Who Will win the District 3-2A Tournament?

<p><em>PICTURED: [player_tooltip player_id='1377886' first='Aaron' last='Layne']</em></p> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>District 3-2A finished their regular season. After Tellico Plains and Kingston hopped out to undefeated district starts, the two powers in the district each lost just once...to each other. Who will win the D3-2A Tournament?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">2024-2025 Class 2A District 3 Standings</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:table --> <figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><thead><tr><th>Rank</th><th>Team</th><th colspan="2">District</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Tellico Plains</td><td>9-1</td><td>90.0%</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Kingston</td><td>9-1</td><td>90.0%</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>McMinn Central</td><td>5-5</td><td>50.0%</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Polk County</td><td>4-6</td><td>40.0%</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Meigs County</td><td>2-8</td><td>20.0%</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Sweetwater</td><td>1-9</td><td>10.0%</td></tr></tbody></table></figure> <!-- /wp:table --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tellico Plains</strong><br>#0 [player_tooltip player_id='2743954' first='Chadwick' last='Davis']* (2026)<br>#3 [player_tooltip player_id='2735316' first='Rylan' last='Woods']* (2026)<br>#4 Kinzer Hudgins* (2026)<br>#5 Klay Hamilton*<br>#10 Kinley Atkins* (2026)<br>#25 [player_tooltip player_id='2735368' first='Trevor' last='Kibler'] (2027)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>McMinn Central</strong><br>#1 [player_tooltip player_id='2738804' first='Carter' last='Anderson']*<br>#2<br>#3 [player_tooltip player_id='1885431' first='Daylen' last='Spradling']*<br>#23 [player_tooltip player_id='1474518' first='Raymond' last='McCarty']*<br>#32 Will Benton*</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Polk County</strong><br>#2 Benjamin Webb<br>#13 Zanten Branham<br>#23 Jayden Burger<br>#32<br>#33 Jesse Holden</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Meigs County</strong><br>#0 Gavin Malone* (2028)<br>#11 Nate Powell*<br>#15 Brody Goines* (2026)<br>#20 [player_tooltip player_id='2735399' first='Mason' last='Davis']* (2027)<br>#21 Eli Hope* (2027)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Sweetwater</strong><br>#2 [player_tooltip player_id='2279293' first='Hunter' last='Daffron']* (2027)<br>#14 [player_tooltip player_id='2279407' first='Nolan' last='Dacus']* (2027)<br>#20 Cade Houser*<br>#25 Nate Cunningham*<br>#30 Bryson Burgess* (2027)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kingston</strong><br>#4 [player_tooltip player_id='2749439' first='Aiden' last='O'Leary']* (2026)<br>#10 [player_tooltip player_id='1377886' first='Aaron' last='Layne']*<br>#12 [player_tooltip player_id='2634289' first='Malachi' last='Brown']* (2026)<br>#20 Blake Herrell*<br>#21 Warren Brown* (2027)<br>#30 Grady Belitz<br>#5 Avery Belitz (2028)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>#1 Tellico Plains vs. (winner 4/5)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>#4 Polk County vs. #5 Meigs County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>#2 Kingston vs. (winner 3/6)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>#3 McMinn Central vs. #6 Sweetwater<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Projected Fi</strong>nals</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Analysis:</strong> Kingston looks to have the slightly harder road to the District Championship with McMinn Central the likely semifinal opponent. Tellico Plains gets the 4/5 winner by way of a tiebreaker even though TPHS and Kingston both finished 9-1 in district play. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ideally, the two powerhouses will meet again in the title game. Choosing is a fool's errand, but this fool takes Kingston in the battle. TPHS' point guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2743954' first='Chadwick' last='Davis'] </strong>is very composed, and you want a steady ball-handler in high-stakes games. The one large mitigating factor is homecourt advantage. Kingston will host the draw and in the end that will carry them to the title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key <strong>Players</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2025 [player_tooltip player_id='1377886' first='Aaron' last='Layne'], Kingston: </strong>Averaging 24.0 points per game, [player_tooltip player_id='1377886' first='Aaron' last='Layne'] already signed to attend Tennessee Wesleyan University next fall. Layne scores in a variety of ways and often. [player_tooltip player_id='1377886' first='Aaron' last='Layne'] recently surpassed 2,000 career points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2026 [player_tooltip player_id='2735316' first='Rylan' last='Woods'], Tellico Plains: </strong>Breakout player. Rylan demonstrated a mature wing game. The guy scored from three, mid-range, on the run...everything. His potential is exciting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewForce8">@AndrewForce8</a>.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->