Libertyfan

Pantherbert, I remember when the change went into effect. One of the leaders of the side who wanted to keep the one class format was none other than Bobby Plump. Plump was the player who hit the winning shot for Milan way back when.

The only way to have a true state champion in basketball is to have ONE state champion. A class state champion is, in reality, not a state champion at all. They are just the champion of a certain group of schools. Kingbee, under a one class system, you would not be denying any player the chance of a life time memory. They would all have the same chance at the beginning of the tournament. Jadoka, Yours was a great post. I support your reasoning 100% Pantherbert, I don't remember the exact year that Indiana switched to class basketball, but, I can tell you that the tournament has not been the same since. The crowds are now smaller, revenue is way down, and the magic is gone! It still pains me to see how Indiana high school basketball has deteriorated since the class system was started.

2live, I will agree that the tickets should not be slpit 50/50. A 75/25 split would be more in order if the visiting team could have the opportunity to sell their allotment in advance. That way, if the visiting team did not sell their alloted tickets, the home team could sell them on a first come, first serve basis at the door. If what I read is true, I think that it is wrong that one person can only buy two tickets to this game. That eliminates a husband and wife from bringing the family to the game unless they all stood in line and each got tickets.

I grew up in Indaina when we had ONE state champion. The greatest high school tournament in all the land was ruined when the class system was implimented. Back in the mid 80's, the tournament got so big that it had to be moved to the RCA Dome. One state championship game had over 40,000 fans in attendance. That will never happen again with class basketball. I know that Tennessee will never revert to a one class format. There is one change that I would like to see happen that would make tournament play better and much more exciting. I would like to see the district and region tournaments become a one loss and you are done type of deal. This would make EVERY game important as you must win out to continue playing. After all this is tournament play to help determine a state champion. Where else but in Tennessee could a team loose up to three games in post season tournament action and still become state champion?

2live, So you are saying that South Side fans should not have the right to see their team play? How would you like it if you traveled to see your team play and when you got to the game you found out that the host school did not make any tickets available for you? From what a previous post said, Giles County made this own mess themselves! And, with this being a TSSAA tournament game, a percentage of the tickets SHOULD be made available to the visiting team. Seems to me that you should be griping to your own schools administration as it appears that they are the ones who caused the mess in the first place!

Great game tonight by Bolivar as they defeated South Side 71 to 51. Bolivar was hitting 3's all over the place and South Side committed way too many turnovers and they were also ice cold shooting the ball all night long. If the local fire marshall would of been in attendance tonight, he would of had a field day. It was an overflow crowd with no seats left empty. People were standing 3 and 4 deep on many sections of the railings. Folks were standing 4 deep on one of the baselines as well. There were also probably at least 100+ people trying to watch the game from the lobby as well. One thing that disturbed me was all the people sitting on the steps between the upper and lower levels. Security made no attempt to move them. If a situation would have occurred, it could of gotten very dangerous. I personally feel that the officials at Chester County should have issued tickets to everyone coming in tonight. But, they wanted to get the most money that they could and a potentially dangerous situation was created. With the exception of a very few Bolivar fans who decided to sit in the middle of the South Side section and cause trouble, the crowd was very well behaved although rowdy for each school. It was a great atmoshere for a high school basketball game. I just wish that the host school would of done a better job possibly limiting the amount of people they let in tongiht. Again, great job by Bolivar tonight as they shut down a very good South Side ball club. Good luck to both teams in sub state play.

This game is way too close to call. Both Bolivar and Jackson South Side are outstanding teams. I do believe that this will be the premeire game in the state tomorrow night and it is sure to be standing room only. In district play, these two teams battled to overtime with Jackson South Side basically giving the game away to Bolivar. I can't say who will win this game. I do feel that the margin will be 5 points, or less, for whomever is fortunate enough to come out the victor.

The shot clock is like artificial terf in football, it just isn't right!

