aj1133

Not as an assistant.

Does anyone know where I can find a roster for the young ladies playing in the all-star game tomorrow in Murfreesboro?

It's kinda complicated, but for the record I will be officially done with coacht after this. The deal is, I introduced my wife to this because I found it amusing and entertaining to read the different opinions about me. Big mistake. She is knowledgable about basketball but unfortunately not about how the whole coacht thing works. I refrained from commenting during the season and tried not to pay any attention at all because I believe it can be distracting at times. My wife however, did not realize that if she responded or made posts that it would have a reflection on me. I appreciate her and she is extremely supportive and for that I can not fault her. I would imagine that it is hard at times to read about what an idiot your husband is or even anything negative about the players and team she has begun to form relationships with. I am not ashamed of anything. I'm not ashamed that I care about my kids. I'm not ashamed of any opinion that I might have expressed. And I am certainly not ashamed that my wife cares enough about me that she would try to defend me. I just don't think she understood the magnitude of what was going on. I don't feel that I owe anyone an explanation but if you must know wareagleblue, this is the situation. I have since spoken with her and we have laughed about it. I'm sure I'll pop back up on here shortly, but I can assure you that aj1133 is done.

Yes briank, I am the coach at Harpeth, and I realize that by posting on coacht I have probably broken some unwritten law, but I am very proud of the young ladies I coach and try to make sure they get the credit that I feel that they deserve. The truth is, i feel partly responsible for Mendenhall's lack of point production this season because I asked her to focus on different elements of her game, which she did very well. We all know that all of these honors are based on stats, or at least that became obvious to me this year, so I hate that her overall game was passed over for Ms. Basketball considerations. I am sure you will have some awesome words of wisdom for me or some negative comment about how I should do this or that but the bottom line is, I say what I feel and if I am to be shamed for that then I can handle it.

Hey briank...... I'm her coach, her friend, and her biggest fan. I apologize for posting positive comments about high school athletes rather than sarcastic comments complaining about others who are too positive. I'll have you know briank, Mandy really limited herself because she wanted to be close to home. I spoke to the University of Florida, Ole Miss, Arkansas, South Carolina and Alabama but she wanted to play closer to home and where she felt more comfortable.

I watched the east vs west all-star game yesterday and am still completely convinced that there is no way Mendenhall should not have been considered for AA Miss Basketball. She was the most talented and athletic player on the court. There was not another player on the court that had the individual skills that she has.

If you that oppose the shot clock so much and continue to state things like, "they should still be focusing on fundamentals and not how quickly they shoot," could understand that just as many fundamentals can be practiced using the shot clock, just on the defensive end of floor. It is much more reasonable to ask a player to play sound defense for a set amount of time rather than having them try to stay awake while the opposition stalls he ball. What are we preparing these kids for anyway? If you have potential college players on your team, why would you not try to help them get prepared for that next level by putting in place a shot clock that may allow slightly more time than in the college ranks? At first I really wasn't sure that I would be in favor of something like this but the more I began to think about it, the more I began to realize that in my opinion there are far more pros than cons.

......and apparently there is also one being held in the Chattanooga area. Sounds like terrible planning to me. If the correct amount of attention and support can't be provided, then what is the point of having the thing. The kids deserve better than this.

I absolutely can not be convinced that Mandy Mendenhall from Harpeth should not be discussed in this topic. This is a young lady who has not gotten the credit that she deserved in her high school career and will be an awesome player at the college level. I think so much has been put on the offensive side of the ball that when we discuss topics such as this we might lose focus on the all-around aspect of the game of basketball. Unlike the olden days, players are now expected to play defense as well as offense. Mendenhall placed more focus on that aspect of her game this year and really proved that she can be a great defender as well as scorer. She also placed more emphasis on involving her teammates rather than running the same old isolation play every trip down the court on offense. And for this reason, one of her teammates began to receive attention and has actually verbally committed to APSU. I commend her on her efforts to improve as an all-around player and know she will benefit from this greatly in college whether or not anyone else in the state notices. I only wish that she could have been recognized more for her accomplishments but believe that she has been looked over for the most part because she plays at a school that gets very little publicity.

I think the all-star game is actually in Nashville at Trevecca this weekend. I haven't heard many specifics on the game but I do have two girls playing in it.

