Class AAAAAAA

1. Newton (13-0)
2. McEachern (12-0)
3. Pebblebrook (7-5)
4. Norcross (13-3)
5. Wheeler (10-4)
6. Westlake (8-5)
7. Tift County (13-1)
8. Berkmar (11-5)
9. Collins Hill (13-3)
10. Discovery (12-5)

Class AAAAAA

1. Gainesville (13-0)
2. South Paulding (12-1)
3. Jonesboro (10-4)
4. Langston Hughes (9-4)
5. Heritage-Conyers (9-3)
6. South Cobb (12-2)
7. Alpharetta (15-1)
8. Brunswick (11-2)
9. Dacula (9-4)
10. Alexander (10-4)

Class AAAAA

1. Buford (11-2)
2. Eagle’s Landing (10-2)
3. Cedar Shoals (12-2)
4. Warner Robins (11-3)
5. Fayette County (11-5)
6. Miller Grove (9-6)
7. Union Grove (11-3)
8. New Hampstead (10-4)
9. Columbia (9-5)
10. Southwest DeKalb (10-6)

Class AAAA

1. Sandy Creek (8-3)
2. Upson-Lee (15-0)
3. Henry County (12-5)
4. Richmond Academy (12-3)
5. Eastside (9-4)
6. LaGrange (11-2)
7. Carver-Columbus (11-3)
8. Burke County (8-3)
9. Perry (11-3)
10. Baldwin (8-4) 

Class AAA

1. Westside-Macon (9-3)
2. Greater Atlanta Christian (10-4)
3. Liberty County (8-5)
4. Morgan County (8-3)
5. Islands (10-3)
6. Pace Academy (4-7)
7. Central-Macon (10-2)
8. Jenkins (9-6)
9. Cedar Grove (5-4)
10. Dougherty (9-4)

Class AA

1. South Atlanta (12-1)
2. Josey (12-2)
3. Dublin (7-4)
4. Monticello (8-5)
5. Laney (10-3)
6. Thomasville (6-5)
7. Therrell (9-5)
8. Chattooga (11-1)
9. Putnam County (10-3)
10. Banks County (9-4)

Class A-Private

1. Greenforest (10-2)
2. North Cobb Christian (10-3)
3. Southwest Atlanta Christian (7-5)
4. St. Francis (11-3)
5. Aquinas (9-1)
6. Holy Innocents’ (6-4)
7. Lakeview Academy (8-4)
8. Whitefield Academy (8-5)
9. Tallulah Falls (13-0)
10. Darlington (8-3)

Class A-Public

1. Calhoun County (9-0)
2. Quitman County (11-1)
3. Taylor County (7-2)
4. Treutlen (11-0)
5. Wilkinson County (8-3)
6. Wilcox County (10-2)
7. Clinch County (10-1)
8. Central-Talbotton (8-3)
9. Crawford County (8-4)
10. Trion (8-3)

It was a make or break week full of holiday tournaments across the country as contenders and pretenders separated themselves from the field. Newton officially takes over the No. 1 spot in Class AAAAAAA after shutting down the best player in the country, Zion Williamson of Spartanburg Day, SC, in the second half to rally and win the Farm Bureau Classic Championship 73-64. The young Indians of No. 2 McEachern are certifiably terrifying after beating No. 5 Wheeler in the Tournament of Champions National Division Championship 77-67 behind sophomore Isaac Okoro’s 25 points and seven rebounds. Slipping to No. 4 is Norcross who lost in the Fab Four Championship of the Tournament of Champions to No. 3 Pebblebrook 77-69 after Collin Sexton poured in 32 points to fuel the Falcons. No. 9 Collins Hill had its ups and downs at the Lake City Classic, losing to Class AAAAA No. 4 Warner Robins 55-45, beating Hale County, AL and falling to Class AAAAAA No. 4 Langston Hughes at the buzzer 74-73. Peachtree Ridge drops out after a respectable 2-2 showing at The Kingdom of the Sun. Entering for the first time in school history is No. 10 Discovery. The second-year program has won seven straight including winning their own Christmas tournament, beating Monroe Area 73-55 in the championship.

No. 1 Gainesville is simply scary in Class AAAAAA. Without D-I prospect KJ Buffen still, the Red Elephants demolished the field at the 57^th Lanierland, romping its way to the title in the most dominant fashion the event has ever seen. They won by an average of 37 points, highlighted by a 104-67 blowout of Class A-Private No.7 Lakeview Academy and a 88-38 destruction of East Hall in the finals. There is a new No. 2 in South Paulding. No. 3 Jonesboro has played a national schedule and have played extremely well, but the Spartans have been as consistent as it gets and they were rewarded by winning the Lake City Classic Smile Generation Bracket, getting revenge against Class A-Private No. 2 North Cobb Christian in the championship 70-64. Along the way South Paulding also stopped Hale County 46-44 and Warner Robins 62-55. Unsigned 6-foot-7 senior wing JaCori Wilson averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds and was named overall tournament MVP. As good as Wilson was, No. 4 Langston Hughes’ Landers Nolley was the best player in the gym. He averaged 28.6 points per game as the Panthers finished 2-1, losing in the first round to Auburn, AL and 6-foot-10 Mississippi State-signee Garrison Brooks 75-63, but bouncing back to beat Allatoona 62-53 and Collins Hill on a Nolley buzzer beater. No. 5 Heritage-Conyers, No. 6 South Cobb, No. 7 Alpharetta and No. 10 Alexander all took care of business, winning their respective holiday tournaments. Heritage crushed the field at the Newnan Holiday Classic. South Cobb took home the Tournament of Champions American Division Championship by beating Doral Academy, FL 47-39. Alpharetta hoisted the trophy at the Deep South Classic while Alexander won the Lake City Classic Mellow Mushroom Bracket Championship, beating Carrollton 73-56. Lakeside-Evans was replaced by Alexander after losing to Grovetown 69-66.