It was standing room only tonight down at Chester County for the 6AA semi finals. In the first game, Bolivar defeated Chester County by the score of 77 to 50. It was close at the end of the first quarter as Bolivar held a slim 16 to 12 lead. Bolivar took complete control in the second and third quarters by outscoring Chester County 42 to 22. Both teams emptied the bench in the fourth quarter. In the second game of the evening, Jackson South Side neutered the Bulldogs of Milan by a final score of 84 to 61. This game was not as close as the score indicated. Jackson South Side lead by 7 after the first quarter 23 to 16. South Side extended the lead to 24 by leading 54 to 30 at the half. Jackson South Side cruised in the second half and built their lead to 34 at the end of the 3rd quarter to lead 75 to 41. Like the first game, both teams emptied the benches in the 4th quarter and the final score ended up 84 to 61. Jackson South Side's "Man Child", Wayne Chism scored 20 of his game high 26 points in the first half. This kid is 6'8" and he is only a sophmore. He is capable of dominating a game at will. Jackson South Side will face Bolivar for the 4th time this season on Wednesday night for the Region 6AA Championship. I would get there early as this game should be another standing room only affair. In my opinion, this game will be the premiere game in the entire state on Wednesday night. It promises to be a classic.

Bolivar defeated Chester County tonight by the score of 77 to 50. Chester County stayed close in the first quarter only being down 16 to 12. After that, it was all Bolivar as they out scored Chester County 24 to 15 in the 2nd and 18 to 7 in the 3rd quarter. Chester County tried to play man to man against Bolivar and I believe that was a mistake. They also tried to play at Bolivar's tempo and that was another mistake. Bolivar just had way too many athletes tonight for Chester County to handle. Bolivar dominated the boards and Chester County also had a very poor night shooting the rock.

I think that we just might see an upset in the first game between Chester County and Bolivar. I have a feeling that Bolivar may be looking ahead to round 4 with South Side. Chester County is playing very well right now as well. In the second game between Milan and South Side, I think that Milan will keep it close early. However, South Side has way too many horses for Milan to deal with over the coarse of the game. South Side should win by at least 15 to 20 points!

South Side is playing very well right now and they have too many athletes for Milan to deal with. I think that this one could get ugly. South Side should win by at least 15 to 20.

Do away with the rankings all together. The media votes for the rankings every week and I don't really think many of them have a clue. Too many media outlets end up voting for teams that they cover and giving them more props than they may deserve. Outside of reading a score, can you honestly say that a media person from the west end of the state can honestly evaluate teams in the middle and eastern ends of the state. Of course, the same would apply to media outlets all over the state. These polls don't serve any purpose other than to give fans something to talk about. Like I said earlier, I would be in favor of eliminating polls all together. If you must have a weekly poll, let a panel of coaches do the voting. I believe that they would be much more knowledgable than most of the media types who currently do the voting. JMO

The officiating in this game was absolutely horrible for both teams. The officials, who were from the Clarksville area did not have a clue and blew so many calls for both teams. On one play, a Camden player tried to save the ball from going out of bounds by bouncing it off of a South Side player. The Camden players momentem took him two feet out of bounds. After the Camden player tipped the ball and went out of bounds, the ball went off a South Side player and then hit the Camden player who was out of bounds by two feet. The officials awarded Camden the ball. Everone in the gym saw the play correctly, except the officials. South Side's Wayne Chism was also had a technical foul called on him after a great dunk. He did not hang on the rim, showboat, or anything, yet he was called for the "T". This same crew worked the girls game between Chester County and Bolivar and they were equally as bad in that game too. They would not call any foul when there was the preverbial train wreck on the court, yet they were calling a bunch of weeny touch fouls. In my own opinion, Bolivar got a mild case of home cooking from the refs. The final girls game of the evening saw another set of officials from Clarksville show just how inept they were as well. The post players for both McNairy and South Side were throwing alot of forearms at each other, especially in the first half. One time, the McNairy post player threw a forearm to the back of the head of the South Side player right in front of the ref and there was no call. All in all, it was a night of very poor officiating in all three games that were played. Fortuanately, these sorry excuses for officials from Clarksville did not effect the outcome of any game. It is just sad to see such poor officiating at the regional level of play.

