downtown247

I know Raul well enough to know that he would not go out and recruit players. Even if he did...how in the world would he be able to get them here from all over the country. It's not like he can afford to pay them or give them jobs. Not to mention DeJesus and Suarez came from big time high school programs that were already going to land them D1 scholarships. This is just luck!

I felt like Jordan looked great at QB last night. Unfortunately the O-line couldn't protect him and the center couldn't keep the ball out of the grass. Jordan looked great! The rest of the panthers looked more like a 3-ringed circus than a football team.

You must be kidding with this prediction. Half of Clinton's players are being recruited by D1 schools. The offense was explosive last year when this was a young team. Now that they are a year older I look for them to dominate the offensive side of the ball. The defense is much improved so stopping the 1 dimensional Halls offense shouldn't be a problem. If I were CHS I would stack the line and make them throw into the D1 secondary. This will be ugly...Clinton 35 Halls 7

I thought Terrence Hall played for you. He's like 5'1" on a good day

Size in this district is not nearly as big a factor as it was a year ago. Farragut and Bearden don't have a lot of bigs like they did last season. I'm sure Catholic and Maryville will have a big guy or two. The only kid that I'm aware of in the district with any size and skill is Hood at LC, and he's not a true big man. He likes to play more at the high post. So, the lack of size shouldn't hurt WB as much. However, while I think they will have a good year I realize that they are going to play a very unforgiving district schedule. If they don't stay focused throughout the season things could get messy because of the high level of competition.

Downtown, I have to temper my enthusiasm with WB because I am obviously a homer and very close to the team. But I will say this, for someone to predict that "William Blount will struggle" makes me wonder if this particular poster has any knowledge of WB basketball at all. Lack of a true, big post will hurt the Govs, but I would be very surprised and disappointed if they are not very competitive in their district this season. GovMan, I am not a WB fan. Simply a fan of seeing basketball coached and played the right way. For anybody that has ever been around Coach Baumann and Micah Ballard, how can you not love their passion for the game. The Govs are in an extremely tough district. Probably the most difficult in East TN. However, It's rare to see a coach get so much hustle, effort, and enthusiasm out of players the way Coach Baumann does. This is a veteran team that is hungry for success, and from watching them this summer I get the impression that they believe that they can compete with the front runners. The only team I've seen play defense with more intensity is Fulton. I hope the Govs have a great year!

1. Fulton 2. Gatlinburg Pittman 3. Carter 4. Austin East 5. Union County 6. Gibbs 7. Pigeon Forge Believe it or not 1 and 2 could be interchangeable. The GP transfers are top notch. One of them is atleast as good as Steele...maybe better. AE is usually a lock for either 1 or 2 has simply lost to much to be considered a top team in this district. On the other hand Carter has 2 great players in Wilson and Bennet.

William Blount is going to really surprise people! Saw them this summer and it's obvious that they have senior leadership and a great coach...not to mention they have arguably the second best player in the district in Ballard. I look forward to seeing the Govs compete this year.

I can't see Clinton being ahead of AC, Campbell Co, Karns, and OR. Clinton is without a doubt one of the bottom teams in this district. A good season for them is a birth in the region tournament, but I doubt that will happen.

Yeah i agree that calling someones knowledge "nonexistent" to be a little rude and over the top but thats just me. However in Defense of the LC poster, it seems like a lot of people have been saying that the District is wide open and could end up a lot of different ways. With this said I would just for the sake of Pre-Season rankings pick the wide-open team with the "Best Player". If you asked who is the best player in District 4 AAA then Im pretty sure everyone (except Spurrier) would pick Tyler Hood. So i would give the nod to the LC. On a side note...i keep hearing how awesome Catholic is going to be. Didn't they barely win their first district game, lose the championship and then get blown out by Carter in AA? just wondering which is easier AA or AAA (Kingston, CAK, Anderson Co. vs. Bearden, Maryville, and Farragut) just throwing it out there Carter was a really good team, they beat Catholic then went on to beat A-E, they also made state and should have beat Booker T. in the first round of the state tournament. You talk as if Carter was a lousy team. I'm sure they were better than LC last year. Catholic did lose in the district tournament championship game by 5 to Stone Memorial another good team. Know one said they were awsome, just a good team. This years team is a LOT better than last years team, more mobile post players, better shooters and the juniors, who all played JV as sophomores showed this summer they are ready to play. The best player doesn't win a league title, the best team does. Clarify your statement barely win their first district game? They won their first district game by like 14 points last year on the road and with out key players who were out winning a state championship in football. And to remind you last year was suppose to be a rebuilding year for the Irish (they had graduated 8 seniors from the year before) and found a way to finish 18-9 (10-2 in their district). I never said they would win the district, they would be competitive. I can tell you this, LC won't win the distirct just because Tyler Hood is the best player. West has the most talent, Maryville and Bearden are always loaded, and Farragut will be better than people think. William Blount looked good too, so this is wide open. But, if you want to, go ahead and crown the Panthers district champs, before a game has been played, this is after all, just people's opinions and everyone has theirs. With the district tournament being held at LC, they could win that. It seems to me that the LC contingent is basing their 2010 district championship on 2 victories last year, Farragut and Maryville, which is fine. Good luck this season. I respect your opinion...however, Carter was nowhere near as good as any of the top teams in LC's district last season. Carter would have finished low behind: Bearden, Farragut, Maryville, LC, Sevier Co, and William Blount

I guess I should have been more clear...this is a dead period for D1 coaches. However, this does not apply to D2, D3, and NAIA schools. Those coaches are the ones that will be in attendance. Sorry to crush your dream of meeting Coach K and Roy Williams.

