How Da'Ron Hall uses lessons from playing with Brandon Miller to be Cane Ridge basketball's leader

Two years doesn't seem like all that much time outside of high school sports. But in preps, it can be an eternity.

Two years ago, Brandon Miller was splashing NBA-range 3-pointers, dunking over opponents and leading Cane Ridge to the Class 4A state tournament. Miller is now a rookie in the NBA, playing for the Charlotte Hornets.

Not only is Miller long departed from Cane Ridge, but so are eight other seniors he graduated with. The man who coached them, Marlin Simms, is gone too, having stepped down last summer to become an assistant principal at the school. In Simms' final season, the first without Miller, the Ravens went 8-22.

But lately, Cane Ridge is showing that 2022-23 was a blip on the radar rather than the start of a trend. The Ravens (16-10) head into the Region 6-4A tournament having won 10 of their last 14 games and took Hillsboro, ranked No. 3 in the Tennessean's Large Class rankings, to the wire in a 55-54 loss in Saturday's District 11-4A championship game.

Cane Ridge will face either Beech or Gallatin on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the region quarterfinals at Gallatin. Beech and Gallatin play Tuesday in their District 10-4A final.

"It was just the young aspect of it," said senior Da'Ron Hall. "I feel like once we got past that hump, we're starting to figure it out. We're getting older, getting more IQ."

Hall, a three-year starter, is the only current Raven who played significant minutes alongside Miller, Ryan Oliver and Ja'Lynn Lawrence. In a sense, he's the last link to that era of Cane Ridge basketball, and he understands the gravity of that status.

He knows he can pass what he learned from Miller and company to the Ravens' next generation.

"It taught me how to lead the way, be a leader, not a follower," Hall said. "Lead by example. ... You gotta go 100 percent all the time, no breaks."

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But Hall isn't just a vital locker-room presence. He's one of the Ravens' most impactful players, averaging 12.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. At 6-foot-7, 165 pounds, Hall is big, quick, energetic and can play just about anywhere — characteristics which first-year coach Chris Hight has tried to install as Cane Ridge's foundations.

"My first impressions were athletic and great defensively," Hight said of his new team. "I wanted to key in on those and make that our focus."

While Hight, a longtime Nashville-area assistant, came in with knowledge of a handful of the Ravens' players from being on opposite sidelines, he only got a couple weeks to actually coach them before the start of the season, since he was hired in September. It's been long enough, though, for Hall to notice a difference.

Under Hight, Hall has enjoyed plenty of freedom. Against smaller defenders, he'll play more in the post, and against slower defenders, he can attack from the wings. Hight thinks Hall's natural position is in the mid-post area at the moment, but Hall, who has offers from Cumberland, Florida Memorial, Freed-Hardeman and a handful of junior colleges, is hoping to play at shooting guard or small forward.

"I feel like I improved my playmaking a lot," Hall said. "I can see the floor a lot more than my freshman year, getting people involved more. ... This offseason, I need to work on my ball-handling and shooting."

Without a player as transcendent as Miller, Cane Ridge's roadmap to Murfreesboro looks a lot different than it used to. The Ravens rack up steals and fast-break points and have five players averaging between eight and 13 points per game. They'll soon find out if that balance and energy is enough.

"We all have to play together as one, not selfish," Hall said. "We gotta play as a whole team."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.