BoDawgs

This is one of the most laughable,thinly veiled posts I have ever seen on these boards. You have been to several DCA games this year? Why have you been to four DCA games since you are obviously partial to Ezell? This is your first post on these boards and it is over a region quarterfinal game you just "happened" to come upon? I doubt this is your first post since you knew exactly where to go to express your "unbiased" outrage. Old ball coach? What is this 1953? Are we to believe you are just an old cager looking for some good clean competition on a boring Tuesday night? Old official with bad knees? More like a sour parent with hurt pride. I am sure that 21 point play the officials called in the fourth quarter really turned the game. Please. Blaming officials in a close game can be understood if not condoned, to pretend you are some random visitor to these boards when in fact you are a disgruntled Ezell parent or coach who wants unabashedly blame officials in a 20 point loss is embarrassing and ridiculous. Come on, give the DCA boys their due and leave the officials out of this one. On another note - FRA boys will play Knoxville Webb in the early game on Friday. I expect this one to be closer than the 26 point win FRA had in Knoxville a few weeks ago. DCA will play tonight's USN/Davidson winner. With Hodge back (right or wrong?) USN should handle Davidson. I doubt they will have an easy time with DCA though. DCA has a ton of leadership and poise and with the young guys filling in place of the tragic Joy injury they could really do some damage this weekend. Should be fun. Great season to all. Sad to see a good Ezell team out of it, and Zach's career come to an end. He, and Corey, have been great players.

I think you misunderstood my post. I do not presume to know what CPA administration thinks or says, if my post came across that way I apologize. I was saying that it must be frustrating to have the school name defamed because of questions surrounding the methods used to procure some student athletes. It is a discussion that happens well outside these boards, walk into any 10AA gym on a Friday night and you are likely to hear it. So be careful not to shoot the messenger here. As far as decisions being made in the "best interest of the student", I am referring to arguments made by CPA fans on these boards and other venues. For example I had a CPA supporter tell me that the decision to ask for eligibility of the 8th grader in question was in his best interest. I do not understand that logic as it would seem to me that if he is repeating 8th grade it is probably in his best interest to forgo basketball and focus on his studies and prepare himself for the rigors of high school. I never said that this is a direct quote from a CPA Administrator. I know several administrators at CPA and they are excellent and thoughtful leaders, I also have said on these boards and I will say again that the young men and women in the CPA halls are consistently among the most respectful and intelligent students I have met. My criticism of CPA (and other private schools) on these boards is singularly focused on the emphasis on athletics and winning over equality and sportsmanship, this area is outside the control of the students (mostly), and largely in the hands of the administrators and parents who enable it. The feeling that CPA is operating in the grey areas of the rules has been stated by posters much more intelligent than I, and incidents like this last one do nothing to alleviate these opinions.

Good post. Strong points all around. I will restate my thoughts from earlier, shouldn't someone in admissions at CPA done a more thorough job in understanding the transfer rule and explaining, very clearly, the situation to the TSSAA? In fairness to the TSSAA they handle dozens of eligibility questions a season and do not have the resources to investigate every one of them. They take it on faith that the school and family submitting the request are providing all the information. In this case it seems that either 1) the information they received was incomplete (intentionally or otherwise) or 2) that this situation was so unique that the TSSAA had no precedent for a ruling, and because of the grey area involved in the case had cause to go back and redact their initial ruling. Option 2 is the most likely circumstance, and the fact that CPA would present a case that is so clearly in the "grey" should not be surprising to anyone. The other question - as talented as this 8th grader is, why do you really need him or want to play him? This team is very strong and he doesn't fill an obvious need. The Middle School team on the other hand struggles to score and could very much use his talents (if that was even a possibility with transfer rules for middle school). It is also important to note that by playing this 8th grader in a varsity game they immediately prevent him from transferring to another school without losing a year of eligibility. Got to protect your assets I guess. In addition, if I were a parent whose son worked hard to find time on this talented team, and then have an 8th grader (with questionable eligibility) come in and take minutes from my child I would be very upset. You would think administration would be tired of seeing CPA's name dragged through the mud in forums like this or out in the public and put their foot down on questionable decisions being made for the sake of athletics and winning; and it is even worse when the claims are falsely stated to be in the "best interest" of the student.

\ I am shocked CPA would break the rules in regards to eligibility. As talented as they are this year what is the point? Do they really need an 8th grader to win? If I were CPA's administration I'd take a close look at my Admissions Dept, oh wait...

This is an extremely irresponsible thing to say unless you can substantiate it, and even then family issues (real or imagined) about kids should stay off these boards. No one has been more critical of CPA on these boards than me, but comments like this cross the line and are potentially damaging. No child needs gossip and rumors about their family spread in a public forum like this. We can be judge and jury here, but not executioner.

I was at this game. FRA by 32 or so. USN never had a chance. FRA was excellent on both sides of the ball. Everything clicking. USN is obviously struggling without Hodge, but I am not sure he would have made that big a difference tonight. Judging by tonight and the quality of their other wins FRA is the top team in the region and one of the better teams in the area. I'm curious how they stack up against the West.

Make that 3 tournaments within 2 miles. FRA,right next to Overton, is hosting an 18 team boys and girls tournament. The boys event features Brentwood Academy,FRA,Sycamore, Hillwood,Harding in Memphis,and a team from Georgia. I know this is a boys board, but the girls event is maybe the best mid-state tournament of the year. Some teams - FRA, CPA, Lipscomb, Ensworth, Franklin, Rossview, Sycamore, Tullahoma, Gallatin. Lots of good basketball on Franklin Road this week.

Please go back and read my entire post. Certainly the boys in question do not need to be blamed. They play hard and care for each other, just as the kids at Ohio St. or UT do. The failure is at the administrative level, both at the school and the state athletic association, and without integrity from the top down we will continue to see schools use students as props to magnify their own image and validate their own existence instead of the other way around.

