realdeal02

No more talk about who should be ranked state's top senior on coacht.com after a consensus top 5 point guard absolutely dominated competition and forced teams to design defenses to slow him down, considering he couldn't be stoppped. I said for a while that Reginald Delk isn't as good a player as J.P. and Delk's lackluster performance against Rideway's small backcourt isn't the only reason, but the proof is in the putting. To lay it all to rest Ridgeway finsished on top of AAA team basketball, and J.P. Prince ended up the King of AAA players.

All who are upset about Tyler Smith finishing second in the Mr. Basketball race, should be happy he lost to a player of Thaddeous Young's caliber. He averaged 23 points, 12 rebs, 6 assists, 4.3 steals, and 2.3 blocks a game which is phenomonal. The best basketball in Tennessee is played in the west, specifically Memphis and Thad stood out as the best AA player in the city. With the type of competition and talent playing East Tennessee, Tyler would have helped his cause had he averaged over 30 points.

J.P. Prince and Thaddeous Young are perhaps two of the best talents to come through the city of Memphis in a long time and they represent Memphis by winning class AA and AAA Mr. Basketball awards respectively. Reginald Delk and Tyler Smith are talented players, but these Mr. Basketball winners are more than that. Both could play in the NBA and will have major impacts on college basketball. It's a shame J.P. will never play at Memphis, but Thaddeous Young just might.

J.P. ripped up Fairley in the city tournament though he was doubled teamed all game. Their hasn't been a head-to-head matchup between J.P. and Reginald Delk in 2005 so you can't compare any past summer matchups which the Y came out on top or last years state debacle of Jackson Northside.. They play different positions but J.P. is a consensus better talent at his position. He was picked a one of the top 10 players in the nation by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The Nike Hoop Summit has selected J.P. Prince as a member of the 12 man squad. He didn't make the McDonald's game but their aren't 25 players in the nation better than him. Tyler Hansborough, Richard Hendrix, Monta Ellis, Louis Williams, Greg Paulus, and Gerald Green also will be on the squad.

Memphis has long produced the best basketball players in the state even before open enrollment. The band of basketball played there is just better than the level of ball in any other city. The talent is spread out across AA and AAA and their are at least 8 teams that stand a chance at winning a state title coming out of Memphis every year.

Brandon Wright is a Chris Bosh clone with more length and similar athleticism. Not many players possess an 8' foot wingspan let alone the skill package, timing, and shot blocking prowess of a Brandon Wright. He's also left handed which makes him difficult to defend and he puts the ball on the floor. He could run the floor with the likes of Garnett and Stoudamire and not look like a total slouch. If he plays in college he'll dominate. If he goes pro he'll do well and could be one of the better shot blockers to enter the league in 10 years.

Congratulations Willyp you talked to soon the announcements will be made on Feb 23rd. But Tyler's a great talent and deserves all the accoclades he gets. However the best player in the state of Tennessee resides at White Station High School by the name of J.P. Prince. Look for J.P. to light it up the bigger the postseason. As the lights get brighter so will Prince's game.

Gomab, I don't think that J.P. and Tyler Smith have a lot of hype going into the final cut. Tyler Smith was once considered the top player in this class thus he's been somewhat of a disappointment in the minds of National scouts, but his hype comes from within the state. As was evident when he played well against Brandon Wright at Vanderbilt. J.P. made a name for his self outside of Tennessee with great court vision, a high basketball IQ, and big-time production no matter who's in front of him. In the senior class their's and abundance of talented point guards in the East, therefore J.P. must beat out the likes of Louis Williams-Georgia , Jamont Gordon-undecided, Greg Paulus-Duke, Byron Eaton-Oklahoma State, or Mario Chalmers-Kansas to make the squad. Tyler will be batling Julian Wright-Kansas, Danny Green-North Carolina, Brandon Rush-NBA? Notice Jamont Gordon and Louis Williams are being listed as PG's. The last time Tennessee had two McDonald's All-American's in same year was Cedric Henderson-East and Duece Ford-Fairley in 1993. That game featured Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and Randy Livingston and was held in Memphis Tn.

