caramelcutiepie

Mike Flynn is the biggest crook in girls basketball. I wish you would stop worshipping this fat,crooked, little man and find out how he really is. How he tries to twists elite players' arms and make them affiliate with BlueStar and Nike and if they affiliate with any other shoe company, he ranks them lower than his prized "Nike Girls" if he even ranks them at all! The camps are simply money makers--they get money from those of you who hope your daughters will sign big-time D-1 scholarships (some actually will, but not because of him) and from the college coaches who they charge an arm and a leg to get camper information on. Mostly, the scouts know who they are coming to see before hand anyway and sometimes, some good player lucks up and gets discovered. But the camps actually have a positive side--he doesn't. He has called a couple of players I know and they decided which of his camps if any they would attend and he actually told one that there is some Politics involved and that she could actually hurt herself by going to Adidas or any other camp other than Blue Star. He also tried to get a few to play on his Philly Belles travel squad and when they said "NO" he badmouthed them. Don't take my word for it; ask anybody who has been in girls basketball for a long time and they will tell you how he works.

For those who are complaining about the open enrollment and pointing out White Station in general, they should be aware that very few of the guys on the team now transferred just for basketball. I happen to know most of the sophomores personally and have known them since they were 7th graders at WHITE STATION MIDDLE SCHOOL! There are just a lot of good players and White Station's dominance in the next couple of years will be wrongly attributed to open enrollment by some,but will be the result of the dominance from a group of guys who have played together since middle school and who went on to play at the school that they were assigned to. They probably only lost 1 or 2 games in both 7th and 8th grade and they won the middle school sectionals/regionals/state (something) their 8th grade year. There has not been a lot of transferring with this group specifically, and I don't think there is as much as people say going on city-wide anyway. Its hard to play out of your district without using someone else's address anyway. I know, because although my cousin was a freshman last year and had not played a single Varsity game before that, we had to do a few things to get her to go to the school that she attends now mostly for academics. She couldn't just go there because she wanted to because she was assigned to Ridgeway but Ridgeway didn't have a couple of programs that she was interested in.

Congrats to the Nike team on their play at Nationals from the Memphis Showboats. Good luck all Tennessee teams and especially good luck to the Tennessee Stars 14U team! Both of our teams should do well and one of us must bring back the Championship.

the brackets had previously been posted but I guess they are making changes because they have taken them down for now. The pools were up on the 5th and then the brackets were up yesterday, but as of late last night, they were gone again. We (memphis showboats) already knew what teams were in our pools and when we played (as of yesterday), but as always, the schedules are apt to change so I guess that is what's going on now.

Amy McNear is one of their top players. She is the little point guard who can do it all. Buster McDivitt is not related to April McDivitt as far as I know, but his daughter,Heather,plays basketball for UT-Chattanooga. The Waves are supposed to finish high and according to the AAU girls basketball site, the Kansas Belles and a few others are really good,too.

How did Ashley Shields look for the Mustangs and who was running point guard for them (name/number)? This year's junior class (Sr's next year) will have a lot of major D-1 signees, at least in our area and I know that middle tennessee is supposed to be loaded,too. Most of the girls who will sign pretty big are on that team. I talk to them all the time and they are starting to narrow their lists down and I'm hearing schools like Louiaiana Tech and Mississippi State and a few other SEC schools.

Sounds like SOUR GRAPES to me...what about the teams that have competed (boys) in past years (Robert O'Kelly,Tony Harris,Corey Bradford,etc) that have completely dominated with talent in their age groups or younger? Some boys who play 16U also play 17U which means they are playing up (YOMCA) like Mr. Basketball Andre Allen. Just face it, the rest of the state (except maybe Nashville) is FAR behind.

Since everyone is giving their opinion, i'll give mine which is (in my most honest opinion) way more realistic. The chance of any of the 13 year old teams beating the Blackhawks is slim to none, and closer to none. Even our 13's (showboats) will have their hands full attempting to do so. The blackhawks won the 14under division of the Memphis Showboat invitational, beating some really good 14 and under teams along the way (not the 14u Showboats of course--we played in the 15/16 division). I watched them and they are TONS better than last year and they are going to be tough to beat before they get to nationals. I know a lot of you are against them and are being really wishful about their defeat and its not like I am a fan or anything, but I must give credit where credit is due--there's no reason they shouldn't be state champs again--everyone else is playing for 2nd place.

Yes, Jessie is good. She is more of a finesse big girl and can shoot the mid-range jumper in addtion to having a sweet turn-around jumpshot inside...plus she can run the floor but she would have to be able to to keep up with Tamea Scales and Jennifer Humphrey, Ridgeway's other "TREES". A lot of people downed her for being out of shape last year but boy what a difference a season of Varsity basketball can do. She plays on our AAU team and is doing very well. Its a shame so many people downed her as an 8th grader about her physical abilities because she is a severe diabetic and often gets sick during games. That's something that won't ever change and coaches will have to choose whether they are willing to deal with it or not--so far it doesn't seem to be a problem. She still plays with LaToya and used to play with both Holly and the girl mentioned in a previous thread named Melissa Liebswager. The class of 2005 is going to be one of the best that we have seen in a few years recruiting-wise.

You are entitled to your opinion and since you expect me to stoop to your level and purposely are trying to get me to do so, I'll make sure I won't. If you think that Holly is better then fine. I really think that she is good and I will not compare the two. Melissa Liebswager (sp?) is also very good. A very deadly outside shooter with GREAT size. All three of these kids have played together and like each other and I recognize and respect that and won't get into a "competition" thing. They are kids and there's plenty of college money out there for all of them so there's no need to say who's the best or who is better at what. All of them have bright futures and then there are some that no one knows about who will emerge in the next few years. As for who is better this year, our team or the Stars, we won't know until the State tournament. I think they have a great program and have been around for decades (since I was playing). We are used to being the underdog and don't expect or welcome spoken accolades from the so-called basketball experts state-wide. We are just doing the best we can to get our girls exposure and to let them play against the best. Last year was our first year and we didn't get a chance to play a lot before state but we are going out of our way to do so now. And most importantly, we want them to have fun!!! I don't want to engage in a flame war with you and will ignore your hateful comments. I hope you get to check us out at state and introduce yourself to me if you do.

i'll have to negate what you posted. She might be 5'8 (certainly looked taller when we played her in AAU) but what does that have to do with anything? She is a point guard and 5'8 is GREAT size for that position. Tennessee's (lady vols) point guards are 5'6 and 5'9 respectively and if you can play, it doesn't really matter at the guard spots...but inside is a whole different matter. Holly is probably one of the tallest PG's in the state. I'm sure her mailbox is teeming with letters anyway--By the way, super frosh LaToya Bullard is only about 5'6 or 5'7 and that's not stopping her mailbox from running over. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Holly has her about two or three inches easily. Plus, Holly's advantage is that she is well-built, muscular and strong. She is stronger than most guards and penetrates well to the basket. Stop hating on Holly, shame on you!