By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
GAYLESVILLE – Throughout men’s college basketball’s history, there have been several teams famous for their run-and-gun styles. UNLV, Loyola-Marymount and Arkansas in the 1990s were a few such teams.
That’s the type of style first-year Gaylesville coach Kolby Brannon expects see this season with the Trojans. It’s something he experienced last season as an assist under Andrew Isbell at Valley Head.
“Our goal is 90 shots per game,” Brannon said. “If we could shoot 60 threes a game I’d be happy with it.”
It’s a style the Trojans weren’t ready for at first, but since the summer, Brannon feels they’re beginning to come around.
“The first day of practice, Kuper (Bradley) was laying on the ground afterward, asking me to please stop,” Brannon joked. “From the start of practice to the end it’s running. There’s very little down time. I think they’ll tell you from the beginning of practice until the end of practice they’re running. We run the entire practice.
“Our conditioning is full-court layups. You’ve got to make 90 in three minutes. They do right hand and left hand. To start practice, we do an eight-minute dribbling session. It’s dribbling full court and shooting layups full court.”
Bradley, a freshman, will play at the one guard. Senior Tanner Eads is at the two guard with Kyler Bradley at three. The Trojans’ four and five spots are junior Braden Sharp and senior Keylon Higgins.
JJ Yarbrough, Collin Hendon, Caden Angle, Gage Quinn and Matthew Cox will provide the Trojans some size depth.
“Braden (6-0, 235) is kind of the enforcer down there (inside),” Brannon said. “We’re going to be very physical, and if we’re hitting shots, it’s going to be a bad night for somebody.”
Brannon said the big thing for the Trojans is finishing games. He saw spurts of success from the frenetic style of play back during the summer.
“Through the summer, I thought we looked very well the first half of most of our games,” he said. “Some games we looked really good defensively and looked horrible on offense. Some games we looked great on offense and not so great on defense. It’s just piecing everything together.
“We played Section and in the first half I think we might have shot the worst we’ve shot it. The second half we got hot and rattled off about 40 points real quick. This year that’s how we want it to be. When fans come, you never know. It could turn into a shootout. It could turn into us running away with one. It might be a night we don’t hit shots.”
Gaylesville opens the 2022-23 season Tuesday night at Gaston, a team Brannon was once head coach. The Trojans’ first home game is Friday against Collinsville. They compete in the Class 1A, Area 12 along with Cedar Bluff, Coosa Christian, Jacksonville Christian and Spring Garden.
“Our biggest thing is earning respect from people around here,” Brannon said. “I’m a big believer that no one around here respects Gaylesville. Our theme this year, when we break it down, is one person says ‘earn’ and everybody else says ‘respect.’
“This is new to them, but once we hit our stride, I’m excited to see what we can do.”