ifiruledtheworld

The rationalization for Gleason is that Gleason is Gleason: well-coached, very fundamental, and they expect to win. There is no shame in losing to Gleason, regardless of who they have or don't have on the floor this year.

If Bradford is the best team in 14A this year (and they appeared to be last night), Greenfield will be fine. They let the game get away from them a little at the end, but for the most part, gave Bradford a good game. The size and strength difference was noticable, but is to be expected with such a young team. Greenfield had a tough time rebounding and had the ball ripped away a few times. I thought the guards did very well against a tough press. Sure, they turned it over some, but also exploited it some for easy buckets from time to time. Free throw shooting (as Greenfieldfan mentioned) was exceptional. There is a lot of potential with the freshmen and sophomores. I'd say Greenfield will be very competitive this year, and by the end will have beaten some teams that they weren't necessarily "supposed to" beat this year.

Gleason should be the favorite to win the district next year, but Trenton should be one of the better teams in the district again next season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them and Gleason go head to head again next year for a district championship.

I'd say it is #2. Trenton has a talented team, one player doesn't win games on his own whether he is Doaks, Webb, Shane, or whoever. It is a team game. Trenton came to play tonight and Greenfield didn't.

Too many turnovers, not enough defense and rebounding.

Just wondering - the radio reported that it was final unless appealed by Greenfield. Either way, Greenfield better be ready to play - Doaks or not. I'm sure Trenton emotions will be running high after this ordeal (insert favorite monkey and football line here, beave).

While Trenton will be heavily favored by almost everyone in the gym, Gleason has an excellent chance to beat them, especially if Trenton misses as many gimmes as they did against Greenfield. Coach Frazier will have his team ready and they'll be playing at home in front of their fans. And while Trenton may have the advantage in one-on-one match-ups, it is a team game and I think Gleason has the better team. A tightly officiated game will definitely favor Gleason, as will a half-court game. Who will win? I don't know, but I wouldn't put all of my money on Trenton. I'm with WesCharge, I'll take fundamentals and smarts over size and strength any day.

I was under the impression that the ruling was final . . . unless it was appealed by Greenfield. Is this true? And, if so, was it appealed by Greenfield? As a Greenfield fan, I wanted him to play. I've always believed that you should beat a team at full strength if you are going to beat them when it matters. Regardless of whether Doaks and Partee (nobody has mentioned him) play or not, it will be a tough game for both teams.

Any word as to why (Partee)? That would be another huge blow to Trenton. I thought they'd have a tough enough time beating Greenfield without Doaks, but with Partee possibly gone, they will really have to play well to win. But, it is possible - as is anything come tourney time. Speaking of which, you just can't ever count Halls out, can you?

Congrats mr. big, who won the consolation game between Trenton and Middle?

A win is a win.

If Doaks were to win the award, I'd have no beef with it. I've never been that impressed with him in the past - he seemed to float around too much on the perimeter. But, he's completely changed my opinion this year. In the games I've seen, he's stayed in the post a lot more than in the past and has been unstoppable. Doaks has been the most dominant of the "big 3" (Doaks, Webb, and Shane) from the games I've seen this year. Really, I don't think you could go wrong with any of the three. They are all excellent players and also seem to be very fine young men.

West Carroll has a world of talent, but can they put it together consistently against top opponents. They have been notoriously inconsistent in the past, despite having a lot of talented players. However, they haven't been this talented in some time. I was surprised at how Trenton manhandled Middle. Doaks is going to bring his best every night, if some others could step up Trenton could be very, very tough to deal with. I think Middleton will be tough for anyone to handle as well, but they have also been known to slip up in the tourney. JCS still has a lot of talent, too. And then, you can't ever overlook Lake Co. with the weapons they have. I think the region and substate matchups will be very interesting this year. There are a lot of really talented teams and it looks like it might come down to who is hot at the right time.

It is correct - I listened on the radio a bit. Sounded like Doaks had a monster game. Perhaps sportsradio will give us some details.

