There’s an old axiom that will probably be true as long as basketball is played anywhere in the world:

‘There’s no such thing as having too much size.’

Tennessee Preparatory Academy coach Harold Rayford certainly believes in the statement, and the latest addition to the program, Mason Hanback, gives him a 6’10” post player (Jaden Webb from Olive Branch, MS) and a 6’11” stretch-4 to create match-up nightmares throughout the 2021-’22 campaign.

Hanback’s decision to join TPA gives Rayford and the Diplomat Lions additional firepower to compete with the likes of Prolific Prep, AZ Compass Prep and other elite programs on The Grind Session prep basketball league.

“One thing about the Grind Session,” Rayford began, “if you don’t have some size, life is gonna be hard. It’s tough enough even when you do have talented big men. Having Jaden and Mason in the program is exciting, this really pumps me up.”

Hanback spent the past two campaigns at the powerful Memphis East program, where trips to the state championship tournament are an annual expectation. But playing for a Grind Session World Title (as the circuit has international entries) could certainly be an enticing alternative.

Hanback began his high school career at the University School of Jackson, a smaller private school with around 900 enrollees. But his basketball journey began in even more humble circumstances.

Mason’s first basketball goal was on the same court where his grandmother, Erica Dale Plunk-Lusk, played in elementary school. Though the school has long been closed, the outdoor court still remains.

After Mason was bitten by the basketball bug, his mother, Dawn Lusk, always knew where to find him if he turned up missing for a couple hours.

“I would call for Mason, and if I couldn’t find him, I would walk through the trees toward the old school,” Ms. Lusk recalls. “And sure enough, he would be out on that court playing basketball.”

Basketball is in Mason's blood, as his grandfather, Gerald Thomas Lusk, was a hoops star at Freed-Hardeman in Henderson, TN back in the 1950s.

The farmhouse Mason grew up on is in tiny Finger, TN (population: 286). If you haven’t heard of Finger, you’re not alone. Now, 6’11” Mason Hanback has a great shot at putting Finger on the map. He and 6’10” Webb, modern day Twin Towers, are poised to lead the TPA Diplomat Lions to national notoriety.