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Harris and O'Kelley belong in there. Here are a couple of others: Chris Garner Fred Somers

Brent Jolley certainly deserves to be on there...can't believe I forgot about him. Drew Maddux was far from a joke. You can't score over 1,000 points and make All-SEC with false hustle. That kid was a winner.

1. Ron Mercer 2. Drew Maddux 3. Mike Rhodes 4. Mario Moore * not as familiar with Middle Tennessee as I am West and East...I'm sure I'm leaving out several...I can think of several good post players from Middle Tennessee (David Harrison, Brandon Wright, Julian Terrell, Oliver Simmons, Kirk Haston, Brian Watkins, Charles Hathaway and the guy that went to Miss. State and is still in the NBA).

1. Anfernee Hardaway 2. Tony Delk 3. Elliott Perry 4. Corey Beck 5. Todd Day 6. Andre Turner 7. Cannon Whitby

East Tennessee: 1. Knox Halls (good sophomore class, led by Sharp...better depth...transfer from Clinton...finished strong last year and look like they have learned to win...good win over Anderson County, beat Heritage in OT and had a chance to beat Fulton). 2. Knox Webb (had good young players last year...added a transfer and other good young players...don't think they've lost a game yet...not sure who they have played) 3. Sullivan East (big win over Sullivan Central...play well together) 4. Heritage (winning some games...competitive in their losses...good win over Seymour).

It might be true Heritage has a girl that would be the best player on the boy's team. After seeing her play, I think she would be the best player on a lot of boy's teams. Somebody made a good point about a regular season champion not making it to the region. That is not possible in district 4 because the top two teams receive a bye into the district tournament semifinals, which automatically puts them in the region. That district uses some sort of staggered bracket. I don't know how district 3 sets up their tournament. However, that is a good point in the sense that I think we'll see upsets all year long and we could easily see lower seeded teams make runs in the tournament. It's awful early to talk about that, but I think many people are in agreement that it's going to be a really interesting season. The only thing that is predictable is the unpredictable.

I don't think the quality of basketball is any better than it's been - maybe not as good, but it seems like that in the two Knoxville-area districts, there are no clear-cut favorites or clear-cut last place teams. Just some thoughts on each district: District 3: Oak Ridge will be very good once the football players get back and into basketball shape...Karns can beat anybody on a given night if shooting well...Halls is much improved with an outstanding point guard, good size and shooters...Campbell County and Central look better than last year...Clinton has good athletes and Powell has good size. District 4: Everybody seems up and down...Bearden has great guard play, but no posts and no depth...Farragut has the posts but the guard play has been suspect so far...Haven't seen Maryville, but they seem to be playing well...William Blount has great wins at Anderson County and over Bearden at home...Heritage is inconsistent but competitive, likewise with South-Doyle...Sevier County is better...West is athletic, but will struggle until their post player becomes eligible.

Just wondering how these teams will be...Also, will Catholic be in a public school district next year, or is that football only? I believe CAK plays Class A in both football and basketball.

Doesn't the home team usually win this game? Don't know much about either team, although I know both of them are pretty big.

The West and Middle are certainly stronger, but the one team from the East that should contend is Fulton - when they get their football players back. They have good, not great talent, but a lot of depth and two very good players in Rushawn Reeves and Elliot Bishop. Add in a tremendous tradition and solid coaching and they will be in the mix.

J.D. Lambert is a fine coach and a fine person. He's like a lot of young coaches with old school values - a lot of players won't play for him because they aren't willing to pay the price and adhere to discipline. I think he does a great job.

Should have also added David Harrison and Tony Delk.

Penny Hardaway Todd Day Corey Beck Ron Mercer Drew Maddux Mike Rhodes Skip Brown (Kingsport, early 70's, played at Wake Forest) Shawn Marion Trenton Hassell C.J. Black Michael Wilson (still plays for the Globetrotters)

Wade Parsons of Cumberland County was the best ball-handler I've ever seen. He signed with Penn State, then bounced around between UT, Carson-Newman and juco.

