pinkpanther

Sparta does play good half-court defense. I was very impressed with their tenacity. Offense is always behind defense at this point in the season. Good defense will cover that for a while. I do agree that they will have to score more that 37 points eventually. Defense won't carry them all season. I, personally, would start King instead of Farley. I can understand why Hess would want to give the start to a senior, but King can give the team more points. She would also give more size when combined with Sunday. I also think Hacker will see more time as the season goes on. That is going to add some points. Let me ask this question. What did anybody think about the refs in the girls' game? They stunk in the boys' game. Someone over on an Upperman/Sparta boys thread said the refs were just as bad in the girls' game. I don't think so. Was I just blinded by a win? Let me know what you think.

First, a spelling lesson. Ridiculous, stomped, whining, and excuses. Those are the correct spellings of those words. The refs were REALLY bad in the girls game? That sounds like the makings of an excuse to me. Upperman's #20 needs to control her elbows. But that's something for the girls' board. I'm no whiner. When there's a 42 to 8 difference in free throws, something's wrong. There's something wrong if the difference is 22 to 8. Any team, no matter how good, is going to commit more than 4 shooting fouls in a game, and I'm sure some of Sparta's paltry 8 attempts came in 1 and 1 situations. I saw both games too. Sparta's England fouled out when he and Mathis tripped over each other as they were both going for a loose ball. Sparta was on the short end of a lot of calls like that. Upperman is a good team, and played a very clean game. I have watched a lot of basketball, however, and I have never seen one team play that much better than another team, foul-wise I mean. I was very proud of our coach last night. He is prone to getting technicals, which doesn't help his team with getting calls. He should have just gone ahead and got his T's last night. It couldn't have been any worse. [Edited by pinkpanther on 12-8-02 12:00A]

I have got a good thread started over on the boys' board. I want to do he same here on the girls'. I would like to get some good serious discussion going about Sparta's girls' team. Here goes. I saw the Upperman game. I was very impressed with Hickok. She's a good player; a very good point guard. Lewis is the best on the team. Sunday is improved, and Hacker is strong. I don't mean to take anything away from the rest of the team. These are just the girls who stood out to me. I could tell the team is very deep. Why doesn't Agee get to play? She didn't play at all against Upperman and I was told the same was true against Crossville. What's going on? I question Hess's substitution patterns, but I guess he knows what he's doing. I think he kept Sunday down for way too long in the first half. He also kept Lewis in too long in the 3rd which allowed her to pick up her 4th foul. She missed the equivilent of one full quarter in the second half. She's too good of a player to be on the bench. I'm not too familiar with the girls' team. Is the 6-0 record for real? Are they that good? I hope they are.

Upperman won by 12, I think. They had 42 free throws compared to Sparta's 8. Something a little lopsided there, dont you think? Upperman's #21, Lance Mathis, is a tremendous player. I was very impressed by him. You can thank the refs, a.k.a. The Three Stooges, for the victory. One of the refs looked just like Moe; ask anybody that was there. In a game with good refs, Sparta would have mopped the floor with Upperman. [Edited by pinkpanther on 12-7-02 12:55A]

Sparta looked good tonight, even though they lost. Sparta will win some games this year if they can keep scoring over 50 points. They had to play 5 on 8 (5 players + 3 refs) tonight. I'm not crying. When you shoot 8 free throws and the other team shoots 42, something's wrong. When this happens in your home gym, something's REALLY wrong. England played great, but was a victim of the refs. Same with Williams. Sparta's guards need to play better, though. They were hesitant and passed up a lot of good looks. I mean the shooting guards. Johnson had a very good game. He makes the team go. Whoever said in their earlier post that he's not that important to the team is dead wrong. And what's up with Hess? He's not a player, but he got a lot of minutes. Way too many minutes. His last name has to be the only thing keeping him on the team. It sure isn't his basketball skills. I hate to be negative about anybody, but it's true. Sparta looked good. They completely outplayed Upperman. I will say that Upperman's Lance Mathis is a great player, though. But, England handled him when he was defending him. I'm encouraged by what I saw tonight. I think Sparta can be competitive in any EVEN game they play. Let's hope we don't get the 3 Stooges of refs (didn't the one guy look like Moe?) any more this season. [Edited by pinkpanther on 12-6-02 10:19P]

LB13...At least there's 2 state championship banners hanging in our gym. Sparta might never have another one, BUT AT LEAST WE'VE HAD ONE (SORRY, TWO!). How many are in your gym? Sorry everybody. I'll try to restrain myself from doing things like that again. Let's not worry about Crossville anymore until February.

