PTMUPS

I know of Dobbyns Bennett, Science Hill, Cocke Co., Claiborne Co. (2 days), Fulton, Maybe AE, Carter, Springfield, Farragut (2 days) Not sure of the others. It is a true tourney format to the finals.

Did you guard both in scrimmage or a game.? Steele plays best with the pressure on. Without Steele Fulton does not win the state twice. He is a pressure player. I agree Hood has been the best player in the paint since he played at cherokee middle school in Roane County. But it takes 5 players to win in AAA. Steele will look like he is not doing well but he takes over in the tough games. Hood was shut down in the tournament game I saw last year pretty well I think both will play division 1 ball. LC will finish 3rd or 4th in their district.

Why would he not wait and see who the new coach was going to be.? If Union County keeps the other players I think will still be in good shape. I think you will see some changes to the transfer qualifications for Varsity Football and Basketball real soon. By the way I think Fulton is head and shoulders above East TN. AA teams at this point if they keep the squad I saw this week.

Attended Central games today. Central coaching put in a new plan for Catholic and won by 3 --also it made a difference with Dre starting. Catholic has nice height but AAA teams in their district will not allow a predominate post game offence because that is their strength. (Can not allow them to post up every trip down the court) Halls beat Farragut and Webb. I think Farragut beat Karns by 4. From what I saw in 3 days Fulton is the AA team to beat. Catholic should be in the top 4 in their district with Central also being near the top in District 3AAA. Never know what is going to happen in round ball. One note Chris Lofton attended the last 3 games tonight and he looked great. By the way I thought West looked real solid. I think they have a legitamit shot at competing for their district crown.

I saw the CHS vs CHS. scrimmage game. They play again this week in the team camp. Central had one benched and two other starters did not show up until mid game. I think they are pretty evenly matched for the most part. Based on the extra quarter they played with all of the starters in place.

Watched Greenville (boys) play Maryville and Knox Central at MHS earlier this month and this is probably a good year for them to drop to AA because they were ok but not as much firepower as last year.

I dropped in at Maryville HS about a week ago and watched 3 games. Maryville beat Greenville; Knox Central beat Greenville and Maryville in back to back games. I did not see any of the other games.

Patriot fans get use to Carter, Fulton, and AE because next year you get to play them twice each becauee of the new alignment of districts. Naturally you keep Pigeon Forge and GP so there is 4 wins for you. Life will be tougher ---even Gibbs is competitive. Tough district--- but the region winner will most always come out of this district and the sectional winner most of the time in AA. Union County fans can be proud as they had a very successful season--probably one of the best ever that I can remember.

WELL THE BOBCATS GAVE IT ALL THEY HAD IN THE SECOND HALF VS. MARYVILLE. THE SLOW START REALLY HURT. THIS WILL BE A BUILDING STONE FOR NEXT YEAR. I BELIEVE THEY WILL BE NEAR THE TOP IN 3AAA AND BE BACK IN THE REGION NEXT YEAR. CONGRATS TO ALL OF THE TEAM AND COACHES FOR A GREAT SEASON.

I am proud of the Bobcats. They are the underdogs at Maryville tonight. I agree with you turtle they have a chance====Bearden beat Maryville 25 points 5 days ago. So they are the region kings for sure. If Maryville wins over Central I think Oak Ridge will beat them this time. Maryville beat them 8 points about a month ago. 17 wins more in 08 than 09 and winning the district ---I congratulate the Bobcats!! West will be the team to be reckoned with next year as they are moving to District 4AAA. Central will be the favorite in 3AAA next year since no one graduates.

Unicoi will be ok until they meet Fulton or AE. If they get first in the region they will host Fulton. Come to Knox they will play AE. Last year I believe they lost 72 to 29 to AE at home I think. What has changed? AE and Fulton play a lot like Science Hill. I do like the play of Logan. He has a nice future.

Thats the reason it is tourney madness. Anything is possible. Powell girls beat Oak Ridge tonight and they had beaten PHS twice pretty handily. It is all about focus. Farragut seems to be fading along with LC. Maryville and Bearden are focused right now. No doubt those two teams are good bet to advance.

You are right about Siegel. Science Hill, DB, and siegel were in a Thanksgiving tourney at Knox Central. They are a darkhorse but could sneak in there. I remember when 5 white guys from the old Linden High School won 3 straight I believe many years ago. There was no classifications. I think they all received D1 scholarships not sure. But with the classifications coming in late sixties and with the private school side there are too many champions now. There should be a fourth class for mega schools like in football at this time. The way kids transfer now and load a team up with "hardship" transfers the championships are tainted a lot. The main thing is education!!!!

Sometimes a soph or junior as they are developing are working with a supporting cast of Seniors that allow them to be at their best. The real test is when is their time to lead their teams is when they are in their Senior roles. The guys that everyone has mentioned could be better next season or level off depending on their committment to AAU, gym time in the off-season, or attention to what they need to work on to be better. Lets track all of these kids for next year and see how they do. I do not like pre season all stars. You have to do it on the court and in big games over a 25 game schedule. I think a great player can play any classification if he has the skills. Lastly, if you are on a district leader you are going to get more attention than if you play on a middle of the pack team. Everybody wants to associate with a winner.

I think this is Beardens best opportunity in several years. I definitely think they will go to the state. They have experience in pressure "big time games".. The reason there is a TN AAA tournament is to decide the best team based on the one and out format. No room for let down. It took Fulton about 3 or 4 tries and they probably had the better team when they won the Silver ball twice....Lets just let the tournament move forward and see who comes out on top. It sounds like someone from the Memphis area that has signed on in the last 2 months is trying to decide the outcome before it happens. I am not a Bearden supporter but I think they are best equipped to represent East TN in the AAA trip to Murfreesboro. Memphis could not get it done last year in the NCAA because they could not handle pressure. Basketball is a tournament sport. I will agree there are more BB athletes in Memphis but it is a team sport. May the best team win.