Brantley key to WMA's success


Brantley, with ball, and his Wilbraham & Monson Academy teammates competed in the Rinus de Jong Invitational to face international competition in the Netherlands. Reminder Publications submitted photo

March 5, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

WILBRAHAM — Wilbraham & Monson Academy (WMA) boys basketball point guard Jaylen Brantley considers himself very lucky. After all, things could have been a lot worse for him and his family last summer.

Brantley's home, like so many others in Springfield, was damaged in the June 1, 2011 tornado, but still stood, much to his relief and the relief of his family.

"I stayed with my family and we all just came together at that time," Brantley said. "It was a bad time in Springfield. A lot of families' houses were destroyed. I just feel blessed that mine wasn't fully destroyed."

Success has followed near tragedy for Brantley, one of the most talked about basketball prospects in the state of Massachusetts. In July, he was part of a national championship American Athletics Union (AAU) team with the Boston Amateur Basketball Club (BABC), in July. 2011, and since has taken his talents to WMA, where the Titans have become one of the top teams in New England.

NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com recently pegged Brantley as possibly the best point guard prospect in Massachusetts and Rivals.com ranks him in the top-100 players in the country for the class of 2013 and the top Massachusetts basketball prospect.

"I think I can run the team really well," Brantley said, giving Reminder Publications a self-scouting report. "I can shoot really well. I just need to work on my defense and getting stronger."

But it's an intangible along with his talent that separates Brantley from other players.

"I'm a leader. I just want to win every game and want my teammates to have the same mindset I do," he said.

WMA Head Coach Chris Sparks concurred with that assessment, adding that his junior point guard has a knack for bringing out the best in his teammates.

"One of his best attributes as a player is the fact that he's able to make other people around him better," he said. "To me it's the most important skill set he has right now and I think he's embraced that. With his BABC team, he plays with two potential NBA players and he makes them better."

His raw skills as well as his intangibles have made him a well sought after college recruit, who has received interest or scholarship offers from schools such as Georgetown. Florida, Connecticut, Syracuse, Missouri, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Maryland, Cincinnati, Georgia, Richmond and Rhode Island. However, both Brantley and Sparks admit he is a ways off from making a decision as he has yet to visit any schools.

"The best way I can explain it to people is he's being recruited by the [Southeast Conference], [Atlantic Coast Conference], Big East and Big Ten. All of those conferences have expressed interest or offered him a scholarship," Sparks said. "If you start mentioning schools, I think they assume there are leaders, but right now there aren't. He's gaining interest and he needs to start visiting some schools as soon as possible."

With the attention and pressure of a big decision looming in his future, Brantley said he's doing what he can to remain focused on what he can control right now — his play on the court.

"I just stay level headed and try to get better everyday," he said. "This all to me is just motivation to work harder. I never thought I'd ever have any of this happen to me."

Brantley's ability and leadership were key to WMA's winning ways this season, a season that at one point was at a crossroads.

"The season could have gone two ways. It could have gone good or it could have gone bad," he said. "We just picked it up and came together as a team with the goal of winning a championship."

The Titans played inspired basketball down the stretch and rattled off five straight wins to finish the regular season 22-8, earning them the fourth seed and an opening round home game in the New England Prep School Athletic Conference AA playoffs, which began on March 1.

"We had a point about two weeks ago where it could have gone real bad, but instead of going really badly, we've started playing the best basketball we have this year," Sparks said.

The level of competition at the prep school level has also helped Brantley, who previously played for Central High School, elevate his game.

"Prep school ball is a lot tougher. Every night is going to be a dogfight," he said. "You're playing against a lot of [college] Division I players and NBA pros potentially, so you have to come out every night and play your hardest and bring your 'A' game."

Sparks, a 1995 graduate of WMA, said as he continues to build a top-flight basketball program at the school, its outstanding academics also will help equip Brantley and other college basketball hopefuls like fellow Springfield native Kamali Bey, prepare for the demands of college. A basketball factory WMA is not.

"If you think about how far a lot of the athletic programs have come and where those kids have gone to college, you'll see that they're doing great things academically as well as athletically," he said. "Take Jaylen Brantley, who's getting recruited at a high level, he's got all of these rankings and all that other stuff. His English teacher could care less about any of that stuff and they care about him as a person. For me that's really important."

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