TylerDurden

Hampton and University High will both advance to the State with wins over Grace Christian and Greenback. I have seen Grace play and Hampton had them beat earlier this year and led the whole game. Hampton let up and Grace got hot at the end. Hampton had just got their football players back, which was over half of the team and had a starter that was injured and did not play. Hampton also has 2 freshmen who are getting a lot of time now and are not playing like freshmen anymore. University high is shooting the lights out right now and play good defense. Their only weekness is down low but they have shooters all over the court and its hard to cover them all. Region 1 will advance here.

howsthat, I edited my post about 5 to 10 minutes after I posted it and agreed you were right. You must be too dumb to edit your post so everyone can still see my original one. Hardly anyone would have seen it if not for you! The kid is going to be good player and I meant nothing bad towards him, he is just not anywhere near ready for that right now and Ronnie should have been able to see it. Everyone else in the gym sure could.

I hate to say I told you so, But............... I knew if Hampton came out and played like they were capable it would not be close and I was right. Cloudland played hard as always, but Hampton just has too much talent and shot too well. Hampton vs University should be a great regional final.

Nemesis, I just don't see how you can say Hampton has to play " flawless" to win. Hampton does need to play good but not flawless. If both teams play their best games, Hampton will win by 15+ . Hampton has the advantage at every single position on the floor except for maybe the point, and when Hughes comes in they have it there or at least break even. Hampton also has a better bench. Cloudland played flawless in the 2nd half against UH and UH went stone cold. You can say it was good defense and it was but UH missed every open look they had, several, several layups and a bunch of free throws. I was tickled to death to see them win instead of UH. If Cloudland plays like it did in the 2nd half of that game, they will be tough, but if they play like they did in the first half of that game or like they did in the first half of the Washburn game, Hampton will kill them. I would say that Cloudland is the one who needs to play flawless.

I fixed what I said Howsthat. You were right I should probably not mention names. And for your question, I'm NOT a Unaka parent. How's that?

Cloudland is very patient with the ball which is very hard to play against. I think you must do something, like playing man to man or doing a half court trap, to make them do SOMETHING with the ball. I'm not saying they can not run, but if you get into a snails pace game with them they are tough to beat. As far as causing turnovers in the 1-3-1 like playing Unaka, it is not the same playing Cloudland. Cloudland will not turn it over like that. Hampton will try to push the pace and Cloudland will most likely try to slow it down. I think another key to the game is the shooting of Jordan Hughes. If he is hitting outside they are much tougher to defend. Should be a good game.

I agree Vader, the zone has give Hampton problems and it shouldn't. If Hampton shoots like they did last night it shoudn't be that big of a problem. Its that slow down game that gives everyone problems I think. Its kind of like playing HV. They don't really want to play basketball and want to frustrate you with the slow down. When you start trapping and gambling to try and speed things up and you don't get the steal, they then have the advantage they were waiting for. Cloudland and HV are 2 examples of why high school needs a shot clock. Proving you can play keep away does not prove you can play basketball. I also agree with the part about the 2 freshmen being the best players besides Bentley. If the coaches will give them the minutes they will see the results.

I don't think any were out at Cloudland except for Irick being still hurt. Hampton has not played that bad since that terrible week when they had to play at Johnson Co, at Cloudland, at University high and at Unicoi Co. They were still trying to play too many people and figure out who their best 7 or 8 players are. They still have not figured it out completely but are getting much closer. Cloudland played very well against University high in the 2nd half of the district but played aweful in the 1st half. Hampton played very well against Jellico last night and could have won by at least 40. If Hampton plays that way, this game will not be very close. If Hampton plays like they did early in the year and don't play their best players it will be a close game.

Hampton will win this game! The Landers forget about the whipping they took just a few weeks ago at Hampton. The Ward kid was sick and could not play in the district game. He had 9 pts and 10 rebs when Hampton whipped them at Hampton. Hughes also played good last night at Jellico with 16 pts. If those 2 are given the minutes they should get, the game won't be very close.