North’s Carter Williams. Demarcus Davidson photo.
Staff report
The NCHSAA released seeds and pairings for the state playoffs on Saturday.
The move to eight classifications included a shift to 48-team basketball brackets, so about 83 percent of the teams make the playoffs.
Locally, the seasons are officially over only for the South Rowan boys, the East Rowan boys and the A.L. Brown boys.
East finished 51st in RPI out of 59 5A teams. South was 57th out of 59 in 4A. A.L. Brown was 60th out of 60 in 7A.
Some teams that you might not normally think of as playoff teams are in. East Rowan’s girls were 44th in the 5A RPI rankings and made the bracket.
The 48 teams that qualified were divided by geography into East and West. East’s girls are the 24 seed in 5A West.
There also some surprising home teams for the first round. The Carson girls, for instance.
First-round games will be played Tuesday:
* East Rowan’s girls (5-20) will travel to play 9 seed North Buncombe (15-10) in Weaverville. That’s near Asheville.
• North Rowan’s girls (7-15) were 37th in the 2A RPI rankings and are seeded 18th in the 2A West bracket. They’re on the road against 15 seed Sugar Creek Charter (9-11).
• Carson’s girls (10-12) are at home in a 16 vs. 17 5A West game against South Point (8-15). The Cougars were 32nd in the 5A RPI rankings. They were battered physically a week ago, but hopefully will be at full strength on Tuesday.
• Salisbury’s girls (12-10) are the 15 seed in 4A West and are home against No. 18 Tuscola (11-11), which will be making a trip down from the mountains. Salisbury was 33rd in the final 4A RPI rankings
* South Rowan’s girls (15-11) are the 13 seed in 4A West and will host No. 20 Ashe County (9-14). The Huskies will face a long trip. South’s girls were 29th in the final 4A RPI rankings.
• A.L. Brown’s girls (9-15) are the 22 seed in 7A West and will travel to play 11 seed Davie. The Wonders are in the playoffs for the first tine in a number of years. A.L. Brown was 44th in the RPI rankings.
• West Rowan is the only Rowan boys team in action on Tuesday. The Falcons (10-14) are the 18 seed in 5A West. They’ll play at 15 seed Monroe (11-8). The winner of that game gets Robinson, the 2 seed in 5A West.
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Second-round games are set for Thursday.
The Carson boys, Salisbury boys and North Rowan boys have top-8 seeds, which means they get first-round byes. West Rowan’s girls also have a first-round bye.
Carson is the 7 seed in 5A West. The Cougars were ninth in the final 5A RPI rankings, but most of the power in 5A is in the western portion of the state.
The Cougars (23-4) will host either (10) Smoky Mountain (18-9) or (23) Northwest Cabarrus (6-19) on Thursday.
The negative as far as being the 7 seed is that you likely will face 2 very early in the playoffs, and Robinson is the 2.
• Salisbury’s boys (19-7) are pleased with their seeding. The Hornets were seventh in the final 4A RPI rankings and are the 3 seed in the 4A West bracket. Freshman Royce Perkins is healthy now. He missed the SPC Tournament semifinals with illness.
The Hornets will be at home on Thursday against (19) Forbush (10-14) or (14) Carver (11-11).
• North Rowan’s boys finished 12th in the 2A RPI rankings and will be the 6 seed in the 2A West bracket. The Cavaliers (14-9) will be hosting either 11 seed Avery (11-11) or 22 seed Cherryville (6-18) on Thursday.
• West Rowan’s girls (24-2) finished sixth in the 5A RPI rankings, but got the 2 seed in the 5A West bracket, as many of the top 5A girls teams are bracketed in the East. Northwest Cabarrus is the 3 seed in 5A West. Oak Grove is undefeated and looms as the team to beat.
The Falcons will take them one at a time and will host (15) Parkwood (14-11) or (18) Crest (6-10) on Thursday.
