The chase for NC high school basketball titles tips off

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Mecklenburg County has a large presence in North Carolina's public school basketball playoffs, including nine of 12 teams in the 8A West Region.

The North Carolina high school playoffs chase is underway.

Mecklenburg County is represented in the top three classifications, with nine of 12 teams (75%) in the 8A West Region along with four each in 7A and 8A. The county has the top seed in the 7A (North Mecklenburg) tournament and second seed in 6A (Charlotte Catholic) and 8A (West Charlotte).

To set the stage for opening week, here’s a look at Mecklenburg’s contingent with their overall and conference records as well as first round games.

8A tournament

No. 2 West Charlotte (19-6, 7-3). The Lions’ three conference losses were to North Mecklenburg, the 7A West’s top seed. That those losses were within two possessions is testament to West Charlotte’s potential to walk off with a trophy from the second seed.

No. 3 Hough (20-6, 7-3). The Huskies are pretty good, with a 20-win season in their pocket – the only team in the West region bracket to do so. Hough’s certainly capable of bringing  championship hardware back to Mecklenburg.

No. 4 Ardrey Kell (19-7, 6-4). Don’t sleep on the Knights, who are consistently one of Mecklenburg’s top basketball programs. They earned a first-round bye as the fourth seed.

Also: 

No. 10 Northwest Guilford (11-12, 6-4) at No. 7 East Mecklenburg (18-9, 9-2).

No. 11 South Mecklenburg (12-15, 4-6) at No. 6 Chambers (15-11, 4-6).

No. 12 Palisades (11-15, 4-6) at No. 5 Myers Park (17-8, 8-2).

7A tournament

No. 1 North Mecklenburg (22-4, 9-1). Top-seeded Vikings are certainly one of North Carolina’s best teams regardless of classification. While the popular thought is the 7A title is there’s for the taking, one of North’s four losses was to seventh seed Butler, which also has a first-round bye.  

No. 7 Butler (16-9, 5-5). The Bulldogs aren’t the most powerful group in terms of record, but they have something few teams can claim – a win against North.

Also:

No. 22 South Iredell (9-16, 4-6) at No. 11 West Mecklenburg (16-9, 8-2).

No. 23 Grimsley (7-15, 4-8) at No. 10 Independence (14-12, 5-5).

6A tournament

No. 2 seed Charlotte Catholic (22-4, 11-1). Title aspirations are big for the Cougars, who lost one conference game and outslugged Weddington 44-42 in the tournament finale.

Also: 

A.C. Reynolds (11-15, 7-4) at Harding (13-11, 9-5).

Olympic (12-15, 6-8) at Ashbrook (10-10, 6-6).

Berry Academy (11-12, 7-7) at Piedmont (12-13, 6-6).

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