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Columbia beat 2 teams that are far better than Gallatin by 25 and 30 respectively prior to losing to Gallatin. Coach Graves said that the referees in Florida call the game a bit different and the kids couldn't get comfortable with them. Columbia is 11-4 and may not lose again this year. Let's hope so.

You just said that they have lost 13 games this year, the most since the eighties, I am not a mathemetician but last time I checked it takes talent to win games. They have won many, maybe that means that they don't have much talent. I realize that you are a student and a lot of these guys are your friends. But not addressing all the issues isn't a good way to formulate an argument. Collie left because he saw what was coming. Period. Second, I never said they are the most selfish Columbia team ever. I did say, they aren't the most talented. That is a fact and it is undisuputed. Thirdly, you can lead a horse to water...but you can't make him drink. Discipline is necessary and good. The fact that these kids don't understand that says a lot about their upbringing and their lives outside of basketball. Sorry, they have to each make an individual decision to be obedient and disciplined. Coach Graves has sat kids, ran them...you name it. Some of these kids are a virus to the idea of team. It happens in the pros and in college all the time and those kids lose their scholarship. Hopefully these kids who are an issue can learn over the end of the season or over the summer...because if you aren't ready to buy into what your coach (who is a good coach) is trying to do...there is the door. I hope when these type of decisions happen that we will be standing behind Coach Graves and supporting him by holding our kids accountable. It will have to get a lot harder before it gets better. I am believing for a win tonight, lets get on a roll guys.

I would agree with armchair coaches, heck most of the people who are complaining are guys who interviewed for the job and didn't get the job. You are right when you say that college and high school are different. College kids can play, that is why they got recruited and have a scholarship. High school kids think they can play, because they have parents who don't have the guts to admit their kid isn't as good as they think. I guarantee the reason that most of the naysayers on here don't like Coach Graves is because he doesn't put up with crap from parents. High school basketball is mostly parents living vicariously throught their kids, hoping to make up for the parents' shortcomings. I was at the Franklin High game and saw how selfish they are. I had a friend in from out of town and he was remarking at how selfish they played. A coach tries to sit a kid because he is being a knucklehead and then 3 players get 4 fouls, what can you do?? You have to try and win. We want him to be a disciplinarian, yet we are unwilling to accept the consequences that are necessary if you are going to discipline kids. Coach Collier saw the writing on the wall and knew that there were some knuckleheads in this group of players, that is why he got out when he did. Sorry, you don't know what you are talking about when you say these kids are talented, they aren't. That is evident in their lack of heart and their selfish play. Talented kids can play and don't give up. I heard a player at the end of the Franklin County game complain that the game was over and he was giving up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How arrogant can you be? Like you are too good to be involved in a losing effort? These kids have a lot of growing up before they will be successful. On a positive note...we have nothing to lose in the playoffs. Period. The funny thing is that if we went deep into the playoffs, suddenly Coach Graves would be a great coach. That is how uncommitted some Columbia fans are. We have to stand behind him in order to make this team better. Players read these boards and see that we are bashing their coach without giving him a chance, do you think they will respect him? We have to respect him before the kids will. I may not agree with everything that Coach Graves does, but I know he can coach. Period. He gets it. Instead of picking on the coach for not disciplining the kids, why don't we get on the parents for not disciplining the kids. It isn't a coach's job to raise the kids. Why aren't parents holding their kids accountable for being knuckleheads? When my dad found out that I talked back to my coaches...I was in trouble. We are teaching kids how to be adults, lets not expect a coach to raise our undisciplined kids. That is our fault. Oh and by the way, if no one has ever said anything to Alston Enyard...man you need to start high jumping...you could goto college on a scholarship and possibly goto the olympics for it. You have a gift and you are wasting it. It would also help you keep in shape for basketball. My $0.02

Actually when Coach Graves was at Arkansas they were ranked and they lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament on a last second shot. Joe Johnson (9th pick NBA draft)was playing for them and they won an SEC championship. Also, I have never met a student who doesn't play basketball, that has even a clue about how the game is played. My biggest issue is that we have the biggest fair weather fans anywhere, I mean anywhere!!! We aren't that talented, I don't know what the heck you guys are talking about. We are decent at best and certainly aren't good enough to play as individual players. When we don't play as a team, we lose. It is that simple. Coach Graves understands basketball, how else have we won 13 games this year. We aren't a good team. Period. That may be hard to hear, but making up something to justify the shortcomings of kids talent doesn't make it any better. You can't coach at the level that Coach Graves has coached without understanding the game. Period. I am so sick of all the fair weather fans in Columbia. If you don't win 30 games they want you gone! Unbelievable. About the team, if they don't play as a team...you won't win. This isn't unorganized AAU basketball. I am so tired of people who play decently in AAU ball that think they are good. Totally different scenario. We need to get the idea of "getting mine" out of our heads if we want to go anywhere in the playoffs. You have a good coach, an honorable coach. He knows what he is talking about, I have been to a lot of games this year and have seen him coach. But when we have players who give up at the end of the game...that is not acceptable.

