thechief

St. Benedict will definately not hold the ball this year. The main reason they held the ball in the past was because they only went 5 or 6 players deep. This year they will have a little more depth with about 8 players with game experience. Unfortunately, just like in the past, it looks like they are all guards.

I know its still a few weeks until season starts and its still a long time until district competition begins but I just want to get this topic out here to get people talking and looking forward to the new season. The number in parentheses is what position the team finished in the district last year. 1. (2) Jackson Christian- Lost two starters off of the team that won the Region Championship a year ago. They do have alot of seniors this season, including Alan North, and I heard they got a BIG acquisition to replace Irvin at center. They've got height at every position and they can all shoot. 2. (1) Middleton- Lost Jeremy Woody who will be terribly missed but the Tigers always seem to reload and finish at the top of the district every year. They have lots of athleticism and team discipline, but not alot of size. Should compete with JCS again this year for district and region title but may have problems competing with JCS's height. 3. (3) Adamsville- The Cardinals lost arguable the best player in the district last year in Shoate as well as some other key contributors. This year it will be all up to T.J. to carry this team. They always have shooters and that makes them a very dangerous team. 4. (7) Fayette Academy- The Vikings started a lot of fresh faces a year ago, especially in the backcourt. However, they have a very experienced frontcourt and should have better size than anyone in the region except JCS. They better do something this year because they will graduate three that are 6'3" or taller. 5. (5) Trinity- Showed signs of improvement last year and played without Wilson because of injury at the end of the year. This team could sneak into the top 4 but I don't see them doing much more than that. 6. (4) USJ- I know this sounds crazy. Picking USJ to finish below Trinity and Fayette Academy. The bottom line is, they lost all their scoring off of last years team and I just don't think they will be very good. 7. (8) Madison Academic- I think they have a really good coach and they were very young last year. Look for them to be more competitive this season. 8. (6) Scotts Hill- I honestly thought that this was the worst team in the district last year, but somehow they won some games and finished 6th. Unless something is going on up there that I don't know about, I can't see them doing that well again.

Personally, I have never known any team that was led by their kicker. Especially one that made it to the semifinals of the playoffs.

That is correct and he got a sweet scholarship too.

Well Prince is the only guy for White Station that really attempts to dunk in traffic. I think I have seen everybody for White Station dunk at one point, except Ervin and Hilgeman. Schall can dunk fairly easily as well and its amazing to see Pigram get up but he usually only does it on open breaks. The reason you didn't see any dunks was because the only people who got open lanes were Ervin and Ball (who is on a bad knee). Also, White Station usually doesn't hott dog against good teams like North Side. When they play the lower tier teams of their district and in Memphis they do pull some crazy stuff though.

I heard the same thing as you tomcatfan. Now Coach Tippett will be drawing a check from Memphis as well as the check he will be receiving from ECS. This makes alot of sense considering that coaches, no matter how good they are, don't make alot of money. Look for ECS to be a contender in the next few years in Division 2. Whoever replaces Tippett at White Station is put in a very pressured situation cause this team loses half of their varsity roster to graduation. It doesn't look promising for a 4-peat at this point. However, the Spartans still have one of the most talented players in the state in J.P. Prince.

That is without standing room. Standing room doesn't count when it comes to the TSSAA's numbers. My old school could never hold tournaments because alot of our gym was standing room and we didn't have enough bleachers.

White Station has had some problems over the last month. I think they had gotten to content and were try to toy with teams rather than put them away. Well that all ended when they let Fairley slip up on them for the City Championship. For this first time this millenium White Station is not the Champions of Memphis. I don't think Coach Tippett cared for that too much because all the showboating in warm-ups has stopped and they have dominated the first two teams in their district tournament. They dominated Memphis Overton 87-27 in the 1st Round and beat #15 Ridgeway by 19 last night in the semi's. White Station has made up their mind to go ahead and get serious and win another state title.

Its very hard to beat the same team 3 times in one season. However, if Haywood has lost their starting center then I don't know if they can get past Fayette-Ware. Frank and Boogie are too much for most teams to handle, much less one that is missing a key player. Haywood may possess the better backcourt with Leslie Delk, but if I remember correctly Sergio Catron had a breakout game against Haywood when FW won by 9 at the Warehouse. Serge dropped 23 on the Tomcats a couple of weeks ago. Haywood will have home court advantage but I expect the Wildcats to pull it out in a very close game.

