Boys' First Region pairings ...

Wednesday
Fulton County (23-4) vs. Ballard Memorial (19-9), 6 p.m.
Paducah Tilghman (25-4) vs. Calloway County (15-13), 7:45 p.m.

Thursday
Marshall County (24-6) vs. Carlisle County (16-13), 6 p.m.
Graves County (22-7) vs. Heath (20-10), 7:45 p.m.

March 7
Semifinals, 6 p.m.

March 8
Championship, 7:45 p.m.

Notes: Who got the best draw? You have to go with Paducah Tilghman, which saw Marshall County and Graves County placed in the opposite bracket.

Two first-round matchups stand out — Ballard Memorial and Fulton County split a pair of regular-season meetings, with the Bombers winning in Hickman just a week ago, and they were the top two seeds in the All A Classic regional tournament.

But neither ballclub has the personnel with which it began the season — Ballard has had three athletic guards (Manny Yarbro, Alex Hill and Chris Jones) leave the team in the last month, and their absence is particularly noticeable on the defensive end. Fulton County was rocked when double-double machine Derrick Swift moved back to Lake County, Tenn.

The other one is Graves County and Heath, two teams that met about a month ago. Heath won that game 74-64 at the Eagles' Nest, a somewhat surprising result in that it came right after the Pirates had won the All A Classic regional title and it was generally thought they were due for a letdown.