Team:  Team Nashville U-17 Follow @TeamNashville

Head Coach:  Carlton Battle

2012 Record:  25-3

2012 Tournaments:  Eddie Ford’s Spring Classic, Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, Wallace Prather Memorial Classic, Chicago Best Buy Classic

Top Players:  Cornelius Elder (5-foot-11, PG, 2013, @Air_Corn23), Josh Phillips (6-foot-8,PF, 2013), Asa Duvall (6-foot-2, SG, 2013, @theaceofspadez), Jamonte Davis (6-foot-7, WF, 2013)

Committed Players:  None of Coach Carlton Battle’s kids are committed at this time but he does boast a roster where all nine kids have Division 1 offers at the moment.

Perhaps the most interesting recruitment would be the recent Big East interest, coming in the form of DePaul and Temple, for power forward Josh Phillips who had a breakout weekend in Chicago for the Best Buy Classic.

Expectations:  When making a list of the most efficient teams in the spring season, Team Nashville has to be at the top.  Coach Battle’s U-17 squad came away from a light tournament schedule – just four events- with three championships and one semifinal appearance.  That’s getting it done.

And getting it done for Team Nashville?  That would be point guard Cornelius “Corn” Elder.  The diminutive floor general took home MVP honors at both Bob Gibbons TOC and the Wallace Prather Memorial Day Classic.

Right now Corn has offers from Western Kentucky, Jacksonville, and Middle Tennessee State among others.

Joining Corn in the backcourt is Asa Duvall who holds offers from Stetson, Mercer, and upstart Florida Gulf Coast that Coach Battle described as “up-and-coming”.

In the frontcourt, Jamonte Davis holds offers from Tennessee State and UT-Martin but, like teammate Asa Duvall, the wing forward has recently caught the eye of the staff at Temple.

“When you win all these tournaments, it starts to raise some eyebrows,” Coach Battle explained as to the recent attention from Big East schools for his low post players.

For Team Nashville to have success at the Peach State Showcase, they will have to continue their unselfish play that has led to their impressive 25-3 record thus far.  It sounds like keeping his team’s attention won’t be too dificult.

“We don’t have one person that’s selfish and I think that all of them expect to be there competing for a championship on Sunday,” said Coach Battle.

“That’s all they care about.  All of them have offers so that’s not an issue.  They just want to win.”

Listening to Coach Battle it all sounds so simple even though winning is anything but a guarantee for any group.

“We play really good defense and are very disciplined.  We play harder than everybody else.”

If Team Nashville continues following their current game plan, expect for more heads to be turned next month at the Peach State Summer Showcase. – Bobby Bancroft

Follow @MyLineOfChamps