Nashville Celtics Youth Basketball

The Nashville Celtics have made their presence known at the Peach State Showcase over the past four days.

The 17s, playing in a Super Pool loaded with Nike EYBL teams, flexed their Adidas muscles. To start the tournament, the Celtics matched up with in-state rival the Tennessee Travelers and took down the Travelers with a 12 point victory. The Celtics lost their next game against Each 1 Teach 1 and then went on a roll from there. They proceeded to string together victories over the Carolina Raptors and Jackson Tigers. Once they entered tournament play, they continued their run against their Nike rivals by taking down the Southern Kings, Alabama Challenge and Charlotte Royals and eventually ended up in the championship against a familiar opponent – Each 1 Teach 1. Unfortunately, the Celtics came up short in a hard-fought 5 point loss.

The 16s & 15s performed extremely with short-handed rosters. With wins over Georgia Impact and Birmingham Ice among others for the 16s, the Celtics showed they would not back down. The loaded Carolina Raports found that out as the Celtics took the Raptors to overtime only to suffer a 3 point loss. The 16s finished the tournament 4-2.

The 15s showed strong in pool play as well winning 3 games and losing a tough game to the Georiga Stars by 1 point. They look forward to getting their complete roster back together for their final tournament in Fort Wayne, Indiana, July 29-31.

The 17s and 16s look to continue their success as they head to Las Vegas next week for the Adidas Super 64.

The Celtics 5th grade team bounced back from a disappointing performance at AAU state to champions of the Spring Fling YBOA qualifier this weekend. Once again Damion Baugh and Jaden Lewis lead the team on offensive and defensive to go 5-0 on the weekend. Next up–YBOA state for a bid to the nationals!
Overall record 27-13.

Coach Duke files the following report from this weekend’s tournament. The Nashville Celtics 8th graders finished 3rd in the AAU State this weekend in Alcoa,TN. I know that isn’t first or second,but in most states it would have been.The top four teams in the state of Tennessee are some of the top teams in the nation. Nashville Select beat the Memphis YOMCA in the championship game and the Nashville Celtics beat the Memphis War Eagles in the consolation game. In 2010 the YOMCA was the DII AAU National Champs,they have a starting line-up that averages 6′5″.They have a 6′9″ kid that doesn’t get much playing time. Several of their players are listed in most middle school ranking publications and are trying to dunk on you on every play. They also beat the Texas Titans the #1 AAU team in the country last weekend. I say all this to let you know that the Nashville Celtics 8th graders took them to the wire and was a missed layup and a charge called a block in the last 2 minutes from beating them. I have a good team with little or know AAU experience. Every game and every practice I can see each kid mature and our team chemistry become stronger. All the other teams were loaded with kids that have been on the circuit and in big games since 3rd grade. I know because I’ve either coached the kids or played against them for that long. I have one kid (my son, Jalen) on this year’s Celtics team with AAU experience and he was on a school trip to Orlando and didn’t play. I needed his experience in the semi-final game against a motivated Nashville Select team–this was most of my players’ first 9 am road trip game. We lost, but we regrouped to beat the AAU 2010 #3 team in the nation and defending state champs the Memphis War Eagles in the consolation game. All they did was add a 6′9″ top recruit in the 2015 class in the country from Haiti and he can play. He is as polished as any player. He is a cross between Tim Duncan, Brandan Wright and Tashaun Prince. To be 13 he has no awkward goofyness at all and will dunk on you…so we experienced. His only weakness is he might be 170lbs. And my Nashville Celtics 8th grade team beat them! I am as proud of this 3rd place as I have ever been. Tennessee has 4 teams that could potentially win the national championship and all are top 25.

The Celtics 12’s won the super regional in Birmingham this past weekend. They went undefeated and won against the Alabama Select in the championship, earning a bid to the D1 nationals. Jalon Cambridge was named tournament MVP, and lead the charge on both ends of the floor along with Imani Starling and Myles Hamilton.

In addition to qualifying for the AAU Nationals, the team will be competing in the D1 State tourney this weekend in White House.

Champs Celebrate

The first weekend in May, the 11’s went 5-0 and were the  champs of the Knights of the Roundball Tournament. The team  beat its nemesis, Team Nashville, who they has lost to 4 previous times.  Chemistry is coming together along with defensive effort.  Overall record is 22-10.  State coming up May 13th in Memphis.

The Nashville Celtics 16’s participated in the Wallace Prather Memorial Tournament over Mothers Day weekend and had their best showing of the year. The team was on fire during pool play, going 3-0 and winning by a collective margin of 101 points. The team then moved on to bracket play and rallied from 15 down twice to improve to 5-0.  Saturdays nightcap was particularly exciting as the Celtics played one of the local teams, the Atlanta Knicks.  In a hostile gymnasium with no air conditioning, the guys pulled out a 1 point win to advance on to Sunday.  On Sunday morning the team got off to a slow start and had trouble making free throws. The guys gave a valiant effort to come back from 17 down but couldn’t get over the hump, losing to the Southern Select Team 60-53.  This dropped their record to 5-1 for the weekend.  Everyone played hard this weekend and made solid contributions.  It seemed like their was a different star every game. The remainder of the summer should be really exciting for these guys as they continue to mesh and learn how to play together.

Sub-State AAU 14U Champs–Nashville Celtics

The 14’s traveled to Clarksville for the AAU Central-South Sub State.  On Friday night the 14’s dominated the entire game but made some mental  mistakes in the last 1:30 that cost them the game.  After the game, Coach Duke had a long heart to heart talk with the guys about what they wanted to do with the rest of the season.  It must have worked, because on Saturday the 14’s won three straight games: 63-43,74-62,74-56 to put them in the semifinals against a good Jtown Cavs team from Jackson,TN.  The team won 69-51 advancing to the Championship game vs. TN Edge.  Again, the 14’s dominated the entire game with a lead between 7 & 13 points but once again had a tough time closing the game out.  However, in this case, they were able to hold on and win 75-72.  This championship gives the Nashville Celtics a #1 seed in the state tournament May 13-15 in Knoxville, TN.

Nashville Celtics player Jalen Duke has been awarded the Nashville Metro Public Schools Mr.Basketball award.  This is an outstanding award and well deserved.  Jalen is the son of Coach Duke and plays on our 14’s team.  He has  been with the Celtics for 3 years and is a terrific competitor and accomplished player.

Jalen is shown above receiving his award from Charles Davis, former Vanderbilt and Chicago Bulls star.

The Celtics 13’s traveled to Clarksville for their AAU Sub-State and had great success. The 13’s blew by every team that they played, overpowering the opposition with aggressive defense, rebounding and fast breaks that are the signature of Coach Vic Wharton’s teams.  The 13’s won the championship game on Sunday by 40+ points.  The team has great character and outstanding players, including big men Parker Bryan and Yalen Reed, wings Coleman Goodwin, Cyenterius Lyons, and TC Newton, shooting guards Ross Plunkett and Jordan Wilson and the team is glued together by the outstanding play of the Cummings twins from Dickson.  The 13’s will advance to the state tournament as a #1 seed.