My 2 cents on who'll be at the 'boro: Middleton and Middle College.

I haven't seen any of the Middle and East TN players, so I can't comment on them, but I'd hate to have to choose who received the nod between Bailey at Dresden, Hudson at Gleason, and Bobbitt at Trenton.

Still around, just lurking mostly. Still going to the games and still reading posts quite often, just not putting much out there myself. I think the team looked good against Trenton (just missed way too many free throws down the stretch). I think we'll be fine. Brandon and Jeremy are going to come up big when they need to. Paschall is playing very well this year and if Reynolds stays hot that will help a ton. Plus, McHaney is shaking the rust off a bit still and should improve. I've also been very impressed with Dethloff's improvement. Perkins has looked good at times off the bench, and he could really be a player if he'd be a little more aggressive and confident. The region is tough this year, though, and we'll have our work cut out for us to come out of the region. I haven't seen Middle play, but based on their performance against the other district, I'd have to take them as the favorite to come out with either Lake Co. or Trenton as the other team. But Greenfield, South Fulton, or even Dresden and Halls might sneak in the championship game too.

A couple of other overlooked players in West TN Single A (besides Quinton) who deserve more recognition: Candace Green, Gleason Brooke Harris, South Fulton

He'll be back next time Greenfield plays poorly. Funny how he disappears when they play well, huh?

While Jeremy has played very well, and I love his game, I don't think he's been the best player on the team. Actually, I think you could make a better argument that Brett Reynolds has been the best player on the team. But, Brandon is the best player on the team, hands down.

Wow, Middleton beating Dresden in their own gym by that large a margin is impressive.

What exactly do they do that Brandon Shane doesn't? They all can shoot. They all can handle the ball. They all can play great defense. They all can dunk. They all can block shots. The only difference I see among the three is that Doaks and Webb are about half a foot taller than Shane. I'm not necessarily saying Shane is better, but if you'll look at the head-to-head battles among them, Brandon Shane has either outperformed or performed equally as well every time. And ladyk, Brandon performed well in the regional tournament last year, with one exception - Halls did an excellent job defensively of bottling him up. He was constantly double-teamed and the guards had trouble even getting him the ball. I'm sure you aren't basing your opinion of him on this one game, are you? But, ladyk, I will agree with you on one point - Dane Strayhorn was definitely deserving of a Mr. Basketball nomination. As I'm sure you know, a lot of the Mr. Basketball award depends on the publicity you receive. Brandon Shane had been in the State Tourney the year before being nominated, and therefore was known by people in Middle and East TN, where Strayhorn may not have been. However, I think Brandon was very deserving of his nomination last year. Is Brandon the best Single A player in West TN? I don't know, but I definitely think he deserves to be mentioned among the best.

Greenfield will have more than Brandon Shane. Jeremy Smith is back as well. He's an excellent player, and I think he'll step up this year and be more consistent as the second scoring option that the team needs. Also, Brett Reynolds will be back after providing a lot of quality minutes last year. Obviously Brandon getting in foul trouble would be a tremendous problem for this team, but that same situation was a problem last year.

South Fulton will be very competitive with Wilson, Hicks (I'm assuming he'll be back?), and Peat. That's as good a combo of players as anyone has really. Peat has to stay out of foul trouble though - as does Wilson.

While these new districts in West TN make sense geographically (I guess), could they not have made the districts a little more balanced? In District 13, you have West Carroll and Huntingdon who are traditionally good teams. But after them, you've got McKenzie (who has been down the last few years), Bruceton, Big Sandy, Clarksburg, and Big Sandy. Not exactly what I'd call a powerhouse district . Does anybody really think West Carroll and Huntingdon won't sleepwalk into the district championship? Then in District 14, you've got Dresden, Greenfield, Halls, Lake Co., Peabody, South Fulton, and an improving Bradford and Gleason. Then they threw in Humboldt and Union City just for kicks. Whew, that's a tough district to come out of. I agree with jvaughan, just give the district tourney winner a gold ball and call it quits.