Gomab: I love reading the rankings, and know that its impossible to ever make everyone agree, but at least when ranking the teams you can use head to head matchups. I play for the Nashville Hawks, and was surprised to see us ranked 10th (actually tied for 10th) in the 17's. I know we don't look like we're very good at all, but our results should at least earn us a litle respect. We're 2 and 0 over the Thunder in the last two years both times keeping them out of the Nationals.(last year they only qualified when another team was disqualified). The last time we played Charles Davis at State we beat them by 20, and we played our freshman and sophomores the whole 4th quarter. It was never close. I don't understand how both of these teams that we've handled the last two years can still be ranked ahead of us. We hung with the Brekers at state for the whole game, it was tied with under 4 minutes to play. I have not seen most of the East Tennessee Teams play, so i cannot object with their rankings. And obviously i know that the YOMCA teams and the travelers have us beat.
******About the YOMCA (17s), i was really dissapointed with their play at nationals. After watching them cruise through the state tournament, i figured they would step up and play hard at nationals, where they would face equal competition. Instead of rising to the challenge they still were way too cool to play hard, and wound up finishing third in their pool. I watched Andre Allen run straight to the corner behind the 3 point arc and stand for ten straight possesions without moving a step, and this was in the 4th quarter of a game they were trailing (and eventually lost) No movement without the ball, no rebounding, and no defense.The most amazing thing about the YOMCA is not their play on the court, but how they manage to play and still keep their shorts from falling down. If you've seen them play you know what i mean. After playing in front of coaches Peterson, Smith, and Caliparri (only to name a few)at their last pool game, there was not one scout at their following game in the losers bracket. They only have themselves to blame. I don't know how they finished out, but what i saw was pathetic. The one exception was Bradshaw, he's a terrifc player and deserves to be ranked higher.****
Also at the national tournament we held our own against every team we played. You say that the YOMCA and Ballerz play against National Comp like the travelers, but don't forget about us either. We came out of pool play with a 1 and 2 record, which was the same as YOMCA and i believe (not possitive) a game better than you guys.
Our team is not as serious as others we play. We don't practice much, and are not a member of a powerful club. We're just in it to improve and get ready for the real season, high school. This attitude makes a lot of people not take us for real, and underestimate us. Obviously this is the same thing you have done in your rankings. Still, nothing but love for all the rankings. Most especially in the summer, gives us something to talk about.
