WriteStuff

Does anybody have the site/pairings/times for the 2-AA tournament. I have the matchups for 2-AA boys, but no dates or times....I also need a full bracket for the 2-AA girls...THANKS!

Does anybody have the site/pairings/times for the 2-AA tournament. I have the matchups for 2-AA boys, but no dates or times....I also need a full bracket for the 2-AA girls...THANKS!

Thursday Happy Valley vs. Claiborne, 4 p.m. J.J. Kelly vs. Archbishop Carroll, 5:30 p.m. Tennessee High vs. Rye Cove, 7 p.m. Elizabethton vs. Collierville, 8:30 p.m. Friday Losers’ bracket, 4 p.m. Losers’ bracket, 5:30 p.m. Semifinal, 7 p.m. Semifinal, 8:30 p.m. Saturday Seventh place, 3 p.m. Fifth place, 4:30 p.m. Third place, 6 p.m. Championship, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday Happy Valley vs. Claiborne, 4 p.m. J.J. Kelly vs. Archbishop Carroll, 5:30 p.m. Tennessee High vs. Rye Cove, 7 p.m. Elizabethton vs. Collierville, 8:30 p.m. Friday Losers’ bracket, 4 p.m. Losers’ bracket, 5:30 p.m. Semifinal, 7 p.m. Semifinal, 8:30 p.m. Saturday Seventh place, 3 p.m. Fifth place, 4:30 p.m. Third place, 6 p.m. Championship, 7:30 p.m.

If you think Hopson is not impressive you don't know much about basketball. She is the perfect fit for what Elizabethton has this season and can do anything asked of her on the basketball court. This is a young lady who once had 24 points and 22 rebounds in a junior high game as a seventh grader playing against a quality eighth-grade team. To quote her high school coach, "She's just a winner." In her 66-game varsity basketball career, her team has won 53 times, a winning percentage of .803. The sophomore already has 89 wins in four years of school ball. Enough said.

Just as a note, the Cyclones were not completely healthy this time, either. Sophomore post Marti Bush would surely have gotten some minutes in this game if she was healthy. At least it was nice to see her off the crutches already. If attitude helps an injury heal, Marti will be back soon.

According to the TSSAA website, enrollment figures for the 2005-2009 classification period list Elizabethton as No. 44 in the state in Class AA. There are 112 Class AA teams, so the Cyclones are only 12 spots away from being dead center in that classification. So referring to Elizabethton as a "big school in your division" is not completely inaccurate, but personally I would say the top 10 or maybe even the top 20 are "big schools" within a given classification. To say a team near the middle is a "big school" may be a bit of a stretch.

Ms. B, The only statistics I have are the ones in the paper. Rikki (14.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 82.2 percent free throws), Valnessha (3.2 assists, 2.6 steals), Michaela (6.2 rebounds), Cameron (22 3-pointers made for 1 per game) and Victoria (2.9 assists, 2.5 steals). The team doesn't have official statistics (off of game film), but two people keep them during the games and one of them has individual season totals. But I haven't seen those sheets in a few weeks.

KevB, To make a blanket statement about the Tri-Cities AP voters is very wrong and you should apologize. I vote on the AP poll for the Johnson City Press -- a Tri-Cities area paper -- and have done so for the last 16 or 17 years. I take my time and check out EVERY TEAM'S record. At no point have I EVER voted for a Tri-Cities area team that wasn't deserving. And I have only voted for more than one Tri-Cities area team in a given poll on a handful of occasions over the years. And I NEVER vote a team higher than they deserve just to get them more poll points. I leave that to another area paper who does it quite regularly. I won't even include some area teams with good records because I know they are not worthy of consideration for the state's top 10. So do me a big favor and next time you want to rip the entire group of sports writers in the Tri-Cities area, how about including this disclaimer: except for the Johnson City Press.

$110,000??? How much is the average school teacher paid?

hey brutus and coachh17....... is this a dumb idea? how about a weak-hand summer league....two weeks....8 games....where every player must perform only with their weak hand: dribbling, shooting, layups...referees would be lenient on the walks...but if the strong hand was used to gain significant advantage, it would be a turnover. would this help....or would it just be confusing and useless? sometimes I get weird ideas like this, but i usually don't share them in public...so this is kind of scary lol

$110,000??? What does the average school teacher make?

The ideas presented here are OK, but keep in the mind the TSSAA is not asking anyone for their ideas on how to make improvements to the system or what changes to make. They will be voting not only for a change, but also for the format they have decided is in the best interests of the TSSAA -- not the kids. If the Board of Control votes for a change, it will almost surely change to the format they have come up with, which is: Substate winners play at the pre-determined homecourt for the right to go to Murfreesboro. Don't lose sight of this fact: The battle is not one to resist change; the battle is to keep the Board of Control from making a change that would affect our children in a negative way.

