Beam Him Up

Can Alcoa reach fourth straight title game?

Alcoa’s Jibriel Koko is guarded by William Blount’s Jack Freeman at the jamboree.

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

Maryville is awfully strong.

The Rebels suffered a tough, quarterfinal loss to Hillsboro in the Class 4A state basketball tournament last season in Murfreesboro. Motivated, and a year older, Maryville returns three of five starters from that team.

Guards Jonathan Woodlee and Eli Owensby and smooth-shooting big man Luke Sigmund are each capable of fearsome feats of scoring. Is it enough to power Maryville back to the ‘Boro for another run?

We shall see, but betting against it wouldn’t be the best idea.

Alcoa and jamboree slam-dunk champion Joel Kirk look best-positioned to challenge the Rebels locally. The Tornadoes reached their third consecutive Class 3A championship game a year ago, a run during which Alcoa emerged back-to-back champions in 2023 and 2024.

It’s always difficult to get a good measure on the Tornadoes until the football players return in late December, but keeping pace with the Rebels if they really get it going in a given contest is going to be a big ask for any team during the 2025-26 season.