bballwizard2

I too will miss watching Alex and Paul in Blackman uniforms. Both of them progressed tremendously over their careers and both are tremendous young men that have my respect.

 

I believe Paul really started improving body and foot control towards the end of the season. If he had one more year, I think he could have really become a highly efficient post player.

 

Alex has matured greatly over his 4 years at Blackman. He spent most of this year learning how to be a leader and I think he did a solid job of it from a "lead by example" standpoint. I think he can continue to improve on his vocal leadership. I thought he adapted as well as could be expected to being the go to guy.

 

Just curious, what exactly is it that Turnham did not "allow" Alex to do?

It appeared to me that Alex had the green light to shoot, penetrate, or pass as he saw fit.

While I only saw Blackman 8 or so times this year, I never saw Turnham limit Alex's options when he had the ball.

My comment on Turnham turning Alex loose was referring to last year. I stated I would like to have seen him do more of that last year instead of using him as his third option. He really established himself this year and I think he would have been even better had he been allowed to do more the previous year. Coaches can hold back players as well as develop them. I think Turnham held Alex back and you have to give Alex credit for putting team first.

Great year in 7AAA in my opinion. It was very unpredictable and in my opinion one of the more exciting seasons we have had in many years. There were a few standout players but for the most part it was a blue collar hard working group of kids. Will miss seeing Alex and Paul play for the Blaze. Both were great kids and represented BHS well. Alex I really enjoyed watching you develop at BHS and wish Turnham had allowed you to show us what you were capable of last year. I will never forget your 42 point game, your last second shots that won Blackman many games over the years and how unselfish you are. You had an amazing year and I wish you the best.

Nice of you to compliment them on their good year. /sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" /> Epps had a great season and so did Kendal. Both of them were big parts of a team that finished 2nd in the district when everyone thought they would have a down year. I was very impressed with both when they played Blackman and one game does not define a season. I am sure they were both a little frustrated because they are competitors, but they need to look at the whole season. I think Oakland played tired in the tournament and I am sure they probably were because they did not have a lot of depth. Just like Blackman. Their last game was one of their worst but you can't define Alex's season by the last game he played. Shelbyville kept two people on him and were not going to let him have a look at the basket, but had it not been for Alex Blackman would not have finished 4th in the district. I think both teams can be very proud of their accomplishments because they did not have the talent of the other two top teams and some of the teams that finished lower in the district.

 

Good luck to WC and Siegel tonight and heading into the sub-state. It would be great to see both of you advance to State.

I agree N2, good post. Some people are just jealous and can't give credit where it is due, or if someone has a bad game they really enjoy it.

I didn't really base it on head to head match ups, because you never know who is sick, injured, etc. Plus, basketball is a game of momentum and some games things just don't fall your way. You have to look past individual games and look at the whole season. I based my ranking on skill, athleticism, coaching, players who can take over the game, etc. Shelbyville has the type of players that will step it up in crunch time because they can flat out play and are very athletic.

 

By the way, the last time Shelbyville played Tullahoma, they beat them by 22. White County beat them by 1 in OT. So, based on your rationale, I guess you would say Shelbyville is 21 points better than White County? I thinnk not! Or, look at White County versus Blackman. Blackman beat White county by 20 and Shelbyville beat Balckman by 15. Does that mean Shelbyville is 35 points better than White County?

 

I actually think White County and Shelbyville will go down to the wire if they play in the finals, but neither team is guaranteed to make it to the the finals. Any of the 4 teams left can win it.

Siegel will beat Shelbyville by 20 points. Shelbyville does not have an athlete that can compare to Siegel. You won't be able to double team any of Siegel's players because they can all shoot. Your post player cannot handle Hughes and Hammonds will run through you.

Thanks. Was wondering because on most of his three's against White County somebody had a hand right in his face but he was knocking them down anyway. /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />

I know. I was hoping Turnham would try to get him some help but he seemed content to let his other guards try to shoot. They are good defenders but they just can't shoot the ball. That has hurt Alex all year because there is no one to help with the outside shooting, so they can key on him. Shelbyville knew it. The refs did not help because they let it get to rough on both sides and they were pretty much holding Alex the whole game as he was trying to make his breaks. We got a few calls but not enough. Would love to have seen him have another big game because I enjoy watching him play but there were a lot of memorable games this year. BHS will really miss him.

Congrats to White County! They were the better team last night.

