Freshmen Wunderkinds

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>PICTURED: [player_tooltip player_id='2333265' first='Condis' last='Cherry'] (Austin-East)</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Freshmen so rarely play varsity basketball. Even more rare is an instance of a freshman impacting games at the varsity level. Below you will read about multiple examples. These are Freshmen Wunderkinds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2333265' first='Condis' last='Cherry']</strong> (Austin-East) defended [player_tooltip player_id='1259399' first='Ty' last='Glasper'] (Mr. Basketball-Finalist) the entire second quarter with quite good results. For Coach Bertram to even give a freshman such an assignment is revealing of how competent Shane's younger brother already is. Defensively, Condis reminds of those Whitehaven point guards <strong>Kavion McClain</strong> and <strong>Alvin Miles</strong>. He is so quick, but at this stage he gambles a lot. Later in that riveting District Tournament semifinal he did foul out.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/PrepHoopsTN/status/1758976818361627106?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/PrepHoopsTN/status/1758976818361627106?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2260983' first='Jamir' last='Dean'] </strong>(Alcoa)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Before the season even tipped, Gatlinburg-Pittman Head Coach Rashid Moore alerted PrepHoopsTN that Alcoa had a wonderful freshman hooper. [player_tooltip player_id='2260983' first='Jamir' last='Dean'] was a football guy to most, but his basketball productivity was apparent right away. [player_tooltip player_id='2260983' first='Jamir' last='Dean'] and Alcoa will play in the Class AA State Tournament next week. He is a starter with the squad, an important energy guy. Dean's explosiveness is rare though his shooting needs to improve quite a bit long-term.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2309002' first='Armani' last='Smith'] </strong>(Kirkwood) started for Kirkwood all season, for the school's debut squad. Head Coach John Stigall sees a big future for Armani.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>He has been the best player on every team he has played on since sixth grade. Maybe younger than that. He is physically gifted. He has a great feel for the game. And he works at it. I think his ceiling is unlimited.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><cite>John Stigall 2/3/24</cite></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2345582' first='Will' last='Jones'] </strong>(Maryville) plays limited minutes for a state-bound Maryville outfit though he did score a career-high 16 points against Knowledge Academies.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2361785' first='Jalen' last='Chapman']</strong> (Springfield) earned First Team All-District. Chapman's mother, Sheena Bowling Chapman, is in the Robertson County Hall of Fame, played collegiately for the University of Montevallo. She is also in the Springfield High School Hall of Fame.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Springfield Head Coach Anthony Griggs took over in July. He took over with no preconceived notions of who should play. Chapman quickly established himself as one of the team's top players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"He has been one of our key guys," said Coach Griggs. "Coming in as a freshman and playing varsity it has been a different speed for him. But he caught on...His breakout game was against Greenbrier. He turned the corner that game. He really had a great game."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->