uatide12

Kerri Simpson has a great chance of making an impact since Florida lost three guards to tranfers over Christmas. There should be playing time available from day one unless Coach Peck signs more guards from either HS or JC in the spring signing period. Look what the JC guard has done for TN and she was signed in the spring.

Thank you for your response and first of all you need to understand that I am a Johnson fan but was just passing on a requested opinion to the starter of this topic about her game. The evaluation about the national level was a comment about what she will face in the future not her past performance. She is the most dominating Div II player 3 feet from the basket and in a sprint to the other end for a layup. Review her shot attempts, and points and you will see that they are in direct relationship with her rebounding. This shows strong rebounding and put backs. She is 6'3" and jumps out of the gym playing against 5'10" defenders. She should dominate. When she gets to AAU nationals, there will be 2 and possibly 3 six foot players defending. If she does not learn to step away from the basket face-up and make a jump shot the offensive put backs will not be there to clean up. She will bring a ton of exposure to TN Girls basketball over the next two years which will be good for all teams but my point is there is much needed to round out her game. At this time in her career Dunlap has done that. By the way this is not just my opinion but it is written down on many clipboards across the state when people compare notes. Good luck to all twelve nominees. They should all be proud of what they have accomplished.

Without a doubt Glory Johnson is the best athlete in DivII. However she is not the best candidate for Miss Basketball. Her 20 points normally come off of 6 layups or put backs against undersized opponents and 6 of 11 from the FT line. Her FG% should be way higher than 60% with all the putbacks and she only averages 58% from the FT line. She has no mid range game and has not proven she can consistantly make a shot facing the basket. When she plays a 6'+ front line in AAU on the national level she will score in the single digits at best unless she develops the mid range game. Also, when you average more 3 second calls than made jump shots you can not be considered as Miss Basketball. Dunlap from Brentwood is a much more complete player on a more complete team at this time in her career. Johnson will have to learn to score and defend away from the basket or she will see allot of her shots land in the front row as the size of her competition increases to 6'5". Just one persons opinion that has seen each play. Miss Basketball needs to have a complete game as Sarah Baker showed last year. Johnson's time will come.

I know that many close to the Pride team are very active on this site. It would be great to hear from them on the no show. Could somebody please explain?

GPS wins in an upset!!! Upset??? GPS 124 Brentwood Academy 122

TN Liberty won but I do not know who finished second.

GPS returns their entire team plus both of their point guards from injury. This will enable them to rotate their lineup back to everyones natural position and provide some depth. If they can get the older Thompson to bring back her 9 rebounds for her senior year they could compete with Brentwood, Harpeth Hall and Webb. Anyway you look at it they had a great year making it to the semis and they should improve going into '05-'06.

Carly played for the Tennessee Liberty and they lost in the U14 nationals in the second or third round. She had a productive Soph campaign 13.5 ppg and 4 a) at GPS playing point for the first time because their all region point guard injured her knee. GPS went to the state semi finals with Carly scoring 24 in the quarterfinals and making all tournament. At 5'10"-5'11" she can handle the ball and has great shooting range. She will be playing with the Tennessee Liberty again this summer and will be back to her natural #2 positon. By the way tell DP hello and congratulations to Coach F for coach of the year honors.

Four out of ten on the Div II All State Tournament team were Freshman and Sophomores. Victoria Dunlap and Ellie Collins from Brentwood, Carly Morrow from GPS and Glory Johnson(Freshman) from Knox Webb. I believe there were only three seniors on that team.

Who won the 13U in Shelbyville?

Could not agree more with your assessment of the refs. It is increasingly apparent that lack of hustle and physical ability creates poor officiating. You have to get there, see it, and concentrate before you can call it correctly. It is unfortunate that both Baylor and GPS run their hearts out and there are three spectators on the court. Great competition but again unfortunate that Festus from Gunsmoke had to call the game. Both sides lost in this case. With all that said there were two great players on the court and several future stars on the court and it is always fun to watch them compete.

I hear she is a great player player but just a reminder that any personal letters prior to Sept 1 of her junior year is prohibited by the NCAA. I do not think Pat Summitt or any other SEC would break that rule.

Bruiser4 is correct GPS has a strong freshman class that due to injuries is holding 5 of the top 7 spots. They are 4-4 now but improving each time out. Carly Morrow and Marissa Thompson and carrying the scoring load and Brandi Andrews is running the point effectively. Jennifer Laughlin scored the winning bucket against Red Bank with 5 freshman on the floor at crunch time. Baring further injury this team can only get better.