ChattanoogaStone

Calling all fans from each team! What does each team do well? What are their shortcomings? Who do you guys think advances to the Semi-Finals?

Grace couldn't pull out another victory against Arts last night and must travel to FCS on Monday. I know Friendship beat Arts earlier in the year. Can anyone speak to the strengths and weaknesses of FCS? Can they contain Herman? Do they have a player Grace will have trouble with? Predictions?

Championship should be Grace vs. Arts. That should be an interesting game b/c Arts won the two regular season matchups, but the 2nd game (which coincidentally was at Arts) Grace led the entire game until a few seconds left. It would be an upset in terms of seeding if Grace won the District Tournament, but not in terms of talent or ability. If Grace takes care of Copper and Arts takes care of Boyd 3rd Street will be rocking next week for the Finals.

It is very impressive. Coach Dragoo does a great job at Arts. I would say, however, that the streak should be split into two categories: 6A and 5A. The 6A District, in which they won all but 9 of the 59 games, has been considerably weaker than 5A during their streak. I am not taking away from their success. I am just saying if they had to play Grace and Temple (before Temple lost most of their basketball talent) twice a year their streak would never have been so long. If I were an Arts fan I would say our streak is 9 in a row b/c we changed districts. Either way Arts plays hard and smart and are very well coached. The district and region tournament games should be fun this year!

Very exciting game. Grace came out with an early 11-2 lead, but found themselves down by four fairly quickly. Game went back and forth until early 3rd quarter and Arts began to establish a five-seven point lead. Arts had an offensive answer every time Grace would score. They hit three big time 3's in the fourth to stop a Grace rally. It's not that Grace played poorly...it seemed like Arts played very inspired defense and they run offensive sets until they get a basket. Grace would settle for bad shots too often. Both teams had a hard time scoring in the first half (25-24 at halftime), but Arts got MANY easy layups in the second half. Stallion is the real deal. Grace has a lot of athletes and none of them could stop Alex. These teams should play at least 3 more times this year. Both teams are capable of winning a sub-state game on the road so I wouldn't be shocked, barring a Region Semi-Final upset, to see both teams in the State Tournament. Arts gets one of their big men back soon from injury which will help them out come tournament time. Wanted to say that I appreciate the classiness of Coach Dragoo and Coach Mattheiss. They've been doing this a while and have been friends even longer. It's fun to watch them compete against each other in highly competitive games and handle the adversity well.

Sorry about my bad info. I was going from memory...which obviously is failing

This Friday at Grace is the first of probably four matchups between these two rivals. Arts has had some recent post-season success against Grace lately, but the last Region Tournament matchup went Grace's way. Arts has quality wins against Clay Co., Pickett Co. and McCallie. Grace has beaten Ridgeland and Bradley Central and lost to Baylor by 3 (but were up 12 at half). Both teams lost to Tyner. What does everyone think? This season has some extra intrigue because Grace and Arts are in the same District now.

The only score I can remember is South Pitt lost to Grace by about 15. SP was up for a lot of the game, but Grace began to roll when SP got in foul trouble. I also think South Pitt played Grace without Malcolm. Even without him, it was the best SP squad I've ever seen.

I believe they are.

Thanks for posting the schedule. Howard vs. Baylor--I don't know much about Baylor this year. They usually are well disciplined and play hard. I'm going to go with Howard in this one. Arts vs. Ridgeland--This is a great first round game. Arts lost several players from last year's squad, but has played well early this season. Cousins is a reliable scorer and they always paly tough defense. Ridgeland hung in with Grace for 2 quarters but got blown out in the second half. Ridgeland has some size that may cause Arts some problems. I think this game gives Grace fans an idea of what Arts has. I'm going with Ridgeland in a close game. McCallie vs. Bradley Central--Again...I don't know much about B.C. this year, but Wadley's squad is loaded. I'll take McCallie here. Grace vs. Tyner--In years past Bradley wouldn't scare Grace as much because of McMasters and/or Shaughnessy. This year Grace is still really talented, but extremely guard heavy. I know Tyner also has another DI signee, but I've forgotten his name. I'll bet this is a great game, and I'm giving the edge to Tyner. This will be Grace's first really tough opponent of the year. It will be interesting to see how the coach's gameplan for a bigger team.

It's that time of year again! If anyone could post the schedule on here that would be great. I think the guys teams are McCallie, Howard, Bradley Central, Arts, Grace, Tyner and I don't know the others. Howard has a good chance at winning again, but McCallie is really strong this year. What does everybody think?

I happened to be at that Grace/Boyd game. Grace did not play very hard or shoot very well during the first half and still had a decent lead. Their intensity picked up some in the second half, but they never really shot the ball well. Boyd's effort was admirable (they only had 3 bench players compared to 6-7 for Grace), but none of their guys showed they can shoot. I don't remember Boyd making any 3's nor many long-mid range jumpers. I am sure once the football players get back in the swing of things Boyd will improve, but unless some of the football players are skilled offensively Boyd will struggle more often than not. I will say that it appears that Boyd is well coached. They came ready to play against a much more talented and athletic Grace squad.

