FLMS

It was a great move by Gray to go to the 2-3. I know he would much rather zone and add some trapping than play straight man. It was a great call by the coaching staff to go zone and get a win. Although it is a coaching staff with very little head coaching experience we are blessed to have them both.

I played in that system we went 30-0 in middle school. Not Bad. However, that is not high school and I understand that. Coach Gray has been successful every place he has been. He was an assistant coach at L.C. during one of the schools most successful runs. Coach is a players coach he gets his teams to play hard and have fun. Whether he wins or dosen't win at L.C. the players are winning because they get learn alot about the game of life. Its a shame that we have to listen to a fan that critiques every team in the district and point out the weakness of young kids and coaches. I really can't tell you enough but I'm very impressed with your knowledge of the game BonFire.

I must agree this will be a tough year for the Skins. That dosen't mean it will be a bad one. They should be excited about the young talent at Loudon. The freshman and sophomore classes are loaded. I would say they are as a good a group around. Ft. Loudoun won the TNT State tournament last year and the sophomore class is just as talented and maybe deeper. Kingston has a great freshman in Givens but I'm not sure he is better than Hawkins at Loudon. The great news at Loudon is they have so many great young players. All I can say is you better beat Coach Mitchell this year because the Skins will be loaded for years to come. On a side note Coach Mitchell is the real deal the man can flat out coach. Oh by the way the two feeder schools once agian have alot talent and quality coaching.

I must say one more thing, I hope the L.C. players give coach gray a chance. Especially if things go rough at first. I really think this is the most talent L.C. has had since the Snyder group. Brad Miller has as pretty a stroke as anyone around. Dorsett is very solid( great passer). Cusick could dominate if healthy. Vance will be big suprise to everyone in the district. However, Kyle is the key he could be by years end the best player in the district. Look this could be a great year and I can't wait. I hope you guys give coach a chance. Best Wishes for a great year!!

I must say one more thing, I hope the L.C. players give coach gray a chance. Especially if things go rough at first. I really think this is the most talent L.C. has had since the Snyder group. Brad Miller has as pretty a stroke as anyone around. Dorsett is very solid( great passer). Cusick could dominate if healthy. Vance will be big suprise to everyone in the district. However, Kyle is the key he could be by years end the best player in the district. Look this could be a great year and I can't wait. I hope you guys give coach a chance. Best Wishes for a great year!!

To answer your question, I do know a little about Lenoir City Basketball. Coach Gray will prove to be a much better bench coach than you give him credit for as a matter of fact thats his strength. You must be really inside the program to know so much about some of the small details. I can tell you this the program hasn't been as good as you say. The team the past 8 years hasn't done much. If they have we have watched two different teams. Yes, I agree Snyder and Mcelroy had a good team and won twenty games but they lost around 10 and got hammered in the first round of the region. I can tell you right now those two are still great players. They maybe two of the better players from our school ever. We had a team that made it to the finals of the district tournament a couple of years ago but lost but besides that L.C. basketball has been around .500. Heck last year they went an entire half without a field goal. They also went from leading a game by 15 and then losing it by 17. we had a great coach, we have a great assistant coach, and we have a great current head coach. I just hope he is given a chance.

Bonfire, I'm really amazed at how much you know about this district! Heck you know whats going on at every school amazing. As for L.C. the kids have been told for three years now they should win 20 games but they haven't done much. I guess you can say this is the most talent they have had in a while since they won about seven games last year? These kids were left very close to opening practice and the new coach is trying to just relate to them. The assistant coach is a very good coach and letting him teach the old system is smart. L.C. has several seniors so why change now. Honestly, in a different way the new coach has much more discipline than the former coach. Its not all about basketball with the new coach he is teaching them about being quality people and to have fun. L.C. hasn't been successful since the early 90's so trying something new isn't all bad!

Great Post J.J. Wildcat! Its great to see a player of your caliber be such a humble kid. Keep working hard and D1 opportunities will follow!

