GHSA ranking system presents tall challenge for LFO boys in basketball first round

On one hand, Tony McAllister wasn’t thrilled to find out who his team’s opponent will be in Wednesday’s first round of the GHSA boys’ basketball playoffs (nor is he happy with the GHSA), but the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe coach has every reason to believe his team will respond to the challenge.

The Warriors, like the rest of the teams in Georgia Classes A Division I, AA, AAA and the state’s private schools, found out Sunday afternoon who they would play this week after the GHSA used its playoff ranking system to seed teams in those brackets.

The system, in its first year of implementation, is in place after the GHSA voted to remove private schools in the lower classes to their own postseason tournament. Once removed, the public schools are placed in brackets based on their ranking, which is a formula that takes into account a team’s results and its opponent’s opponent’s results.

McAllister and the Warriors found out Sunday the GHSA doesn’t take forfeits into account when ranking teams. As a result LFO will host KIPP Collegiate Wednesday at 6, an Atlanta-area charter school that has an “official” record of 15-11 but actually won 20 games.

The team was forced to forfeit five wins due to playing an ineligible player, and those five losses negatively affected KIPP’s ranking.

“We kind of got a gut-punched having to play KIPP,” McAllister said. “The forfeits dropped them to the 19th seed, whereas SCORE Atlanta has them ranked in the top five. They have 800 kids in their school and I can guarantee you there isn’t a school that size that goes 6-foot-10, 6-foot-7, 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-5.

“Our region coaches were having the conversation last week that somebody was going to get screwed by having to play them, and sure enough it was us. I’ve talked to folks at GHSA and can’t get anything figured out.”

The 14th-seeded Warriors (18-9) are, by their coach’s own admission, still a work in progress. The team has no seniors and has, at times, played down to its opposition while also rising to the occasion in other, more challenging games.

“When we play well and are motivated we can compete,” second-year coach McAllister said. “Sometimes, we don’t know what we are going to get. We played (private school No. 1 seed) North Cobb to a five-point game and split with (Class AA 6th-seed) Union County, so we can play with the top teams.”

What the Warriors do have is depth. Six players average seven or more points, led by Red Bank transfer Quintaris Tanner-Garrett with 12.3 per game. Darian Keefe averages 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals per game, with Champion Bowman adding 11 points and five assists and Jared Mitchell 10 points, 7.6 rebounds and two steals.

The 6-4 Keefe will be a part of trying to contain KIPP’s front line of 6-10 center Chane Bynum, who averages 17 points and 11 rebounds, 6-7 Laqwaun Morgan and 6-5 Akil Robinson, a challenge McAllister is certain the two-sport star will face with gusto.

“We headed into the region tournament and our all-region team came out and Darian Keefe, who is second on our team in everything, and region coaches voted him honorable mention,” McAllister said. “I said to Darian, ‘You need to have a revenge tour,’ and in the region tournament he averaged 17 points and hit four 3s per game.

“We’re definitely the underdogs – and I want us to play like that – and we usually play really well in that situation.”

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com