caramelcutiepie

The best freshman in my opinion, hands down, is Lauren Avant from Lausanne in Memphis. She was offered a scholarship and has already committed to play for Pat Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Vols (about a month ago) and was recruited by UConn, Duke and everyone else. She's the top player in the WHOLE COUNTRY in the class of 2010 and was the only 8th grader or freshman to make Street and Smith's All-American team. She's the best by a mile... http://www.memphisladyelite.org/

To whoever wrote the quoted post above-- I'm trying to save you embarassment. People, stop using Craigmont as a measuring stick to gauge how Greenville will compete with Hamilton. Its pointless. I'm surprised no one has stopped you and mentioned this but, Craigmont was no where near being one of the top boys teams in the city. They were mediocre at best, but came along at the end thanks to their weak district. Had they been in 16AAA again this year, they probably would not have won a single district game. Losing to one of the weakest city school teams in the city is not a good indication at all--it actually weakens your theory of why your team should win. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. Anything can happen and that's why the games are played, but simply state this fact and leave it at that. It makes you guys look dumb and clueless to reference your performance against a mediocre team and use it to analyze your predicted performance against an exceptional team. Its really pitiful and embarrassing and you're making fools of yourselves in the honest opinion of someone who usually just browses on the boys' basketball board. Just thought you should know...(whoever wrote the post I quoted)

Stop hating on Whitney Houston. She DOES have a 4.0 GPA and is a sweet, sweet kid. You guys have a great team and are state runner-ups and you should be proud of that...talking bad about Houston is not going to change that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see anyone on this board insulting your star player, Gwen Delk, and anyone with any class wouldn't do that. Who cares about what you doubt...Whitney doesn't have to prove anything to you...WHO ARE YOU!!? You're not anyone in regards to her future or success. As an English minor with a college degree, I could judge you based on your post and say that you are a moron and are not intelligent since you used clauses in your entire post. However, that would be extremely petty, irrelevant and make it seem as though I'm just looking for something, ANYTHING, to nitpick and hate on you about because you have something that I wish I had or some quality that I desire, but lack. Who cares?! Point is, I'm no better than you are and you are no better than Whitney Houston or anyone else. Get over yourself...

Hey WesCharge!! What's shakin?? I've missed you, too! Glad to see you are still on here. Yes, I'm still in the Memphis area and hopefully I'll get to go to Murfreesboro tomorrow if I get some tires put on my car!! Are you going to state, already there or what? What have you been up to??!! I know its been quite a while since we have chatted on here. Who were you pulling for this year and how did they fare? How does the future look for your team?

Colorado saw both girls play in the summer and there is also a Memphis to Colorado connection up there on the boys' side so I think in Houston's case, an assistant coach to the men's team has some Memphis/Hillcrest connections and told the women's coach and they saw her a lot of times and loved her. I know that both she and Candace Rucker had tons of schools all over the country recruiting them and we have several other kids who are the same way in this area. Schools like UCLA, USC, Washington State (a good friend of mine is an assistant coach there), Rutgers and other far away schools have recruited and offered kids in the Memphis area. I think that since a lot of Memphis clubs have stopped focusing so much on AAU ball and have done more with travel teams and shoe affiliated sponsors, there has been more exposure than ever. AAU is fun, but you only get exposed at the National Tournament and only if you advance to the latter rounds do the top schools watch you. If you are a top player and your team loses in pool play, your chances of playing in front of top coaches is very slim since most of the time they have you playing at some little box gym far away from the main floor where the superstars compete. There is one superstar kid in this area (you guys wouldn't know her) who has Georgia, LSU and Florida at the top of her list. By that I mean that they have all offered already and she's interested. She had everyone but Tennessee and UConn make scholarship offers, but she's still young and there's still a lot of ball for her to play.

I'm glad that we could all reach an understanding. As I mentioned, I was a neutral fan but wanted Northside to win. I know Candace and her father and got tired of reading about her weaknesses. Every basketball player has weaknesses...even the great Candace Parker at Tennessee or Diana Taurasi. Candace is not my daughter (i'm not old enough to have a kid her age). I was just defending her and got tired of people hating on her. That's all. I want all of the teams from West Tennessee and especially Memphis to do an amazing job at state. I'm not going to downgrade or talk bad about any of the players on any of the teams representing our region of the state. Hats off to Ridgeway and Northside and I hope one of you brings home the gold ball (and if its possible, may the other bring home the silver ball, too!!).