I just have a view observations from last night and the tournament. So let me type before you jump down my throat. First, I saw about 4 different sets of refs and thought they they were all bad. I won't say another thing about that. I got to the ballgame early to watch the Blackman/Oakland game. Thought I would support the BORO. I was more for Blackman because they were the underdogs but I have certain favorite players from both teams. It was a sloppy game. I thought at one point Carter was going to get killed. Seems the game got out of hand a few times. Just like the White County/Siegel game. So the Siegel game starts and there are tons of people from White county. Someone must of rolled up the streets in Sparta last night. I'll make no excuse for Siegel's loss because I won't bash players or refs but I will say something about fans. I was very disappointed last night when I looked up in the stand and nearly the whole Blackman team was sitting with White County's student section cheering against Siegel. I did not see Oakland doing that so I give props to Oakland. If they did they were not as obvious as Blackman was in their blue sweatsuits with the orange stripe. I did take pics to prove their support of White County. I thought I was being a good citizen of the Boro by supporting other teams from the Boro. Am I the only one that feels like it is a compliment to our great city to want any of the teams to be successful and represent us? I didn't want the district crown to go to White County. I wanted it to go back to the Boro. Good luck to all the Boro teams left in the region. I have seen some wonderful basketball this year and I hate to see it end.

I think everyone has a right to cheer for whoever they like. I like you, wanted to see the Boro get the win but I think WC will represent us well. I don't know what happened with Blackman last night. They did not come into the gym until after half time of the championship game. By that time there was nowhere to set because Siegel had invaded where Blackman was sitting. I was sitting across the gym but my guess is they were having fun with the WC cheering section who was right beside them.

Congratulations White County it was an awesome game! You have a really talented team and I hope you make it to state. If so we will be there to support you. As for the Blaze, they didn't have it last night. The ball would not drop and I can't say Oakland was shooting very well either but they did enough to win. Paul had a great game rebounding just couldn't get the shots going, the guards had a horrible night passing. Missed Alex and Paul numerous times on back door cuts. Alex just didn't have enough juice left for this game. There is no way a player can run around the court like he was having to do to get open and have anything left for the end. Coach needs to design some different plays.

Good luck in the Region tournament to all 7AAA.

As for the All District Team I was surprised by that too. Why bother having one if you are not going to recognize them. If it wasn't for CoachT I wouldn't even know who was on it.

And hopefully White County will prove you wrong. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

I will take Blackman and WC.

2P that last sentence is VERY ignorant. Cutter lets his emotions get the best of him sometime but I feel he is one of the best in the district if not the best. I would love to have this kid on my team. Imagine how good he would be had he been under King for 4 years 2p. Think outside the box. Not just at what he is now which is a great player with a tad bit of a tude. I feel WC has worse attitudes then Cutters. I hope Siegel can get them this time around. Hammonds should be returning to a court near you soon.

Cutter's problem is he likes to draw attention to himself. Evidently, he is starved for attention. Glad to see his coach yelled at him and put him on the bench, at least for a few minutes. I agree WC has some players with lousy attitude with the worst being Delaney. He is very immature. He did not shake hands with the Blackman players after Blackman beat them at home nor after the tournament game. When offered a hand by the Blackman players after a tumble on the court he just brushed off the hand and got up on his own. Basketball is a rough sport and everyone is competing as hard as they can. Show a little class instead of pouting.

Congratulations to Paul Stephens on his All-District and to Alex Carter for his MVP. I was glad to see the coaches got it right. I think the coaches did a good job with the first team, but I'm not to sure about the 2nd and 3rd team. I really think Maupins and Puckett were better than 3rd team.

Heisman i seen bird light jordan up 4 55 and vice versa are they garbage?You my friend are garbage we no you hate sparta but guess what who cares.Carter had a monster game congrats but the season is long in all honesty mvp should be delaney or cutter.Cutter to me though is not even mvp of his own team and usually spits it out against us.Carter is right there with also solid and seems like a class act just went quiet in a couple big games.You could make an argument for him though cause without him they would be bad.Delaney to me is mvp can play 1-5 any posistion this is huge 4 us cause our bench is light!!!!

I can agree with Cutter, Delaney, and Carter as the top 3 but I think Carter is the MVP. Cutter and Delaney are on teams loaded with talent and other go to players, especially Delaney. Arguments could be made for Green to be MVP as well. Where would Blackman be without Alex. They have fought their way to 4th in the district. Where do you think they would be without him. I would guess 8th. Blackman has some great kids that play hard but they are young and if anyone other than Paul and Alex have scored in double figures this year I don't remember it. As for Alex going quiet in a couple of games I am sure you can look back at Delaney and Cutter and see where they had a couple of games they did not do so well in. Alex is face guarded almost every game and has to work for every point. Can't say the same for Delaney because you have Brown, Green, and Mitchel who can light it up as well. Alex's stats are right there with everyone. I can't remember the latest ones but I remember a couple of weeks ago he was listed in almost every category and averaging almost 17 points a game. He is a class act and you know that can't be said for Cutter and after watching Delaney at Blackman on Friday I can't say that about him either. Regardless of the outcome of the game you shake hands with the other team. The rest of the WC players did.

