sportsfanatic

Just talked to Kelsey this afternoon. She has visited, but has made no commitment yet. Don't think Amber has committed yet either. Normally don't post on here, but don't want other coaches thinking they are off the market yet.

Rebel Pride, As far as eating places go, if you are looking for some place to eat before the game, I'll recommend you a few places where the local eats that might interest you. If you like Mexican, we have a very good restaurant called El Tapitio. We also have a place called Yanni's. You can get a little of everything there from a steak to spaghetti to pizza. Another restaurant is Squealing Bob's 2nd Act Deli. It has your deli sandwiches, along with a plate lunch, barbecue and steaks also. I know everyone has different tastes and some may or may not like those three, but those are usually the busiest places in town apart from the chain fast food restaurants. Oh yeah, we also have a Chinese buffet called Panda Garden. Hope you have a safe journey to Sparta.

Well I know you say you are tired of hearing about the White County team who won the state, but then you turn around and issue a challenge. I have to accept. I have no idea which team won their games by the largest margin in the history of 7AAA. I am not going to proclaim that White County holds the record because there are a couple of Oakland teams through the years that might have and there was a pretty good Lebanon team with Easterly that won their games by a large margin. I will speak to what I know is a fact. An average winning margin of 18 points per game is not the record. Not even close. I happen to have those White County numbers in front of me or actually on my computer because I am researching the history of the program (all sports). The 1997-98 team won their games by an average of 25.1 points per game including one loss. I can give you game by game final score and I can even go back and get the box score if you need it. The 1998-99 team only won their games by an average of 14 points per game, but went undefeated in the district. Of course, that was with a bullseye on their back as defending state champion. Once again, I'm not dredging up the past just stating a fact that was challenged.

Brent Jolly was a finalist twice, both as a junior and a senior. Vincent Yarborough won it his junior year, then Brent won it as a senior. There may have been others, but that is one I know about. I do know there have been some extremely talented players in this district for a lot of years. Contrary to some comments, this district had a lot of good players and teams long before Siegel was built. I'm certainly going to miss watching all these talented athletes play when the new districts take place.

Been watching games in this district for more years than I care to count and regretfully as far as watching talented players go, this will be my last year in the current 7AAA. It would be hard to say who is the best to ever come out. Being a tried and true Sparta person, as far as great high school players who got the most of what they did it would be hard to argue with Jolly, Gribble and Austin. No matter how talented or how much success was enjoyed later, they took their teams to the peak of high school basketball. They all had great college careers at levels where they knew they would excel. All three scored over a 1000 points and started almost every game. Actually, Brent didn't start as a freshman at Tech, but was a key sixth man. Kyle could have probably gone higher than carson Newman, but elected to go somewhere that he could play both. it would have been scary to see what kind of numbers either of the three would have put up at a junior college. Having said all that, through the years there have been some outstanding players. I would guess that everyone has their picks for best. The players who have the best post high school careers were not necessarily the best high school players. Ramsey was a good high school player. He may go farther than any other, but to do that he would have to make it in the NBA. I'm going to toss out a name for you young guys who have no idea about the history of this district. Remember a guy by the name of Sasha Danilovic. He was from Serbia and went on to make quite a name for himself in the NBA. He was an exchange student and played at Cookeville. Hard to argue with what he did in the NBA. Tim and Leon Corder were both great players. Gerald King, Matt Coble, Chaisson Allen, Ronnie Robinson. They were all great too. We will have to agree to disagree on who was the best. Picking an all time starting five in this district would be an exceptional team. No one will every agree on who it would be because we all are going to lean toward our personal favorites. I will just say, I have loved to get to watch these teams and talented players go at it on the court for the past 25 years.

Who won? Oakland or Warren County?

Anyone know what their record was last year and how many starters they return?

Deepest sympathy from Sparta and White County. It was just over a year ago that we here were dealing with something of that nature. A one car wreck involved four of our high school athletes. One lost his life and another was in a coma for weeks. One year later, it is still something that touches the lives of those that knew these young people each and every day. I know how hard it was for all the young people dealing with just one death of a schoolmate, I can't imagine dealing with four. The only way anyone can get through such a tragedy is to lean on God and each other.

