ThePiedPiperOfBrentwood

I'm pretty sure Aaron Howard (ex-Brentwood JV/freshmen coach) is applying

He's certainly the best candidate of the guys with connections to Shaka Smart. They may very we'll go w/ a successful VCU retread like Jeff Capel (if he doesn't take the Arizona State job) or Anthony Grant, but Will is a coaching superstar on the rise. He's only 32 and a heck of a scout/recruiter. (He grew up a Vandy fan so I'm hoping he takes the reins from Stallings in a few years.) I grew up going to church with Will and actually stayed at his place in Richmond while I coached the first VCU camp when he was hired there as an assistant. Though Will didn't play in college or even at FRA, no coach in America has been more feverishly devoted to learning every aspect of the game than him. When I was staying at his place, I noticed dozens of books written by just about every noteworthy college and pro coach you can think of (I ended up reading some autobio by Bill Snyder of his which was great but can't remember all the others). Anyways, really looking forward to what he accomplishes over the next few decades. He should be the best Nashville native to coach in any sport since Bill Belichick.

1. Memphis East 2. Oak Ridge 3. Blackman 4. ??? 5. ??? ... Those are the best three I can come up with so far. Many teams lose a lot from this year. Hamilton loses its core, Brentwood only returns 2 of 7 members of its rotation, Hillsboro loses several good players, and White Co. loses its core. East and OR return basically everyone (OR could be even better than East, but I'll list East here as #1 since they beat OR in the quarters) and Blackman effectively only loses senior PG Isaiah Hart (although that's a big loss). Maryville loses a couple key seniors but has a couple other key players returning. Station Camp loses its MVP Anderton and athletic swingman Shivonta Perry, but returns likely preseason District 9-AAA MVP Yalen Reed and sharpshooter Keatan Dodson, among others. Mt. Juliet returns everyone from a scrappy sub-state team, so they probably deserve a spot in the top ten. Does anyone know who Germantown and Houston have returning? Any other nominations?

PG Grayson Murphy, Independence

Jalen Lawson may have committed to Lipscomb but I'm still trying to confirm that.

This fan banter is hilarious. Even if it were true that Sparta brought more fans, you're acting like you deserve a merit badge for it. NEWSFLASH: you were soundly beaten by a better team. You don't see Brentwood fans running around whining about how we outnumbered Hamilton fans 8-to-1. We still got the Silver Ball and they got the Gold.

Independence, led by the Murphy brothers, should be the team to beat in our district next season.

Hubie Smith is BA's coach. Ensworth's Ricky Bowers has to be on here too

You are totally delusional! If anything, our fans outnumbered yours by at least 2-to-1. Our student section was WAY bigger than yours. Or, in the more eloquent words of my forefathers: #SCOREBOARD!!!

Ssssshhhh!! Don't set off the sensitive White Co. fans! Lord knows their overwhelming "tradition" and rabid fan base will keep the rich, spoiled kids in our program from ever making State again

You are correct. Randy Hatley was hired from Page (I think) and wasn't able to replicate King's success during those few years. That said, I would bet the administration will be much more savvy in hiring the next successor. Keidel (who wasn't in charge back in 2003 the last time King "retired") knows what he's doing.

Though I agree with most of what you said, I think most of Brentwood's administration would take issue with your last comment. BHS principal Kevin Keidel is himself a former basketball head coach and King has arguably the best staff in the state. When King inevitably retires, LaVergne head coach/AD Jeremy Moore and Mt. Juliet coach Troy Allen (quite similar to King in their approach if not as experienced or perhaps yet skilled) will likely receive calls about the job, though it's questionable whether either would want to make a lateral move to Brentwood or directly follow in King's shadow. Without naming names, there are a few assistants and ex-assistants I could name as potential successors to King, but those decisions are heavily dependent on internal politics, including whether or not someone is eligible to teach in Williamson County. However, in terms of running a proven system, the blueprint (masterminded by King, of course) is in place. Just as Xavier went from Pete Gillen to Skip Prosser to Thad Matta to Sean Miller, there are plenty of coaches and former players around Brentwood's program familiar with that blueprint.

I believe they were 15-0 when Tarrance Baker was found to be ineligible. I only saw one box score where he played, but he had 23 pts in that game, so I imagine he was a pretty significant player. I doubt they win the Oak Hill game w/o him.

Except Brentwood's made it the past three years. Nice try, though.

Good point on Henning. He most definitely deserves to be on there. When was the last time Ridgeway made State?