Good effort tonight by the Blaze, just out manned inside. If Brown had not torn his ACL in football we might have been a contender. Hats off to Alex Carter for how hard he played tonight. The game was very physical and Coach King always seems to have a plan on trying to stop Alex. I think he still had close to 20 but it was all hard earned. Paul played good but it would have been a much different ball game if he had made all the layups he missed. Really need someone else to step up and help Alex and Paul. reat paases as well. If only we had another shooter. Good job Paul, you really worked hard. Hate to see Alex and Paul go out on a losing season but really appreciate their leadership and hard work.

 

One comment on the coaching. Do you think Coach King would let his 5'5" point guard drive the lane 4 times in a row when the game is on the line? He is to short, can't hit free throws so what is the point. We were within 7 with 2 1/2 mintues left in the game and we only got the ball to Alex once. Why would you not have a play that gets the ball to Paul or Alex? Can't understand Turnham continuing to let him do that.

I can honestly careless who you are and your knowledge for the game. Your a fool if you think blackman played harder then Siegel. We beat them in every single aspect of that game tonight. We hustled for loose balls. We sprinted down the court on offense and defense. I dont know what game you were watching. Harris was slowly putting all the subs in late in the third and all the starters were entirely out midway through 4. Thats one of the DUMBEST posts I have ever read. Your must have escaped the zoo making such outlandish posts. Get real here. Stop letting your hatred show so much. I love how you brag about knowing the game and you get on here after Siegel dominated blackman in EVERY aspect and say they tried harder then us. You know USUALLY WHEN YOUR DOWN 30 YOUR GOING TO TRY A LITTLE HARDER. Such a dumb dumb post.

Siegel did not out play Blackman in effort but they out played them in converting. Blackman does not match up well with Siegel. Cutter is at least 5 inches taller than Smith and he should be able to score easily. Every player but Alex and Paul gave up 4 to 6 inches. I am sure Tate loved having a 5'8" player guarding him underneath and Siegel did a good job of converting. Blackman's biggest problems other than height is the decision making of the point guard. Smith cannot get the ball inside to Paul when he is open, and Alex cut the lane wide open several times but Smith is to hesitant. Those are the mistakes Siegel did not make. To many turnovers made my Smith, Crutchfield, and Collier. They are young and will learn with more experience but it made for a very long ball game for the Blackman fans. But Blackman played hard and they can be proud of that they just need to play smarter. If Blackman had another consistent scorer besides Alex and Paul it would help. Let's hope for a better game at Cookeville on Friday.

As far as taking the starters out in the 3rd it didn't happen. Cutter was running in and out of the game until there was only 3 minutes left and big number 52 fouled out in the fourth. Blackman took Alex and Paul out mid way through the 4th so I didn't understand why the coach felt the need to continue to run Cutter in.

Carter only had 14 that game not 18...big difference (according to the paper).

Sorry, didn't remember exact amount but if I knew 4 points meant so much to you I would have checked my facts. I think I did put about 18 points.

Ok ...I will mention it...Blackman won the 3rd qtr by 3 and lost the first half by 31. Does that make you feel better. Siegel was in cruise mode the scond half. Isn't that the half where they were throwing oops and Hammonds was a dunking machine and the kid from New Orleans even got one. So you were right, Blackman beat Siegel one qtr. WITH Alex Carter!!!!!! But the STARS won the game!!!!!!!

I remember the Siegel/Blackman game at Blackman being about the same last year with Siegel being on the other end of the score. Blackman scored 36 points in the second quarter and had a 27 point half time lead. The game was much closer the next time they played. The point is that teams have those kind of games. Siegel came out hot and Blackman could not buy a basket. Things just went down hill from there.

As for Carter, he had not played or practiced in about 3 weeks so it took him a little while to find his range and you could tell he did not have his legs back. He still managed to score around 18 points and helped to bring Blackman back in the second half. The kid's had a rough fall so you really have to admire his work ethic and dedication.

I think Oakland wins by 10. King is not going to let Carter get any looks and from what I have seen of Blackman this year they are not working to get him open. He has been doing it on his own but I expect King to have a plan to stop him. They may stop him from shooting but he creates so many opportunities with his passes. He is a team player and he will make sure he gets the ball to someone. Problem is Blackman does not have a consistent 2nd scorer. Paul has a good game every now and then but really no one else to take the pressure off of Alex.

Oakland on the other hand has several threats and probably the best point guard in the district. He gets the ball to the open man regardless of whether he drives and kicks the ball out to the shooters or gets the ball inside. He is also a threat to score.