gomab2

I love the Slay family, and best of luck to Chris. Chris has a ways to go, and is behind where Ron and Patrick were at this point in their careers. Chris is a true slasher who needs to put in work on his outside shot. Best of luck to him......

Good job for the most part, but....... -No way you can have an average Lawrence Johnson ahead of Jordan Mincy. For that pick, I know you must be the YOMCA head coach (Congrats on a successful year, by the way)... -Reginald Owens is a good player, but not near the best player in the State. He is not even the best player in Memphis, though I do really like his game... Good job though.....................

8AAA (for Trueballer and others), will be DOMINATED by Columbia. The returning of the district's best player (and maybe Middle Tn's best player), Wadele Williams, is enough to ensure another District Title. Add to that senior starter Fred Sparkman, and underrated G Jeremy Brown, plus sophs Zac Walker and Alston Enyard, and Jr (?) Gray, and you have a very good nucleus (though not very deep).... 2-Shelbyville will come in second, though with a very young team. Sr Yance Baker will be the top offensive threat, and teams with outstanding Jr's Aled Marable and Chase Williams, plus Diaper Dandy Freshman DeQuan Twilly for a very talented, quick lineup. Sr J.T. Carkuff will likely start, in a lineup that includes 6'3 Dominique Tillman, 6'4 Jared Ester, G DJ Phelps, and G Quentin McCrosky. This is a talented, young, deep team.... 3-Lawrence Co could finish third, though a young team, with outstanding coach, a great system, and hard nosed defense. Watch out for outstanding G Desmond McGuire, who will be one of the top guards in the district... 4-7-Lincoln Co, Tullahoma, Coffee Co, and Franklin Co will all be average, though improved from last year. This district is down this year, allowing Columbia to overcome the loss of three important starters to still dominate the District Crown...........

No Chattanooga list could ever be complete without Howard's outstanding PG Ricky Harper. Harper emerged this summer as a legit Mid Major D-1 prospect, and as good as any Senior PG in the entire STATE!!! Harper emerged in AAU Nationals with a 15 point fourth quarter scoring burst, while locking down Texas superstar (Top 15 player nationally) Jason Horton. Ricky Harper is a great PG, and one to definitely watch this winter..............

Here are my initial Pre-Season All State teams (first player named will be Mr Basketball in each division): ______________________________________________________ AAA- -Lee Humphrey -Dane Bradshaw -Ben Britt -Marcus Hammond -Antjuan Koger AA- -Montrelle Crittendon -Brian Fisk -Andre Allen -Sir Lee Mason -Ricky Harper A- -Jake Skogen -Jamar Jenkins -AJ Blackburn -Jonathon Cook -Rocky Nichols

I agree that the definite Top 4 in the district are Oakland, Lebanon, Blackman, and Riverdale.. -Oakland, though they did not look good this summer, would have to be the consensus #1 pick after a district & tourney title last year, while returning all but two players. Sr's Joe Barker, Shane Harb, and Derrick Duggin team with Jr's Marease Crawford, Carlos Crawford, Nick Watson, Matt Addison, and Brady Neal to form a deep and talented club... -Blackman would be the #2 pick after losing no one from last year's upstart team. David Price is one of the best shooters in the State, and teams with sharp shooting Nathan Stephens, steady PG Isiah Phillips, post Will Redding, G Kris Lee, and G Tim Herbert for a hard nosed bunch... -Riverdale is young, but talented, led by the district's best player, Jr G LaBrian Lyons. 6'6 Josh England is very athletic and a workhorse, and teams with 6'4 soph Chris Perkins and 6'3 Jr Jerry Onwu on the front line. The guards are young, and could start a Freshman at point by January... -Lebanon is deep and could finish anywhere in the top 4, but the rumored loss of star G Jeffery Dixon to a school in Mississippi hurts the bunch somewhat. F Jon Boyce is solid, and will vie for Top 5 player in the district. Watch out for a very good, young 6'4 F soph Andrew Donald if given the opportunity to break into the starting lineup... -Warren Co is 5th behind Harrell and Bishop... -Cookeville is 6th behing Mario Burnett... -White Co is 7th, but is on the upswing, so teams better get their knocks in now...

Though Memphis usually dominates the State's Top 10 prospect lists, in the class of 2005, Tyler Smith is clearly the top prospect at this point. Jamont Gordon would have to be the number two prospect at this point. In fact, this class is loaded with non-Memphis talent (though some great West Tn prospects are included), including Al Harris, Donnell Mayben, Reginald Delk, Richard Delk, Antonio Harris, Jonathon Adams, and Charles Little, just to name a few. This is a much different situation than say, the Memphis domination in Class of 2004, with the top 4 players all being from Memphis, and a few more potential Top 10.....