J.P. Prince and Tyler Smith were 2 of the 40 finalists released by the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee, and the only players from Tennessee. The finalist list of 20 players will be released on Feb. 23. http://collegebasketballnews.scout.com/2/351885.html

Raleight Egypt should beat Mitchell provided the normal balanced attack of the Pharoahs shows up. Mitchell seems to be a run-n-gun team that doesn't particularly want to play half-court basketball. White Station normally controls the tempo of basketball games, therefore they compensate for balanced scoring with ball control. I agree, that Bynum and Cunningham must continue score but Chris Williams made some big hook shots down the stretch against Ridgeway with his back to the basket. I can't predict the outcome of Friday's bragging rights game against Fairley because of Fairley's deliberate flex offense that's similar to White Station's.

Just when everyone thought it was safe to count the Spartans out after their second lost in Tennessee over the past three years, White Station enters Friday's City Championship game and next week's district tournament with a #1 seed. It's safe to say no one expected White Station to be 22-3 and ranked #3 in the state. Jackson North Side, Fairley, and Ridgeway with loaded rosters, all find themselves trailing White Station in meaningless polls, but it's a testament to J.P. Prince and company. In a single elimination tournament like the Region and Sub-State anything can happen. So don't count out those underdog Spartans. Their star J.P. Prince happens to be a consensus national top 25 player but isn't regarded by the blind as the best player in his own class. Therefore, there's some unfinished business to be handled in AAA and count on the Spartans to complete it.

Here are the numbers for JP against Wooddale. 42 points in 22 mins 4-5 3pts 10-14 2pts 10-11 FT's That jump shot that JP didnt have this summer he found and is using it. Ever since the Ridgeway game(Jan 21)when he hit 6 or 7 threes he has been shootin above 70% from the 3pt line. Tonight was a good night for the team. Even Colin Cunningham got him a dunk in so it was a fun nite.This win puts us in second in the district and if we beat RIdgeway on Feb 11 we will be #1. If we win that game we go to the city championship to play either Fairley or Hamilton. In the coming weeks, there is gonna be some good basketball down here in Memphis.

J.P. Prince dropped a career high 42 points on the Wooddale Cardinals in 22 minutes continuing to show off his new found jumpshot . Prince connected on deep threes, dished to teammates, dunked, and slashed all nigh. Meanwhile White Station is gearing up for a return showdown with Ridgeway on Friday. Prince must find a way to get his teammates involved considering he have to play against a wave of double and triple teams. Lute Olsen must be salivating right now. J.P. has transformed from a pass-first point guard into a big-time scoring threat from anywhere on the floor who flirts with a triple double nightly.

Duke Calhoun didn't show up in the Raleigh Egypt vs. Bolivar game. He's still a 6'3 1/2 work in progress. Duke is very aggressive on defense and athletic for a player his size but he's not yet an outstanding shooter and he must work on his ball handling in order to create his own shot. When you play with a lot of talent and dont' get touches it's tough but he also isn't guarded by the opposing teams best defender.

Tyler Smith definitely got up, but the dunk wasn't a poster or a facial like it was built up to be. It was more of a fly by. Brandon Wright didn't make any contact with Tyler. Nonetheless Tyler Smith has major rise and I'm sure he's dunked on some players a lot harder than that. The picture of Wright blocking Tyler's shot was very funny. Looks like Wright returend to sender!

Gomab, the reason why Monta Ellis and Louis Williams are not in the Roundball Classic has nothing to do with the age of Shawne Williams or the legit 6'8 Wing freak Gerald Green, but rather the fact the EA Roundball Classic mainly picked players with Adidas affiliations who attended ABCD camp. It doesn't matter how old these kids are because they're still in highschool or prep school, thus they have just as much right to play in All-Star games as anyone else who might make a mistake.The game is being played in Illinois and 5 area players where picked to play in the game. The Jordan capitol classic will feature guys such as Louis Willams, Ellis,etc.

Gomab, the reason why Monta Ellis and Louis Williams are not in the Roundball Classic has nothing to do with the age of Shawne Williams or the legit 6'8 Wing freak Gerald Green, but rather the fact the EA Roundball Classic mainly picked players with Adidas affiliations who attended ABCD camp. It doesn't matter how old these kids are because they're still in highschool or prep school, thus they have just as much right to play in All-Star games as anyone else who might make a mistake.The game is being played in Illinois and 5 area players where picked to play in the game. The Jordan capitol classic will feature guys such as Louis Willams, Ellis,etc.

