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.

I saw the game and the intensity was not there for Central. CC is good and has a nice senior cast to lead them. I think Central will peak next year with 4 seniors from the starting 5. They showed more passion to play hard in the second half of Fulton game and the Halls game. I think CC under acheived this year in the regular district play because they were the co favoites with OR to take it. They have played like expected the past 3 weeks. I believe the game Monday will be close and the winner will play Oak Ridge for the tourney title. No one wants to finish 4th in the district tourney because Bearden would be next . A second or third place will get you Maryville and Farragut which gives both 2 and 3 seed an opportunity to get to the semis. Good luck Bobcats and all District 3 AAA in the region. How about Powell beating Karns? Anything is possible in HS Basketball.

Prepxtra encompasses the app. 60 to 70 schools in the mid east TN region. A team is announced in April for this area all classifications. There is an Knoxville team (a, aa, aaaa) then the Prepxtra. From the all district pools the Sentinel takes the names and plugs them in to select the Prepxtra. They have a website also.

I checked and most say the coaches usually nominate the players that had a good season. In knox area it was said they do not do a preseason. I noticed even though every coach nominated his players the coaches do vote on paper so there are no guarantees as to who gets on. I think the best players of the current season get the votes. This is important in Mid East TN because the prepxtra pool is formed from the all district teams.

From past experience most districts meet for tourney pairings and at that meeting they select the team. Coaches usually nominate their own players. Usually the better teams are going to dominate the voting but most teams get one player on the team. Larger districts usually pick 10 to 12 players from the pool of nominees. The MVP is usually from the top team or two and the coach is from the district champion-but it is still a vote of the coaches. I saw 3AAA in the Knox News Sentinel sports today and the local AA yesterday. 4AAA was in last week. I would like to see them regionally on one sight myself. Someone start a thread to list Knoxville area districts. Normally the all district teams are the nominees for the prepxtra team.

I think UT is just as interested in the assist as they are the points. Sounds like they are seriously considering offering Skylar a scholarship. Like I said Grainger has an opportunity to go deep in the tournament if the other players (farmer etc.) are able to contribute so a double of triple team will not hurt them. I think the way to Murfreesboro is through Knoxville in AA so sounds like they are already working on a plan!

After winning the outright district title against a solid Karns team it is obvious Central relaxed and did not answer the bell against CC. The same held true the first half of the Fulton game but in the second half of the Fulton game they played like they have been all year-solid defense and hitting the shots at a 50% plus clip. I think they will be ready next Friday in the district. They should play the winner of WEST and CC the next night for the right to advance to the finals as long as they beat Halls. I think you will see the district champs back to form in a rematch. They have a well balanced team that endured with a 16 game district schedule winning some tough games on the road. I think they would be the favorite to repeat next year in the district again. Congratulations to Dre Mathieu MVP of District 3AAA. Also Julian McBee, Teshaun Kelly, and Linwood Holloway on making all district!! Coach Mercer for winning Coach of the year. A note of interest: The Fulton girls have won the district 2 yrs. in a row with the group he had as Sophomores in '06/07. John Fisher (prev. Asst Coach) did a great job keeping everything moving in the right direction and he is also coach of the year in the 3AA district.

There is only one senior with this team and I believe the coach is happy at Central.

Splainhornet I agree in the first half Carter was competitive in the AE game. I should have said they lost by 20 instead of not showing up. I think on a given night Carter can beat anyone in the area. With Big Joe, Lester, Stanton, and the super frosh they have more talent than any AA team in the area. Occassionally they just do not show up. It is a tournament sport so now is the time to get the job done. Carter and Grainger could end up playing again in the sectionals. Both are capable. Carter and Grainger both play much better at home than on the road.

Well Skylar evened the series this year! He was the difference. Grainger should get to the sectionals against either Fulton or AE. I saw him play in a Christmas tourney. Carter is definitely not a team with defensive prowess. In fact they are the most inconsistent team I have seen this year. Lost to Alcoa in district (not too good of a team). AE beat them 20 the other night and they were never in the game. Once again great game Grainger.

Central Point Guard Soph Dre Matheiou may not be the best but he is in the top 5. Probably mvp in District 3aaa.