WesVols

While this poll is apparently not the most accurate thing in the world, does it effectively represent the strength of each region? Is Region 11 the best in KY? The poll certainly thinks so...as an out-of-stater, I'd love to hear your opinions.

TN and KY teams continue to earn recognition nationwide. Here are the teams ranked in the Dec. 26 edition of the PrepNation poll: KENTUCKY Scott County - #8 southeast TENNESSEE Brentwood Academy - #8 nation, #1 southeast Memphis Hamilton - #15 nation, #3 southeast Memphis Raleigh-Egypt - #5 southeast Shelbyville Central - #9 southeast In next week's edition, I'd expect to see a few changes: Maybe these people will discover South Laurel. If they keep playing this well, it's bound to happen soon. Memphis Mitchell High School will return to the rankings after an impressive showing in the prestigious Beach Ball Classic, where they reached the finals. Memphis Ridgeway may enter the regional rankings after they made the semis of the Beach Ball Classic. Shelbyville will fall out of the regional rankings after losing two games at the middle-tier Deep South Classic. They are still the only team to beat Brentwood Academy this year, albeit in the first game of the season. Congrats to all these teams.

Brentwood Academy is ranked 8th in the nation and 1st in the Southeast in the latest PrepNation poll after the Eagles won the City of Palms Classic last week. The Eagles beat the #18 team, St. Patrick (NJ) in the tournament semifinals. Other nationally and regionally ranked teams played in the tournament, such as Lake Oswego (OR), Lake Howell (FL), and Dominguez (CA). This week the Eagles are in Northeast Tennessee for the Arby's Classic, which offers some difficult competition from around Tennessee and throughout the nation, from Alaska to Ontario to the Bahamas. BA won its first game over Twin Springs (VA) 93-36. Brandan Wright played sparingly, but still managed to compile 18 points. The Eagles beat Keenan (SC) 69-42 in the quarters and Science Hill (TN) 57-40 in the semis. BA will take on one of the best teams in Tennessee, Bolivar Central, in the tournament championship. The Tigers boast two D1 signees, point guard Willie Kemp (Memphis) and center Wayne Chism (Tennessee). Bolivar is a two-time defending state champ at the AA level (Tennessee's second-highest classification) and is 13-4 so far this year playing against a tough out-of-state schedule. The two teams will also meet later in the season. That was a mouthful, but hopefully some of you are interested. I've enjoyed keeping up with the KY teams BA played -- Scott County, South Laurel, and Lexington Catholic. I've also been told we scrimmaged Henry Clay, so I've followed them a bit, too. If you have any questions, I'll try to get them answered. I'm a bored college student home on Christmas Break, and while I love my family to death, I'm about ready to head back to Knoxville.

Congrats to South Laurel. Glenn HS was in the City of Palms tourney with Brentwood Academy last weekend and had some success there. Impressive win over a good team.

BA won the City of Palms Classic championship tonight, 74-68 over Philadelphia's Episcopal Academy. EA, which boasts UNC signee Wayne Ellington and Duke signee Gerald Henderson, led by seven points at the end of the third quarter, but the Eagles put together a dominant final period to scrape out the win. Ellington scored 29 and Henderson 27, but Brandan Wright posted 31 points and made the difference for BA. Wright took home tournament MVP honors, and BA G Josh Bone also made the all-tournament team. This has been the biggest week in Brentwood Academy basketball history. We've always been a football powerhouse (9 state titles in 35 years), but now we're being nationally recognized in another sport. Thanks to Scott County, South Laurel, and Lexington Catholic for giving us great early-season competition to prepare us for other close games against other top-notch foes.

BA beat St. Patrick tonight, 63-56. The Eagles led by double digits for much of the game. Brandan Wright didn't put together one of his finest performances, but still finished with 25 points. Wright and the Eagles will play another North Carolina signee, Wayne Ellington, in the City of Palms championship tomorrow. This is the biggest win in Brentwood Academy basketball history.

