Surprised?
Winning one game in February or March requires different team and coach attributes than cultivating a consistent winning culture. A playoff game is quick and bright and intense, like a flashbang. These teams surprised merely because they didn’t dominate regular…
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Continue ReadingWinning one game in February or March requires different team and coach attributes than cultivating a consistent winning culture. A playoff game is quick and bright and intense, like a flashbang. These teams surprised merely because they didn’t dominate regular season play.
Does it matter now?
Don’t be surprised. Or do…these teams march on regardless.
Martin Luther King 10 AA District Champions
Nashville Metro teams routinely get brushed off locally, regionally, and throughout the state. Maplewood’s Class AA Championship in 2017 rattled plenty of cages, the first of its kind by a metro basketball team in 21 years.
East Nashville demanded more attention with 28 straight wins last season and 22 wins in 25 games this season. East Nashville proved to be the class of 10AA with virtually two completely different lineups under Head Coach Jim Frey.
Martin Luther King Head Coach Caden Anderson (pictured above) came to fight all the same. MLK upended East Nashville, 56-51, Friday in the District 10AA Semifinal and finished off Pearl-Cohn tonight, 53-48. A year ago MLK won only 12 regular season games. Today they are Metro Nashville Champions!
White House-Heritage 9 AA District Champions
Imaginging a D9AA Champion named White House could have happened. A senior-laden team, under their new head coach, White House Blue Devils featured a team capable of winning 9AA Championship. They finished this regular season 18-11 and senior guards generally deliver strong postseasons.
But White House-Heritage High?
The Patriots of WHHHS lost eight consecutive games from December through January. They were 6-14 less than a month ago!
This week the Patriots knocked off White House and captured a heart-warming D9AA District Championship.
Clarksville Northeast 10AAA District Champions
District 10 AAA Tournament Champions.
How? This is the same team that began the campaign 4-8?
The team @PrepHoopsTN witnessed in November, a Northeast team pummeled by Bearden and beat by Class AA White House in Beech’s gym, was wholly incapable of arriving at this point in February. They did it with devoted Coach John Stigall instruction and the return of Alec Kegler.
Unsigned senior wing Alec Kegler made Class AAA State Finals All-Tournament Team in 2018. He was considered a preseason Mr. Basketball candidate internally…until he sustained a broken foot during football season.
Kegler returned January 4th. Oddly, Northeast lost that night to Clarksville, 46-45. It was one of only two losses to Tennessee teams Northeast suffered in the entire 2019 calendar. Of the Eagles’ 19 wins, 12 came since Kegler’s return near the season’s midpoint.
In the last four days, Northeast slipped by West Creek, Henry County, and Springfield. The team is playing as well as at any time this season. Can they return to Class AAA State again?
Don’t be surprised if they do.
Summit- 11AAA District Consolation Winners
Growth is the operative word for Summit High School. As a team habituated by freshmen and sophomores, Summit High sputtered all fall and winter in a difficult 11-AAA district. As the freshmen improved and realized the challenges inherent in high school basketball the team improved and the winning results followed…slowly.
Now, Summit’s Spartans are winners of six of their last eight games. Viewed another way Summit has not lost to a non-Franklin team since January 25th.
Congratulations @Destinwade1 for making the 11AAA All Tournament Team. He averaged 16 PPG and helped his young team secure 3rd place in the district tournament. #11AAA #WillCoWadetwins #2022 pic.twitter.com/PGM68vjKQF
— Valerie Wade (@ValerieLWade) February 20, 2019
Carter 3AA District Champions
Following up their 20-win season looked likely two weeks into this 2018-2019 season. Carter’s Hornets were coming off a splendid Grizzly Thanksgiving Classic Championship with wins over Cherokee, Pigeon Forge, and Grainger.
Then, Carter High lost two in a row. It was the first of three two-game losing streaks for Carter. Austin-East beat CHS twice by an average of 24.5 per. Union County High, on the other hand, finished two games ahead of Carter in the standings. They lost just five games prior to Tuesday’s final. Union County looked to be the favorites on paper.
Surprisingly, Carter knocked off Union County 84-74 after leading the entire game. Both teams qualify for regionals.
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