Dee Wilkes’ new bosses at St. George’s were willing to give him plenty of time in building their basketball program back up. The coach, however, felt his team had a chance to be special right away.

Turns out Wilkes was right.

In his first season with the Gryphons, Wilkes — who won two state titles in 2022 and 2024 at FACS — has the school back in Cookeville, Tennessee. It’s the first time since 2017 St. George’s is in the final four and comes after an impressive victory against Christ Academy of Knoxville, the top seed from the East region, in the quarterfinals.

St. George’s will be joined at Tennessee Tech by Briarcrest. The defending champions in the larger of Tennessee’s two private-school classifications advanced after an impressive victory against Chattanooga Baylor that showed they have much more talent on the team than just their Mr. Basketball finalist, junior Fred Smith.

Elsewhere, spring sports are officially underway in Tennessee and we need your help in spotlighting our top athletes. Coaches and stat-keepers can send in their scores, highlights and top performers from each game. Email jvarlas@dailymemphian.com or tweet @johnvarlas.

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