Class 3A Championship Preview

Andrew Force March 16, 2022 @ 01:19 PM

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtney Smith Eight hot 3A teams descended upon Murfreesboro, Tennessee Tuesday and yet just two valiant teams remain for the Saturday Bluecross TSSAA 3A State Championship. Semifinal Scores Greeneville (59) - Stone Memorial (55) South Side (51) - Fulton (50) <h3 style="text-align: center;">The Superstars</h3> [player_tooltip player_id="1025276" first="Jakobi" last="Gillespie"] is the best player right now. He rightfully won the Mr. Basketball, a year after winning the Class 2A State Tournament and the Finals MVP.. He is not alone on Greeneville’s team, but he is head and shoulders better than each of his teammates on this stage. JaKobi is explosive and driven to win. He handles much of the ball-handling and responsibilities to create. He made two key three-pointers against Stone Memorial in the middle of the second quarter to open the Devils’ largest lead to that moment. Everything goes through Jakobi on the offensive end, including the sharp, clever passes. Removed from the superstar moniker, [player_tooltip player_id="1263011" first="Adjatay" last="Dabbs"] is having a fantastic tournament. Rebounder, scorer, emotional leader. Dabbs can hit from the outside, which is key against South Side. They are worse at defending the arc after kick-outs. [player_tooltip player_id="1179286" first="Rico" last="Sain II"] (South Side) finished his semifinal game with 15 points, seven rebounds, and fumbled six turnovers. Sain II earned Mr. Basketball Finalist, but lost out to Gillespie. [player_tooltip player_id="1162495" first="Reid" last="Satterfield"] (Greeneville) will be a key player. He is a surprisingly sound rebounder from the guard position, and that will be requested by the GHS team in this matchup. Satterfield is a strong outside shooter too. <h4 style="text-align: center;">Team Capsules</h4> Greeneville - The Greene Devils thrive when they speed up their halfcourt defensive pressure. Their quickness is very good at each position. Two key elements of the GHS offense are 1) early offense and 2) post feeds prior to kicks. The Greene Devils don’t look to score in the paint with their big man Terry Grove much at all, but the ball often finds him before he delivers a kick-out to suddenly open shooters. That early offense topic deserves mention. Jakobi cheats out after the defensive rebounds, which makes him extra threatening. Gillespie is wonderful in the halfcourt, but becomes even more dangerous with a only a retreating defender impeding his charge. South Side - The bigs for South Side are very scrappy. Greeneville Projected Starters: #2 Jackson Tillery (’22) #3 [player_tooltip player_id="1025276" first="Jakobi" last="Gillespie"] (’22) #5 [player_tooltip player_id="1263011" first="Adjatay" last="Dabbs"] (’23) #11 Terry Grove (’22) #23 [player_tooltip player_id="1162495" first="Reid" last="Satterfield"] (’22) South Side Projected Starters*: Rico Sain* (’22) [player_tooltip player_id="1008281" first="Kobe" last="Ward"]* (’22) Bryson Baker* (’22) Jeremiah Smith* (’22) [player_tooltip player_id="1347852" first="Christian" last="Mitchell"]* (’25) Jaylan Cole (’22) <h3 style="text-align: center;">FINAL PREDICTION</h3> Greeneville vs. South Side Winner: Greeneville. South Side’s scrappiness is elite, and embedded in the program. Greeneville is not only the favorite, they are likely playing the best of any team in 3A. Aside from a low-scoring portion of the first quarter against Stone Memorial, the favorites made the offense flow with probing dribbles and swift, accurate passes. Of course, it helps when [player_tooltip player_id="1025276" first="Jakobi" last="Gillespie"] is on fire. South Side lacks the offensive firepower, and though they usually generate easier buckets via turnovers, this matchup and Gillespie specifically could minimize those.