I have had the opportunity to Coach Ben in AAU. He is a great player. It was an honor to Coach such a great passer of the ball. The thing that stands out with Ben is first how hard he plays and secondly how well he passes. I must say his shot looks better than it did this summer. I haven't seen been play football but have heard he is excellent. On a side note Loudon wll have two great guards in the future when Grant Gasper another super plyer joins Ben in the backcourt. They will have alot of fun playing each other this year.

Philadelphia is strong and will probably play Cherokee in the finals. Coach Waller at Philadelphia has his girls playing well. Also Coach Boling has LC playing well.

J.J. Wildcat thanks for giving my girls some props! We are working hard and every game will be a struggle. However, they are hanging on in the end. I think you guys are in for a great season! Also that transfer North got is the real deal! You guys work hard this week in practice and good things will happen Sat. Coach W.

Splainshort, I am no longer coach at FLMS but current girls coach at North Middle. If you are interested in a scrimmage I would be happy to help arrange that with our boys coach. Since, I teach at North yes we do have a very good transfer. My response to J.J. Wildcat was kinda a joke. The transfer is a great middle school player. He is not hype. We are blessed. The tough teams in the L.C. Tip Off tournament will be Riceville defending Champs, Ft. Loudoun TNT champs with a great point guard in Gasper and a very good post in Fickey. Philadelphia should good as always with great coaching and a very good point guard in Everett. Rockwood should be strong this year. We have a great team as well. It should be fun, we are excited about our team! I really don't know what the rest of the teams have returning. Lenoir City will be well coached. Hope this helps!

J.J Wildcat, I hear North Middle has a pretty good transfer. The problem right now though is he has a hitch in his shot. Work hard this week in practice. UK

cbg & bulldog69, I have no intrest in Maryville football, so don't take this as a Maryville fans point of view. The question was who is the best team in Tennessee? I agree with both of you it is clearly not Maryville when you are talking about the overall state. That is clearly the private schools such as Breantwood Academy and MBA. However, I do think Maryville would hold its own in that great football area known as Nashville. I disagree that 4A is weak compared to others especially 3A. East Tennessee teams such as Austin East and Fulton have done well at the Clinic Bowl the past couple of years and they for one would get pounded by Maryville. Also, Maryville is a 4A school and I would love to see them play the 4A schools in Nashville on a regular basis. I mean to do you have to win 5 to 10 state championships in a row to prove hey we may not be the best team in the state but we are for sure with out question the best 4A team in the state. As a matter of fact I would love to see the 3A and 4A Nashville teams come to East Tennessee and get it handed to them each night. Folks from Nashville need to realize that MBA and BA can recruit the best so yes they should be the best. I'll give you guys credit Riverdale is great on a regular basis.

Holcomb is a quality pro but Chad Pennington an East Tennessee boy is the most accurate passer in the NFL.

Automatic, I was curious to how some of my boys are doing( J. Hawkins, Packett, J.P. especially)? Oh by the way, I hate seeing all these posts about L.C. on here, we haven't had a descent team since the mid 90's or a great team since the Cozart era. I would like to see L.C. have a good year agian. By the way Loudon has a great tradition and with the young TALENT coming in will be tough to beat in the future. Good Luck This Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travis Cozart was prbably the most highly recuited player to come out of East Tennesse since Leroy Thompson. The guy was an amazing talent! Hespent his first two years at Coffeville Community College in Kansas and was an Juco All american reciever. He returned to Tennessee and was pushing Jay Graham for the starting spot before being dismissed from the team. He spent a year in the Canadian football league as a running back for the Shreaveport Pirates. He made practice squad for he Miami Dolphins and was doing well for the St. Louis Rams before getting into some more trouble. He has spen several years in prision and is currently back in Lenoir City. Could have been a top 5 draft pick.