Buford dropped two tough games at the Arby’s Classic, but the Wolves retain the No. 1 spot in Class AAAAA. Ever since their loss to Buford, No. 3 Cedar Shoals has been red hot winning eight straight. They beat Class AAA No. 4 Morgan County for the second time this year, beating them in the Sweet South Classic at Morgan County 57-48 to win the championship. Miller Grove struggled on the big stage at Tournament of Champions and finished 1-3, dropping them three spots to No. 6. Fayette County and Warner Robins both have tough tournaments as well, but the Demons’ win over Collins Hill and close losses to South Paulding and Auburn at the Lake City Classic are stomachable. Southwest DeKalb tumbles to No. 10 following a 1-2 showing at the Tucker Shootout, losing to Brainerd, TN (53-42) and Class A-Private No. 1 Greenforest (92-69). Riverwood falls out after losing both their games at the Lake City Classic. Replacing them is No. 9 Columbia. The Eagles went 3-1 at T.O.C. with a 88-86 double overtime victory over Class A-Private No. 4 St. Francis and a 86-66 victory over Grayson.

There are two clear cut front runners in Class AAAA as of now: No. 1 Sandy Creek and No. 2 Upson-Lee. The Patriots had a spectacular showing at the Arby’s Classic going 3-1 while Upson-Lee went to LaGrange and won the Toyota Classic, beating the formerly No. 3 ranked LaGrange Grangers 68-50 while taking a 61-31 lead into the fourth quarter. The loss sinks LaGrange three spots. Tye Fagan was marvelous with 31 points in the drubbing and was rewarded by taking an unofficial visit to MTSU today. Don’t look now, but No. 3 Henry County is starting to surge. They went a perfect 3-0 at the Tucker Shootout, winning three shootouts highlighted by an 86-84 win over Class AA No. 7 Therrell. Americus-Sumter and North Clayton don’t survive the week. The Eagles went 0-3 at Tucker while Americus-Sumter suffered a bad loss to Northview 66-61 and were beat by Class AAAAAAA No. 7 Tift County 71-55. Debuting are No. 7 Carver-Columbus and No. 10 Baldwin. The Tigers won back-to-back impressive games against Alabama’s Lanett (95-77) and Central (83-77). Already in just Year 2, Buck Harris has turned the Braves into statewide contender. They have scored wins over Class AA No. 9 Putnam County (65-46), Class A-Public No. 5 & defending state champs Wilkinson County (63-46) and now just won the Antebellum Christmas Classic, drilling Creekside in the finals 52-34. The Braves face their toughest stretch in region play as they visit No. 4 Richmond Academy and Thomson this week with a home game looming against No. 8 Burke County on the 10^th.

No. 6 Pace Academy continued its poor play on the national circuit with a 1-2 showing at the Beach Ball Classic. The Knights slip a spot in the Class AAA poll. Islands is on the move, peaking at No. 5 after beating Pope 70-54 in the championship of the Westminster Holiday Tournament. No. 7 Central-Macon had an interesting performance at the Lake City Classic going 2-1 with an opening round loss to Hillgrove. The Chargers earned wins over Riverwood and Morrow in the later rounds. Calhoun saw its 48-game regular season winning streak snapped with a loss to King’s Ridge Christian at the Antebellum Classic 65-40. They were beat back-to-back by Maynard Jackson the following day, the first string of consecutive losses since Dec. 18 & 19 in 2014. The Yellow Jackets and Johnson-Savannah Atomsmashers both exit the poll. Johnson came up north and had a poor showing at T.O.C. going 0-3. Reentering the poll is No. 8 Jenkins who went 3-1 at T.O.C. Following them is Dougherty who debuts at No. 10.

Laney leaps four spots to No. 5 in Class AA after a 62-59 win at Thomson. Therrell and Thomasville both slip while No. 3 Dublin is hot with their second 1-point win over Wilkinson County, this time at the Palace 54-53. No. 8 Chattooga won their Christmas Tournament with a 60-57 victory over Cartersville. Callaway exits the Top 10 after a 3-3 start and a 69-66 loss to Villa Rica. Back in the mix is No. 10 Banks County who has won six straight.

Demiere Brown of No. 2 North Cobb Christian is as good as any scorer in the state and is in my opinion the toughest cover in the state in Class A-Private. He poured in 27.3 points per game as the Eagles finished second at the Lake City Classic. They defeated Allatoona in overtime 70-68 and held off Auburn 55-51 to make it to the finals where they fell to South Paulding in a SEBA Hoop Festival rematch, 70-64. No. 1 Greenforest received a scare from Holy Spirit Prep 55-52, but the Eagles went 3-0 at the Tucker Shootout. The freshmen and sophomore-laden No. 4 St. Francis Knights went 1-3 at T.O.C. with their three losses by a combined five points, losing to Columbia in 2OT 88-86, Lakewood, SC 75-74 in OT and Douglas County 60-58. King’s Ridge’s victory over Calhoun couldn’t propel them to an Antebellum Classic Championship as they sunk in their final two games losing 46-45 to Creekside and 43-41 to Marist and dropping from the poll in the process. Replacing them is No. 10 Darlington.

Calhoun County continues to roll in Class A-Public. They knocked Montgomery County out of the Top 10 with their 72-51 rout. No. 7 Clinch County took care of the Eagles as well, 71-65 after falling to Turner County in the Ronalda Pierce Holiday Hoopfest Championship 77-70. Replacing Montgomery County is No. 10 Trion, who debuts.