswell and
Sir Mohammed and top 20 sophomore
A.J. White. North Mecklenburg sits at 26-2 on the season behind four-star junior
Isaiah Evans, who is authoring one of the most impressive junior seasons in high school basketball this season. Holly Springs, Millbrook, New Hanover and Richmond are among the favorites to emerge out of the East.
6. GHSA Class AAAAAAA
State: Georgia
Rundown:
Although the highest classification in the Peach State isn't quite as strong as it has been in recent seasons, it remains one of the toughest state tournament
brackets to win across the nation with a handful of quality teams that
have an opportunity to make a deep run. Despite suffering six losses
this season, Wheeler is unbeaten against in-state competition and currently riding a 13-game winning streak behind top-ranked senior
prospect
Isaiah Collier and four-star USC signee
Arrinten Page.
A matchup with McEachern
potentially looms in the quarterfinals. Other top contenders for
the state crown include defending state champion Norcross and Grayson
among others.
Rundown:
No. 9 Ben Davis has established itself as the team to beat in the
Midwest this season and it will put a perfect record on the line in the postseason. The Giants have already knocked off many of the top
contenders including Brownsburg, Cathedral, Kokomo and
Penn. Valparaiso signee
Zane Doughty
has been the driving force behind their success, averaging 13.2 points,
9.1 rebounds and 2.7 blocks while also holding the program record for
most rebounds in a career. Defending state champion Cathedral will also
be a tough out in postseason action behind five-star Michigan State
signee
Xavier Booker.
Rundown: It would take a major upset to upset to knock off No. 7 Imhotep Charter in the Keystone State as five-star Kentucky signee
Justin Edwards, four-star junior
Ahmad Nowell and Florida Gulf State signee
Rahmir Barno highlight a deep and talented rotation for the defending Class 5A state champions. If the Panthers are able to win their second consecutive state championship, they will go down as one of the best teams out of the state of Pennsylvania in the past two decades. Although the state is still in the early stages of the postseason, it appears unbeaten Radnor is the top challenger while the Pittsburgh area has a number of teams who could emerge out of the west side of the bracket.
9. PIAA Class 6A
State: Pennsylvania
Rundown: There is no clear favorite to capture the state title in Pennsylvania's highest classification this season as defending state champion Roman Catholic and Reading have both put together strong seasons in 2022-23. Reading has not lost a game against in-state competition and have a 24-1 record overall while Roman Catholic advances to the Philadelphia Catholic League title game with a 21-3 record this season. Outside of the top two teams, 2022 state runner-up Archbishop Wood is a strong contender behind Philadelphia Catholic League MVP
Jalil Bethea. Lower Merion, Plymouth Whitemarsh and Spring-Ford are also legitimate contenders and are currently the top three seeds in the PIAA Class 6A District 1 tournament.
10. UIL Class 5A
State: Texas
2021-22 winner: Beaumont United
Rundown: Although two-time defending state champion Beaumont United moved to the highest classification this season, Class 5A remains a gauntlet in the Lone Star State with a handful of teams looking to knock off MaxPreps Top 25 bubble team Kimball from its perch as favorite to capture the state title this season. Despite losing five-star guard Arterio Morris to graduation, the Knights have been impressive this season with a 27-2 record behind a balanced rotation that sees five players average 11 or more points led by three-star senior
T'Johnn Brown. Amarillo, Ellison, Fort Bend Marshall and Mt. Pleasant appear to be the biggest threats to make deep runs along with Kimball in Class 5A this season.
Five-star Duke signee Jared McCain and Centennial headline the CIF Open Division state tournament bracket. (Photo: Jerrell Jordan)
