As the Alabama High School Athletic Association basketball regular season winds down, the Keith Bears continue to climb up the Class 1A state rankings.

The Keith High School boy’s team (13-9, 5-0) currently sits at No. 4 in Class 1A of the Alabama Sports Writers Association prep basketball state rankings.

Tommy Tisdale, head coach of the Bears, said he was surprised when he first found out the Bears were ranked so high because the rankings usually penalize teams for losses.

“When I first saw it, I was kind of shocked with the amount of losses we had, not to take anything away from our team and the talent we have, just that the way that the rankings normally work, with our losses I was surprised they put us that high,” Tisdale said. “I do think that in the past few years we’ve been one of the better programs in our classification.”

Indeed the Bears nine losses can be deceptive and the value of their wins may be the reason why the ASWA holds Keith in such high regard, not to mention that the Bears returned nine players from last year’s team, which lost 65-57 to eventual Class 1A state champion Pickens County in the state final four in Birmingham.

Keith often plays teams above its classification, with two wins over local rival Class 4A Southside, Class 5A Brookwood, Class 5A Area 5 first place team Wilcox Central, Class 3A Montgomery Academy and Class 4A Elmore County.

It’s a schedule that Tisdale said is one of the toughest around.

“We probably play one of the most brutal schedules in the state,” Tisdale said. “The ranking is probably more of a compliment to the players, the community and the program as a whole, as opposed to just this year’s team. For us, it’s been a long time in the making.”

Tisdale said the Bears’ success doesn’t rest solely at his feet and extends to the players, coaching staff, community and school administration.

Tisdale also said the success extends to the girl’s team, which currently sits at 12-5, 5-0, and that Keith has always had a tradition of winning on the hardwood in place with the boy’s team winning a state championship as a member of Class 2A in 1998 and the girls winning a pair of state titles as members of Class 3A—once in 1983 and again in 1990.

Not to mention a host of title game and playoff appearances over the years.

Another thing Tisdale contributes the program’s success to is that Keith, which includes grades 7-12, gets it’s players ready to play on the varsity level by learning the same system from the time they step on campus.

With a junior varsity team that has 15 players that are in 9th grade, coupled with a middle school team made up of 7th and 8th graders and only four seniors out of 14 players on the varsity team, Tisdale said the Bears have a bright future ahead of them, but the program’s ultimate goal isn’t about rankings.

The goal is to win state championships.

“I continue to say to my guys, although the rankings are great and we’re going to take it while we’ve got it, we didn’t start the season out with a goal to be ranked,” Tisdale said. “We started the season with a goal to go back to Birmingham, and that’s what we’re trying to do. Right now, we’re still on path for that shot.”