Georgia’s eight No. 1 boys basketball teams are making themselves easy to rank entering the new year as all are undefeated in their classifications with their only losses to out-of-state opponents or bigger schools.

Grayson, No. 1 in Class 6A, fended off the latest worthy challenger Saturday night with a 46-38 victory over No. 4 McEachern. Grayson had a scary weekend. The Rams beat Archer only 60-59 on Friday, when Archer missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer. Grayson will play No. 3 Newton at home this Friday.

Led by Georgia signee Jacob Wilkins, Grayson (13-1) is ranked No. 7 in MaxPreps’ national poll and has six wins over top-10 Georgia teams. The Rams’ only loss is to Florida’s Christopher Columbus before Christmas.

Class 6A’s No. 2 team, Wheeler (11-3), has lost to Grayson and two out-of-state teams. The same can be said of Class 5A’s No. 1 team, Milton. Behind Milton in Class 5A is Woodward Academy (10-3), which is undefeated in-state.

Pace Academy, the No. 1 team in Class 4A, is unbeaten in Georgia and 12-2 overall. No. 1 Cedar Grove of Class 3A is 13-3 with losses to Grayson, Wheeler and an out-of-state opponent.

Holy Innocents’ (11-2) is the No. 1 Class 3A-A private team. The Golden Bears’ losses are to Pace in overtime and to an out-of-state team.

Carver-Columbus, No. 1 in Class 2A, is 9-2 with losses to bigger schools Sandy Creek and New Manchester.

Only three Georgia teams remain undefeated. They are Putnam County of Class A Division I and Calhoun County of Class A Division II - both ranked No. 1 - and No. 3 Pickens of Class 3A.

It’s notable that three No. 1 teams – Grayson, Milton and Carver-Columbus - are coming off state football championships last month. No. 2 North Oconee of 4A is another football champion. The Titans completed a 2024 calendar basketball-football double.

Only seven schools have won football and boys basketball championships in the same academic year. The most recent was Sandy Creek in 2022-23.

Class 6A

  1. Grayson (13-1)
  2. Wheeler (11-3)
  3. Newton (10-4)
  4. McEachern (10-3)
  5. Lambert (13-2)
  6. Walton (13-2)
  7. Etowah (11-3)
  8. Norcross (10-5)
  9. Hillgrove (13-2)
  10. Grovetown (9-4)

Class 5A

  1. Milton (9-3)
  2. Woodward Academy (10-3)
  3. Tri-Cities (9-3)
  4. Habersham Central (14-2)
  5. Winder-Barrow (14-2)
  6. Gainesville (11-5)
  7. Alexander (10-6)
  8. Dutchtown (12-2)
  9. Hughes (6-5)
  10. Brunswick (12-1)

Class 4A

  1. Pace Academy (12-2)
  2. Maynard Jackson (10-2)
  3. North Oconee (13-2)
  4. Southwest DeKalb (13-1)
  5. Kell (12-4)
  6. Westminster (9-4)
  7. St. Pius (11-3)
  8. McDonough (11-3)
  9. Benedictine (11-2)
  10. Jonesboro (7-4)

Class 3A

  1. Cedar Grove (12-3)
  2. Cherokee Bluff (15-1)
  3. Pickens (14-0)
  4. Sandy Creek (11-2)
  5. Cross Creek (14-1)
  6. East Hall (12-2)
  7. Douglass (9-2)
  8. Windsor Forest (11-3)
  9. Westside (Augusta) (9-6)
  10. Baldwin (7-4)

Class 2A

  1. Carver-Columbus (9-2)
  2. KIPP Atlanta (9-4)
  3. Butler (6-6)
  4. Columbia (11-2)
  5. South Atlanta (9-5)
  6. Union County (13-2)
  7. Laney (10-3)
  8. Morgan County (10-6)
  9. Hart County (10-5)
  10. Tattnall County (10-2)

Class A Division I

  1. Putnam County (15-0)
  2. B.E.S.T. Academy (11-4)
  3. East Laurens (7-2)
  4. Southwest-Macon (13-1)
  5. Rabun County (13-3)
  6. Dublin (11-1)
  7. Model (9-3)
  8. Temple (11-3)
  9. Vidalia (11-4)
  10. Fitzgerald (9-1)

Class A Division II

  1. Calhoun County (11-0)
  2. McIntosh County Academy (10-3)
  3. Savannah (9-2)
  4. Taylor County (9-2)
  5. Randolph-Clay (10-1)
  6. Clinch County (7-1)
  7. Manchester (4-1)
  8. Macon County (8-2)
  9. Early County (8-5)
  10. Greene County (8-6)

Class 3A-A private

  1. Holy Innocents’ (11-2)
  2. Greenforest Christian (6-4)
  3. North Cobb Christian (12-3)
  4. Greater Atlanta Christian (10-4)
  5. Calvary Day (7-4)
  6. Lovett (10-4)
  7. Darlington (11-2)
  8. Walker (11-3)
  9. Mount Bethel Christian (7-7)
  10. King’s Ridge Christian (7-7)

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