I think I heard that Grace beat Cleveland in a pre-season matchup. Was Cleveland missing some players or had an off day? I know people shouldn't read too much into pre-season games. I was just throwing that out there...

Do you have any specifics on the AAU players Patrick has played against that are better than Buckner?

They won by 23 not 19. Final was 79-56. Have to give props to Grace Baptist. Knox hit 9 3's in 1st half and somehow found themselves still down by 6 at halftime. Fact of the matter was that if Knox went cold or were played tighter on the perimeter they were going to get blown out. Second half starts and GB scores first and then Knox #23 gets his 3rd foul so things are looking up for GB. A matter of a few seconds later and Shaughnessy gets his 3rd so now both of those guys are sitting. Knox scores the next 6 and the momentum begins to shift. But then...Brown takes 2 charges before the end of the quarter and the next thing you know Grace is up 8 again. I think that 3rd quarter showed how mentally tough GB is and the 4th quarter showed how they can blow a team out when everything is clicking. Manassas/GB should be very entertaining. I know people wanted to see Humboldt/Manassas for the finals, but i personally think the remaining 3 games will be just as quality of matchups as that one was...just maybe without an entire season's worth of hype behind it.

If 4 teams are private...doesn't that mean that the other 4 are public. Sounds like 50:50 to me...

I usually appreciate dadoffour's comments but I don't think I agree with him on this one. Obviously anything can happen in the State Tournament (i.e. Grace beating CPA in '04 and Humboldt in '06). I just don't see Grace Baptist coming out flat. I know what you are saying about playing well in a rivalry game, but what about how well they played against C'Range in the sub state game? Grace came out with lots of defensive intensity to start both halves and that was the key. They could have said "We've beat these guys by 16 twice already. We can cruise into the state now." But they didn't. I think Grace Baptist has grown up a lot since that loss to SilverDale. There is no doubt Knox Grace is a quality team and that Cleveland stat is impressive... All I am saying is that I doubt any team can't find the fire within to get ready for a State Tourney showdown

bitter much?

Unless you have seen both of these athletes play this seems like an unfair and needless comment. This is the problem with all of the West v. East talk on these boards...rarely has a poster seen a lot of ball from both parts of the state. Since that is the case, few people can intelligently comment on match-ups of either teams or players. I am from the East so I have only seen Patrick play. Since Ole Miss has signed Buckner and CS has signed Pat, both are clearly good players. I think they are different types of players with different abilities, but both are quality athletes. If Man. draws Grace then we will see who can do what. Good luck to all 8 final A teams! Can't wait until Wednesday!

That's a nice observation mcpoff. I can remember Grace was out-manned by CPA in '04 and Humboldt in '06 and pulled out two huge upsets. Who is to say Clarkrange can't come down here and do the same? The Eagles better be ready for the Buffaloes best effort of the season. With the state tournament on the line, anything can happen!

Thanks TopDawg! Now that you've mentioned it I have heard of Upchurch. I wonder how Grace will decide to D him? Anyone know what kind of game Upchurch had the last 2 times these teams met?

Can someone familiar with the Clarkrange team post about their strengths and weaknesses please? I think I heard they have one guy that can do it all and most of the other guys just try to fill a role?... Is that true or am I way off there? I know Grace won by 16 at Clarkrange back in February but the Eagles were down 11 early in the game and had to come back. Still an impressive win but it does show that Clarkrange can play some ball.

The fact that South Pitt played Arts w/in 8 in the District 6A finals and were tied with a minute left tells me they can play with any 1A school in the area. That being said, if Grace comes in focused from the opening tip, plays good D and Shaughnessy stays off the bench it should not be close. Grace just has way too many weapons and an athletic bench.

I would just really be surprised if Temple did not win this game. That is not a statement about either team's pro's or con's or what have you. Temple just seems to win the big games and this is a BIG game. I know one thing for sure...all the Grace fans sure are glad they don't have to play Arts in the Semi's this year. I think the corner of Jenkins and Shallowford would have imploded if they were knocked out by the Patriots for the 3rd year in a row.

"Again, Grace does not condone the actions of any individuals who hurt the name of the school. Probably not a good idea on the Silverdale players' parts to cheer against Grace. If they survive South Pitt. they will have to back that talk up on Tuesday, and so far that hasn't really worked out to well for them." I know what you mean govols, but SD did pull one out against Grace earlier in the year. I know Grace didn't play well and SD played very well and it took 2 OT's to win...but a win is a win. Obviously the other 2 meetings were very one-sided in Grace's favor, but Grace will still have to play well to beat SD if they happen to meet in Round 2.