Brentwood Academy defeated Brooklyn's Lincoln High School 82-63 tonight behind a 32-point performance by Brandan Wright. Wright was 12 of 15 from the field and added 8 rebounds. The Eagles play New Jersey's St. Patrick High School, ranked third in the nation by USA Today, in the City of Palms Classic semifinals. Man, I'm proud of these guys.

The Eagles will play Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The Railsplitters beat Nacogdoches (TX) 68-54. They are led by PG Lance Stephenson and are ranked #6 in the northeast (#1 in NYC) by PrepNation. If BA wins, they'll likely face St. Patrick's, the number one seed in the tournament and PrepNation's #12 team in the nation.

Brentwood Academy beat Florida's 10th-ranked team, Lake Wales, tonight by a score of 72-49 in the first round of the City of Palms Classic. Brandan Wright had a very impressive evening. Here's his box score: 28 points 12-13 FG 1-1 3P FG 10 rebounds 10 blocks Yet another triple-double for Wright, who would have scored more points if not for a cold night at the line -- he shot 3-11 at the charity stripe. BA will likely play Lincoln High School (NY) tomorrow.

Some good points. In fact, Montgomery Bell Academy beat Trinity 17-13 in an early-season matchup in Nashville. MBA lost in the first round of the Division II-AAA (large private school) playoffs. The best football in Tennessee, team-for-team, is played in Division II-AAA, also called the "Super Seven" because until this year it only had seven teams. After the public-school-controlled TSSAA banished financial-aid-giving schools to their own league, private schools were forced to play in smaller leagues that don't receive as much widespread attention. Most of the teams in the Super Seven (including my alma mater, Brentwood Academy), are traditional football powerhouses who could hold their own against almost any team in the southeast. BA had some great games against Paducah Tilghman in the late 80's and early 90's, and MBA leads the series against Trinity, 2-1, including a 17-13 win during Brian Brohm's senior year.

Seigel is currently 7-0, but they haven't played anybody and have won a few close games over teams they should've beaten handily. On Tennessee's premier high school website, CoachT.com (which I strongly recommend), many Seigel fans have argued that their team should be nationally ranked. They sound like a fantastic team; however, they haven't proven themselves against great competition yet. Last year they went to Tennessee's AAA (highest level) state semis, where they lost to eventual champion Ridgeway. Here's a link to Seigel's 2005-6 schedule: CoachT.com Schedule -- Seigel Stars Ricky Bowers was an assistant football coach at Brentwood Academy, but he later moved to BA's fiercest rival, Montgomery Bell Academy, where he won several state championships as head football coach. He's currently the athletic director at Ensworth, a brand new, exquisitely funded prep school 10 minutes from both BA and MBA.

UT fans were about as restless as prisoners during football season. I've always been a diehard Vol fan and I love going to school here, so this season was tough for me. For once the folks in Knoxville are behaving like Kentucky fans -- we're glad it's basketball season. :thumb:

Prep Nation's National Prep Basketball Poll included some Tennessee and Kentucky teams in its national and regional rankings. TENNESSEE Brentwood Academy (5-1) - #19 overall, #4 southeast Memphis Hamilton (8-0) - #20 overall, #5 southeast Memphis Mitchell (8-2) - #7 southeast Shelbyville (6-0) - #9 southeast KENTUCKY Henry Clay (4-0) - #8 southeast Scott County (2-1) - #10 southeast

Unfortunately, I was not. I'm a student at The University of Tennessee, so I'm unable to go to many BA games. I haven't seen the Eagles play this year, but I'm looking forward to catching some games over Christmas break. Vandy Coach Kevin Stallings' son plays for BA. I think he's a sophomore this year, but I could be wrong.

Brandan Wright has not faced off against Lawrence North's Greg Oden in a high school game. They may have played against each other in an AAU matchup or at a camp, but I'm not sure.