TheEgoHasLanded

Last year one team was nationally ranked, the other wasnt. I'm comparing next years team though. I was under the assumption that MBA lost a lot at QB, TE, and a few lineman.

Hmm That would be an interesting argument...they are definitely #1 in Shelby County. I'll be honest, I don't know what they return, but I don't think you want to mess with Germantown... #80 Jeff Cottam might be the best TE in the country...6'8 250 and runs a 4.6. I'm being pretty nonbias here, I'd actually root for MBA over those nasty public schools...it would be close either way.

I'm living in knoxvilleplace at UT. 65 Million, brand new...and most importantly...co-ed. Can't wait.

Bradley Central is done. I witnessed them getting slaughtered by an unnamed D2 school in the summer...(NO-it wasn't BA). I forgot about Ridgeway...they will always be tough as well. The best teams once again lie in West TN.

JustWrestle... I am sorry to hear that your son did not like Chattanooga...the crime is very dangerous in East TN. Perhaps Memphis might be more to his calling. I saw a shirt he might like... It had a criminal on the front and it had bullet holes throughout the front and back and said, "Welcome to Memphis, Sorry we missed you the first time." I actually can understand what your son went through, college is definitely a drastic change for some...even me, a kid who had gone to a small church of christ school his whole life...and then 380 miles east to one of the biggest party schools in the country.

I think Fairley can play with them. 6'6 and 6'10 inside...both players are D1 caliber. Raleigh Egypt could definitely give them a run for their money, same for Sheffield...unfortunately they are in AA. JNS might actually be favored to win state this year, returning the Delks and other players....might want to try and improve on that thing they call depth.

Understandable Rollred. Please do not think that I was trying to compare MBA with Briarcrest or anyone else...your reputation is unmatched, and even though I do not follow your team or school, I do respect you all as fans because your contributions to this site are spectacular.

I'd like to clear things up...hopefully I won't use the word (snotty) Briarcrest does not usually go 6-6. I don't even know the last time they had a non-winning record, possibly in the early 90's when the school almost was shut down from lack of funds... In fact they have been the cream of D2-AA with (before last year)...5 straight title appearances and they have one won state title. Actually they beat the BGA team in double overtime that was able to outlast MBA in the season opener. I am not going to compare them to MBA, because MBA's record speaks for itself...however remember that you guys do have double the enrollment that Briarcrest has since it is co-ed. Bram Cannon is the younger brother of Chris Cannon. I do not have Briarcrests schedule, they open up the year at the Liberty Bowl against Melrose. If you are questioning how good Briarcrest will be that is fine. I don't go there, and I don't really care how they do, but the Commercial Appeal did rank them Pre-season Number 2 in Shelby County. That means they are ahead of teams like CBHS, MUS, Melrose, Whitehaven, Southaven, and Olive Branch (the latter two are always included in the poll as well). I believe the only team ahead of them was 5A state title winner Germantown. MBA lost some great players this year, I doubt they would be number 2 pre-season in Shelby County. Lets just give credit where credit is due...whether it be to former BA greats, past champions, or future all american prospects.

A mid state team all star team would probably be: Tyler Smith, Jamont, Brandon Wright. If I had to pick the top 5 players in West TN I'd go... Richard Delk, JP, Thaddeous Young, Pierre, and possibly Lawrence Kinnard or Anthony Mason Jr. That west team would be pretty nasty, with every player being at least 6'5. Jp, Delk, and Mason would be tought to stop. I know that historically, Brandon Wright has not faired well when being guarded by Pierre and/ or Young in AAU. I still would give the advantage to the Mid-State.