Exactly right...no coach is the same just as no two people are the same. I was just in the mood to discuss my philosophy on the matter. The fact that we disagree a little is not a big deal. The fact that we don't disagree by a wide margin means, I think, that we're both somewhere close to the same path.

All you are saying is they should just take the eight region champions and put them in the state tournament. That's fine with me -- as long as they take eight. Most teams have to win their region to get to the state anyway because it is really hard to win a road substate game. And I think you might have missed the point on the history thing. I'm just saying I know Tennessee high school basketball history because it MATTERS to me. Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Alaska and Hawaii can play state championship games from now until the end of time and I doubt if I will ever care who wins those.

GLee.... I could be wrong here, but I think you may have missed my point. I never said, "Don't condition hard." You have to get in shape to be able to play the fullcourt game -- which, you are correct, is played by almost all of the state-championship level teams. What I did say is to make conditioning part of preparation and make it something the kids can sink their teeth into and not feel like they are just getting through it. The old Bear Bryant way of doing things ("Junction Boys") is long gone and should be. Besides how many times does a kid do a "Death Valley" in the course of a game? Unless there are massive turnovers, kids never run 15 feet, stop, go the other way, run 47 feet, stop, go the other way. Better "game" conditioning is to run 94 feet, stop, go the other way, run 94 feet, stop, go the other way, over and over -- with a ball in their hands and the opportunity to score a basket used as the carrot. Because scoring is the still the only way to win a game. I honestly believe that if kids love every part of the basketball season -- practices, games AND conditioning -- they will put forth far more effort than any other way. This probably more true of boys than girls. I have never coached boys, so I only have my own experience in sports to go on there. But I do know a little something about girls

It could be implemented as early as next season -- if they pass it next week. And as far as how Alabama does it or Kentucky or Georgia or Mississippi or Alaska, who really cares? I couldn't tell you one basketball state champion in any of those states since the beginning of time. In Tennessee I know Science Hill won in 1990, 1994, 1995, Happy Valley won in 1974, Hampton won in 1960, Science Hill was runner-up in 1967, Dobyns-Bennett was runner-up in 1973, etc..... The point is, it's the history that matters. What other states do has nothing to do with the history of high school basketball in Tennessee.

I remember those freshman and sophomores when they were 7th and 8th graders. Our bunch from Elizabethton played them in Murfreesboro at the Middle Tennessee State University summer camp in 2002. They stomped us the first time, but we came back and beat them in the rematch by one point. Cleveland had several special players on that team. Glad to see they are still doing well, as are the Elizabethton kids.

This one is for the kids.....let's not let the TSSAA steal "dream" seasons away from our youth. There's already enough reason for them to stay out of athletics (PlayStation, Malls, Boys, Girls, Drugs, TV, Movies, etc...). Let's keep one thing that makes them want to keep playing: The dream of reaching the state basketball tournament. Contact Ronnie Carter at rcarter@tssaa.org; Gene Menees at gmenees@tssaa.org; Bernard Childress at bchildress@tssaa.org; or if you know any of the Board of Control members -- their names are listed in the following story -- contact them by fax or e-mail. It's time to stand up against the TSSAA. The following article appeared in the Johnson City Press on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005: Prep Basketball - TSSAA plan would ruin state tourney

This one is for the kids.....let's not let the TSSAA steal "dream" seasons away from our youth. There's already enough reason for them to stay out of athletics (PlayStation, Malls, Boys, Girls, Drugs, TV, Movies, etc...). Let's keep one thing that makes them want to keep playing: The dream of reaching the state basketball tournament. Contact Ronnie Carter at rcarter@tssaa.org; Gene Menees at gmenees@tssaa.org; Bernard Childress at bchildress@tssaa.org; or if you know any of the Board of Control members -- their names are listed in the following story -- contact them by fax or e-mail. It's time to stand up against the TSSAA. The following article appeared in the Johnson City Press on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005: Prep Basketball - TSSAA plan would ruin state tourney

