North Greene, South Greene and Greeneville are headed to Murfreesboro this week for the TSSAA State Tournament, and all three teams have dreams of bringing home the gold ball that represents the best in Tennessee basketball.

The Huskies take on Middleton from west Tennessee Wednesday at 11 a.m. The Rebels will tangle with Polk County from southeast Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Greeneville faces McMinn Central from southeast Tennessee Thursday in the 12:30 p.m. contest.

North Greene Coach James Buchanan spent Monday trying to collect scouting reports on Middleton's Tigers, the Huskies' opponent Wednesday when the TSSAA State Tournament begins in Murfreesboro. The two teams meet in the tourney opener at 11 a.m.

"What we've found out so far is they are very athletic, very long and lean," Buchanan said of Middleton, who has lost only twice this year while putting up 29 victories. "They're from West Tennessee, and it's hard to find out much on those teams, but we know we'll face a challenge."

Middleton Coach James Burkley, in a telephone interview, said he's not putting much stock into the fact that his team's record is 29-2 and North Greene's is 20-13.

"From what we've found out they've played a much tougher schedule than we have," Burkley said. "They've played a lot of good double-A and triple-A schools up there. From what everybody tells me they play extremely hard, and they have an excellent point guard and a post player that's very strong and a good rebounder."

Both of Middleton's losses this year have been to Scotts Hill, a team they beat twice in the regular season only to see that school come back and beat the Tigers in both the district and regional championship games. Middleton had to go on the road and beat perennial power Gleason in Sub-State and they prevailed 26-24 in a slow-down game.

"It was a big win for us," Burkley said. "They dictated the tempo and wanted a low scoring game. That's not the way we like to play, but I was pleased that we were able to handle that style. We like to play up-tempo."

The Tigers were in the state tournament in 2008. Their leading players are seniors Shanita Polk and Sharon Morgan and junior Taturas Houser.

The Huskies, in their first state tourney since 1999, will counter with starters senior post Dakota White and senior wing Shyler Miller, along with junior guard Mariah Britton and sophomores Megan Taylor and Haley Vaughan. Buchanan is not afraid to go to the bench where he has gotten solid play from freshman post Laiken Morrow, senior wing Chenoa Ricker and junior guard Megan McAmis.

The Huskies left this morning with plans to stop at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville to practice later today.

"We're excited about the opportunity," Buchanan said. "We want to go down there and be competitive and represent our school and our community the best that we can."

South Greene plays its first round game on Wednesday against Polk County.

Lady Rebel coach Derek Dyer said the team is pleased to be going to Murfreesboro for the second straight year and they hope to improve on last year's semifinal appearance.

"It means a lot to us, especially this senior class," Dyer said. "When they came in, that's when the hype kind of got built back up around here about us getting back to the state tournament. To be able to do it two years back to back is pretty exciting."

South Greene enters the state quarterfinals with a 26-6 record. Polk County, located in the extreme southeast corner of the state east of Chattanooga, is 28-5.

"We have a little information on them," Dyer said. "Their style of play matches up with us. It should be a good matchup. They like to spread the floor and attack much like we do. I think it's going to be a good game."

South Greene is led by senior Rechelle Dye, who has commanded the point guard position for four years with success both offensively and defensively.

Senior Brandi Crum stepped up to lead the team to its Sub-State win. Junior Ansley Ricker is averaging more than 20 points a game in the postseason.

Junior Shelby Hicks can dominate in the paint defensively. Freshman Maelyn Cutshaw can provide a spark on either end of the court when needed, and junior Ashley Tweed played her way onto the all-region tournament team.

Dyer said it's nice to have such a balance.

"Everybody has a different time where they've stepped up and given us a lift," he said. "We are still waiting for that one night where they are all shooting the ball well or all playing on the same page."

Four of the five starters -- Dye, Crum, Ricker and Hicks -- are veterans of last year's state tournament team that reached the semifinals.

Advancing farther than they did last year will be a challenge for the Lady Rebs.

If South Greene, ranked No. 7 in the final state poll, passes its first test against No. 9 Polk County, a semifinal date possibly awaits with defending state champion Gibson County, who eliminated the Lady Rebs last year.

Dyer said South Greene is "more than capable" of bringing home some hardware, but it will take a total effort each and every game.

Greeneville got perhaps the toughest draw of the state tournament. The Lady Devils have to play No. 1 ranked McMinn Central in their first round game on Thursday.

The Lady Devils are 25-8 entering the tournament. McMinn Central is 30-2.

But, if Greeneville can knock off McMinn Central right out of the gate, the rest of the way should in theory be a little easier.

"That's what I told our girls. To be the best you have to beat the best," said Greeneville coach Stacia Crumbley. "That's our mentality going in. If you make it this far, you are pretty good. The luck of the draw was with McMinn Central. We are going to do what we can to prepare for them."

It may be easier, but it definitely won't be easy. Every team in the state tournament field has at least 25 victories to their credit. Three of the eight teams have 30 or more wins.

Crumbley said Greeneville is going to focus on what it needs to do to win more than worry about the Lady Devils' opponents.

"I think when you make it this far, all the teams are pretty good. It's anybody's game," she said. "We are going to do the same thing we've done all year which is be good at what we are good at: defense, rebounding, taking the ball inside then out. We are going to prepare just like we would for any other game."

Still, Greeneville has done its homework on McMinn Central.

"They like to apply defensive pressure and run the floor a little bit," Crumbley said. "From what I've seen, they are not really a half court team. They are kind of like South Greene and Elizabethton. They have good defense. For us to win, we are going to have to have good defense and control the tempo of the game."

The Lady Devils hope to get solid production from their starters.

Seniors Brianna Kelley and Morgan Shipley and juniors Samantha Fender and Rainey Story are all state tournament veterans.

Sophomore point guard Chandler Christopher will play in Murfreesboro for the first time, returning from injury after making a surprise appearance Saturday night in the Lady Devils' Sub-State victory.

Crumbley expects Christopher to play, but to what extent remains to be seen.

"How much she can do and how effective she is will depend on how she's feeling that day," the coach said.