Van Buren’s Mills a big draw for Best of Preps Tournament
On Feb. 27, 2015, Van Buren County’s boys were deadlocked with Boyd-Buchanan in a Region 3-A basketball semifinal at South Pittsburg. The Buccaneers had the ball with a chance to play for the last shot in regulation.
But the Eagles, who were set up in a 1-3-1 zone defense, executed a trap and forced a turnover. Immediately a pass went upcourt to then-freshman Caden Mills, heading toward the basket in a one-on-one situation.
A spin move and a left-handed layup later, Mills had helped Van Buren secure its first state sectional berth.
“That definitely made us realize we could get something done,” Mills said of the 58-56 victory that night.
The Eagles (11-2) will try to get something done this week when they compete for the first time in the Times Free Press Best of Preps Tournament. Action at Chattanooga State starts Thursday at 10 a.m. and concludes with girls’ and boys’ championship games Saturday night at 7 and 8:30.
In the nearly three years since Mills provided that program-escalating moment, he has blossomed into a 6-foot6 scoring dynamo who last month signed with Tennessee Tech. He and his Van Buren teammates can be seen for the first time in the tournament Thursday afternoon at 4 when they take on Tyner. The Eagles lost by two points to Knoxville Catholic in the Maryville Heritage tournament final Friday night.
The Best of Preps field also will include last year’s champions, Baylor’s girls and McCallie. Playing music the night of the finals will be former Tennessee quarterback Sterling Henton, or Sterl the Pearl, as he’s known as a disc jockey.
Admission to the tournament is $10 per day with children 5 and under admitted free. No TACA passes or any other passes will be honored.
Mills got his first taste of playing high school basketball when he was in eighth grade. He moved up after leading Van Buren to the James C. Hale Middle School Invitational small-school state championship in Murfreesboro.
“Just the pace of the game was a little bit more fastpaced and intense than middle school,” Mills said.
He was not yet a 6-footer then. His biggest growth spurt came before his ninth-grade year, when he shot up about five inches to 6-3.
Given his size now, he’s still got the guard skills he’s had all along. He comes into the tournament averaging 29.3 points per game, and that includes 42-percent shooting from 3-point range and 88-percent shooting from the free-throw line.
To say he’s a matchup problem for many of the Eagles’ opponents is an understatement. The players for District 4 opponent Richard Hardy can attest after witnessing Mills score a school-record 50 points 10 days ago in a 97-68 Eagles win.
“He’s not real boisterous,” Van Buren coach Dustin Sullivan said. “He just goes about his business. He’s coachable. He’s smart. He’s a lot of fun to coach, and not just because he’s really good. He’d be fun to coach even if he wasn’t as good as he is.”
Sullivan said he’s seen opposing teams try about every defensive approach imaginable in an effort to contain Mills, but without a great deal of success. He’s by far the program’s career scoring leader, currently sitting at 2,667 points.
“Not much of anything affects him,” Sullivan said. “Some teams will try to be physical with him, but he feeds off of it. He kind of likes it when teams play like that.”
Despite all the personal accolades, Mills insists team accomplishments are his only concern. After that 2015 triumph over Boyd-Buchanan, the Eagles went on to win their first of three consecutive region championships, and they’ve advanced to the state tournament each of the past three seasons.
“Definitely my teammates are just as important as I am,” said Mills, who this season is also averaging seven rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game. “We work together. If one of them is having a good night, I try to get them the ball. We don’t care who scores. We achieve as a team.”
And the next achievement is to try to win the Best of Preps tournament as the only Class A school in the field.
“We’re excited,” Mills said. “We know that great competition is going to be there. We’re looking forward to showing everybody what we can do.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.