BHScoach...you don't have any class. You don't have any right to attack Mr. Rucker and tell him that he, along with the fans, doesn't have any class. You can't accuse him of being a part of what took place after the game. I was at the game and the majority of the fans were just standing around talking to their kids. There were a few fans that were rowdy, but you'll have that almost everywhere in America. I know Mr. Rucker and he is a very classy man. All schools have at least some fans that are not classy. The posts were all pretty positive until you butted in and started exhibiting the same lack of class that you accuse Mr. Rucker and the others of having. Do I agree with the fans laying on the Bartlett "B"? No. However, Candace and her family are very classy people and Nate has done an excellent job with Candace. If you had spoken to her and congratulated her instead of standing around with your mouth poked out after the game, you would have learned that she is a VERY polite and humble young lady. Get over it, no one wants to hear anymore that the fans were not classy (we get your point and if we post or lurk on this board, chances are, we aren't blind and have read all of your posts that say the same thing OVER AND OVER). We also don't want to hear how Candace doesn't have a left hand. She does have one, but that's saying a lot if she doesn't have one and your team tried to make her go left and she still went right successfully. What does that say about your defense?? Candace is a hard worker...she'll improve on whatever she needs to work on this summer and before she goes to Colorado. That "left hand" didn't keep her from getting dozens and dozens of offers from good D-1 programs, some of which are still interested. People like you are so petty. No one said anything negative about any of your players, a few of who I know personally. I am a neutral fan, but it seems as if you have a bad case of "sour grapes". That may not be the case, but I'm letting you know in case you are unaware that this is the impression you are giving off...Be like Pantherbert--you don't have to rag on the other team to cover up your teams flaws or make your team look more deserving. Seems like you are trying to cover up something you said on here or are afraid that you'll be eating some crow for talking some smack. Whatever the case, you're a coach (like me), you should know this. Good luck next year.

Zoo, you're so right...and I apologize...I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I'll be good from now on, I promise...

Yeah...its somewhat biased, I agree. However, my bias is a little bit more justified than yours...they are the defending State runner-ups and didn't lose anyone. Now, a lot can happen between now and March--none of us is Nostradamus and we can't 100% accurately predict who will be there. But, you have to like the chances of a team that made it to the championship game and lost no one. Just like in women's college basketball. The teams that return a lot of their starters and players are often favored. You won't know until the end of the season. As for me being an early nominee for "hypocrite of the year" as you call it, that's cool...I'll settle for that. Goodness knows its much better than being "Dogg of the Year". Let me ask you, do you get that title based upon your looks and/or face???Are you the "Dogg of Wilson Central"? Boy, being "dogg-ugly" has to be a tough in itself but I commend you for having the courage to do it. Bad me...bad, bad me. Until now my mean streak had been tamed and locked away from this board and I had been nice...but you brought it out. I will try to contain myself after this post...

You're right...MtJBears...that puts everything into perspective. You have Craigmont in YOUR top ten. Thanks for doing them a favor...your top ten is about as worthy as stuff that gets flushed down the toilet. I'm glad YOUR top ten isn't indicative of what will happen in March and also glad that its just some biased person's opinion. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on the team I may have to go through to get that state title that you are penciling in already.

Craigmont's 3 losses came in Phoenix. The other only loss came to Briarcrest. They were undefeated before LaToya Bullard went out with a hamstring pull. They will still beat most teams without her but its tough to beat nationally ranked teams and a team the caliber of Briarcrest without your bread and butter player. People can continue to understimate them all they want to...being the defending state runnerups in AAA is not just a coincedence...I have never seen a situation where a team has everyone back after being state runner-up and the team doesn't receive any kind of recognition from most people across the state. I guess they'll just have to prove themselves again this season...

Actually, Lauren is closer to 6'0 or 6'1 and plays point guard and shooting guard in high school and AAU for the Memphis Showboats. She is a senior and signed with Mississippi State back in November.

Guys, I usually don't whine about running up the score because sometimes it cannot be avoided. 30 or 50 points is not that bad. However, we have a coach here in Memphis who is notorious for running it up on purpose...he will press the whole game. The other night, Northside played against a team from a first year school and beat them 119-2. I'm almost certain that he pressed the entire game and tried to pad stats for two of his highly recruited players. That's pitiful...he shouldn't have even scheduled his team to play a team like that when he knows he has one of the top teams in the city...he didn't have to play this team...it wasn't a tournament or a district game...all I could say is "WOW!" 119-2? THAT'S A BIG POINT DIFFERENTIAL...

Candace is a very exciting player to watch...I've heard that she is getting some remarkable looks and offers from several top D-1 schools...is this true? I've had 3 or 4 coaches of high and mid-level D-1 programs ask me about Candace. She is really super...At only 5'8, 5'9 she has major "hops" and can easily grab rim and dunk a volleyball. Congratulations on a good game, Candace!

The rivalry comes about mostly from AAU competition. Some of the girls had played together for the Memphis Waves and then when the team split and the girls went to two different teams, the rivalries started there. Also, it is very untrue that the public schools in Memphis don't want to schedule Briarcrest...believe it or not, its the other way around....