I don't think so. I see the four private school (USJ, Fayette Academy, JCS, and TCA) finishing at the top of the district.

Expect Fayette Academy to be much improved in District 14. They may not be to the level of a USJ yet but i see them closing the gap this year with new coach Brandon Tucker and outfield/pitcher Collin Bodiford.

Don't be surprised if Fayette Academy in District 14A is much improved this season. The Vikings have a new coach in Brandon Tucker and one of the best players in the state in outfielder/pitcher Collin Bodiford. You may have heard Collin's name, he was a Single A Mr. Football candidate in the fall but is considered a better baseball player. He has turned down all those football scholarships to play baseball for a team in Florida.

T.J. Robinson is not out for Adamsville. He scored like 20 last night against Fayette Academy. They will put it on USJ later this week and seal up 3rd place in the district.

OMG a player dunked on another player. I can't believe I didn't see that one on Sportscenter's Top 10. That's the first time in history that a guy got dunked on. Your absolutely right. It doesn't matter that Chattanooga Central was beaten by Bradley Central by an average of 17.5 points in the two games they played this year. It doesn't matter that Bradley Central is a consensus #1 Team in the state and Chattanooga may not even be the best team in their District. None of that matters because CC had a guy dunk on a guy from BC. I am so glad you have enlightened me as to what is important in basketball. I am sure Bradley didn't even count that as a win because they had a guy get dunked on.

Well fans are gonna turn out for games better in Kentucky because Kentuckians live for basketball season. What else is there to cheer for up there? Football, Yeah right. However, even though the fans may be better I don't know if the teams are all that much better. I would put White Station up against any team in Kentucky year in and year out.

I heard that something happened to Shoate and T.J. Robinson, can anybody tell me what, if anything, happened to the two best players on Adamsville's team.

Whoever put out those rankings there is a complete idiot. Fayette-Ware and Haywood definately not only belong on that list but close to the top of it. I cannot understand how those teams are ranked behind Chester County who they would both absolutely smoke. Its almost as ridiculous as JCS being ranked ahead of them in the Jackson Sun's rankings. It is a completely different level.

True, TCA did play Adamsville close, but Adamsville isn't as good as most people think they are. Middleton and JCS will be a great game this week. I expect to see JCS get revenge for their loss to the Tigers earlier in the year. As for Adamsville, they have an extremely easy week with Madison Academic and Scotts Hill so expect them to still look better than they really are. USJ will show that they are a much better team than Trinity later this week.

Although I am not a huge Jackson Christian fan, I have to give Alan North his props. The guy can flat out fill it up. One word of advice, if you play JCS make sure you know where #13 is at all times cause the Eagles only go as far as Alan takes them.

I have also played against Alan North from JCS. He isn't the all-around player that a J.P. Prince or Hampton or Peyton because his defense still needs some work. He may be more of a 2G than a PG but does it all for the Eagles. North is a pure shooter and a scoring machine. He is money when spotting up from the outside but can also create his own shot. He is averaging close to 20 a game on a team that may compete for a championship in 1A this season.

I do believe that USJ could definately be on the "Others" list. However, I don't believe they belong on the "Top 10" list. They will finish 4th in District 14 behind JCS, Middleton, and Adamsville(all 3 in the Top 10), but they are not in those teams league. They have been stomped by all three so far this year with one exception in a 3 point loss in their second game with Middleton. The Bruins are extremely unathletic but execute very well as a result of good coaching. They have 3 players with scoring potential and the rest are all role players.

I am also interested to hear about the Haywood/Covington game. I think that would be the battle for 3rd place in my rankings. Haywood of course drops out of second place after losing to Fayette Ware Friday.

I just think that from watching Chester County play that they are not in the same league with Bolivar, Haywood, and Fayette Ware. I guess those would be considered elite teams though.

Well I haven't seen Chester County play since Christmas but I was not very impressed with them at that time. I saw them lose to 1A JCS at Freed Hardeman.

1. Bolivar-Best team in, not only West Tennessee, but the entire state. 2. Haywood 3. Fayette Ware 4. Covington 5. SouthSide 6. Union City 7. Westview 8. Humboldt 9. Chester County 10. Lexington