hs sports fan

I have seen everyone in the district play except Oakland and White Co. I do think Riverdale is better than Blackman but hey, they weren't the better team last Friday and that's all that matters. Siegel is not a top four team. Blackman is better than Siegel, even if BHS loses tonight. I think if Tanner Gore would have played last friday RHS would have won but by the same token Mimms or Barnes didnt play against Oakland and it was a 5 point game in the final minutes so no excuses. Blackman has got a nice club for sure. They have my respect.

That is a good vote. I agree, he has mine as well but no way Jaffarious is the second best player. Once again, not knocking his game but he is not a top 5 player in the district. Maybe number 7 or 8 in my eyes.

Thanks. Yea it should be a great game. As the paper said schools have been open since 72 and this will be the first meeting with both ranked in the top 10 and Riverdale's first ranking in 20 years. Ya know I dont even know what to expect. I would expect are hard fought sloppy game just like all rivalries are. Ya know I could see RHS or OHS win by 20 or either one win by 1. Who knows. I cant wait.

Um great question. Ill be honest, yes I do think Michael Young is better. I think they are equally valuable to the team but yes I think Young is better. Michael is a freak in the post. He is undersized but he has the strongest hands and best post moves I have seen in the district in years. Keith Ramsey, Lucas Jones, Darian Martin, Chris Perkins, Andrew Donald, Ben Sneed are some of the big name post players over the years. Im not saying Young is the best player, but I think he is the best POST player of all based on his moves. Just watch tonight, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but his vast aray of post moves and his post ups and rebounding are incredible. He is a GREAT FT shooter and usually knocks down a three a game. Kevin brings ALOT to the table though, he leading the area in assist and steals I believe and is just a tough matchup and does a great job with his on the ball D.

After some further thought I will comment once more on the polls. I forgot that Oakland and Siegel by far have the most posters and Riverdale has very few. I wont dispute anyone picking Oakland to win or Chaisson as MVP, but picking Siegel second and Jaffarious Wade second says it all. Come on now, Oakland, Riverdale, and Blackman are the best three teams followed by White Co.

I would also like to make a comment about the MVP poll. While I agree that Chaisson is the best player and will win I am strongly disagreeing as Jaffarious as the second best player. I think the top 5 players in the district are Chaisson Allen followed by (in any order) Michael Young, Scott Thomas, Kevin Smith, and Tyler Cutter.... Jaffarious is a nice option and compliment of Chaisson but not a top 5 player in the district. I think Jaffarious, David Barnes, and Alex Carter are the next level players.

I am a stranger to these boards now. But ill make some predictions. Ill go with Riverdale over Oakland by 5 Blackman over Siegel by 12 Lebanon over Warren by who cares White Co. over Cookeville

Also would like to point out that Oakland has won 6 of the last 7 in this matchup. The last time Riverdale won was my senior year at Oakland and we dominated that game and won big. The other two games that year, Jatoree Hayes hit a 3 at the buzzer at our place to either win by 1 or 3. And they also beat us in the second round for the district tournament at Oakland by 2 or 4. The key is to jump on Oakland early and get Kit Carlton in foul trouble becuase with him out Michael Young, Tanner Gore, and Ben Atakpu should dominate on the offensive and defensive glass and scoring opportunities.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"S BAAACCCCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok let me stretch real quick. This is probably my first post in a year, probably the first time I have been on the site in a year actually. I'm not even going to read any of the three other pages. But judging by the way things look on page 4 it looks like Oakland is the favorite. I'm not here to argue or disput or mud sling but I will give my take on the game. Oakland's Advantages = 1) Coaching. Coach King is the long time best coach in this district. I think coaching as a whole is up aroudn the district this year but Coach King always has the boys in red white and blue ready to play. While Burks has probably his best record to start a season since he has been at the Dale (17-3), I still have some questions. I think his X's and O's, game plans, and philosiphies are all good but I often question some of his player personal decisions. 2) Home Court Advantage/ Student Section. This game is at Oakland which I think counts for something and the student section will probably be superior to that of Riverdale's. 3) Minimum Mistakes. From my middle school years to my four years playing at Riverdale and two years since then there is one thing I have come to learn about Oakland and that is that you CAN BEAT THEM, but THEY DO NOT BEAT THEIRSELVES. You have to play ball to beat these boys. They just dont beat theirselves and they make you beat them. Riverdale's Advantages = 1) Triple Threat/ Scott Thomas, Michael Young, Kevin Smith. While Oakland Probably has the best player in the district with Chaisson Allen I think Riverdale as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best players (followed by Tyler Cutter as the 5th). These guys bring 3 very different, very athletic games to the table. All three are capable of taking over a game at any time and are tough to guard on the defensive end. 2) Riverdales Athleticism. I think across the board Riverdale is more athletic at every position. Athleticism is only half the battle and does'nt nessicarily translate into wins (ex. Blackman), but if they can utilize their atletic ability at every position and use it a strength it could be a big factor. Since I played for Riverdale four years and basically have a brother on the team in Scott of course I will pull for them and know they are more than capable of winning based on which team shows up. But I would like to make a few more points and comments. First of all I think EJ Wilcox is going to have to play for us to win. In my eyes he has been a dissappointment this year and personally think Blake Howard and Trey Smith should start recieving some of his minutes. I am looking forward to Kevin Smith guarding Chaisson Allen this year. The last two years he has been in the post and I think his length and athleticism will pose a different matchup Chaisson isnt use to seeing. I think Scott can shut down Jaffarious and I think Tanner Gore will make a big difference in the post. I expect him to match up with Kit. One thing Riverdale does not have is a pure shooter, someone to kick out to, to help eliminate double teams. Although Scott can hit 3-5 threes a game he is more of a slasher, they dont have a player like me or michael lavender who specializes beyond the arc. Well I will be at the game tonight and should be a great game. Hope everyone is doing well, and glad I could share some thoughts.