Traderb it's nice to bash Hamilton and their inexperienced coach who's inherited Ted Anderson's talent, but at the end of the year they'll be in the thick of things. Talent doesn't always win games in Memphis' simply because the kids on Raleigh Egypt White Station etc. have just as much heart as the kids from Fairley or Hamilton. With all said, Hamilton plays a run-and-gun style but in order to beat them you must do three things. 1. Control the backboards 2. Play solid team defense 3. Control the tempo. Most teams in the state can't do so against Hamilton. If Hamilton makes it out of Memphis they might cut down the nets in Murfreesboro.

White Station jumped Jackson Northiside in the polls because of three decisive wins in which their top player averaged 26 points 9 rebounds and 7 assists a ball game. J.P. Prince is getting his teammates more involved and thus scoring production as a team jumped while DeAndre Bynum and Colin Cunningham had big weeks for the Spartans. 6'6 BF Chris Williams is about 90% after recovering from a foot injury that limited his mobility and forced him to miss several games. Ridgeway will travel to the Spartan palace on Feb 11th in a game that expects to draw a crowd in excess of 4,000. The White Station vs. Ridgeway series is building up to the magnitude of the 2000 16-AAA battles between Raleigh Egypt and White Station, squads led by Scooter McFagdon and Earnest Shelton respectively.

Tayshaun Prince is a pretty good small forward but were talking about a guy whose 6'9 with a 7'0 wingspan which makes up for a lot of shortcomings. Richard and Reginald are lanky but they're in the 6'5 range. Tony Delk was an amazing scorer in high school, college, and at times in the pros considering he's scored 50 points in an NBA game. Their are not many 6'2 NBA 2 guards so Tony's scoring prowess and long arms made up for a lot of things.

Raleigh Egypt is the best AA team you haven't seen as they're ranked #1 in the state. Giles County will have their hands full with this bunch.

The best dunk I've seen this year was J.P. Prince's behind the back reverse dunk on a 6'5 kind from Cordova. The kid reached for the ball J.P. wrapped the ball around his back(the ball didn't touch the floor) and cut a two-hand reverse dunk dunk all in one motion. It was similar to Kobe's dunk on Vincent Yarborough in Denver 2 years ago, but a little more nasty.

After Coacht Tippett left the helm of White Station J.P.'s role of a pg has changed at White Station. DeAndre Bynum is now at the point and J.P. is running the 2 spot. J.P. will still play the point when he gets to Arizona but the fact that Bynum Cunningham,etc aren't making shots forced Coach Will Warren to place J.P. off the ball so his team doesn't get blown out of the building. National publications who have spoken on J.P. being a true wing have written thus because he's been dynamic playing off the ball because he's also a scorer. This only adds to the J.P.'s versatility as it's been said all along along he can guard and play 3 positions on the basketball floor. If I'm a scout or a writer and I see a kid pass the ball all summer and the next time I see him he's scoring 30 points and not bringing the ball up the floor I can only assume that this guys a wing. When Prince gets to Arizona and can pass to shooters and throw lobs and no-looks to Hassan Adams and company he'll rack up a number of assists. Bottom line, Prince is good with the ball in his hands and even better in the open floor where he can create for himself or others. However, playing off the ball is a new role for Prince thus he must learn to move without the ball.

Gomab, J.P. shoots over 50% form the field and can score 30 points on 10 shots because he gets to the foul line and those don't count for shot attempts. Reginald Delk might be the front runner because of his teammates but numbers don't lie. 25 points 8 rebounds and almost 7 assist a ball game doesn't lie. Jackson Northside doesn't travel to the big time tournaments White Station does either. Nonetheless, White Station isn't as good as Jackson Northside but J.P. is better than Reginald Delk selfish or not selfish. J.P. has always been known as a pass-first point guard but he's now showing the ability to put the ball in the whole better than anyone in the state. When J.P. starts getting 20 shots a ball game you can compare shot numbers since White Station averages less than 65 points a ball game. Hype is a one game wonder, the truth is J.P.'s one of the top 30 players in the nation. Does Jackson Northside have a first year coach?