chill

Melvin Wilks, Dee Burchett, McFadgeon, etc. those guys are not 17 year olds. I don't know about Dee Wilkes and some of the others. The YOMAC team was definitely missing Byars and some that didn't make the trip. I believe they had another player or two when they beat the Thunder in AAU state championship earlier in the summer. With that said, Watson, Winchester, and Asumnu are not from Nashville or even from Tennessee. Nashvegas has a lot of talent, but Memphis is freaking loaded.....

Sorry, but Malone was there when William Blount beat G'ville. This was the only game I saw that they did have their full squad. Greeneville has an outstanding team. They have good shooters and strong post play from Malone. The other big kid(6/6)was very dominant and one of their guards really stood out. William Blount is equally tough and should not be overlooked. They have a couple of 6-8ers and plenty of size on the perimeter. They play gritty defense and Baumann allows no slack. Aaron Eakins is going to be a very good guard for them. Remember, they got beat in the substate at Science Hill after beating Maryville and Clinton. They return a lot of experienced players and they platoon ten deep if not more. Very physical team....... Greeneville should be able to make a run this year. Science Hill, Dobyns Bennett, TN High, and Cocke County should also be solid from the upper East in AAA.....

I had a chance to catch the Thunder's 2nd game of the day at the Jr. Olympics. They easily beat the Ohio Stars. The Ohio team had some college signees including an Ohio State signee at point guard named Brooks and post player named Fitch who's going to Michigan. First off Lil Penny had a very nice game. He played well next to the UT kids. Josh Goodwin was on fire. He didn't get a ton of minutes, but he made the most of it. After a slow start, Billy May really put together a solid game. He was all over the court making key plays when it was still tight. Boomer Herndon was very unimpressive. He had scored 16 early in the day in a close loss to a team from Maryland 88-84. He was pretty much manhandled by Fitch, who is about 6/7, 250. He was in foul trouble for most of the game and scored 2 points. John Winchester looked very good. He is unbelieveably athletic and has a nice stroke. He really attacked the goal and dunked on quite a few people. He had two sweet oops. CJ Watson was smooth as silk. He didn't play too much point, but showed he could handle the ball and get to the goal. His pullup off the dribble is deadly from beyond the arc. He will definitely play big minutes for the Vols next year. He held Brooks in check on defense after he had scored 30 plus earlier in the day. Stanley Asumnu was not what I expected at all. He is an NBA type athlete. He dunked on everybody they threw at him. He stroked the three, shook everyone with his handles, and then threw it down in their face. One of his dunks was so nasty and hard that he got T'ed up. Well, he did dunk on two guys, get the foul, do a chin-up with his waist above the rim, and smacked way above the box with his off hand, all before he came down. It was beyond belief. If Stribling hasn't improved a lot over the summer, then Asumnu will start for the Vols next season...... As hard as Asumnu dunked, they weren't the hardest of the day. The point guard for the Thunder2 laid down the hardest tomahawk I've ever seen. He absolutely rocked the rim. People ran in all directions on this one. It was so hard that you literally hurt for a couple of minutes afterwards. He was just picked up out of Georgia for the tourney, so none of the parents knew his name. He's easily 6/2(6/4 with fro), 220 lbs of muscle, quick as a cat, and he runs the show. On one play, he took three guys up with him who either had hand or ball, and he still converted the three point play. He shot it well too. He was as impressive as any on this day. If he's not a D-1 football prospect, he is in hoops. Straight up baller....... three of the UT recruits will undoubtedly see minutes next year while one really needs to redshirt..... With these three guards coming in the Bradshaw commitment makes a little more sense because his type of game will complement these guys nicely..... whether or not he's SEC caliber still remains to be seen...... [Edited by chill on 8/2/02 10:01P]

I don't know if Oak Ridge has enough depth and size this year to really make that kind of run. Their real strength is in their underclassmen. They will have difficulty getting past Clinton. Powell also returns a lot of talent to a 25win team. William Blount has to be mentioned in the top four if not the top two. They have all kinds of size and some great athletes. They beat a very good Greeneville team at Maryville College a couple of weeks ago and looked very tough. So, after going to the final four, Bearden doesn't even make the regional semi's. Wow. No wonder Blevins was interested in some other jobs. Farragut could definitely stir things up this year. Maryville has way too much talent not to make it to the state this year. Sounds familiar.....

There are some good freshmen coming into the Anderson County area. Clinton is loaded with Jonathon Dye, Travis Borman, and Jarvis Wahington at guard. Matt Ford and Hassan AbdulRahman could also develop if they get time. Gulmire and Dixon are very good guards coming into Oak Ridge. There are other good athletes coming into OR, but losing Washington to Clinton really hurts. Jared Laverdiere and Jason Utley will be very good at AC, and they have some really strong athletes to help. Skee-bo at Austin East is unbelieveable with the ball in his hands. He is as impressive as little Albert was last year. He played a lot of varsity this summer for AE. Harris even let Skee-bo run the show in some games, and AE was better with both him and Albert on the court. Throw in Bogus, Jones, Bishop, Underwood,etc. and AE could have the quickest team in the state....... ......seriously you have to see them.....no size but so quick....Kite at South Doyle and Tony White jr at Bearden have really played well this summer too ......

The big boy with the goatee is a very nice player for Rutledge, and he complements Singleton nicely. He tore Anderson County up over at Fulton, but AC won by a point. He had at least 30 against Oneida. Singleton had tough time getting his shots in the 2nd half, but the big boy scored at will against AC's guards. Singleton almost had a sweet 2-hand dunk but he was fouled. He can float... It sounds like Central is coming around. If they were able to beat Elizabethton then they either were missing players or Central was out of their heads. Elizabethton hasn't been touched all summer. How did Redd look against Central.......

Elizabethton is loaded.... Walter Brown and Vince Redd will be one of the top duos in East Tennessee. They should be dominant in the Upper East, not to mention their district and region should be down this year from last. Very surprised to hear that Central is looking good. They could be the worst team in the Knoxville area in recent years. Most Knox coaches would agree that they have as much talent at Central as any school in the area(look at football). Hundley and Conner are both good high school guards, but to call Conner virtually unstoppable is quite a stretch(Clipper must be relative of his). If the Bobcats were to get discipline and fundamentals they would be as good as anyone around... York has had an inconsistent summer so far. If Tate is not hitting, their in trouble. Leffew is solid for them, but Ledbetter is just not ready to make an impact. I know Gomab has him rated high, but he is not doing much except on defense. You can't teach height though, so he definitely has the potential to be very strong. Cosby and Happy Valley are examples of teams that are beating York who shouldn't even be on the court with them....

Elizabethton has to be the favorite from the East. They return virtually everyone including manchild Vince Redd. Loudon will also be solid if they can replace the tenacity and leadership of Kevin Herrell. Austin East once again will be good but without Jam Blair they will struggle to get past a now experienced Fulton Falcons team which made great strides towards the end of the season. Rutledge could also be a player in Region 1. York has to be considered a favorite out of middle TN with Travis Tate and Derek Ledbetter leading the way. Upperman also has a lot of talent returning.......