Cullman County Schools conduct basketball media day:

County hoops teams ready to begin the 2024/25 season:

GDW Analysis:
Basketball in the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) officially starts on Thursday.
The Cullman County Board of Education (CCBOE) held its hoop media day Monday from the board's conference room.
Gameday Weekly was one of several media outlets on hand to look into what's ahead for the 7 schools in the county system for 2024/25 play.
Here is the storyline by GDW from the media day:
New coaches: Adam McKinnon of Cold Springs and Emily Willoughby of Vinemont (G) provided details in looking forward to their first season as high school head coaches.
Out to maintain their success: Good Hope Raiders are defending Cullman County champion.
Good Hope Lady Raiders are defending Cullman County champion.
Longest tenure coaching in Cullman County: Tammy West of Cold Springs. West started in 1992 and has led the Lady Eagles to 735 victories in 975 games, a winning percentage of .753.
Cold Springs has claimed 4 AHSAA championships under West and 7 Cullman County titles. The Lady Eagles reached the 2A Final Four last season.
Steady as she goes: Good Hope Lady Raiders with 119 victories last 4 years, an average of 29.7 a season. Three straight years Justin Aby's team has won at least 30 games or more.
Drew Adams at Good Hope with 6 consecutive seasons of 20 victories or better.
Local flavor for a holiday tournament: Hanceville coach Stephen Chandler reported half of the field for this year's Thanksgiving Tournament will consist of Cullman County teams.
Good Hope, Cold Springs and Vinemont will be in the event from Lane Horton Gym the week of Thanksgiving making it the most this tournament has had in quite a while.
The rest of the participants will be from Corner, Meek, Oak Grove and Dora. The Thanksgiving Tournament hosted by Hanceville, began in 1983.
A traditional event continues on opening weekend: Fairview Lady Aggies will have their Tip Off Classic Saturday from Joe Shults Gymnasium.
Gameday Weekly reports this began back in 2021 when Justin Billings was the head coach.
Locals to be involved in 2024 will be West Point playing Susan Moore, Good Hope taking on Lauderdale County and Fairview facing Susan Moore.
Waiting to open the season on Veterans Day:
Holly Pond, Holly Pond girls, Fairview and West Point will get the new season under way in the Veterans Day Classic on Monday from Wallace State's Tom Drake Coliseum.
Holly Pond girls vs. Appalachian 8:00 a.m., Holly Pond vs. Appalachian 9:30 a.m., Fairview vs. Priceville 11:00 a.m., West Point vs. Wilson 5:00 p.m.
Playing at home on Veterans Day: Vinemont will welcome Madison County to campus Monday in opening the new season.
The Lady Eagles will have Emily Willoughby in her debut at 3:15 p.m. while Preston Boyd's Eagles tangle with the Tigers at 4:30 p.m.
Cold Springs on hold for basketball workouts: After the AHSAA ruled Coosa Christian in violation of a player ineligibility rule, Cold Springs' football season has not ended.
The Eagles are in the AHSAA playoffs with a game at Winston County Friday.
Cold Springs started workouts and had 3 of them when the school was informed by the AHSAA on the situation with Coosa Christian.

 The Eagles are officially scheduled to begin their first season with coach Adam McKinnon on November 15 at home vs. the Hanceville Bulldogs.
New to the media day event: Gweneviere Marks is a 5th grader at West Point Intermediate School and a member of the local sports media.
 Known as G-Bolt, Marks interviews people on her Facebook page, "Lightning Talks with G-Bolt."
 Marks received an invitation to attend the Cullman County Schools basketball media day, displaying herself in a professional manner of asking questions to each of the 7 schools that made up the media day.
"She is our future for local sports media," GDW commented. "Her love for basketball along with preparation was well seen by those who were on hand Monday, along with the exposure from the event being carried live by CCBOE.TV."
She is the youngest of local sports media with yours truly having a tenure of being in the profession for 45 years, starting back in 1980.
Quotes:
"We've got 3 players with 4 years of playing experience. This is their team." Good Hope coach Drew Adams speaking of seniors Tyler Cone, Tucker Malin and Jacob Haynes who have been with the team since their freshman season.
"Our season will hang on in how we develop," Holly Pond coach Tim Willoughby said as the Broncos will be playing without their standout scorer Kollin Brown who graduated following the 2024 season.
"We have great community support. Fairview is a great place for me," Fairview girls coach Chris Nichols in starting his 2nd year coaching the Lady Aggies.
"We are trying to change the culture to be successful," West Point coach Mason Voce. The Warriors return 5 players with key personnel in Jay Lamar, Cade Welborn, Jaxon Shelton and Maddox Chapman.
"We graduated our roster. We are replacing everybody," Vinemont coach Preston Boyd as his Eagles will have plenty of new faces on the floor and will change their tempo to a quicker pace in offsetting size and experience.

Photo of the Hanceville basketball program being interview by G-Bolt during the Cullman County Schools Media Day Monday.
GDW photo by Johnny Thornton.