Hmmm...losing by 14 constitutes getting drilled? So does getting beat by 10 constitute getting blown out? Anywho, I heard one of the coaches got a T??? What is up with that? Does anyone know why?

Interesting posts. By the way, there is no one in the state or the country for that matter that is as good as Lebron James...lets stop that crap. I have seen him play in person and he is starting in the NBA right now and should have been on the all-star team...lets not do him any injustice by comparing these amateurs to him. I am just tired of hearing about the next Lebron, he isn't here or anywhere in the country for that matter. If you think he is, then you don't understand why he is so good. Funny, I haven't seen anyone mention either Tyler Smith or that kid from BA....hmmm that is very interesting. I haven't seen anyone in the state who has really impressed me just yet, it will be interesting to see who shows up in the playoffs, that is when it really matters.

This is definitely a dead horse. Unfortunately the school A.D. is the one responsible for hiring referees. Unfortunately the A.D. is sometimes as incompetent as the refs they hire. I have emailed and mailed numerous messages to the TSSAA about this issue. If refs are trying to throw you out and you are not shouting obscenties or being threatning, then they are violating your first amendment right to free speech. Understand this, the next time that you are asked to be quiet or are threatened to be escorted out...claim that they are violating your 1st amendment rights to free speech. LOL I have refereed many games in my life and have played at most levels (minus NBA), which often helps you ref. It isn't easy, but that is not an excuse. Most refs don't have the courage to make the right call after they have messed up. We need to petition the TSSAA to have an accountability system set up for the officials. We also need a physical fitness routine for them too...maybe if we paid them more we could expect more??? Just a thought.

What an unbelievable game!!! Alston learned that he can contribute without scoring...huge rebound at the end of the game Alston. Xavier Carter put us on his shoulders in the second half last night...this kid is only a sophmore? Steve had about 10,000 big time rebounds, String played some of the best on the ball defense I have seen. Excellent coaching job and I haven't heard all the naysayers singing Coach Graves' praise. I can't believe we aren't talking about how great he coached last night. I have only seen one post praising coach, where are all the people who wanted to fire him? We beat Shelbyville last night, a great basketball team! We may upset Giles on Friday and then all the "fair weather fans" will be back. Coach graves, we are here to support you! Great job guys, unbelievable effort. Whew!!! Oh the refs sucked last night! Period. We need to talk to Mr. Claypool the AD and tell him to never have them back again! We need to make sure we get and keep good refs...those guys were awful last night. I saw the longest 10 seconds ever...at least 18 seconds went of the clock before Shelbyville got the ball over half court and none of those guys had the courage to make the right call!!! Unbelievable.

How much of last year's team is still around? You act like ATHLETIC ABILITY and TALENT have nothing to do with it. Of course they aren't playing the same way...it isn't the same team! I can give you example after example of teams who lose to people who have no business being in the same gym with them...that isn't a relevant argument. We run plays for Steve all the time (opening play Saturday for a dunk) and Zack has the green light to call a play to give himself an open look...anytime he wants. Zack doesn't want to do it for whatever reason. Ask Zack, he will tell you that he can call his own number whenever he wants to. I hated to lose to Spring Hill too, but causing division amongst the team by blaming the coach for something that the players don't execute...that doesn't make any sense. Also, they run a motion offense..which is an offense that doesn't use set plays and allows athletic players to work to get open. At the end of the 1st half I saw 2 or 3 of the best offensive possessions I have seen all season, where they worked the ball from side to side and made Spring Hill play defense. You have a difference of opinion about coaching philosophy, not whether or not the coach is any good. Uptempo, motion offense is what he chooses to do, with a few set plays thrown in there. That is a coaching philosophy, some choose to run set plays. We can't run the set plays we have put in, so what good will it do for us to put more set plays in? We have a difference in opinion, I doubt we will ever agree. At least do me a favor and make sure that you are comparing things that are similar and at least make some sense. Throwing around generalities and talking about how good they were last year doesn't prove your point...it strengthens mine. This is not even close to the same team as last year...so let's not compare them to last year's team. We are good and we are going to upset some people this year. If we go deep into the tournament, it won't be because our coach started coaching better, it will be because these kids started executing and playing together. Come on guys, lets play well tonight against Tullahoma!

