Why undefeated Douglass boys said anything short of first TSSAA basketball championship would be failure

MURFREESBORO – The question was simple: Would this season feel like a failure without a gold ball trophy?  

Without hesitation, Jarmon Brittman and Demario Johnson, both juniors who played on last year’s runner-up team, definitively shook their heads “yes”.  

After Douglass defeated Austin-East 72-49 in the TSSAA Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinals at Murphy Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State on Thursday, both players and coach Greg Williams were unanimous that anything less than a gold ball this year wouldn’t feel right.  

Douglass (34-0) will play Whites Creek (26-5) in the TSSAA 2A semifinals at 4 p.m. Friday.

"Our expectation is that gold ball,” Williams said. “Whatever we got to do to get it, that’s what we got to do.” 

It’s what Douglass has longed for after reaching the state championship game in each of its previous state tournament appearances – in 2018 and 2023. Falling short to Alcoa in a one-point loss last season was so bitter of a feeling, it’s been the sole motivating factor for the Red Devils all year.  

"We saying all or none, but at the end of the day when the dust settles, if we didn’t win, we’ve had a wonderful season,” Williams said. “We had an awesome season. It can’t be denied.” 

So why does a program that’s never won a state championship and is 0-2 in title appearances put so much pressure on winning the coveted state championship title? 

Part of the reason is because they know what it takes to get to the title game. The other reason is because they know all too painfully what it means to finish runner-up. Being on the losing end for a third time in program history isn’t an option. 

"This year, we’re looking for revenge and bring that gold ball home,” Brittman said. 

That’s why they could care less about any noise of playing a “weak” schedule. When Williams took his team to play in the Fred VanVleet Classic in Rockford, Illinois, he didn’t expect to walk away being one of the best teams.  

When the Red Devils played two prep academies during the Battle in the Bluff in January, Williams didn’t expect to beat both.  

But they did.  

And regardless of their district schedule – which is out of their control – they enter the state tournament as the No. 1 team in the AP high school rankings.  

“We never anticipated being 34-0 coming into today,” Williams said. “That was never our goal. But our goal every game is go play hard. This is what playing hard got us.” 

They plan on finishing as the undisputed No. 1 team with some gold hardware to go with it. Doing so would put them in an elite category as one of four public school teams in Memphis to win a state title with an undefeated record. 

"We’ve been to the state title twice and we’ve lost twice,” Brittman said. “We want to be the first in Douglass history to get the gold ball.” 

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @wynstonw__.