bump

I think I might step out of retirement and lace up the shoes to fill this void. There have been talks between both sides and looks like they may hire me to a 3 week contract.

Well I do think and agree he is the best player in the district but I mean you cant say that no one can argue. I mean you have Ramsey and I think next year Scott Thomas will be Jimmy Oden status and numbers for sure and maybe even Kevin Smith but in my opinion and many others he is the best. BUT>>>>> To say he might be the best player in the state.......well sorry my friend but he will tell you that is a definite no. I think that honor goes to Thaddues Young or Brandon Wright. Then you have Willie Kemp and many more. Actually Kieth is ranked higher than Jimmy is. But Jimmy is dominating Middle Tenn right now and is a great player but no where near best in the state.

Also I found this out. Scott's injury occurred with a little over 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter. When he left the game Riverdale was winning by 11 and was well on their way to the championship and Scott winning Tournament MVP. In the next 5 minutes Riverdale only scored 5 points. The final margin saw Riverdale losing by 5. That means with Scott being gone they went on a 21-5 run to end the game. So I guess that lets you know what kind of player Scott is and what he means to the team. Becuase those numbers are just staggering. Obviously they didnt have their best player but I'm sure the other team realized now was their chance and they took full advantage of it and I'm sure after seeing that our players just lost complete focus. But all in all they won 3 out of 4 games and their 3 wins were very impressive by impressive margins and I think it might be safe to say that minus the injury it would have been 4 but hey its basketball and things like this happen

I went out to eat with Dave and Scott and their family today after he was released from the hospital. He seemed a little bummed by the injury but for the most part was in good spirits and looked foward to getting back out there and making a return in 4 weeks or less. He has this soft cast thing on his left arm and at the end it like covers his fingers and i guess i just supporting them in place. There is a little descrepency from what actually happened as opposed to what I originally shared with you based on what I was told. The bones in his fingers didnt actually come through the skin but what happened was equally as gross. As he went up for layup and got undercut he tried to put his left hand down to brace his fall and when his 2 fingers (index and middle, not middle and ring like I had said earlier) hit the floor, the split open and it like opened up and you could see inside and his tendon was on the outside . He said it didnt bleed much but it was really gross. Luckily his fingers are not broken I dont think. I think they are calling it a compound dislocation. The compound part I think means that stuff came through and was on the outside and the dislocation is self explanitory. But he is going out with us tonight and hopefully he will have a good time and heal quickly and be back on the court and show the district why he is one of the best and lead Riverdale to a great season.

I would like for everyone to pray for my good friend Scott Thomas. Last night in the 3rd quarter of the championship game he was dominating once again. He had already had 17 and it was still in the 3rd quarter and supposely he went up for a layup and someone took his legs out and he tried to put his left hand down to catch himself and he broke atleast 2 of his fingers (ring and middle and maybe more) and not only did he break them it turned out to be a very freak injury becuase the bones cames through his skin to where you could see it. They rushed him to the hospital and he had surgery last night. Althought departure was set for around 8 or 9 this morning Coach Burks drove Scott back himself when he was released from that hospital. They just got back within the last hour and now he is at MTMC to hook him up to IV's and such to eliminate infection. Rumor has it that it will be 6 weeks and wont be back til around the district tournament. I am about to leave to go see him right now. This is a very sad situation. They lost the championship by only 5 and Scott was their leading scorer in the game and tournament and he didnt even play the 4th with him i think you would have seen a different result and i'm sure it was hard for the team to keep focus after such a freak injury. He still made all tournament and had he finished the game and Riverdale won he would have been Tourney MVP. This is just Riverdale's luck. Hopefully they will be able to win some games without him and still get a top 4 seed in the tournament but I just dont see them being able to knock off Siegel without him. I really liked our chances against them with him in the lineup but I dont know now. Please just keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery. **This is mostly word of mouth from a Riverdale girls bball player but I am going to his house right now b/c they just release him so I will be sure to get the details and the story straight when i get a chance.