With less than a month separating high school basketball from the state tournaments, speculation looms over which teams are the best. The Class 5A discussion has some familiar names dotting the conversation -- Lone Peak, Brighton and Bingham can't be ignored. Fremont, Jordan and Davis all make strong cases.

But is it possible that a state championship team a year ago returning its best player could be a sleeper? That's the case for West High School.

Sure, West's state championship was in 4A. Yes, Region 2 hasn't proven much stronger than some 4A regions. And, well, the Panthers' only real size inside is an extremely raw offensive player with little more than a year of basketball experience.

When it was 1-2, West was seen as a former 4A school struggling to make the jump to the big stage. At 8-2 the Panthers were the team with a gaudy record but needed overtime to beat Cyprus and had a win over Highland marred by a fight.

At 11-2, they were that nice little story in the city about a team taking advantage of a weak region. But at 13-2 and on a 12-game winning streak prior to Tuesday's game against Cyprus, aren't the Panthers finally due some respect?

West coach Bob Lyman thinks so.

"It's not my fault we're in Region 2," he said. "I put together a preseason schedule that I thought was a good schedule for our young kids."

So the Panthers lack a marquee win. They also lack multiple shellackings from older, stronger and bigger teams that they've spent the season catching up to. In the beginning of the year, West was trying to field a starting five. Star guards Tyrell Corbin and Jordan Tanner were in place. Tana Afeaki assuredly would be in the mix, but after playing only half a season throughout high school due to academic and disciplinary issues, where and how he would fit remained to be seen.

As far as big men went, Junior Vea would step in at 6-foot-4 and Cheney Doane, a converted 6-4 point guard, would become a power forward.

But all of that head-scratching has subsided during West's impressive season. Corbin and Tanner have been their brilliant selves with Afeaki blossoming into a playmaker. Thomas Bullock has proven to be potent scorer off the bench, making for a deep and viable guard line.

"I don't know if there's a quicker guard line in the state," Lyman said. "There might be, but I don't know who they are."

Gatete Djuma, the previously-mentioned raw big man, doesn't add much on the offensive end. But at 6-9, he allows guards to gamble defensively considering anyone who beats their man and gets in the paint has to deal with his length if they plan to shoot.

And Lyman loves talking about Doane. He would have been wasted talent buried on the bench behind the other guards on the team. But he has found his niche as a "garbage man" inside, Lyman said.

For the time being, Lyman doesn't mind West being overlooked. It's a little irritating to him because he knows how good his team is. But at the same time, it's nice continuing to get better without the searing glow of the limelight. They're still young and are still "putting it together."

He'd like to see his players improve at the foul line and stop blowing layups. Taking some of the scoring pressure off of Corbin would be nice as well, he said. All the while, Lyman and the Panthers will just remember their opportunity to prove everyone wrong is coming.

The tournament will be here soon enough.

"Then we'll have to prepare to play the toughest teams in the state in the tournament and they have to prepare for us," Lyman said.