I never said we didn't. I don't know those kids, and I don't know what teams they are favoring. Your only going to get Cromwell if Memphis doesn't offer him...compare him to the former UT player Steve Hammer who was never offered by Memphis and would have died to go there...I think Memphis should have taken him, turned out to be a pretty darn good player. Cromwell averages about 10 points a game, if that...I have never seen him score over 15 or 16 in a game...Gomab and possibly Opperman can vouch for that. If Memphis took him, I would be semi-delighted...I guess. I don't know where Tyler Smith would play in the SEC if he's only 6'6. No way you play the 4, and is he skilled enough, fast, and athletic enough to play the three? Can he shoot the ball like a typical 3? Jamont seemed phenomenal when I saw him play during an AAU tournament...I'm not going to bad mouth that kid at all,he seems like the real deal...I would question why he would go to UT (esp if UT suffers again this year) when he could go to UK, UNC, Duke, etc.

Then what high school players are? And have you seen enough players to make an accurate judgement.

I highly doubt the Titans win 14 games...You aren't just going to walk away with wins against: MN away, GB away, Broncos, Chiefs, Miami away (10-6 last year) and the Colts twice with only 2 losses. Even if they played their best ball, they wouldn't be able to do that...those are some darn good teams. That is also assuming you don't slip up on the road at Jax or Houston. The Bungals won't be a pushover either in my opinion. Titans will be good, probably 11-12 wins, but I doubt they are as good as last year...McNair lost a good target to the Jets and the Runningback situation is mediocre at best, Wycheck retiring isn't great and neither is the subtraction of the Freak. If injuries aren't a factor...then who knows. Might want to pray that injury bug hits the Patriots again, since the entire team is back plus the additions of Vince Wilfolk, and uhh the best free agent signee two years ago Roosevelt Coleman (pray he gets put on the Physical Unable to Perform List). I believe the Chiefs return an amazing amount of starters, they did lose one of their OL (Ruof?) but found a suitable replacement...A priest now has the record for most Touchdowns in a season. Interesting that Randy Moss added 10-15 pounds and bought a 10,000 computer to study defenses, My Cowboys open up against him, I hope it doesn't get too ugly.

I have seen all the players play...Delk, Jamont, Bwright, JP, I have not seen Tyler Smith. If I had to start a team, I'd take Brandon Wright first, He is gifted offensively and defensively he will block anything within a 5 foot radius of him. He can breaks a press by himself by just jumping up and catching the ball. I would next take Jamont, but I haven't seen him play that many times, or even recently. I would then take JP...who is from WEST TN, not East...and finally I would take the Delks...I dont know when I would take Tyler since I have never seen him play.

How many SEC road games have we won in the last couple of years? I'm not naive...I know it's the SEC and playing quality opponents on the road is not an easy thing to do...but if you want one of those 32 at large spots (or however many there are)...you best darn start winning on the road. You cant lose AT Alabama by 25 or AT the basketball powerhouse Nebraska by 20. If you can't win on the road, you aren't going to do much better at a neutral site. I really just don't think a lot of the players we are getting are that good...these basketball classes are never in the top 10 or 15... I'm a life long Memphis fan, and we are always in the running for one of the best classes in America (until someone decides to skip Memphis and go pro)...Even though we are having those great classes, we still have only gone twice since 96. UT was going when they had Tony Harris, Yarborough, etc...Might want to keep trying to get the best in the state, and then see what happens.

I don't think it will matter how many big names we get unless something is done from the coaching ranks. Buzz has still not produced, yet he had the best player in the SEC and a pretty darn good 7 footer next to him. This NIT crap is getting old...one and done in the NIT, it's worse than sad. They have to keep getting the best players from Memphis. I don't think Cromwell would actually help us that much, Jamont obviously would. Thaddeous Young is a top 20 player in his class...He could go pro. I would think Memphis would have the inside track on him, just because they are a better bball school. Brandon Wright will definitely go pro...so there really isn't much point in even talking about him.

