D-B to Open Poore Era in Bahamas

D-B to Open Poore Era in Bahamas
Dobyns-Bennett head boys’ basketball coach Chris Poore. Photo courtesy Dobyns-Bennett High School.
Author's Note: I was fortunate to spend almost an hour with D-B basketball coach Chris Poore recently. We discussed a myriad of topics over the course our meeting. Out of our conversation came a four-part series regarding his first six weeks on the job, the Tribe players and assistant coaches, his offensive and defensive philosophy and the 2017-18 schedule. Below is Part 4 of 4. - Steve Wilmoth

by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
June 28, 2017

KINGSPORT, TN – While the 2017-18 Dobyns-Bennett basketball schedule was intact upon Chris Poore’s arrival, the new coach did make one major season-opening alteration.

Instead of a trip to the Chop House Classic in Knoxville, Poore will take his Indians to the Bahamas for the Tabernacle Baptist Academy Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Tribe will play four games in the Bahamas, the first four of the Poore era.

“We were scheduled to go to the Chop House Classic,” Poore explained. “There is nothing wrong with that tournament. You play some good teams, but there is low-level of excitement when you tell your guys you are going to Knoxville to play in a Thanksgiving Tournament.”

The Bahamas on the other hand…?

“The guys were really, really excited when I told them about the Bahamas,” added Poore. “It’s the Bahamas and it’s pretty exciting for a high school kid to go out of the country and play a game.”

Poore likes to have a trip of some kind every year for his team. He took three of his Jefferson County teams to the tournament and said the experience is much more than just basketball.

“When you go somewhere like the Bahamas for a week and you have a week with not only the players, you have a week with dedicated supporters from the community that are going along, a couple of school faculty that are going and parents and everybody is in one group,” continued Poore. “It’s a pretty special thing. You can start to grow as a program.”

The trip will be played on Grand Bahama Island hosted by Freeport although there are only two indoor gyms on the island.

“Freeport doesn’t have an indoor gym,” noted Poore. “The JV teams when they play interschool games, they play outside in the parking lot because there are not enough indoor gyms.”

Tribe players will also see Bahamian students in academic situations.

“The neat thing is when we visit our players get to see the classrooms with no air conditioning, two mini ceiling fans and way too overcrowded conditions,” said Poore. “It’s helpful to appreciate what we have when we come back.”

When the Indians return stateside, the home opener awaits the following Tuesday…November 28…against Jefferson County.

“That’s my first game at D-B in the states,” smiled Poore. “We get back on Sunday, we play them on Tuesday. I joked with the staff when I left, ‘The streak against D-B is over, brother.’”

The 2017-18 Big 7 Conference slate will also have a new look as Cherokee steps in for Sullivan Central. For the first time since Central opened in the late 1960’s and Sullivan South opened in 1980, neither the Cougars nor the Rebels are on the Indian schedule.

Instead, home-and-homes with Elizabethton and Johnson County are slated as well as a holdover set with Greeneville.

And the Indians will once again be a part of the Arby’s Classic.

“We not only want to be in the Arby’s every year, we need to have a good showing and be competitive,” Poore said. “I hope our players look at that as an opportunity to sell our brand. That’s going to be big for us.”

Poore played in the Arby’s Classic at Greeneville and coached Jefferson County to a third-place finish in the 2014 Tournament.

“The memories for me as a player and coach are great memories,” added Poore. “We had that fabulous game against David Crockett in 2014 coming from 19 points down.

“I’ve never been at a school that goes every year. At Jefferson County, we didn’t get to go back after that one showing.”

Additional early season changes in future schedules likely will be the inclusion of Hall of Champions games.

“We don’t have any Hall of Fame games scheduled, which is something we might look into,” said Poore. “I usually play one of those on Thursday and two on Saturday the week before Thanksgiving. We’ll see how it might work out for us here.”

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