Climbers (2018)
∧With a broad sweep of the 2018 class and a month of high school in-person evaluations under our belt it is time for an updated Class of 2018 ranking.
As always there are climbers and fallers.
The only movement in the top 10 was Caden Mills. The Tennessee Tech signee doesn’t get much press. Such is life when you live in Van Buren County. Most basketball fans in west, central, and east Tennessee have never seen him play.
They are missing out.
Only four of the eight climbers signed in November.
You can see the complete 2018 rankings here.
#7 Caden Mills ⇑2
Mills is one of the top scorers in the state. Sure he plays against weaker competition than Nashville, Chattanooga, Murfreesboro, and Memphis players, but it is hard to scoff at 28.6 ppg on 48.6% 3-point shooting. Mills signed to Tennessee Tech.
#15 Arecko Gipson Jr. ⇑47
The biggest miss of the last rankings cycle was Arecko. He didn’t get a good AAU opportunity and that hurt his stock some. Still, college coaches figured he was worth evaluating into the fall/winter. The M.A.S.E. senior is putting over 23 ppg and hearing from Georgetown consistently.
#18 Junior Clay ⇑4
The McCallie Blue Tornado are off to a spectacular start and any team lead by Junior Clay (Tennessee Tech signee) is hard to defeat.
#19 Taelyr Gatlin ⇑4
One of the forgotten guards in the Memphis-region, Taelyr roundly impressed LM coaches in July. After taking his official visit to the University of Denver, Gatlin jumped at the chance to commit. Most of the elite 2018 guards in the state lack Gatlin’s natural size.
#28 Boris Ristanovic ⇑4
The Serbian forward needs to add some muscle. Boris’ strengths are his soft touch in the paint and better than average mid-range game. There are some aspects to his game that need to be polished, but a D1 will take that chance.
#30 Dennis Stallings ⇑4
With Whites Creek, Dennis doesn’t dominate. He fits in. The team has several capable scorers and Head Coach Carlton Battle really loves to extend the pressure. Stallings plays well in pressure-filled moments.
#31 Will Midlick ⇑4
Rossview scoring guard Will Midlick (Delta State signee) is the kind of talent that can push his high school team to their program’s deepest playoff run ever. Everything is technically sound for Midlick and the coach’s kid shoots remarkably well every game.
#75 Brandon Mason ⇑28
Senior Brandon Mason is helping Ridgeway compete with and dethrone some of the Memphis powers (Hamilton, White Station, Arlington). Mason is putting up significant, diverse numbers. In fact, he typically collects 7+ rebounds and 5+ assists a night.
#86 Decorrian Kelly ⇑13
Bolton’s point guard started off the season averaging a double-double with points and rebounds! Kelly can continue to climb and devotes himself to winning like all point guards should.