In case anyone cares, or has been wondering why I haven't posted on here in a long time...I moved, and don't have access to the internet at the time being. I will be back on here soon..........................

Ben is a heck of a player, and will find a very good career at MTSU under Coach Davis. Ben played for me (midstate Ballerz) in AAU Nationals this year, and saw first hand that he can really play. Ben is a legit 6'4 now, has a very good outside shot, has good handles, outstanding athletic ability, and will fit in nicely at Middle.....

The Murfreesboro Nets are a very, very AVERAGE local AAU team. They have some very talented players, led by one of 7AAA's best, Oakland's Joe Barker, along with Jon Boyce (jrock), Warren Co's Harrell and Bishop, and Oakland's Shane Harb. But this team is very mediocre, so let's not hype them up as anything but this.....

I think DeMarco and Perry, both at Lincoln Trail JC, will end up High Major players, after both get it done in the Classroom, and work on their weaknesses.... I think Robert Robinson (Union City) of Shawnee JC (IL) could resurface at a big time school.... Where is Barr and Hamilton's Dee Burchett going? Watch out for Marqkese Crockett (Riverdale) at Itawamba (MS). Crockett is expected to come in and start for a team that made the Juco Nationals last year, and will be a nice D-1 player in 2 years.... Aaron Williams at Georgia Perimeter College will also resurface D-1 in two years..... Bright is in a perfect situation in Miami JC system.... Melvin Wilkes, at Angelina (TX), will surface D-1, like his older bro Dee Wilkes... Chris Gillard (White Station), Trevor Duke (Columbia), and Robert Smith (Shelbyville) are three potential D-1 impact players who I am not aware yet if they have signed Juco yet or not.....

I agree about Blackman and Oakland. I think these two will battle it out for the TITLE. Riverdale is now my number 3 team, due to the rumor that star G Jeffery Dixon of Lebanon is moving back to Mississippi (maybe Boyce/jrock can fill us in on this one). Also, Yert9000, I do agree with you. White Co will be on the upswing within the next year or two. They have a good Freshman class, and a GREAT 8th grade class....so some teams better get their shots in now before Slatten has White Co back near the top.....

The comments were made about the Brentwood AAU team, which IS comprised of all BHS players, and many of the key younger players. This team IS very dirty, and is very much the opposite from Coach King's well disciplined, intense High School bunch. I will state it again, about the AAU team ONLY...... "I know of their AAU team....and they were a complete joke, which does not bode well for the high school season. I saw them in Substate give up 74 points with 4 minutes to go in the THIRD quarter in the 3rd place game, before a string of Techs and flagarant fouls led the officials to stop the game. They played very dirty in that game, and very unorganized....."

Thanks for the insightful comments, Irish40...... You will see some changes in my new Team Rankings coming out.... Couple of things: -Give me more info on how you guys did: ie, scores, who you won/lost to, leading performances, etc. I didn't get a chance to watch you guys. We played 5 of our 6 games at High Schools, so I didn't get to Disney as much as I would have liked.. -I had heard wrong, I guess: someone had told me you guys went 0-3 in pool. I saw the first couple of results, but not the last game. Also, the last I had seen, you guys were in the second round of the Classic, against Keystone. How did you guys finish up? -As for us, we went 1-2 in pool play, with the two losses by a combined 9 points, including blowing a 17 point lead vs Texas G.A.T.A. and a nail biter vs Nationally ranked Nike Team Texas Elite. So I am VERY proud of my guys and the way we played, finishing up at 3-3, with the 7 point loss to Team Texas our biggest loss.... _______________________________________________________

This was a complete shocker to everyone. This YOMCA 16:u team didn't even have the best 16's: Andre Allen, Jerrell Houston, Frank Holmes, or Shawn Williams. This team was led by my favorite (non Ballerz) underclassman, Charles Hampton, at 18 ppg. He is a budding STAR!!! The Y 17's, with Allen, Houston, Holmes, Bradshaw, Bohannon, Strong, Lusk, etc didn't make it out of pool play......

I know of their AAU team....and they were a complete joke, which does not bode well for the high school season. I saw them in Substate give up 74 points with 4 minutes to go in the THIRD quarter in the 3rd place game, before a string of Techs and flagarant fouls led the officials to stop the game. They played very dirty in that game, and very unorganized.....