Asking anyone to play lock-down man to man defense for more than 35 seconds is a trmendous task. It is ridiculous to say that because someone is in favor of a shot clock that they are lazy and don't want to play defense. As a coach, and one who takes great pride in defense, few things are more satisfying than a five second call or a shot-clock violation.

Coacht- How does the 50% rule not affect AAU? If this is the case then I have read the literature on the rule incorrectly. I was under the impression that there was a point in the documentation that stated that no more than three players from a specific high school team may compete on the same AAU team with their teammates. I think this is a big deal, but if I am incorrect please tell me how.

I think the ideas that, "We've created a monster" and "The kids need a break" should be left up to the child and their family. I can assure you that there are kids out there that were ready to roll as soon as their season ended. The mentality of my kids was, "When can we start AAU." If a kid needs a break, then the high school coach should be an adult about it and give that child a break, but the other kids that are "go-getters" should not be penalized because several individuals need a break. Why would we tell a child that wants to improve that they can't because they need a break? To me that is a total contradiction to what society is telling the kids, "Be all that you can be."

HARPETHBASKETBALLCHAMP could not possibly be the District MVP. I know Scott Newton personally and he is way too classy to post something demeaning to another student-athlete. In fact, it is disturbing to think that he is being misrepresented because the kid is a class act and would never lower himself to that level. It is unfortunate that someone would start a new screen name (3 posts) hiding behind a name that would indicate that they are a Harpeth player, that's low.

Why limit it to plus members if participation is down?

I agree with Not-so HeavyD, the nomination process is much more political than I would have ever imagined, but I got to see how political it was first hand this year. I am not impressed with the system or process that they have in place at all. It makes me question how deserving some of the previous year's winners actually were, and I certainly will be very speculative about whoever is chosen this year. There has to be a better way.

Maybe the committee that selected the finalist should have gotten out and watched more games rather than calling around and asking other people what they thought. I found out how this works this year for the first time because I was right in the middle of things. Absolutely no disrespect to the finalists who were selected, but if I am part of a committee in charge of selecting the finalist for such a prestigious award, then I am not going to rely on the words and opinions of others. If you can't get out and watch these players yourself, then maybe you should pass your responsibility on to someone who can devote more time to making sure that the right players are chosen. Am I sour because the kid I felt should be a finalist isn't, you're darn right I am! But when I received a phone call asking me some stats and things like that from a member of the committee, who admittedly hadn't seen my choice play this year, I realized that there are probably some very deserving young ladies who are not done justice due to this process. It really makes the honor less of a big deal. I think some young ladies can motivate themselves by seeking to achieve this award, but I know that I am going to focus much more on State Tournament MVPs rather than this Miss Basketball contest in the future. May the best young lady that has been selected as a finalist win, and I wish you all the best of luck. Just one more thing, the MVP of the district is voted on by the district coaches. How in the world can someone be a finalist for Miss Basketball, top three in the state, and not be the Most Valuable Player in her own district? Sounds like a big time flaw in the system somewhere.

I am curious how often it happens that one school collects every major district award in the same year? Harpeth's boy's and girl's basketball teams were regular season and district tournament champions. Scott Newton and Mandy Mendenhall were district regular season MVPs and Salem Richardson and Kevin Giltner were District Tournament MVPs. Coach Jamie Wilson and Coach Johnson both won Coach Of The Year honors. What a great reflection on Harpeth Hgh School and their basketball programs and support staff. The season isn't over yet, let's try to accomplish the same at Regions.

Are you serious? 2,000 points in four years is an outstanding accomplishment! I can't believe that I just read that 2,000 in four years is no big deal. 1,000 in a season rarely happens, in the state of Tennessee it would require someone to average over 35ppg in a 28 game season. Surely that last post was a joke!

It has been a long time since jojo12 has had an opportunity to post anything negative about Harpeth, I guess that comment has been on hold for over a month now. It is a shame for any team to lose two games in the state in one season, how dare they? That program is in shambles for sure. Maybe they should forfeit the district tournament? Last I checked, there are no undefeated teams in AA, I think they will be just fine. My guess is that it will be a while before you can post anything negative about Harpeth again. I think they will make another nice run in the post-season.