Titlow plays for the Tennessee tigers and is in Orlando the next two weeks,Im sure Andre is down there and will notify him,by the way this will be a reuion of Hood,Powers and titlow since they were freshman,Hood and Titlow on the same team should be very fun to watch,the've both had great summers.As freshman they were very good together.Dont know much about Haskins seen him play a few times around Knox descent player, kind of a tweener 3,4 type player,Powers when he plays within himself is a very nice player, if he doesnt force it can shoot well.mabry dont know about,rather had the hilton kid at point nice ball handler and passer.loudon and l.c. kids on the same floor,should be interesting. The Loudon County Team will be tough to beat. I understand why the coach took Mabry. He's long, athletic, and a good shooter. Mabry has had trouble with his knee for the past year. Hopefully he can return to the player from his sophmore campaign and provide LC with some needed offensive support. I am sure Powers will be a staple at point for the Loudon County team. He did a great job running the team last season while Hilton was hurt. It was during this stretch that LC knocked off Farragut and Maryville. I look for Powers to shine throughout this experience as he plays with a chip on his shoulder everytime he's on the court. The word around town is that every college coach within 500 miles is going to be at this thing every week to watch the best players in East TN hoop it up.

Same goes for Loudon County... where can we get some info on this? Be nice to know if your on a team or not so that you don't say you'll play for someone else in the fall or need to make work schedule arrangements for those who usually don't play in the fall. /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" The players from Loudon County have been contacted.

I heard that whoever they hire will only be for this season. They need to forget about getting a big name coach at this point because they don't have enough to offer. Don't get me wrong they have been very good the past few years. However, they are a single A private school that has garnered a bad reputation for the way they have treated their basketball coaches. No big name coach is going to leave a prominent school for a small school. many private schools struggle to maintain good athletic programs due to the fact that everything is dependent upon people paying the tuition to attend. They should have struck while the iron was hot and hired the best young coach they could find. But it doesn't look like they've done that.

Who will Grace have returning that can lead them to another district championship? Do they have any good freshmen coming in? Give us the scoop.

Where is Houston going to college?

I have not heard anything about it, but as soon as I do I will post. If people were smart they wouldn't let them in the passing league. It would hardly be fair with the best QB in the state and an arsenal of weapons surrounding him!

UT has a commitment from Josh Selby the 7th overall prospect in the class of 2010 and the 2nd best PG in the country. UT also has a commitment from Jordan McRae a 6'6" SG from Atlanta who is the 39th overall prospect. Combine these 2 with Mcbee, Hopson, and Tatum and it looks like Coach Pearl thinks he's got all the guards he wants/needs for a while. Personally I would love to see a true homegrown talent wear the orange and white, but only if he's going to get some run. If not I hope he goes somewhere else and has a great career. Steele is definitely a high major recruit whether he improves his handles or not. He simply does to much too well.

I can't wait to watch Stone shred the opposition in his senior year. Clinton might be the most talented team in this thing. They've got several college players, the best one being Stone who is being courted by every bog program in the country. You all need to watch Camion Patrick an incoming freshmen that can flat out play. He's D1 right now! Will play WR is very explosive, has incredible jumping ability, and at 6'2" is still expected to grow a few more inches. Look out!

Steele is currently being recruited by South Carolina, Ole Miss, Clemson, Virgina Commonwealth, Dayton, Missouri State, and I am sure their are more that rivals has not posted. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but no matter how much he improves his handles it's going to be hard to be at a much higher level. Hood is a workaholic and I'm sure that he is living in the weightroom. As for the rest of the high school kids I was a little disappointed that some of them didn't get more minutes. But like you say it's hard to get minutes playing behind pro and college players. Either way this was a positive experience for them.

Rian Hall- Fresh/SG Oak Ridge Jordan Hall- Fresh/SG ??? Blake Golden-Fresh/SF West Camion Patrick-Fresh/SF Clinton All will grow into great high school players.

I'm just telling you what I saw. I saw Farragut play 4 times last year and I'm telling you that they are more athletic than last year's team. I was shocked!

I saw Farragut at the Karns camp and they may actually be better than a year ago. They don't have Watson and Mixer slowing them down and Coach Dodgen has started running dribble drive motion which has really opened things up for the perimeter players which will be their strength. I was impressed and shocked with what I saw from them. I would like to see the Irish beat the Admirals, but I don't know if they can.

I know Terrence Hall pretty well, but could you tell me what school Cox and Anders last attended and if they are playing AAU?

Catholic should be competitive in the district, but year in year out it's going to be tough for them to be a top 3 team because you always figure that Bearden, Farragut, Lenoir City and Maryville will be the top 4 (Not Necessarily In That Order). I'm not downing the Irish it's just that Bearden and Farragut are two of the largest schools in East Tennessee and have great athletic programs with tons of talent walking the halls. As for Maryville they are going to be well coached for as long as Coach E is there doing his thing. Not to mention that they have great athletic programs and a large population. Lenoir City has the reigning MVP of the district returning along with some key pieces that will make big contributions. Then you've got William Blount and West. I know for a fact that WB has a great coach that will always keep his team in the mix and West is loaded with athletic ability. I've heard that WB has had a strong summer and won some big games. I know it's only summer, but the last 2 years they've been very young and have experienced growing pains. It might be time for them to take a step forward with Ballard leading the way. I love what Coach Hutchins has done at Catholic and think he's a tremendous coach, but district 4AAA is a tall order for anyone to compete in.