A couple of years ago, I got to go into the University School of Jackson hospitality room. Not only did they have finger foods, they also had full coarse meals each and every night. The dessert area took up a whole table by itself. And all of the food was very good. Now, what is really nice is when a school has some sort of hospitality room for use during the regular season. That really shows some class! As far as the worst hospitality rooms go, my thoughts are that free food is good food!

NETNcritic, My point is that the TSSAA allows the districts to determine how the district tournament is ran. I am definately not in favor of the way the district that was at the head of this thread does things. I also don't like the fact that a district can vote not to have a district tournament at all. They can vote to send whomever they want to send. Fortunately, most districts do things the proper way. If you read my last post, I clearly explain how the regular season has benefit under a common district plan. No matter how many teams a district has in it, one plan would fit all. To me, it would be ideal if all districts had the same amount of teams in them. But, due to travel constraints, that probably won't happen. One thing that I would like to see happen is that at the district level, only three teams advance to region play. Let me explain. Under several senarios, a team does not have to win a district game and they can still advance on to region play. This can happen is districts with team levels ranging from 4 to 7 teams. Let's look at District 13AAA boys as an example. There are only 4 teams in that district. Automatically, all four teams advance to region play. North Side defeated Hardin County by 74 points. In the consolation game, JCM defeated Hardin County by 29 points. Not to disrespect Hardin County, but they have absolutely no business advancing to region play. They did nothing to earn the right to advance except that they are in a district with only 4 teams. If you only take three teams from each district to region play, at least every team will have to win at least one game in order to advance to a region tournament. Using my idea, each region bracket would have 6 teams in it. I would give byes to the champion of each district and obviously all the second place teams would play the third place teams in the opening round. Then, the tournament would move on as it does now. Under any situation, my idea would eliminate the possibility of teams advancing from district to region play without them winning at least one game at the district tournament level. Not winning a single game and being able to advance to region play is just something that I have a real problem with.

NETNcritic, Tell me, just what is wrong with one standard way of determining how district play is conducted? All other levels of tournament play are conducted in one particular way, so I believe the district level should be conducted the same manner. Like I said earlier, even though I personally prefer a blind draw, I have no real problem with seeding district play. Unless a district has 4 or 8 teams in it, byes are already a part of district play. Combined with seeding, there is your reward for competative play during the regular season. About your comments on equal playing time and removing team logos and replacing them with a TSSAA logo, I have no idea where that comment of yours came from. It really makes no sense to me. I stand by my statement that I think that it is wrong for teams to lose up to three games at the district and region level and still advance in tournament play. To me, that is just a ploy by the TSSAA to make extra revenue. Otherwise, what real purpose does allowing losing teams to advance have?

I would also say that it is unusual for an entire district to be swept in the opening round. Although, in this case, I did expect it. I mean no offense to the teams of district 11, but, I believe they only had one win versus district 12 during the regular season, and, that was avenged in a match up later in the season.

Region 6AA first round results District 12AA District 11AA 2/25 Chester County 54 Camden 28 2/25 McNairy Central 65 Milan 39 2/26 Bolivar 56 McKinzie 51 2/26 Jackson South Side 53 Lexington 41 In the opening round of 6AA region play, District 12AA dominates District 11AA with a clean sweep of the first round games as I predicted earlier on this site. Second round games will be played at Chester County on Saturday with the following contests: Chester County vs. Bolivar 5:30pm McNairy Central vs. Jackson South Side 8:00pm In the second round, I like Chester County over Boliver in a game that just might be pretty close. Also, I see McNairy Central defeating Jackson South Side by 10 to 15 points. I hope that I am wrong on the McNairy and South Side game though as I would personally like to see South Side make it to the region finals.