Well, I'm back........ The Midstate Ballerz did well, but came up a little "short" at 17:u AAU Nationals this past week in Orlando, FL.... _______________________________________________________ The Ballerz went 3-3 for the tourney, losing in the Sweet 16 of the Classic Bracket to Shaumburg 1st Class (IL). -In Pool Play, the Ballerz started off against "2" seed, Texas G.A.T.A. The Ballerz played great for 3 quarters, going into the fourth with a 15 point lead, only to blow it, and lose on a Last-second shot... -Nike Team Texas Elite was up next. This is one of the very best teams in the Nation. We played them tooth and nail, though giving up tons of height, before bowing down, 65-58 (while shooting just 20-70 from the field)... -The Ballerz beat Hampton Roads II 70-61 in the final game of pool play, surviving Hampton Roads two 6'9 posts... -The first round of the Classic brought about a tough Cinncinati AAU White team. In probably our second best game of the tourney, we won 62-49... -The second round brought a very good Maine Hoops team (who had beaten a great Jax Lee Bulls team one round earlier). After getting down 19-7, we came back for a 73-70 nail biter... -Then our finale came, at the hands of Shaumburg 1st Class (IL) 64-58, in a game we came into overconfident and uninspired... _______________________________________________________ This could have been a SPECIAL tourney for us.....but we could not find the bucket all tourney long. With a lineup of great perimiter play and outside shooters, we shot just 39% from the field (152-387), 27% from downtown (39-145), and 54% from the line (42-77). Even with our poor shooting, which led to just 64.3 ppg (to opponents 62.3 ppg), we got after it defensively with a variety of relentless presses, full and half. Anyone that claims that AAU brings about lack of defense should have watched an amazing battle both ways vs Team Texas Elite..... _______________________________________________________ -Mike Sampson (Kenwood HS) was outstanding all Tourney long, leading the team in scoring (11.5 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), and FG % (60.0%), while playing on the wing... -Wadele Williams (Columbia) averaged 10.8 ppg and 4.2 apg... -Brian Fisk (Dyer Co) may have been the best player on the floor, playing relentlessly on the defensive end, and averaging 8.3 ppg and 2.7 rpg... -Ricky Harper (Howard) played himself into a bunch of D-1 looks with outstanding penetration and defense, along with 8.3 ppg and 6.2 apg, including shutting down Team Texas star (top 15 nationally ranked Jr) Jason Horton... -LaBrian Lyons (Riverdale) averaged 7.4 ppg and 4.0 rpg, while playing great ball as an underclassman... -Montrelle Crittendon (Dyer Co) had a tough time shooting the rock, averaging 5.3 ppg... -Ben Britt (Red Bank) chipped in 4.6 ppg in his first tourney... -Antwon Harris (Kenwood), Jamar Jenkins (Forrest), Antonio Mitchell (Dyer Co), Richard Delk (Jackson NS), and Reginald Delk (Jackson NS) also contributed...

Okay....... The Travelers are right there with the Y, no doubt. This past year, they have a few less W's, but they (Travelers) put more kids, year after year, in D-1 scholarships. These are the two top Programs in TN...... The Travelers, like many, many great programs accross the country (Riverside Church, SE Pump 'n Run, Oakland Pump 'n Run, SoCal All Stars, Belmont Shore, Atlanta Celtics, etc) don't play AAU, and don't need to. Some great programs do (YOMCA, NC Gaters, St Louis Eagles, Nike Team Texas Elite, etc). Both sets also attend the Top invitationals....... Memphis YOMCA is not the only team that "can play against the top teams in the Nation". The Travelers and Ballerz, among others, do as well..... Memphis YOMCA chooses not to recruit from all over, nor do they need to. They turned down a super-talented Dyer Co trio this year in favor of Memphis kids. This is a choice, and...trust me...Memphis is loaded enough to field a decently-talented team...... Memphis Rebels did not finish "18th" in the country. They don't even place a #18. The AAU Nationals place Top 14, then top 4 in the Classic, neither of which the Rebels acheived...... The list made above is missing two of the top three 15:u teams in the state: Tn Travelers (14-5, won the "Adidas Classic in St. Louis") and Midstate Ballerz (19-6, won the Memphis Basketball Classic and the Arkansas Wings Challenge of Champions)...... _______________________________________________________ I am putting out (to get more discussion) a new set of AAU team Rankings very soon........

Come on now guys..... No one has Michael Johnson a ranked #5 player or PG in the nation. He has a chance at being a Top 5 Jr PG in Nashville or Middle Tn. This is hilarious how much you guys are trying to hype of Michael Johnson. He is a good player, but not that great. I have seen him many times, and coached against him as well, and he is good/okay. Best of luck to him/gbaby, but let's be realistic about his game......

