Despite imperfect records, Wheeler’s boys and McEachern’s girls are the No. 1 teams in Class AAAAAA in the first Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s high school basketball rankings since the preseason.
Wheeler is only 9-4 and lost 74-46 on Saturday to Montverde Academy of Florida, the consensus No. 1 team in the country. But the same Wheeler team is unbeaten in Georgia and has defeated Miller Grove, the five-time defending champion in AAAAA. Wheeler big men Jaylen Brown and Daniel Giddens are rated among the top 25 recruits nationally in the class of 2015.
McEachern (9-2) also is unbeaten in Georgia and has victories over No. 4 Norcross and No. 7 Hillgrove. McEachern has several Division 1 prospects, including guards Te’a Cooper (committed to North Carolina) and Taylor Gordon, a transfer from North Cobb.
All 14 of last year’s state champions are ranked this week, but only four of them hold No. 1 spots. They are Miller Grove (AAAA) and Greater Atlanta Christian (AA) among boys and Wesleyan (AA) and St. Francis (A) among girls.
As for the other defending boys champions, Norcross is No. 2 in AAAAAA, Eagle’s Landing is No. 4 in AAAA, Johnson-Savannah is No. 8 in AA, Wilkinson County (public-school champion) is No. 8 in A, and Greenforest Christian (private school champion) is No. 7 in A.
BOYS
Class AAAAAA
1. Wheeler
2. Norcross
3. North Gwinnett
4. Tift County
5. Westlake
6. Walton
7. Marietta
8. McEachern
9. Hillgrove
10. Douglas County
Class AAAAA
1. Miller Grove
2. Allatoona
3. Tucker
4. Jenkins
5. Clarke Central
6. Effingham County
7. M.L. King
8. Stephenson
9. Villa Rica
10. Apalachee
Class AAAA
1. Columbia
2. Sandy Creek
3. Fayette County
4. Eagle’s Landing
5. Jonesboro
6. Rutland
7. Westover
8. South Atlanta
9. Glenn Hills
10. Liberty County
Class AAA
1. Savannah
2. Washington County
3. Cartersville
4. Elbert County
5. St. Pius
6. Morgan County
7. Buford
8. Johnson-Savannah
9. Cedar Grove
10. Thomson
Class AA
1. Greater Atlanta Christian
2. Vidalia
3. Laney
4. Manchester
5. Model
6. Calhoun
7. McIntosh County Academy
8. Jefferson
9. Taylor County
10. Northeast-Macon
Class A
1. Aquinas
2. Athens Christian
3. North Cobb Christian
4. Whitefield Academy
5. St. Francis
6. Calhoun County
7. Greenforest Christian
8. Wilkinson County
9. Seminole County
10. Dooly County
GIRLS
Class AAAAAA
1. McEachern
2. Parkview
3. Archer
4. Norcross
5. Hughes
6. North Forsyth
7. Hillgrove
8. Douglas County
9. Brunswick
10. Westlake
Class AAAAA
1. Tucker
2. Southwest DeKalb
3. Effingham County
4. Salem
5. Stephenson
6. Forest Park
7. Drew
8. Evans
9. Hiram
10. Sequoyah
Class AAAA
1. Redan
2. Columbus
3. Mary Persons
4. Cross Creek
5. Carrollton
6. Columbia
7. Woodland-Stockbridge
8. Monroe
9. Chestatee
10. Burke County
Class AAA
1. Buford
2. Washington County
3. Beach
4. St. Pius
5. Southwest-Macon
6. Tattnall County
7. Central-Carrollton
8. Dodge County
9. North Oconee
10. Decatur
Class AA
1. Wesleyan
2. Kendrick
3. Laney
4. Pelham
5. Pepperell
6. Greater Atlanta Christian
7. Taylor County
8. Bleckley County
9. Calhoun
10. Putnam County
Class A
1. St. Francis
2. Holy Innocents’
3. SW Atlanta Christian
4. Randolph-Clay
5. George Walton Academy
6. Darlington
7. Claxton
8. Turner County
9. Gordon Lee
10. Eagle’s Landing Christian
Note: Won-lost records are not included in the rankings because of incomplete reporting of scores over the holidays. They will be included next week.
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