Welcome to the March to Macon. The road to the state championship is set and we dive into the bracket.

RELATED: Meet the 5A No. 1 seeds

First Round Game(s) to Watch 

Jones County at Bradwell Institute: Any time that a top seed faces a team that can knock them off at the start of a tournament makes for an interesting matchup. Bradwell Institute is the No. 1 seed, but Jones County poses an immediate threat. The Greyhounds have beaten Grovetown and Drew Charter, and they’ve had to play multiple games against Eagle’s Landing and Dutchtown. Don’t be surprised if they advance. 

Chattahoochee at Chapel Hill: When looking at this part of the bracket, Chapel Hill looks like a favorite to make a final four, but Chattahoochee can be a tricky first-round opponent. I wouldn’t immediately advance the favorite to the next round in this one. 

Dutchtown at Coffee: Honestly, I just want to shout out Coffee. I’d play a road game there any day. Easily the coolest team in the state. Respect. But, seriously, Dutchtown has had a fantastic season and could go on a run, but they start out with a tough road game. 

The Most Interesting Quadrant

The top left part of the 5A bracket has the potential for a game between Tri-Cities and Hiram in the second round. Those have been two of the best teams in 5A all season. On top of that potential game, Tucker and Jones County have proven to be two tough outs, so their potential second round game would generate intrigue as well. 

The first round matchups are as follows: 

#3 Tri-Cities at #2 Cambridge

#4 Heritage-Conyers at #1 Hiram

#3 Northgate at #2 Tucker

#4 Jones County at #1 Bradwell Institute

Final Four Picks

Before the season, I predicted Eagle’s Landing, Tri-Cities, Kell and Hiram.

For the most part, those picks aren’t much different than the current picks now that the brackets have been finalized. The only qualm is that Hiram and Tri-Cities are in the same quadrant. If one was in the appropriate position for this to be the case, the final four picks would be the same, but so it goes. Here are the updated picks: 

Hiram - Hiram has been incredible this season. They’ve only lost twice and those have come by a combined six points. Of their 23 wins, FOUR have come by less than 10 points. 19 double-digit wins is impressive, and we’re not betting against that. I wouldn’t sleep on Tri-Cities though. They have a history of rounding into form at the right time, and they could easily make another run in the state tournament. The Bulldogs are killers this time of year. 

Eagles Landing - I mean, the team is 25-1, and their only loss was by two points on the road. The Eagles have been one of the best teams in the state regardless of classification. They’ve been to Macon to play for a state championship two years in a row, and they’ve been good enough to make us believe that they’ll be there again. 

Chapel Hill - This is the toughest part of the bracket to pick, but Chapel Hill has had a fantastic season and has a great chance of making it to the final four. The Panthers have a solid stable of guards and a big man in Kelvin Hunter who can make a difference in a tournament setting. If we can get an elite eight battle between Hunter and McIntosh’a Uche Iloh, that’ll be popcorn-worthy. 

Kell - This is the most talented team in 5A, and they have the best resume in the classification too. They’re 23-2 with wins over Greenforest, McEachern, Pebblebrook, Mount Vernon, Liberty (NV) and Calvary Christian (FL). That speaks for itself. The Longhorns should make their way to Macon to play for the 5A championship.

The 2022-23 5A Champions are…

The Kell Longhorns. 

In terms of pure talent, Kell is unmatched in 5A. Kell has a wealth of high-level players on their roster. They can hurt teams in multiple ways, and they’ve been doing that all season. The list of teams they’ve beaten is composed of perennial powers in the state. They’ve only lost to West Ranch (CA) and to Grayson in an overtime game on the road. 

We’ve seen the Longhorns in Macon before. They just need to get over the hump and win it all. This is a squad that can help them do that.