Welcome to the 2015-16 season in the state of Alabama. The road to Birmingham has officially begun and we couldn’t be more excited to get things rolling. Every day for the next few weeks, our Alabama expert Garrett Tucker will tackle two questions at 2 p.m. CST about the upcoming season.

Have a question? Please use the #AskHoopSeen on Twitter and we will be sure to tackle your questions along the way!

Which classification has the toughest road to the state finals?

Throwing out the obvious here, but the road to Birmingham is extremely tough. Last season, we saw more upsets on the road to the playoffs than I have ever witnessed. Once you get to regionals, anything can happen. Just ask West Limestone. No one was favoring them through the winter, yet they made their run last season and claimed the 4A crown.

Last year, the 7A class made its debut to the state, and, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that big of a fan. I heard several people say that the top 5A and 6A teams would compete for (if not win) the 7A championship. This year, my feelings have shifted. I think 7A will be very competitive. Mountain Brook and Spain Park seem to be re-energized, while Central-Phenix City is a talented team many don’t know about. Hoover will be eager to defender their state championship, but I don’t think it poses the toughest road for teams.

From a Final Four standpoint, there isn’t a doubt that 5A has the most brutal competition. J.O. Johnson, Ramsay, Faith Academy, and Dallas County made up the state semi-finals last season, and I expect all of those schools to compete for a championship again this year. Johnson, Faith Academy, and Ramsay are currently three of the top programs in the state with some of the most talented players. It’s going to be a feat to bring home the blue trophy in 5A this year.

6A also has a rigorous road to the state finals. It will be much tougher to advance out of regionals in this class than any other one in Alabama. Carver-Montgomery and Lee-Huntsville have some of the most talented players on paper and they seem destined to match up again in a 6A heavyweight bout. However, Woodlawn, Bessemer City, Paul Bryant, Spanish Fort, Blount, and Cullman will all make things interesting.

Who is the best coach in the state?

This is a really good question that can go a variety of ways. It all depends on how you define a good coach. What means more? State championships? Wins? Developing college players? A mixture of everything?

I don’t have just one answer, nor do I have the correct answer. I’ll just give you the names to decide for yourself.

The first few names that pop into my head when this question is thrown around is Bucky McMillan (Mountain Brook), Jack Doss (J.O. Johnson), and Cedric Lane (Jackson-Olin). There are several other coaches that belong in the discussion, but we will keep it short with these three.

McMillan has garnered a lot of attention of the past five years with the emergence of Mountain Brook basketball. He has won a couple of state championships and is primed to compete for another one this season. However, what’s most impressive is who he has been able to win with at the highest level of high school basketball in the state. Typically, he doesn’t have the best players in the state. Instead, he gets his players to buy in and he has created a system that many teams fear to play against. McMillan’s defensive knack and ability to convince players to buy in to his team makes him a must-have on this list.

Over the past 30 years, no coach has seen the success current J.O. Johnson head coach Jack Doss has seen. The AHSAA Hall of Fame member has led three different schools to state championships, amounting to his eight state titles. Doss claimed state titles at Hayes in 1981 and 1982, followed by five state championships at Butler High school in Huntsville. After Butler shut down, he moved to J.O. Johnson last year, where he won his eighth state title. Oh yeah, he will compete for a ninth this year, as his team is led by senior Justin Hopkins and junior John Petty. You can’t dispute the guy’s wins or state championships – at all.

Cedric Lane is known for the dynasty he built at Wenonah, where the Dragons claimed three straight state championships from 2011-2013. Their quest for a fourth consecutive state championship was spoiled by Athens during regionals in 2014. Lane also helped develop several players that ended up playing college basketball, most notably Alabama sophomore guard Justin Coleman. Things have now changed for Lane. The historic coach finds himself at Jackson-Olin, where he is looking to build them into a state power. It’s a rebuilding project and Lane is embracing the challenge, but if history follows suit, expect JO to be a consistent threat in Birmingham over the next few years.