Congrats to CPA. They are a very strong team and deserve to be acknowledged. As far as recruiting it is time to call a spade a spade. CPA fans are constantly forced to defend the integrity of their team and school on these boards and in other public forums. Anyone can understand their protectiveness. However the facts speak for themselves. Much of the basketball roster at CPA is made up of students who have played AAU together for many years. Some of these students were not always enrolled at CPA. In addition CPA has had a couple players, former and current, who are at the school because of their relationship with Coach Maddux. It is hard to believe that a student from Greenbriar would transfer to south Nashville for any other reason. According to the TSSAA handbook (available online for anyone to see) - Recruiting includes - 3. Inducing or attempting to induce or encourage any prospective student-athlete to attend any member school for the purpose of participating in athletics even when the special remuneration or inducement is not given. 4. Any initial contact or prearranged contact by a member of a coaching staff or representative of the school and a prospective student-athlete in the seventh grade and above. In addition - 2. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, a coach who is contacted by any student or family or individual about attending a school where he or she is the coach should inform that person that he or she needs to contact the administrative official or officials of the school who normally deal with the admission process. 3. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, any meeting with coaches regarding athletes or prospective athletes should be a part of the admissions process at the school and should take place at the school As many of you probably know Coach Maddux is the Director of Enrollment (verifiable on CPA's website)for his school. This is, at best, a conflict of interest and most likely a clear attempt to circumnavigate the rules #2 and #3 listed above. The argument is as simple as the evidence and rules. No deeper philosophical debate is needed. CPA has maneuvered itself within the grey areas of the TSSAA rule book to give themselves an advantage in obtaining students and student athletes. As they are a business it is understandable they would do whatever it takes to gain an advantage on their competition, whether through enrollment numbers, or the publicity garnered by consistently presenting outstanding athletic teams. These "reinterpretations" of the rules are common at all levels of business. From Enron to Lehman Brothers to Wal-mart. Our culture is survival of the fittest. CPA fits the bill. Congrats to their success in Kentucky. While interestingly this is the first significant tournament victory for CPA in the Coach Maddux era, I can see this team making a deep run in March.

"A for FRA their name sais (learn to spell) it all they're just not that good at winning" Huh? Not sure what this post means? FRA is not good at winning? They were 27-7 this year. Won the Region Tournament and made it to the state championship game. Beat Ezell and DCA twice. Beat USN. Beat Lipscomb. Beat BGA. They have won 44 games the past 2 seasons. You are very confused.

Check your facts 9aa. FRA did play MBA, the also played Father Ryan, BGA, JPII and scrimmaged BA. Not to mention games against Lipscomb and CPA. By any measure their schedule was much harder than Ezell. Also, from my understanding the FRA boys and girls had scheduled Nashville Central Christian (very strong boys team) this season then NCC's girls backed out. Ensworth filled that spot, not the other way around. By the way I don't see Ensworth on Ezell's schedule either. I do see Pleasant View and Aaron Academy though.

While I'm not sure FRA will roll through the tournament I am certain DCA did not "dominate FRA in their own gym". That was a close game all the way. DCA played well, made their FT's and FRA struggled to score in the half court. I would say FRA was MUCH more dominant in DCA's gym when they held them to 28 points and beat them by 14 earlier in the season. Regardless, this should be a good tournament and a rubber-match between DCA and FRA would be exciting. Also gman Kings Academy is the 12th team. The 1-4 seeds will get byes in rd1 and play the winners of the 5-12 games. I think the winners of the rd2 games all go to Knoxville for the tourney and reach sub-state. Not sure though.

I am a parent of a FRA alum and I have been to some FRA games this year. I have been following this board on and off as well. The FRA-DCA game last night was great. DCA played very well. The game was much closer than the score as DCA made their FT's down the stretch. I was really impressed with DCA's guards and the shot Kennedy threw in from half court at the end of the 1st quarter had to be seen to be believed. I was surprised how well the big guy for DCA played. He decided the game in my opinion. FRA had many chances to take control of this game, but the lay-ups and FT's they have been making lately did not fall last night, and they had foul trouble in the second half. I think these are the two best teams in the league and would not be surprised to see them meet again in the tournament. Great job by DCA to have a game plan and execute it. This has been a fun region to follow this season. By the way, I would not want to play Davidson or Knox Webb in the 2nd round of the tournament.

Big Chief, you mean Lovedeball was wrong when they said "It's not enough that Marshall County shot better than any high school team could ever hope to shoot. It's not enough that everyone of your starters had the game of their careers." Marshall County is actually a good team? Who would have thought! I thought it had to be an act of God to beat CPA. Okay, that was sarcasm I can admit it. I wish though that CPA fans could give a compliment without qualifying it by how lucky, or out their mind, their opponent was. Lovedeball maybe you're right, maybe I am pathetic, but at least I am not you. Stop with the back-handed compliments, the righteousness and condescension. It makes your whole school look bad, and they don't deserve it. I have seen MC play several times, each time they made over 10 3's. They are fast and can shoot. CPA wasn't quite ready for it was all. Good job MC and good luck against Lipscomb.

Now that, Matt610, is how you do condescending. From the very first sentence. And righteousness to boot with the first sentence of the second paragraph. This is exactly what I was talki....never mind, it's pointless. Great job to Marshall County. Sad to see the end of a era at CPA. I have watched those seniors since their freshman year. What a special group. To wear the target every game, deal with injuries and tragedy, and have the record they did these past few years is outstanding. Good luck to those boy in whatever comes next, although they are well prepared for the world luck or not. As a parent at a rival school I am speaking honestly when I say that it is sad to see it end.