I didn't say th coach from kaya was poor in any manner. I'll give credit when it is due he has taken a bunch of extremely talented players and they play very well as a team no question. To me that is a sign of a good coach especially in today's me first game. I was just curious to why they didn't press because they play so well that way. It is when they are at their best! They are the best I've seen at that style and I know that first hand believe me so aaucoach 13 don't take my comment wrong. You won the tournament by +71 points so obviously the strategy worked. It is to my understanding that most of the teams out west are really big and I felt like that would be the style he would choose to play to advance at state. I hope kaya wins it all they are the best team I've seen and I respect their coaching extremely. As a matter of fact the move to go box and one agianst the elite won them that game ifthey didn'tgo to that defensive they may not have even won the game. I just felt maddox didn't adjust to the box and one.

I will be honest after watching the tournament as an outsider. I felt the best player in the tournament was cory cavin from the top gun. The reason that the kaya beat elite was because they are better. Yes the Elite had one great player but the kaya took him out of the game early in the 2nd qtr. kaya was the team with the most depth which helps but the elite wasn't coached very well. the kaya took that great shooter out of the game with a box and one to start the second qtr and the elite were finished. I think he took one shot the rest of the game. The coach placed him on the free throw line and there he stood for three qtrs. Yes you do try to atack the middle of the box but he stood there and couldn't get the ball. o changes were made at half time and all the elite did was take one pass and shoot the three the rest of thegame. they went from winning to losing by 30 in three qtrs because a failure to adjust. I was shocked however that kay dosen't ply any type of pressure. tey had far and away the best athletes and just set there in a 2-3 zone the entire tournament. At statethey will have to do more when they face teams with the same type of ability. The 2-3 mayhave been used to rest the players but they are so deep rest should not be an issue. Yes hey won the tournament due to ability but more pressure needs to be used for them to advance at state.

The finals for Sunday in the east sub state are the KAYA vs the winner of the knox lightening/ top gun winner. the top gun had a slim lead late not sure who won. the kaya spanked the nashville elite by 35 pts. they are clearly the most talented team in the east sub state. however the top gun play well together.

I haven't played with either in a long time but I can give you some info from high school. Cusick played a little bit of every postion on the floor mostly at the wing/post postions. He had quality skills for a player with his size. His shooting was special for a player of 6'5 as was his ball handling. He also showed the ability to get up eith a couple of dunks his senior year. Massey was a quick point who had the ability to score when needed. I think Cusick played in the blue Chips game not sure about Massey. I hope this helps. If you get a chance come out and watch their wendy's elite team play you would be impressed with the quality of play.

This weekend while working a turnament at ft.loudoun middle I had the privelage of watching both Cusick and Massey coach their Wendy's Elite team. I really hope these two youngmen continue to coach in our community. They handle the kids well and are really teaching the fundamentals of the game to our young women. They are helping lady panther basketball and I'm sure coach lee is thankful. I hope more people from our community could get out and watch the ELITE play they play soud aggressive defense and shoot the ball very well. Lets just say the folks in L.C. are proud of the coaches and the girls and keep up the good work. Great Job Elite on a super tournamen this weekend. State or Bust ! Go Elite!

The last I checked both are attending Roane State Community college. Both are good basketball players that played on some very quality Panther teams. However, their true rise to fame will be in coaching. Both Masey and Cusick coach two quality AAU teams in L.C. called the Wendy's Elite. Their teams have been a true pleasure to watch with their high scoring fun and run offense and pressure defense. Keep your eye out on these two quality young coaches! A good blend of coaching and talent will make the Wendy's program a force in girls aau.

I find it hard to call McMinn overrated! Yes, the Cats won and were the better team last night. However, Livingston didn't get the lead till 50secs left in the game. McMinn led most of the way by 6 to 8 points. Great job by Livingston especially Beechboard and the guard number 11. Beechboard is a special player the best I've seen this year. But to not give McMinn credit is plain dumb and these posters should get alife rather than just try and disrespect other kids and fans. McMinn also beat Walker Valley by over twenty twice. They can play with the best teams in the state regrardless of classification. It was proven last night they could even though the results didn't go the way they would have liked. Ask the Livingston Academy fans who watched their team tail 98% of the game if McMinn is as good as any team in the state but like a qualty program does LA steped up and advanced.

The player that could jump out of the gym was probably Travis Cozart who played at Lenoir City and not LOudon. He also played football for Tennessee.