MJfan

Thanks for the link. Hadn't seen that.

Let's get back to the original question. *Does anyone know the truth? *I have one person telling me this coach was caught cheating by the TSSAA, was slightly penalized and now may win the AAA State Championship with the same team he was caught cheating with. *Bigcheif states that there was an investigation conducted by the TSSAA and NO wrong doing was found, end of story. Oh by the way, it's OK to cheat because all the other coaches in Wilson County do it. *Again, Does anyone know the truth concerning the TSSAA? *Was he caught cheating or not? *I asked a very simple question about this coach. Now we have MJ coaches, parents, fans or whatever trying to quickly change the subject by pointing fingers in all directions except themselves, stating Let's drop this nasty subject, stick our heads in the sand and watch the MJ globetrotters win the state. *Guaging from the response, I think I know the answer to my question, but I would like to hear from someone that knows the truth including details as opposed to the emotional babbling of a couple of MJ people and their newly added alias'. As is obvious (I would hope) I don't post much on message boards. I don't like getting into anonymous arguments. I'll try to keep this simple and on point. First, MJ has to get past Henry County then probably Clarksville ... not a foregone conclusion. Yes, he was caught. keep in mind that was April 26, 2008. That same team he was caught cheating with was 2 years ago. The team lost a good chunk of spring and summer practices in 2009. I would hardly classify asking why the subject is still being brought up after it's been dealt with as emotional babbling. JMO I guess a year old on my alias is new to some. Oh well.

Why even ask? It's been handled by the administration and TSSAA. If you don't like their punishment then I don't know what else there is. Are you on some kind of Vindetta trying to get this opened again? Why not just drop it?

Let me ask you something based on the following. MJ has 4 games left before tournament play starts. They've won the last 5 games by 62, 37, 33, 34 and 27 points. In each of these games Williams and Bell have been on the bench for most of the second quarter, then most of the second half. This has nothing to do with class, this has everything to do with getting ready for the tournament. When are they supposed to do that? In practice? The starters want to play too, you know. They don't go out there and do all that hard work in the off season just so they can play 2 quarters a night do they? Is that what you really want? Fryer has played the bench more this year than I've ever seen before. You can take it back even further. Since the beginning of January, they've only had one single digit game. Nine point win against Beech. I don't know where you draw the line, but imo, the starters need to be playing some minutes. You tell me what you would do. First, I'll say that the Lady Bears have amazing talent and they are playing near perfect basketball. Williams, at least, should be a Ms. Basketball candidate and a D1 star after she graduates. Bell and her other teammates are very good, work hard, and play a smart game. They do not win by chance. They earn them, and they deserve them. Now, to your question, what would I do? Well . . . I wouldn't press with a 35-point lead, ever. That's the bigger issue. Do you really mean to defend his doing that to Portland as preparing for tournament play? Maybe you're not, but think this through. Put everything you know from this season about MJ and everything you know about Portland together and honestly try to convince anyone that the Lady Panthers had a shot at coming back and winning that game, no disrespect intended. I believe that has everything to do with "class". I'm not sure what the Gallatin person means by "unfortunate", yet to me that's a poor adjective to use to describe Fryer's continuing to press Portland in the 3rd quarter. Honestly, if he doesn't keep pressing them here, we're not having this discussion. So how do you prepare this season for tournament play competing in this district? As you mentioned, MJ has beaten it's last 5 district opponents by a general average of 39 points. These teams, outside of Beech, don't seem to be on the same competitive level as MJ right now, so the Lady Bears shouldn't have any trouble winning the district, right? Now, of course, I get it that your starters don't work as hard as they do to only play 2/3 of a game, but sometimes it's beyond your control. Truthfully, practice may be your best opportunity to toughen up the team for the Region and beyond with the depth and resources Fryer has. He is intelligent; he should have a better plan. Overall, teams gain very little in games where they blow out an under-matched opponent, especially one they beat by 62 points. To sum up an answer, I would make sure everyone knew that our basketball program will always respect our opponents and always display the best possible sportsmanship in every game we play. There's a whole lot more to it in this team game than how much playing time any one or two players get. Coaches are teaching all the time and athletes soak up everything. They also represent an entire school of administrators, teachers, students, etc. What exactly are you teaching and representing when you continue to press Portland when you're already up by 35+ points? They are better than that. I wasn't at this game, but I doubt he strayed from the what they've been doing in every game like this so far. Starters play the first quarter, rotates in the second, with starters sitting for most of it. They come back out after the half and play the normal game plan, usually for no more than a couple minutes, then the starters don't see the floor for the rest of the game. I guess you have your hard and fast rules about what determines "class" for how many points and when to press. If you honestly believe that you can get the conditioning and game conditions in practice, then we'll just have to disagree. The team only goes 11 deep. The second 5 isn't as tough defensively, obviously, but they score on a pretty prolific pace. Nothing can be done about that, unless you advocate the the second string just lay down and quit playing. And yes, to my knowledge, he forgot to put in the last one on the bench at least once. You are correct though, they "should" make it through the district just fine. I'm pretty sure that's not their goal this year. I honestly don't know if they have a set goal, but that's neither here nor there. I sincerely hope you're not suggesting that the MJ girls don't show respect and display sportsmanship. If so, I'd have to ask if you've ever actually seen them play, or are just getting it second hand.

Let me ask you something based on the following. MJ has 4 games left before tournament play starts. They've won the last 5 games by 62, 37, 33, 34 and 27 points. In each of these games Williams and Bell have been on the bench for most of the second quarter, then most of the second half. This has nothing to do with class, this has everything to do with getting ready for the tournament. When are they supposed to do that? In practice? The starters want to play too, you know. They don't go out there and do all that hard work in the off season just so they can play 2 quarters a night do they? Is that what you really want? Fryer has played the bench more this year than I've ever seen before. You can take it back even further. Since the beginning of January, they've only had one single digit game. Nine point win against Beech. I don't know where you draw the line, but imo, the starters need to be playing some minutes. You tell me what you would do.

Mt. Juliet won 64-49 ... Williams had 26 points ... Bell had 22.

Mt Juliet won all of their games at the camp.

In case you didn't notice, MJ's freshmen are starting for the varsity team ... Williams and Michener. I wouldn't get too worked up about what the freshman team is doing.