The high school basketball post season has reared its head.

Wait. What?

It’s really here?

It seems like only yesterday when I was going to cover my first basketball game in mid-to-late November.

As Straughn finished its historical run in the Class 3A state football playoffs, I began to focus primarily on basketball.

Every week, I’d dedicate two-to-three nights per week of going out and covering any local action on the schedule.

January flew by in a hurry and now we’re at the start of area tournament play.

Red Level’s boys and girls got started earlier this week because both play in a five-team area.

The Lady Tigers didn’t fair too well on Monday with a 60-37 loss to Georgiana to end their season at the Class 1A, Area 3 tournament in Brantley.

The boys, however, dominated McKenzie 65-28 on Tuesday at J.F. Shields High School to advance to the semifinals, where they will face JFSHS as the No. 4 seed tomorrow night.

Three girls teams — Andalusia, Pleasant Home and Florala — have area tournament semifinal games tonight.

AHS travels to face Monroe County at Hillcrest-Evergreen at 6 p.m., while PHS is at Geneva County to play Kinston at 5 p.m. Florala’s Lady Wildcats play Geneva County at 6:30 p.m.

The area championship for AHS, PHS and FHS girls is on Saturday at their respective tournament sites.

On Friday, Straughn’s boys and girls and Pleasant Home’s boys kick off their area tournaments at home.

Straughn’s boys will face Opp at 8 p.m. in the semifinals. SHS’ girls play Excel at 6:30 p.m. Opp’s girls face Southside Selma at 3:30 p.m. to get the Class 3A, Area 2 tournament rolling.

Pleasant Home faces Kinston in the night cap of the Class 1A, Area 2 tournament at 6:30. Florala will face Geneva County at 5 p.m.

Andalusia’s boys are at Wilcox Central for the Class 4A, Area 2 tournament, where the Bulldogs will face the host at 7:30 p.m.

The championships for the Class 1A boys, Class 3A boys and girls and Class 4A boys area tournaments will take place on Monday.

Take a deep breath, it’s only the start of the post season.

After area tournaments conclude, the winner and runner up from each advance to the sub-regional round, which will be held on Feb. 14 for girls, and Feb. 15 for boys.

The sub-regional winners then advance to play in the South Regional Tournament at the Dothan Civic Center from Feb. 18-23.

Winning the regional tournament will earn a team a ticket to play in the Final 48 Championships at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center.

The Final 48 will take place from Feb. 26-March 3.

This part of basketball season, or any sports season for that matter, really gets me excited.

This is literally my favorite part of a sporting season.

It’s the most exciting because anything can happen.

I just hope our local teams compete well and make a good run in the post season.