With the completion of the 2014-15 season, I was contemplating a list of the best coaches in the state (and I'm obviously biased here): 1A. Dennis King, Brentwood (best offensive coach; 4-3 in AAA state tournaments) 1B. Barry Wortman, Blackman (best defensive coach; 4-3 in AAA state tournaments) 3. Aaron Green, Oak Ridge 4. Mark Eldridge, Maryville 5. Byron Thweatt, Hillsboro 6. Ricardo Patton, Memphis Central (hasn't done much there yet, but he's as pedigreed a coach as any in the state) 7. Southwind's coach (Name??) 8. Troy Bond, Wilson Central 9. Troy Allen, Mt. Juliet 10. Todd Day, Hamilton (once again, not much experience at his current school, but a state title in his first year as coach and a great pedigree as a player) Thoughts?

Extremely proud of our boys for playing lights-out today against one of the best teams in the country...I personally feel we were robbed of a state title by the refs, who missed an obvious foul on Tanner Tapp where he was stripped prior to Hamilton's go-ahead layup with about 20 seconds left. We had the better game plan and our biggest mistake was speeding the game up when we had a 12-point lead in the second quarter, which obviously played into Hamilton's hands. This team wasn't supposed to be *quite* as good, at least on paper, as the past two Brentwood teams and our final W-L record reflected that (we were 30-7 this year contrasted with 32-3 last year and 30-5 the year before that). That said, we have five great seniors who are all outgoing, outspoken leaders, have phenomenal basketball IQs, and play with perhaps the best chemistry of any Brentwood team ever. Whereas the signature quality of our squad two years ago was our sheer depth, and the signature quality of last year's team was a virtually (offensively) unstoppable starting five, the hallmark of this year's team is that we basically started five point guards, rarely turned it over, and just did the little things like taking charges very well. What most people don't know about this year's Brentwood team is that we had to replace two of the best forwards in school history (Andy Schumpert and Jacob Adcock) and a great shooting guard in Jack Bautista who all graduated last year; Schumpert was also probably one of the best players in Williamson County history. Additionally, during the course of this season we had to replace our most experienced and arguably best overall player (three-year starting PG James McPherson, the best pure distributor in school history, who was dismissed from the team at the end of the regular season) and our most athletic starter (junior post Ahmad Arnold, who tore his ACL against Blackman in December). That's five starters we had to replace in less than a year, three of whom were our best inside players who were essentially replaced by guards. But Benny and Toe Bautista (junior twins who are the younger brothers of Jack) slid into the starting lineup in January and meshed astonishly well with our "Big Three" of PG Jalen Lawson, SF Grant Teichmann, and PF Tanner Tapp. Lawson also had big shoes to replace when McPherson was booted, sliding from shooting guard to point guard, where he is honestly a better fit. (His older brother told me today that he was offered by and committed to Lipscomb this week, but I still need to confirm that.) Anyways, today could be the end of an era following three straight AAA Final Four appearances and 30+ win seasons. It will be very tough to replace our five seniors, with only two of our seven rotation players (the Bautista twins, who are rising seniors) returning next year. Opposite of this year, we will be a frontcourt-heavy team next year that probably won't shoot as well as the past few teams; if outside shooting is to remain our calling card, several players will have to improve considerably this offseason. If you had told me before the season that we'd play in our first-ever state championship game and lose a nailbiter to Hamilton, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. That said, to have a state title within your grasp and have it slip away is a devastating feeling. But I love our seniors, who I've known since their undefeated freshman campaign, and think most D-1 schools in the country are nuts for not offering a Grant Teichmann already; the kid was born to play basketball and has the ideal build (6-3) and skills necessary to excel as a shooting guard at the next level. Our team motto this season has been #3XC, meaning "third time's the charm" for our third straight state tournament appearance, and though we fell just short of a championship, this squad far exceeded my expectations. The motto for next season, the team told me tonight, is #Back4More. Already excited to see next year's team develop!

I'm certain. I'm close with the family. Great people.

No, he's the younger brother of David Hood, another former basketball player from about five years ago.

I think his name is Rocky Jackson

They will most definitely be. Great team that plays poised under pressure. They can't really stroke it, but they do everything else well. Brentwood was lucky to win. Undisputed MVP was senior sixth man Ryan Hood, whose 7-for-7 effort from the line in the final couple minutes decided the game. Congrats to East on a great season. Their best is in front of them!

Yes, both have offers from both schools, I believe

Freed-Hardeman and Martin Methodist are recruiting both pretty hard. Teich has a few other offers too. (Grant's older brother, Kyle Teichmann, is Freed's all-time leading scorer.)

Jalen Lawson and Grant Teichmann from Brentwood are also unsigned.

I'm not a coach. There are plenty of ways to get access to film on Hudl, etc.