I thought you probably didn't know it. I just wanted to share that with you.

Quite ironic that you wrote this today, 85. Tomorrow, March 19th, would have been Jeff's 16th birthday. Please say a prayer for his family on this special day. He was truly a very special young man.

You're probably thinking of Howard (girls). That was 1996. The gym was tiny and full of Sparta people. The girls went to Brainerd (1990), Cumberland County (1991), Bradley (1992, 1994, 1995) and Howard (1996). The boys went to Brainerd in 1996 and Cleveland in 1998.

You're right 85, if White County has played basketball at Red Bank, it would have been a long long time ago. I have been there for football and hundreds of times for volleyball, but never for a basketball game. I know that numerous fans didn't get into the girls substate game back in 1981 at Grundy County and I think some may have been turned away at Howard one year in the substate. The year we played at cumberland County in the substate it was standing room only. I know for sure when the boys played at Cleveland in the substate in 1998, some fans couldn't get in.

The bracket I have was given to me by the coaches which was given to them at the meeting. It has the Shelbyville game at 6 and the White County game at 7:45.

Bballfanatic 23, Thanks for an unbiased summation of the region tournament. You seem to realy understand the teams and not just one team. That was an informative post.

I remember Mary Verge and Tammy Crown. They did beat us in the district finals in 1988 53-38. Not sure what all those Riverdale girls did, but I am absolutely positive what our girls did. Been compiling the history of WCHS basketball for a long time. In 1988-89, there was a five way tie for first and we lost the coin toss. We got put out in the first round of the tournament by Lebanon. Warren County swept us in the regular season. We swept Cookeville and Oakland and split with Riverdale and Lebanon. Not sure who played in the tournament finals that year. Now here goes my proof of my facts. We won the next nine tournament and regular season championships. Not trying to be smart, but just proving my point. I was at each and every one of those tournament games and most, if not all, the regular season games.1989-90 beat Oakland 44-40 in the finals went 9-1 in regular season Oakland was only loss1990-91 beat Lebanon 83-67 in finals. Went 9-1 district Lebanon was only loss 1991-92 beat Lebanon 56-45 in finals WEnt 9-1 only regular season loss was at Oakland in overtime after flying back in from playing in a tournament in Alaska1992-93 Beat Riverdale in the finals 52-39 went undefeated in district1993-94 beat Cookevile 57-37 in finals went 10-0 in district was ranked number one in nation1994-95 Beat Oakland 58-41 in finals went 9-1 in district losing only to Oakland was Kellie Jolly's senior season which she missed with knee injury came back in district tournament1995-96 beat Cookeville 53-33 in finals went 10-0 in regular season1996-97 beat Cookeville 51-26 in finals went 10-0 in regular season1997-98 beat Riverdale 68-60 in finals. Riverdale was only regular season loss district or otherwise Like I said not trying to be smart, you guys were doubting me so I had to show my proof.

The last time White County won the district tournament was 1998. We won nine in a row, 1990 - 1998. So the last time Lebanon won the tournament woud have had to have been at least 1989. As crazy as it was that year (1989), there was a five-way tie for first place in the regular season that year. Talk about balance, five out of the six teams that season posted 6-4 records. Following that year, Sparta lost a total of five district games in nine years. Unfortunately we have not enjoyed that kind of success since. We've won one regular season title since then (2004) and made it to the championship game of the district three times (2001, 2003 and 2005), but no tournament championships.

According to TSSAA website, our region tournament is at Shelbyville. Has that been changed?

Ties are broken by how the two teams did against the other teams. You start at the top and go down. So if Sparta and Blackman are tied, they would compare records against either Cookeville or Riverdale, whichever team is first, and then go down from there until the tie is broken. White County needs to beat Riverdale. If they don't, Blackman would get the tiebreaker since they have two wins over Siegel and we have only one. Cookeville swept both of us. Riverdale swept Blackman.