TENNESSEE CHALLENGE for the CROWN April 11-13 Various schools in Clarksville (NE high, NE middle, Rossview) Championship Game likely played at Austin Peay TSSAA rules (stopping clock, 4 8:00 quarters, etc) -Taking the Top 8 teams in Tennessee in each age group -ONLY taking Tennessee teams -We want 3 Memphis teams (ex: YOMCA, Idlewild, Rebels, Wildcats, Bulldogs), 3 Middle TN teams (ex: Thunder, Ballerz, and one other per age group-Stallions, CDF, Team TN, Columbia Bullets) and 2 east TN teams (Tn Breakers and Chatt Steam, etc) -This is a Challenge to the Best in TN, whether they play AAU or not (Travelers, Steam, etc) to come together for state bragging rights..... _______________________________________________________ In June, another tournament will be held, either in the 'Boro or in Clarksville, for teams inside and some of the best teams Out of the State, called the "Midstate Basketball Classic" _______________________________________________________ As for the TN Challenge for the Crown.....This is a chance for a lot of teams to prove themselves--teams that are as good as any but may falter in Substate (Team TN 15's, Columbia Bullets 15's, Idlewild 16's, Bulldogs 16's, Murfreesboro Nets, etc) or teams that don't play AAU, so can't compete against other TN teams (Chatt Steam, Tn Travelers(who won't come I doubt).....This is for the Tennessee Challenge for the Crown!!!!! _______________________________________________________ Email at Coachshul@comcast.net for more info or to reserve a spot..... This will be a Big Time tournament, for the best in Tennessee, and will have in attendance D-II, NAIA, and Juco coaches, as well as scouting services..... [Edited by gomab2 on 9-26-02 11:29A]

Forrest HS has a chance to be decent, and may be the favorite to unseat Moore co for the District Crown. Forrest is led by outstanding rising-Jr 6'5 Wing Jamar Jenkins, who will challenge for Class A Mr Basketball by the time he is a Senior.....

I agree that the four top AAA teams in Nashville this year will be 1)Maplewood, 2)Antioch, 3)Hillsboro, and 4)McGavock, but I think in that order.... Coach Gamble....I'll be at a bunch of your games, as I really like your team this year, led by one of my favorites, Barry Gardner, and Bubba Taylor (not to mention, Frank, Jamal, Ricardo, Brandon, etc)...

Haha.....you were right C. I'm very excited already about the prospects of this big time tourney.....Talk to you later.....

I wasn't going to announce it yet, because there are still a few details to be worked out, but.... TENNESSEE CHALLENGE for the CROWN April 11-13 Various schools in Clarksville (NE high, NE middle, Rossview) TSSAA rules (stopping clock, 4 8:00 quarters, etc) -Taking the Top 8 teams in Tennessee in each age group -ONLY taking Tennessee teams -We want 3 Memphis teams (ex: YOMCA, Idlewild, Rebels), 3 Middle TN teams (ex: Thunder, Ballerz, and one other per age group-Stallions, CDF, Team TN, Columbia Bullets) and 2 east TN teams (Tn Breakers and Chatt Steam, etc) -This is a Challenge to the Best in TN, whether they play AAU or not (Travelers, Steam, etc) to come together for state bragging rights..... _______________________________________________________ In June, another tournament will be held, either in the 'Boro or in Clarksville, for teams inside and some of the best teams Out of the State, called the "Midstate Basketball Classic" _______________________________________________________ As for the TN Challenge for the Crown.....This is a chance for a lot of teams to prove themselves--teams that are as good as any but may falter in Substate (Team TN 15's, Columbia Bullets 15's, Idlewild 16's, Bulldogs 16's, Murfreesboro Nets, etc) or teams that don't play AAU, so can't compete against other TN teams (Chatt Steam, Tn Travelers(who won't come I doubt).....This is for the Tennessee Challenge for the Crown!!!!! [Edited by gomab2 on 7/15/02 3:02P]

Sou-Cal AStars compete in top-notch invitationals, like the other teams I mentioned plus others like World Wide Renegades and Tim Thomas Playaz, highlighted by their participation in the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions (T.O.C.) and Vegas Big Time. SCAStars and Riverside, again, are two prime examples of great programs that do not compete in AAU............ In fact, the competition level at most of these major tourneys are much higher than in AAU Nationals, in all three age groups, due to the participation of these great non-AAU programs, and the absence of below-average teams (which there are many in AAU Nationals, at least in the 15's).............