McNairy was not playing good ball right at the end of the year and it carried over into the district tournament. To state that they tanked a game is a very serious charge. I was unaware of the situation in the coaches family and my heart goes out to him. I want to know how you could say that the region is weak. Chester Co., Bolivar, South Side, and McNairy Central are not weak teams by any stretch. 12AA's teams that did not advance to region play, Liberty and Humbolt, would have been playing for district championships in other regions in this part of West Tennessee. I would agree that 11AA is weaker than the 12AA teams in the region. But, to call the entire region weak is just not right.

I wish I had ESPN Classic. Let me correct a couple of things about the actual game. Bobby Plump hit the winning shot for Milan after Milan held the ball over the course of the final 4plus minutes of the game. Jimmy Chitwood was a character in the movie. The movie is actually very different from how things actually transpired. Milan made it to the state finals the year before winning the title. When Milan won the state title game, they first had to play a game THAT SAME MORNING to even get to the championship game. The same thing would have occured the previous weeks in the semi state games and the regional games. You had to win two games in one day at the final three levels of the tournament. Indiana starts out in a round called the sectionals. When Milan won the Indiana state championship, there was NO class system. At the time, I believe over 500 schools competed for the right to become state champion. And, unlike how Tennessee does things now, the Indaina tournament was and still is a one and done affair. At no level of the Indiana tournament was there any seeding. Indiana's first round, the sectional, pairings were determined by a blind draw. Milan would have been one of 64 sectional champions that moved on to the regional round. As I stated earlier, the regionals were all completed in ONE day as 4 sectional champions competed for the right for one team to advance to the semi state round the following Saturday. Then, 16 regional champions played at one of 4 sites accross the state for the right to compete in the final four the following weekend in Indianapolis at the legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse.

If I am not mistaken, Milan will play McNairy Central in the opening round of the Region 6AA tournament. In my opinion, after looking at the season results of both teams and the strength of schedule, Milan will be finished after the opening round.

After looking at the teams and the season results, I believe that the Region 6AA tournament will be won by a District 12AA team. In fact, I believe that the Region 6AA championship game will be an all District 12AA affair with a very real possibility that all the District 11AA teams might be defeated in the opening round of the tournament. Overall, the District 12AA teams play a tougher schedule than the 11AA teams do. When 11AA and 12AA teams met head to head during the regular season, 11AA teams only won ONE game during the course of the year against a 12AA school. I like Chester County to win the Region 6AA tournament. While I have not yet seen a bracket for this tournament, if McNairy Central is in the opposite bracket from Chester County, I like them to emerge from their district slump to take the runner up spot.

I did not get to attend the 12AA girls consolation and championship games this past Saturday at Chester County. I am told that during the colsolation game, Boliver's head coach was ejected. Can anyone tell me if this is true and what happened that caused him to get ejected? I am not wanting to stir anything up, but I did not read anything about this is the paper the next day and I am curious.

The original post in this thread shows why the system used to deternime high school basketball state champions in Tennessee is very flawed. When the TSSAA allows each individual district to determine how they will be represented in the region, you have a problem. Fortunately, most districts do the proper thing and the teams have to play through. You can also do what has happened in the district in question. A district could also vote not to have a tournament at all too. Simply put, the TSSAA should have ONE standard way in which teams advance to region play. I also think that it is rather silly that you can loose a total of three games in district and region play and still end up being state champion. I don't have any information in front of me, but, how many times has a team that finished 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, in district play gone on to win a state championship? The same also applies to the regional level. How many times has a team who finished second in a region gone on to win a state championship? In both cases, it would be safe to say that it is a very rare occurance indeed. Like marcvols, I believe that the road to the state championship should be a one and done type deal. I have no problem with seeding the district tournament, but, I would prefer that it be a blind draw myself. Think about the possibilities and the interesting matchups that could result in early round play of a district tournament if it were done by blind draw. Sure, you could have some upsets along the way, but, in the end, the cream will rise to the top come time for the state finals. JMO