Actually if Lacy is who you are referring to, she was born and raised here. Her family moved here three months before she was born. She started playing basketball in Sparta when she was about three. I remember coaching against her in training league. She is another in the proud tradition of Sparta players born and raised here and 85 is right, a lot of people here are proud of that fact. I remember after our girls got beat in the championship game in 1991, we all came back and had a welcome home for them at the high school and one of the things that was said to the crowd was we might not have won the whole thing, but we were doing it with girls who we had been watching play since they first picked up a basketball. The place went nuts. The same with our boys state championship team. Everyone loved the fact that all those guys were from right here. Not that we wouldn't be very happy if we won one with someone who wasn't born here, but it is a point of pride for the long-time fans of this town.

Yeah it is a true statement that Oakland does not get blown out at home. Now I guess some people's definition of blown out is different. Oakland is right. In 1998-99, White County did beat Oakland badly (75-47) in the district championship game, but it was at Riverdale. The worst White County has ever beat Oakland at Oakland was the year before that in the District championship game which was at Oakland. WC won that game by 18, which to be honest was a pretty big deal to win by that much. Like I said yesterday, Oakland and White County have had some classics through the years. I hope Tuesday's game is another one.

1995-96 was the year White County went to Brainerd in the substate and got beat by them. Wasn't really an upset, Brainerd had C.J. Black and Harris Walker. Jolly did start as a freshman this year. The next year 1996-97 was the heartbreaking loss to Oakland by one point in the region semifinals. It still hurts me to talk about it. Yes Oakland was a very young team that year and obviously improved as the year went on. We had beaten them three teams that season. The first game we won 65-48. Then we won 69-59. We only won by four, 66-62, in district semifinals. King and Whited sure did have some dandy games back in the day. I always enjoyed the Oakland/White County rivalry. Two fundamentally sound teams squaring off. Each team has had their share of big wins in the rivalry. As far as Cleveland that year, we (White County) did play them twice and split with them. We won at Sparta 75-61 and they beat us by six, 73-67, at Cleveland. Crazy game that night. There was a power outage and the girls' game was delayed for a long time. Every one had to sit in the gym in the dark. They brought out lanterns for a little light. Cleveland did go on to win the state that year. We did have a very good team that year and I always felt bad for those seniors that year. Hard working bunch of guys who helped build for those two state championships. They took each loss personally. I remember one time after a loss to Lebanon they went back to the gym after the game to shoot later that night, they were so upset. Say what you want about talent and athleticism but the thing that made those teams (97, 98 and 99) so good was their heart and dedication. I witnessed most of it first hand. During the summer, you knew where to find those guys and it was in the gym. Okay, you guys got me started. I'll stop now.

During the 90's when White County's teams were regularly ranked in the tops in the nation, all those girls were born and raised in White County. I consider myself honored to have watched all of them play from the time they were old enough to pick up a basketball. In fact even though a lot of the girls have moved elsewhere since graduating from college, most if not all of the parents, still live in White County. It's the same thing with our boys state championship teams, born and raised in Sparta.

Did Siegel win the tournament in Florida or finish second? I did not see a final for the championship game.

The Warriors won today over Boyle County 67-60 in the consolation bracket. Kyle Delaney had 19 and Aaron Puckett16. Started out like we were gong to blow them out, but let them come back and get to within one with a chance to tie in the second half.

Rough game tonight in both senses of the word. Kentucky basketball is very physical and we had a hard time adjusting. We fell behind 10-0 right off the bat and was behind 23-6 at the end of one. It ballooned to 47-18 at the half. Puckett didn't go to the bench until the third quarter. We turned the ball over a lot against their pressure which was constant. They either pressed or ran and jumped at half court. They got out on our shooters and caused a lot of problems getting open looks. We shot one of 14 on threes and were 10 of 38 from two point range. They were a very fundamentally sound team that can score and really gets after it defensively. Tyler Greene led us with 10 points. Next was Brown and Puckett with six each. They were a very good team although I don't believe they were 50 points better than us. We should bounce back against Boyle County Friday.