Tennessee High's Colin Brown goes up for a layup around West Ridge's Dylan Bannan earlier this season at Viking Hall.
Tim Hayes
BRISTOL, Tenn. - Of course, folks flock to the annual holiday tournament at Viking Hall each December to see teenagers from other parts of the country who will one day make noise in the NCAA Tournament and/or do noticeable things in the NBA.
There are plenty of big-time candidates in the 2024 edition of The Classic to maybe achieve those feats: Calvary Christian's Shon Abaev, Bo Ogden of St. Michael's Catholic Prep, Lake Norman big man Trent Steinour, Tounde Yessoufou of St. Joseph and freshman phenom Erick Dampier Jr. of Madison-Ridgeland.
Yet, if you make it over to Viking Hall in the next days, you might want to check out Tennessee High senior guard Colin Brown.
He is not a five-star recruit and doesn't play above the rim, but he is fun to watch as the 6-foot-2 senior guard is fearless. He scored a single-game school record 54 points last season in a regional tournament game and has boundless energy as he gets to the rim time and time again.
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"Colin should be getting more publicity than he is," said THS coach Michael McMeans. "He was all-tournament in this event last year. He belongs on the floor with anyone here. I'd be shocked if he isn't all-tournament again."
Being his last go-around in The Classic, Brown knows what is at stake.
Tennessee High plays Madison-Ridgeland (9-4) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a first-round game.
"It means a lot to me because me and this whole team grew up watching this tournament when we were kids," Brown said. "It is very important, and we want to place as high as we can this year and even try to win it because that's always the goal and you never know what could happen."
There's much more basketball to be played by the Vikings when The Classic concludes and they have a very good shot of making the TSSAA Class 3A state tournament. The Vikings are currently 11-3.
"The best thing I would say about this team is that we are all best friends and that makes you play even harder for the guy next to you," Brown said. "Also it makes it fun because we are playing the sport we love with our best friends."
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