This is not a two person team. I'm not sure which game you were able to attend or who you get your information from, but Harpeth is solid 1 thru 4 and the 5 position is really improving. Stephanie Lawrence and Holli Flippo are great compliments to Salem and Mandy and are having great seasons, Flippo averages a double-double. The post position was a worry but they have been making tremendous strides in the last month and played very well against Sycamore and Montgomery Central in their last two district games. This is a team that is still working very hard and looks like they could peak at just the right time. First step will be to win the district tournament, something that as good as the past teams have been, they have yet to accomplish with this group of seniors. Try to make it to a couple of games. This team is worth the price of admission.

First of all, I specifically stated that Ferris should not be penalized for being big. Secondly, she scored 14 of the first 16 points of the aforementioned scrimmage for her team before the Harpeth coach asked Richardson to guard her, that was mid to late 1st quarter, she scored 4 for the remainder of the game. During the second of the two scrimmages, Harpeth was without one of their senior starters which caused them to match-up differently than they did in the first game they played. Ferris's first scrimmage was also the first scrimmage for the Harpeth coach. That team and Mendenhall have improved a ton since then. My guess if Mendenhall truly wanted to, without being a huge disruption to the team, she could shoot from 3 to 4 feet whenever she wanted to. That is not what is asked of her. She does not account for 85% of her teams offense because it would be detrimental to the team shoud she do that. No one, Ferris included, can keep Mendenhall from getting to the basket when she wants, or that has happened to this point in the season. Finally, Mendenhall has absolutely been a tremendous defensive threat to opposition this year. In fact, over the course of the season there have only been a handful (I can seriously think of less than 5) of offensive plays or sets run against Harpeth due to the ball pressure that Mendenhall puts on opposing team's ball handlers. I made sure not to say one negative thing about Ferris in either of my posts, I think she will be a great player and has tons of potential. Do I believe she is a better athlete or has more ability than Mendenhall, NO, but I am entitled to that opinion. If you tell me that her size isn't her greatest asset then I will have to say we must agree to disagree. If she were 5'8 rather than 6'8 we would not be having this discussion.

Not extremely difficult to shoot a high percentege when 98% of her shot attempts are coming within 3 to 4 feet of the basket. Harpeth pleyed them in a playday this summer in which a 5'7 guard (Salem Richardson) who got physical with her shut her down. She will have her day because she is improving every game, this year Mandy Mendenhall should have her day. She has earned it over the course of this season and an extremely successful career. If you claim that classification should have nothing to do with it, I might agree if that was considered in year's past, however, if this is a cycle, then why should a player that was deserving of the honor last year, but didn't get it due to classification, why should she be penalized her senior year? Size can not be coached, talent and athleticism can. Ferris should not be penalized for being big, in fact she will be greatly rewarded for this very reason throughout her career in high school and with a nice scholarship should she want to play in college, but Mendenhall has talent and ability that is not normal in girl's high school basketball. Statistics do not reflect the overall importance of her to her team, who is 23-3 and only lost 1 game in the state of Tennessee.

Matthews is fundamental and hard-working. She also as a great mentality. Mendenhall has gone beyond the basics of fundamentals and has ventured into areas that aren't often reached by women, especially at the high school level. There are a few individuals playing in the NBA that would be impressed and envious of her turn around, fall away jump shot. She shoots it for a high percentage and can get the shot whenever she wants. I describe this as "undefendable" because defense can't stop her, they can only hope to contain her. She is averaging around 16ppg but shooting 60% for the season and just a shade under 50% from three, an area of her game that has improved tremendously. Mendenhall has also learned to work hard and because of this really impressed recruiters this summer with her much improved defense. And finally, although humble to her own detrimate at times, she does have the mentality of a player that just knows when to turn it on and when to get her teammates involved, which is in my opinion a great quality for an outstnading athlete to have. I have seen them both play, actually coached against Matthews for three years, but have to give Mendenhall a big advantage for Miss Basketball in AA, she is as good as it gets.

Holli Flippo will only be a part of this topic for a couple of weeks. She plays along side Mandy Mendenhall and Salem Richardson at Harpeth High School, where they receive the majority of the attention. Flippo has been the x-factor all year, when she is shooting the ball, this team really has a ton of scoring options. She can flat out knock down the three ball when she gets a look. Had 5 in a couple of games and had 9 in one summer league game against Glencliff. She will not be an unknown for much longer.