Ok...I will clear up the substate incident. 1- They got put out of substate because they lost one game to the Bulldogs (everyone in the state did, so no one can say anything about that) and then they forfeited their other game because no players showed up. 2-JP wasn't on the team that went to substate. That team went to Las Vegas and incidents happened between a few players which caused JP and his dad Coach Prince to quit before substate even began. -Since JP quit the team, his leadership, skills, and everything else can not be put to question since he wasn't on the team that lost in substate. -Actually, no one should talk any crap about their team not advancing to the state tournament out of Memphis. The YOMCA and the Bulldogs finished #1 and #2 in the state tournament, so whoever was the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or 20th best team in the other areas of the state...would not have qualified for the state tournament. -I will not say why he quit the team...but I will say that if it happened to you, you would have quit the team too. I have seen the Delks and I have seen Prince. The only thing I ever see the Delks do is shoot threes, which is actually more than Prince. I think JP is a great player, but I think he is almost too unselfish...he never takes over cus he plays team basketball...I believe it's very hard to judge how much skill the kid really has. I think JP is more of a well rounded player than the Delks. My vote for the best player I have SEEN...is Jamont. Jamont can actually do more individually than JP or the Delks. He is the only one who has the body to bang with the big boys, whip no look passes, and shoot threes. He is the strongest by far and can really get up. I think overall he can do the most...whether he is the best player or not, thats up to you. If I was a coach...I would take these players, in this order. Jamont, JP, Delks (I have only seen the delks play about 5 times and Jamont 3) I haven't seen Tyler Smith, so I can't comment on how good he is.

Interesting that the Goodpasture kid is not on Tom Lemmings Preseason top 100 list of ESPN. However, Mike is. It seems everyone, rivals, espn, etc agree that he is one of the top players in America. I did not see any other TN player who made both lists...including Coker.

That travelers team would have faded...no way they beat the Idlewild national champion team of: Corey Bradford, Tony Harris, Paris London, Robert 'O Kelley, they also had a center was 6'8 255 from East High School Terry Rogers...that team was stacked and would have destroyed anyone. Harris, London, O Kelley teamed up to win the title at 13s...London was a year younger.

The posters on this site might not know much about him, but LSU and UT know about him. Arkansas, NCSU, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, etc. Highly, highly recruited individual who is very classy. He is incredibly nice and well mannered for someone his age and stature, Mike will succeed no matter where he goes.

I would say the Travis Stephens team of 96 (Clarksville NE) would be one of the best teams to ever hit the field from what I have read...didn't they have three 1000 yard rushers on one team? Lost to BA if I recall in the semi's.

I see it every day...regardless who is president. I guess if we had elected a Democrat, then Worldcom and Enron wouldn't have decided to lie. Also, Al Qaeda wouldn't have attacked, even though they were upset with us while Clinton was president and many believe they had planned the attacks in 96.

I had heard that the makers of spybot had quit making updates because they simply couldn't keep up with all the new problems coming out. I do not know if that is true or not. I read an article that said 1/3 computers were infected with spyware or ad-ware yesterday.

I'm really sorry to hear that, I hope everything works out in the end. If you ever need a wingman, I'm a regular at Michael's in Knoxville on Kingston. I am under 21, which causes a problem since it is a bar/night club...I usually just tell the lovely ladies I'm a banker or computer programmer. Once we said I was a cop from Campbell County, that works by the way...unfortunatley, I had no idea where campbell county was.

I think the cop can pull you over for any reason. Just as cops set up mandatory check points to see if you have been drinking, have your seat belt on etc. The cop can not search your car without your permission unless he has probable cause or a search warrant. He did ASK you though, and because you gave him permission, he searched it. I have seen a cop ask a kid to search his back pack before, and the kid asked him what his rights were and the cop just said "I have reason to believe their is contraband in your backpack and I would like to search it." The kid say, well to protect myself, I can not let you search that bag. The cop said, "Okay, I'll remember this though, and I can return with a search warrant sometime."

I really believe the cream rose to the top....A very good point though Gomab, I thought your team played very well...well controlled, took good shots, I was very impressed. Good luck at nationals.