For what it's worth......... I am firm believer that conditioning doesn't have to be a horrible experience. I disagree that "suicides" or "death valleys" are the answer in conditioning. The idea is to get kids in a position where they can go full speed for as many minutes as the coach wants them on the floor. Therefore, kids who play 28-32 minutes need to be in better shape than the ones who are only going to play three or four minutes. But the ideal would be having all 12 to 15 players in good enough shape to play 28-32 minutes. I subscribe to the Joe Gibbs theory of practice, which is -- at least in the Redskins' hey-days back in the 1980s -- to simulate game conditions during practice. To apply this to basketball conditioning, put the players in a situation of constant movement for a period of time each practice. The period of time should be enough to cover the "motion minutes" of one half of basketball. When I coached the 7th grade girls at T.A. Dugger, we did 10-15 minutes of full-court game-simulation running on most practice days. It was the equivalent of two quarters of a middle school game. They were not allowed to stop at any point, forced to get the ball out of the basket when it went in, and forced to push the ball up the court. It developed good fast-break skills for such young kids, kept them in shape AND, perhaps most importantly, they didn't seem to dread it. They had a ball in their hands the whole time, which is the way conditioning should be (I got this nugget of knowledge from George Pitts and Greg Goulds). And when the games came along, they were able to sustain fullcourt pressure defense for four quarters -- because games were easier than the practices. Take that 7th-grade conditioning approach and increase it a little for the high school kids and you might keep the kids in shape without the dreaded "death valleys." Plus, I never believed in making a kid run for "punishment." The whole idea of making kids accept conditioning is to get them to understand it will help them be a better player in the fourth quarter. If you also use running for punishment, it sends a mixed signal: "I'm going to punish you by getting you in better shape. I'm not making the other kids run, so I'm also punishing them because they will be in worse shape." It just makes kids hate to run that much more when it is used as a punishment. And the whole idea is to make them LOVE the game. How can a kid love basketball if they hate to run? Running shouldn't be hated by a basketball player, but desired as much as learning to handle the ball better, shoot better, pass better, etc.... Now if I was coaching a chess team, I might make the kids run if they moved their pawn out of the way instead of protecting the queen. There are other ways to "punish" or "motivate" kids, such as loss of playing time, loss of practice time, sitting out a quarter, not starting, etc.... Oh well, my soap box is get a little creaky and shaky, so I better step down.

Here it is ELIZABETHTON (43) Crapps 6-10 0-0 15, Baughman 3-8 2-2 8, Hopson 0-3 2-2 2, Redd 3-8 0-0 7, Pietrowski 4-5 0-0 8, Treadway 0-2 0-0 0, Fritz 0-2 0-0 0, Bush 0-1 1-2 1, Jones 1-2 0-0 2, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Norris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 5-6 43. JEFFERSON COUNTY (59) Sinard 1-6 0-0 2, Lyke 6-9 0-0 16, Kyle 4-13 0-0 9, Huff 10-14 3-4 23, Rickard 3-3 3-4 9, Chappell 0-0 0-0 0, Chambers 0-0 0-0 0, Potts 0-0 0-0 0, Elliott 0-0 0-0 0, Mattison 0-0 0-0 0, Sharpe 0-0 0-0 0, Holtz 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-47 6-8 59. Elizabethton 16 9 8 10 -- 43 Jefferson County 18 11 13 17 -- 59 3-pt. goals -- Elizabethton (Crapps 3-6, Redd 1-3, Fritz 0-1, Smith 0-2); Jefferson County 5-17 (Lyke 4-7, Kyle 1-6, Huff 0-1, Sinard 0-2). Rebounds -- Elizabethton 20 (Baughman 5), Jefferson County 31 (Kyle 7, Sinard 7). Turnovers -- Elizabethton 14, Jefferson County 15. Steals -- Elizabethton 8, Jefferson County 8. It's interesting to note that Jefferson County not only didn't score a point off the bench, but only took two shots. Our prayers are with your family

Kim, Apology accepted.

I do not make a habit of posting on here, especially not recently. But I do enjoy reading occasionally. However, I do not enjoy Kim Richardson's posts that seem to imply that I am Coaches_Corner. It is an ASSUMPTION, Kim, that you have made and you are quite wrong. Perhaps one night, if Coaches_Corner agrees, I will introduce you to him and you can discontinue writing things on here that are mistaken. You know as many times as you say "Hi" to me at the ballgames, it would seem that you could have taken the time to ask me if I am Coaches_Corner. Coaches_corner is a very good friend of mine, and we pretty much agree on things when it comes to the Lady Cylones. However, I get a chance to write things in the newspaper, so I do not feel the need to sound off with my opinion on here. Coaches_corner is a dad of one of the players on the varsity and she is a great kid with a even greater attitude. And he is a well-respected guy in the community. So Kim, please do not write anything else on here making implications that a certain Johnson City Press sports writer is Coaches_Corner. It is simply incorrect.

I'll say this much about Dobyns-Bennett..... To make a long story less long, it takes great pitching AND great hitting to win games this week. D-B doesn't have that combination this season, but they have had a great year. Sometimes the pitching is solid and sometimes the Indians put the bat on the ball, but neither has been consistently awesome throughout the year. I'm rooting for the Tribe, but the losses to Sullivan South may have taken the wind out of their sails.