Interesting idea, and it is actually spelled discipline. Have you ever coached before? If so, where and what was your record? Secondly, I understand this is a basketball town, I have high expectations for this team too, but come on, to say that we have no defense and no offense and no discipline? Are you serious? We sat Xavier for an undisclosed reason and he is arguably one of the best players on the team. There is some discipline. We have averaged 64.3 points per game this year, the national average is 64.68 for winning teams and 52.55 for losing teams (according to the National Federation of State High School Associations from 2001-2002 season), so we actually have a winning offense. We average around 9 steals per game and 16 defensive rebounds per game (and we are undersized)...so the no defense argument doesn't work either. Most coaches who are assistants in college never coach in high school...they go on to be head coaches in college. Apparently, you know something about coaching evolution that the rest of Division 1 doesn't, you better call the NCAA about the fact that they have coaches who aren't qualified. I am not trying to be antagonistic, just trying to figure out the facts and match them up to both of our opinions. According to the numbers we would be a winning team across the nation. Period. Both Shelbyville and White Station have easier schedules than we do. We don't score hundreds of points, but White Station doesn't either (average 72 points per), which is 8 points above the national average, which is why they are ranked so high. We have lost 3 games by 7 points or less which would put us at 14-6 which is very respectable and would put us with the best teams in the state. Those are the facts and those facts are undisputed. If you don't like Coach Graves, that is a different story altogether. Just because you don't like him doesn't make him a bad coach. He has his team scoring, playing defense and disciplined. This is what a coach is supposed to do. He has a winning record and has a chance to knock off Shelbyville and Giles Co at home, which would make us all talk differently about this team. As far as the players not playing to their ability, that is an excuse that people use when they aren't successful. They have no reason not to play well. Zack had 1 point I think against Spring Hill, 1 point!!! He couldn't hit anything. He had an off night and couldn't find another way to get it done. He had tons of open shots and just couldn't hit them. Steve Gray missed about 8 free throws, very unusual...but didn't get it done. They go through these spells where they get 7 turnovers in a row and can't convert them into any points. It happened at Shelbyville and it happened at Spring Hill, that is not executing. Their coach put in defenses that got them turnovers and they couldn't turn them into points. Once again, those are the facts and they are undisputed.

Sorry I was having computer issues, I apologize for the repeated post.

Can anyone tell me a coach that has won a state championship in his first year? Did they inherit a great team? This guy has one good senior and a bunch of underclassmen that haven't played much at all. I realize we have a high level of expectation here in Columbia, but I have never seen more "fair weather fans" in my whole life. He has some talent but nothing like in the past...sorry team that is just a fact. That doesn't mean we can't get it together and win some games, but to blame a 10-9 record on a "bad coach" what are we talking about? If we were 2-17 then we would have something to really worry about. It is easy to support a team when they are good, but the old coach saw this coming and wanted to leave before people started hating him. I don't know too many people who perform well when we hinge our support on every single game. Let's give him some time to get into this program and develop it. He is coming from coaching D-1 level college athletes to coaching high school kids. I imagine it is quite an adjustment. We missed 15 free throws against Spring Hill, that's not the coach's fault. We didn't execute at the end of the Spring Hill game, that is inexperience from underclassmen. These are normal issues, but blaming a coach because his players don't execute...that isn't right. If we are still having this discussion in a couple of years, then we have a legitimate issue. He told us it would be February before we would see these kids come together, so let's wait and see.

I don't know that I have seen Columbia Central play that poorly in a while. They missed 15 free throws or something like that. The refs called a really loose game in the first half and then they started calling it close at the end of the game. Columbia just played really bad. Coach Graves put in a great "oop" to open the game and Columbia had every chance to blow it out. They just couldn't make any free throws.

I don't know that I have seen Columbia Central play that poorly in a while. They missed 15 free throws or something like that. The refs called a really loose game in the first half and then they started calling it close at the end of the game. Columbia just played really bad. Coach Graves put in a great "oop" to open the game and Columbia had every chance to blow it out. They just couldn't make any free throws.

I don't know that I have seen Columbia Central play that poorly in a while. They missed 15 free throws or something like that. The refs called a really loose game in the first half and then they started calling it close at the end of the game. Columbia just played really bad. Coach Graves put in a great "oop" to open the game and Columbia had every chance to blow it out. They just couldn't make any free throws.