blik

I went to Humboldt, so its not like I have an axe to grind. Humboldt is a traditional AA school. The fact is they have several hundred more students than most other teams in A. Just because the TSSAA "put them in single A" doesn't make that decision right or fair. It happened because of the multiplier and the multiplier happened because it suited the needs of the public schools in TN. humboldt certainly was not the driving force behind that decision, but its naive to believe it isn't a factor in their success this year. Don't get me wrong, they have a ton of talent but comparing Humboldt and Cosby is not exactly apples and apples.

Because the multiplier moved several private schools up in classification, some AA schools (such as UC and Humboldt) moved down to even out the numbers. UC and Humboldt have always been AA schools based on enrollment.

I saw the Humboldt game last night and they are very good. Obviously, UC was a lot better than Cloudland. However, the fact is that both UC and Humboldt are AA schools competing against A schools. Spin it any way you like, but the only reason UC and Humboldt are A is because of the 1.8 multiplier the TSSAA imposed to hurt private schools. It should not surprise anyone that UC and Humboldt are dominating.

I don't have a vested interest in Lexington basketball as i don't live anywhere near there, but I do know a fair amount about West TN basketball. I don't understand why the Gardners get bashed so much. The fact is that the talent level at Lexington is enough to win 20+ games a year but not enough to beat the premier teams in the District and Region. There's no shame in that. The same thing happened to your football team. You went undefeated against fairly weak competition and you came up to Nashville and got trounced. I watched the game against Lipscomb and the talent simply was not there to go much farther than you went. That doesn't detract from the accomplishments of the season. As for Mac, I've never seen him play but I can imagine that he is not overly talented but gets the most out of his ability. That seems like something to be commended, but he gets raked over the coals by Lexington's supposed fans. Apparently, he is good enough to have signed a scholarship, so I expect he is good enough to be getting the playing time that he gets. Surely you people are not so ridiculous that you think Coach Gardner plys his own kid at the expense of better players. i find that hard to believe and since I haven't heard about any of Lexington's back-ups signing scholarships to play ball at the next level, I don't expect it is true. Also, if I recall correctly, Lexington basketball was plain awful in the years immediately preceding the Gardners arriving. Maybe there is no connection there, but it does seem suspicious.

The state high schoold basketball polls are and always have been a joke. There is simply no way that the people who vote have seen all the teams. This is high school, not college. I also suspect local bias is a much greater factor than in college polls. I can't believe anybody who knows anything would place the least amount of value on this poll.

We'll agree to disagree.

I seriously don't think you have any concept of how good the AAA teams are in Tennessee. Red bank might be in the top 15, but there are at least 8-10 off the top of my head that would be considered legitimate contenders to win the state title in any other year.

I haven't seen them either, but I have talked to people who have. They beat BA, so they have to be considered.

Tough to say because I haven't seen all of them play this year, but I would think that BA, Hamilton, Siegel, Shelbyville, Hunters Lane, Ridgeway, Raleigh-Egypt, and Bolivar would be the best teams. I recognize that Shelbyville beat BA, but night in, night out, I would take BA against anybody else in the state because of Wright. With Ramsey back, Siegel is loaded. Bolivar's supporting cast is not great, but they still have the two studs. The Memphis teams are absolutely dripping with talent, but I like the two I listed above because they are well-coached, unlike mitchell for example. Athletically, I just don't think Franklin would fare well against these teams, and size is an issue for Middleton. plus, they may not even be the best sinle A team down there with Humboldt having dropped down.

I don't agree with your rankings, but at least you have identified some talented teams.

Actually I have. Saw BA twice last year and once this year. Saw Bolivar play at least 5 games last year and two this year. However, even if I had not, I can look at national publications and see that teams like Bolivar, BA, Ridgeway, Raleigh-Egypt, and Mitchell, just to name a few, are very good basketball teams. Bolivar, BA, and Mitchell are so good that ESPN will air one of their games this year. They are so good that between the three teams, they have 7 players who will attend DI schools on a basketball scholarship. Other than the fact that you likely attend Red Bank, what possibly makes you think that red Bank is talented enough to compete with these teams. I am simply mystified as to whether you are a kid whose school pride has been challenged or a deranged adult who simply doesn't know much about basketball.

I guess BA's win against the #3 ranked team in the country didn't prove anything. This is such a stupid argument. Red Bank may have a decent team, but there are at least 5-6 teams in this state who are nationally known. I'm happy that you are a proud supporeter of Red Bank, but this issue really isn't even debatable.

Other than Red Bank, how many of the tope teams in the state have you actually seen play this year? I would assume none. In truth, I haven't seen Red Bank play, but I will be more than happy to bet my house that they can't beat BA.

I think it is indicative of how little many people on this board know about high school basketball that having won a state championship is perceived as an indication of a person being a good coach. The history of TN basketball is littered with coaches who couldn't coach their way out of a paper bag having won, in some cases, multiple state titles. On the flip side, there are many coaches in this state who are excellent basketball minds who simply do not have the talent to have achieved a state title or in some cases, even reach the state tournament. Talent can conver a lot of coaching deficiencies in high school basketball. in fact, i have seen many, many teams over the years who were better off if their coach simply sat on the bench and didn't interfere. Giles County got beat last year in the substate because their coach actually tried to coach. Had he just sat there, they would have won. The guy at Mitchell is a horrible coach. Anybody who says different is either related to the guy or just started watching basketball. They may or may not be in the state tourney this year, but if they are, it will be attributable solely to the immense talent on that team. If they were so well coached, one would assume they would have been in the state tourney the last couple of years. They pranced into Brownsville last year and got embarrased. Don't think that coaching didn't have a lot to do with that.

I think it is indicative of how little many people on this board know about high school basketball that having won a state championship is perceived as an indication of a person being a good coach. The history of TN basketball is littered with coaches who couldn't coach their way out of a paper bag having won, in some cases, multiple state titles. On the flip side, there are many coaches in this state who are excellent basketball minds who simply do not have the talent to have achieved a state title or in some cases, even reach the state tournament. Talent can conver a lot of coaching deficiencies in high school basketball. in fact, i have seen many, many teams over the years who were better off if their coach simply sat on the bench and didn't interfere. Giles County got beat last year in the substate because their coach actually tried to coach. Had he just sat there, they would have won. The guy at Mitchell is a horrible coach. Anybody who says different is either related to the guy or just started watching basketball. They may or may not be in the state tourney this year, but if they are, it will be attributable solely to the immense talent on that team. If they were so well coached, one would assume they would have been in the state tourney the last couple of years. They pranced into Brownsville last year and got embarrased. Don't think that coaching didn't have a lot to do with that.