TCA boys facing tough schedule this season

Basketball's regular season doesn't officially start until Monday, Nov. 25, but TSSAA allows each team a maximum of three games this week for Hall of Champions games.
Trinity Christian Academy's boys will be playing all three of theirs in a 24-hour period Friday night and Saturday as the Lions are hosting some high profile matchups for most of the afternoon and evening. The games for TCA will set the tone for the rest of the season, which includes some more high profile matchups with tough teams at the state and national level.
"We've got some good teams coming in that I'm excited about," said TCA head coach Dexter Williams. "And it's just the start of a really tough schedule for us that will be really difficult.
"But I wouldn't put this schedule together if I didn't think this team could handle it. I'm not saying that we'll win every game, but I think this team is good enough and mature enough to compete with some top teams and learn lessons from games even if we don't win."
As far as this Saturday goes, the action starts at noon as South Side's boys will come over and play White Haven.
"White Haven and Bartlett will be the two best teams in Memphis and Shelby County this year, and Willie Kemp is White Haven's coach," Williams said. "I've known him for years ever since I was coaching Liberty and he was at Bolivar and we were competing against each other for district championships, region championships and state championships.
"Plus he was on one of our TBT teams with the Under Dawgs."
After White Haven and South Side gets things started, TCA's boys will play Harding Academy followed by both schools' girls' teams.
"They're in our region, and they hosted us last year, so they're returning the favor and coming up here this year," Williams said.
The final two games of the day will be TCA boys against White Haven followed by Bolivar boys vs. Memphis Homeschool Education Association's team.
"MHEA has their own league they play in, but it's probably not hard to find five to 10 basketball players in Memphis and put together a really good team," Williams said.
TCA's boys' schedule this season also includes a trip to Corinth, Miss., to play in the Lighthouse Classic on Nov. 30 against Wenonah, a state championship contender team from Birmingham, Ala. Closer to Christmas, the Lions will travel to Poplar Bluff, Mo., to play in the Poplar Bluff Showdown that has some of the top teams in the country play in that every year.
The Lions will take a weekend trip to St. Louis to play a pair of teams that are typically among the best in that city - De Smet Jesuit and St. Mary’s. There's actually a local connection to De Smet Jesuit.
"Our county mayor, A.J. Massey, I played at Union with his brother Ryan, and Ryan's son, Riley, is a talented player at De Smet Jesuit and has signed to play with North Dakota State," Williams said. "Ryan and I were talking last summer about how possible it would be for our teams to play each other, and he connected me with their coach, and we got all of this set up."
On top of all these tournaments and classic showcases, the regular season schedule includes non-district games against the likes of Bolivar, Haywood and Fayette-Ware.
"Like I said earlier, I can't tell you what our record will be at the end of the season, but I can tell you we'll be battle tested when we get to the end," Williams said. "And I'd much rather take a few losses in the regular season and go into the postseason better prepared than to put a bunch of mediocre teams on the schedule, rack up a bunch of wins and then not be prepared for the postseason.
"TCA boys will not be that team this year."
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news