The Birmingham News releases its 2015 All-Metro Boys Basketball honors on AL.com today. Austin Wiley was named the 2015 Birmingham News All-Metro Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
Mountain Brook coach Bucky McMillian was selected as the 2015 Birmingham News Metro Boys Basketball Coach of the Year after a 27-8 season and the school's third consecutive trip to the state championship game in Alabama's largest classification.
The Spartans did so without the services of two players that expected to play heavy minutes this year. That forced McMillan to spend more time focusing on every possible way to make his team better.
Don't believe it? McMillian probably couldn't give you more than surface material analysis on college and pro basketball this season. This was the first time he can recall in which he didn't even bother to fill out a bracket for the NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament this year.
"There's no doubt I worked harder as a coach this year than any other year," McMillan said. "I usually watch a ton of college basketball. I didn't watch anybody play this year and didn't hardly watch anyone on TV because I was always watching tapes of practices and games going back looking for what we needed to win every night. I fight for all our teams with all I have got, but in particular I don't know if I've ever fought and went through the grind fighting as hard for a team as I did this team. They were worth fighting for even though they weren't as talented as the other groups we had. But this team had an incredible will to be successful. I was going to do everything I could as a coach to make sure these guys were successful."
Hoover coach Charles Burkett, Vincent coach John Hadder, Bessemer Academy coach Jeremy Perkins, Homewood coach Tim Shepler and Woodlawn coach Demetrius Turner were also considered for the Metro Coach of the Year honor.
Dylan Smith were also strong contenders for the Metro Player of the Year honor.
Those three standouts -- along with Alex Reese, make up the 2015 Birmingham News All-Metro first team.
The complete 2015 Birmingham News All-Metro team appears below:
| FIRST TEAM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAYER, SCHOOL | Hgt./Wgt. | Yr. | Comment | |
| Malik Cook-Stroupe, Homewood | 6-0/185 | Sr. | Finished career with 17 pts, 6 reb and 5 assists per game | |
| Javien Williams, Woodlawn | 6-4/180 | Jr. | Led team to first semifinal since 2000; 21 ppg and 6 rpg | |
| Dylan Smith, Hoover | 6-7/170 | Sr. | 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game this year | |
| Alex Reese, Pelham | 6-9/240 | So. | Area's most improved player; 18.5 pts and 8.2 rpg | |
| Austin Wiley, Spain Park | 6-10/240 | So. | 5-star (19 ppg, 12 rpg) with 72-inch wingspan dominated | |
| SECOND TEAM | Hgt./Wgt. | Yr. | Comment | |
| Clay-Chalkville | 6-1/170 | Sr. | Navy signee; 17.3 ppg, 5.3 apg, 3.3 rpg and 3.3 spg | |
| Bessemer City | 6-0/165 | Jr. | Electric scorer (24.5 ppg) earns repeat All-Metro honor | |
| Spain Park | 6-4/170 | So. | First-year with Jags led to 17.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg | |
| Bessemer City | 6-4/175 | Jr. | 18 ppg, 3 rpg and 6 rpg plus he can guard any position | |
| Ramsay | 6-4/190 | Jr. | Returned to the 5A finals: 15 ppg and 5 rpg | |
| THIRD TEAM | Hgt./Wgt. | Yr. | Comment | |
| Zach Allison, Pelham | 6-2/165 | Sr. | Top player in school history; 16 ppg and 5 apg | |
| Midfield | 5-9/160 | Sr. | 13.6 ppg, 4.5 apg and 2.0 spg: Led team to 3A title in '14 | |
| Briarwood Christian | 6-4/195 | Jr. | 20.4 ppg, 9.5 rpg; 3-game streak of 30 points per game | |
| Mountain Brook | 6-5/240 | Jr. | Versatile Spartan had 11.1 ppg and 7.3 rpg | |
| Shades Valley | 6-7/215 | 8th | 20 ppg and 12 rpg in 6A shows off vast potential |
2015 Birmingham News Metro Player of the Year: C Austin Wiley, Soph., Spain Park
2015 Birmingham News Metro Coach of the Year: Bucky McMillan, Mountain Brook
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Guards: Tarrant.
Forwards: Hueytown
Centers: , Sr., Parker
NOTE: The All-Metro basketball team is chosen via a formula that weighs input from the area's top players and coaches along with analysis and observations by AL.com's prep sports staff.
Jeff Sentell covers prep sports for AL.com and the Birmingham News. Follow him on Twitter for the latest high school cool across Alabama.