Jump into the Basketball Bracket Frenzy

Will ' boys basketball team upset Sequoyah in what should be an exhilarating AAAA battle? How will the Indians and Lady Indians of fair against Westlake in AAAAA? Also in AAAAA, will 's girls basketball team triumph against Luella, and can the boys upset Newton?

You could sit back and watch what happens, or you could jump into the fray and be a part of the competition.

High school teams across the state are a five-game winning streak from a state championship and lasting glory. It’s the time of year for Cinderella stories and dynasties—on and off the court.

While your favorite Georgia High School Association teams are playing for their crowning achievement one game at a time in gyms and arenas, you can play for bragging rights and some great Patch gear by picking the winners of all those games, one round at a time, in our first Patch Georgia High School Basketball Challenge.

The links below will take you to forms to forecast the winners of all the first-round playoff games for AAAAA and AAAA, boys and girls. (We love our A, AA and AAA basketball teams, too, but we’re sticking to the big schools for this year’s contest.)

You have choices on how to play. Pick either classification or both of them. Enter once or up to five times. Because you pick one round at a time instead of filling out the entire bracket at the start, it’s up to you whether you play every round, and if you have a bunch of bad luck one day or skip a round, you can bounce back and win prizes later.

Here’s how it works: Follow the links to fill out the forms. Pick a winner for each boys and girls game in the first round in either AAAA or AAAAA, then return to click through to the other classification if you want to.

You’ll have to give us the name you want to be known by in the contest (it could be your real name or a clever but clean pseudonym), your home Patch and your e-mail address (after all, we need a way to contact you when you win). We will not sell or share your e-mail address or use it in any way outside the contest unless you ask us on your entry form to subscribe you to the newsletters for your Patch.

We’ll post an update on the contest the morning after each round is completed, along with links to the forms for the next round’s games. Just come back to Patch, see where you rank, celebrate your victories and make your next set of picks.

Here’s what you could win:

• In the first three rounds, the person with the most correct picks in the boys and girls brackets combined will receive a Patch prize pack featuring a Patch polo shirt. We’ll award one prize pack in AAAA and one in AAAAA for each of the first three rounds. That means there are six chances to grab your Patch polo.

• A Patch T-shirt or baseball hat can be yours if you correctly pick all the winners of the semifinal and final games in both classifications, boys and girls. If more than 10 people achieve perfection, picking 12 out of 12 games correctly, we’ll hold a drawing among those entries for 10 prizewinners.

• A Patch hoodie goes to the top prognosticator, boys and girls games combined, for the entire AAAA tournament, and another hoodie goes to top picker for the whole AAAAA bracket.

• Patch’s fabulous Columbia Conundrum Springs jacket, a $100 value, goes to the one person who reigns supreme by picking the most winners in AAAA and AAAAA combined.

Playing every round maximizes your chances of winning. The entry deadlines are Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. for the first round, March 1 at 5 p.m. for the second, March 4 at 4 p.m. for the third, and March 9 at 3 p.m. for the semifinals and finals.

Feel free to show off your basketball knowledge by sharing your big upsets and your championship forecasts in the comment box, and don’t forget to follow the game action at Patch and on Facebook and Twitter so you know right away how your team is doing.

Click here to make your AAAAA picks.

Click here to make your AAAA picks.