I've seen Milton play basketball about 30 times over the past three years. However, last Friday was the first time I 'officially' got a chance to watch them this season (I have watched them once: since I'm not a Falcons fan, I was one of the 30 people that watched them on ESPNU against Oak Hill Academy). After watching them toy with Centennial in a 76-48 win, I came to two conclusions:

1. There is no need to play the AAAAA state tournament this year because no one is going to beat Milton.

2. Milton is the best high school basketball team I have ever seen. Ever. In the world.

You might be saying, "John, you're dumb, Milton's not even the best team in the state, they lost to Miller Grove." If Milton and Miller Grove played tomorrow night, the Eagles would win by double digits, but they aren't scheduled to play again, so I'm going to have to arrange it. This means I'm going to spend the rest of the high school basketball season sending emails to GHSA commissioner Ralph Swearingin to demand one thing: a Milton-Miller Grove rematch in March with the winner getting both the AAAA and AAAAA state title trophies. Swearingin will probably say no to my idea until I tell him how much money the GHSA can  make off of it, then he'll probably say yes.

The Picks

Centennial at Roswell (Boys, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.): If you would have asked me in December who I thought was going to win this game, I would have said Centennial by 55, but Hornet fans, don't fret, I don't think that anymore. In the last seven days, Centennial has lost to Alpharetta while Roswell beat that same Raider squad. If you read the Roswell-Alpharetta game story on pg. 43, you'll see that Taylor Birchett exploded for 25 points and pretty much went Kobe Bryant on an unsuspecting Alpharetta team. Taylor, if you're reading, I expect more of the same Tuesday, please don't disappoint me. And if you're still reading Taylor, you may not want to make it to the next sentence: I'm going to take Centennial 77-70. By the way, I'm 6-0 in basketball picks, so if I pick your team to win, it's the opposite of a jinx.

Roswell at Alpharetta (Girls, Friday, 6 p.m.): There is no typo here: for the second week in a row, I'm picking the Roswell-Alpharetta girls game. These two teams played last Thursday and Alpharetta came out on top in a wild overtime game (story on pg. 43). Alpharetta's Delaney Hollenbeck almost had a triple-double. Now, I haven't made any rules for my picks yet, but I'm making one now, if you're a girls high school basketball player and you almost have a triple-double, I can't pick against your team. Ever. So for the second week in a row, I'll be taking Alpharetta. Lets say that Lady Raiders win this one 51-48.