Sorry about the double post there. Computer SNAFU.

Good job, layup! I'm not a fan of talking about the past, but way to go on giving it to Jet...whoever. When they have a couple of state championship banners in their gym, then they can talk. Sparta will be back. Then they will find out what goes around comes around.

Good job, layup! I'm not a fan of talking about the past, but way to go on giving it to Jet...whoever. When they have a couple of state championship banners in their gym, then they can talk. Sparta will be back. Then they will find out what goes around comes around.

I agree that Sparta will sruggle some this year, but let's hope for more than 6 or 8 wins. I would like to see them at least win more games than last year (10). I think I counted 27 games on the schedule. It would take around 14 wins to be at .500. Is this possible? Most people say the district is down this year. Will Sparta be able to compete? Because of a couple of other posts, I'm guessing that Sparta lost to Crossville. What was good/bad about their play? I didn't go to the game because something came up at the last minute. Now I wish I had gone.

I've also read about the "cycle" theory. I didn't mention it because it would have made me live up to my username. I would have turned "pink" with embarrassment. No one can see me, however, so why should I be embarrassed? I know a girl who can prove that tearing one ACL probably means that the other one will tear. She tore one playing softball in high school. I, unfortunately, was involved in her tearing the second one. We bumped into each other while playing a game of pick-up basketball. We didn't hit hard, but her ACL snapped. I still feel bad about it to this day. We still play ball together occasionally, but I'm very careful not to bump into her. [Edited by pinkpanther on 12-3-02 9:58P]

Isn't there a theory out there related to women and ACL tears? I think I read somewhere that the shape of a woman's hips, compared to a man's, increases the likelihood of a tear. It has something to do with a woman's hips being wider which puts the knees at an angle that causes strain, and thus a tear. I might be wrong, but I will swear I read this somewhere. [Edited by pinkpanther on 12-3-02 12:20A]

Home game this Tue. Dec. 3rd vs. Crossville. The girls start at 6:30. 2 more games against Livingston. Dec. 14th here, and Jan. 31st there. I'm looking forward to Tuesday. I haven't seen the boys play since the Sparta playdays. I'm looking forward to seeing the girls play too. It sounds like they're pretty good this year as well, but I'll save that for the girls' board.

Sounds good! I hope Sparta can build some momentum and string some wins together. I saw the team play at their playday, and the biggest problem I saw was turnovers. If they can control that, I think they will be OK. Their shooting was off at the playday too, but that will improve with time. Hey, 2-2 ain't bad. I think most people would be pleased with a .500 season. Let's not settle for that, though. Let's pull for the Warriors to have a winning season and shock all the doubters out there.

I want to start a thread for the serious discussion of Sparta's basketball team. There's another thread on this board that has gotten really immature and stupid. If you want to be like that, go post on the thread titled "White County." If you want to talk seriously about this year's team, stay right here. I'm interested in how the team is going to do this year, and would like to exchange thoughts with people who feel the same way. I won't be offended by your opinions either way. I'm just looking for some good discussion. I'll start. I was glad to see the boys get a win at Tullahoma. I honestly though it might take them a little longer to get their first win. Hopefully this will give them some confidence so they can go out and get a few more wins. Does anyone know how they done in Crossville on Friday? I'm looking forward to home games so I can get out to see them play in person.

What are you talking about tmac? Am I missing something here?

What? I would like to respond to your post jaydog, but all I can come up with is... what? Try again, and make some sense this time. I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but I'm not Bruce Slatten. It is flattering, though, that someone would think that I'm one of Sparta's most beloved people. [Edited by pinkpanther on 11-27-02 8:49P]

I've been laying low and watching these Sparta basketball threads for a long time. What's your angle with that last post tmac? Why all the sarcasm? Maybe you've seen the light and jumped on the Slatten bandwagon. Could it have happened? .............Probably not.

The panther in on the prowl and ready for basketball season to start.