The Science Hill teams in the early to mid-90's were the best I've seen. The Memphis team, I believe it was Fairley, that had Sylvester Ford and Marlon Townes, was also outstanding. The White County team with Jolley, Gribble, and Austin was tremendous.

Three points: 1. How Sinard picks his team is his business. He is the coach. End of discussion. 2. The whole East Tennessee area is lacking in Division I talent. Very few players over the years from anywhere in East Tennessee have been good enough to play at the D1 level. This area is probably the weakest in the state on a year-to-year basis in terms of talent, so any criticism of the Jeff County program in this regard is unfounded. 3. It seems that the Patriots have had a competitive, classy program during Sinard's tenure, so I'm not sure what all the discussion is about.

Last five years, right? To the best of my recollection, these are the best that played during that time: I have left out all players currently in high school, because there is already plenty of discussion on that. Obviously, guys like Mercer, Delk, etc., were great, but finished playing in high school more than five years ago. All of these guys should be in college, or in Harrison's case, the NBA. I know I'm forgetting some guys from Memphis. Mario Moore Jason Holwerda Trey Pearson Corey Brewer Derrick Byars Lee Humphrey Dane Bradshaw Ernest Shelton David Harrison Andre Allen

Willie Kemp (Bolivar) and D'Quan Twilley (Shelbyville) are probably a level above everybody else.

Speaking for East Tennessee only - no particular order: Morristown East - Morristown West Seymour - Gatlinburg-Pittman Alcoa-Maryville Fulton-AE Bearden-Farragut Maryville-Knox Central

William Blount has several key players returning from a team that made the region, so they will be solid. Maryville and Alcoa both lost a lot of good players, but both programs are at a point where they will simply reload, although neither team will as good as they were last year, and their success in football may mean they will have to play shorthanded for a while. By February, both teams will be contending for district championships. Heritage is much improved and looks to be very competitive this year. I can see all four teams being above .500.

These are the guys from East Tennessee that I can remember that played or play in the NFL: Jefferson County - Todd Collins, Brent Collins Austin-East - Leroy Thompson Farragut - Bill Bates, Tyson Clabo Webb - Chad Pennington Oak Ridge - Mike Caldwell Dobyns-Bennett - Mike Fulkerson Seymour - Scott Galyon Sevier County - Jason Layman

Maybe what I'm about to say is a conflicting statement, but it's the truth. Alcoa and Maryville have an advantage over William Blount and Heritage because of the tuition situation - hands down. The county schools are at a big disadvantage. But, and I'm speaking exclusively about Maryville football because I haven't seen Alcoa play, the MAIN reason Maryville is so good is because most of those kids work hard on their own and George Quarles and his staff do an outstanding job. I have no feelings either way toward Maryville, but they are one of the most disciplined and well-coached high school football teams I've ever seen.

I am Tennessee born and bred and I love the Vols, but every other state in the South produces more good high school players than Tennessee - Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, even Arkansas. Most other SEC schools can recruit almost exclusively in-state and be successful. Tennessee can't do that. I think they've done a great job with the in-state kids - only a few have gotten away that were legitimate SEC-type players, and it's hard to argue for Chad Pennington because he was a late bloomer and he wasn't better than Peyton Manning. How can you aruge with their recruiting when they have become a national power? The last two years have been a little rough, but even so the Vols are a top 20 program - in bad years, so they are obviously recruiting the right players. Also, if Phil Fulmer had 20 legitimate SEC players in-state every year, I'm sure he would sign 15-17 of them. If UT recruited exclusively in-state, they would not be a top-20 program.

Before the Travelers chose to stop playing AAU in the mid-90's, they won about 10-12 state titles in various age groups. Also, group with Mercer and Maddux won the state every year they played.

The Travelers are loaded - went 3-1 at their tournament then went undefeated at the Southern Invitational in Virginia.