FireonPhoenix5

Let's hope to god that EW doesn't quit! This would be horrible for the York boys basketball program. EW is second only to Coach Charlie Vaughn and when he gets a little older he may even surpass him. York has a bright future ahead. I think the starting 5 will be the most balanced in the district. It looks like next year it may be neck and neck between Livingston Academy and York....what a season. Two old rivals struggling for 1st place. I think York will be a much better team next year. A team man team again? Maybe...that remains to be seen. The real difference between the teams is that the bench will not be as deep. This, believe it or not, was York biggest problem this year. Too much talent to go around and not enough playing time.... it caused bad attitudes within the team (from an outsiders point of view anyway). I look foward to seeing York in the top 2 teams in the district next year.

Well since it's out in the open.....WHO IS SOCCERCHICK? You said it was a boy on the team...and he admitted to being a starter. Just curious as to who it is since there have been about 8 guys in the starting line up this season. Blakely Garrett or Travis Ducan perhaps? Do tell........

Best Matchup: Portland vs. York Two very similar teams, should be a great rematch of last years Regional Final.

Garrett barely guarded West. He was on the bench with foul trouble, you two seem defensive of him. Sorry if you are related to him I was just speaking the truth. I'm 46 years old and you give me 5 fouls and I could probably guard West for a little as Garrett did.

How can you be "over rated" when your not even rated? They have not been ranked in a single poll all year long, and with the exception of Ledbetter, none of them are in the player rankings. Look at the stats does anybody jump out to you? The answer is no.... Josh Stephens-17 Derek Ledbetter-12 Brian Tipton-9 Travis Ducan-6 Blakely Garret, Andy Chote, and Vulken Gorgun combine for-11 What's the big deal with Garrett anyway? I've read several posts where "jill24" talks about how good he is. He scored 5 points the whole game. He missed probably 8 free throws. Why wasn't Clark in there at the end of the game. Clark has the court savy that Blakely Garrett lacks. He could have cost them the game with his wild passes and lack of ball handling skills towards the end of the Livingston game. If the coach hadn't taken him out, I doubt they could've pulled the win. I understand that "jill24" may be a female who admires Garrett, but she should really try getting his phone number instead of talking about him being the great player that he isn't. He's athletic and that's it. If anybody is overrated, it's Garrett. Not Stephens, Ledbetter, and company....

I say it's a 2-2 split. MLK handles Livingston easily. Nothing to say about this one other than that Livingston gets 4th in the district 2 years in a row and gets put out first round 2 years in a row. Hume-Fogg pulls from Smith after half time. Not sure what you mean about Smith County's "size" sleep23. They have the winkler boy who is just about 6'5, the other Winkler might be around 6'2 or 6'3. Other than those two they have no height. Hume-Fogg sports the big 6'10 boy down low and he's way to hard for Smith county to handle. Hume-Fogg has Smith outgunned in all aspects of this game. I'll say Upperman beats DL between 12-18. Upperman has too many weapons and they're coached very well. As somebody else pointed out, Upperman has 5 or 6 players who've been to the state tournament before. This will be a battle of ego's as both teams have a little swagger in their step. I look for the Shanks/Mathis/Gilliam trio to be too much for DL though. I'm gonna say York beats Portland by 1. Very similar to the Regional Final last year. Somebody mentioned the Brewer-Ledbetter matchup. Should be a good one. Travis Tate made Brewer look like a Division 3 prospect last year, who's to say Ledbetter can't do the same. I think that this game would be interesting if Brewer and Ledbetter got into foul trouble early. Advantage would go to York for sure as they center more than around one player and have a deep, deep bench. Should be the best game BY FAR.

****NEWS FLASH**** Winningham can't coacht! Do the Community a favor and quit! Everybody would like to see Coach Storie out there....you've had your turn, learn to share.

Actually, Jimmy that makes sense. You may have stumbled on to something. Maybe this should be its own thread. I wonder if that's punishable by the TSSAA, of course you couldn't prove it I don't think.

What blueville said in his first post is 100% correct. Tonight they played, a little team ball. Interesting starting line up for York. Tipton didn't start but didn't stay on the bench long and Clark didn't start and didn't play much at all. What a joke, Clark is one of the more poised players on the team. Is the coach trying to prove a point to these two? They pulled out the win though, that's all that matters. I saw where somebody else hinted that they threw the Upperman game. The more I think about it the more I think that they might have. A team with as many shooters as York does, doesn't shoot 10% in the first half. Now they will play Portland, a team that they are capable of playing and match up very well against. Make sense to anybody else?

Will they beat Livingston? Maybe. Will they win Regions. No. The seniors better take as many wild shots as they can these next 2 or 3 games. As I see it, they don't have many games left... To beat Livingston they just need to make some shots. This means that the 5 starters can't combine for 16 points. Ledbetter and Tipton were the only ones to score I believe. Ledbetter had 12 and Tipton had 4. When Stephens is on, they look pretty good. When he is off, they are less than mediocre. I think the fans have overreacted to one bad season. They've won the district tournament the past 2 years, and been in the finals the past 4 years I believe. They've had a bad season, but there is always next year. They may not have a 25 win season next year, but it'll be better than this year. It'd be hard for things to get much worse.

I don't know if you've read the first page very much but a lot of what you are looking for is on there..... This is how I think it will be next year: Derek Ledbetter - Junior this year. What can you say, everybody knows he's talented and 6'9 is something you can't teach. Brian Tipton- Sophomore this year. Biggest outside threat. Maybe the best 3-point shooter on the team this year (as far as percentages go). Will take Stevens role as go to outside player. Both of these are starters this year. Other likely starters: Blakely Garrett- Junior this year. Very athletic, good defensive player. Reminds me of Travis Ducan. Bobby Stockon- Freshman this year. Good shooter. Brandon Burk- Sophomore this year. Post player. I think he has potential. He's a big boy, looks like he's about 6'4, again you can't teach size. I saw him make 2 good moves against Upperman, but he missed the shot both times. With work he can be good. As for the rest of the team I don't know, I hear they have a very talented freshmen class this year but I haven't watched any JV games. I've heard good things about Dustin Buck (sophomore) and Daniel Harding (grade??). Also does anybody know if the Foreign Exchange Student is sticking around for the season next year? From what I understand he's a Junior this year but he can't play next year for some reason. Anybody in the know?

Upperman will beat Smith County by 10 points. Upperman would have beat Livingston by 10 points. And Upperman beat York by 30 points. Clearly they are the best team in the district.

They lose A BUNCH of seniors. Not a lot of talent though, basically they lose Stevens. The rest are just role players. I don't think they will be great next season, but most teams in the district (except Livingston) are losing a bunch of players. They will at least win more games than they have this year. It was a 2 man team this year and as I stated earlier, I see the same problem next year. Maybe if the coach straightens up and tries controlling his team instead of letting them have free reign they will be a decent team next year. I've been watching them in the district tournament and they don't even run an offensive set. They either 1) Try to get the ball to ledbetter 2) Let Stevens take a wild shot or 3) Let somebody penetrate and kick out for a shot.

I don't think that York would have much trouble finding a coach, since they already have a coach hired she just doesn't have the job. I don't know her name I just know she used to coach at Clarkrange and I was always very impressed with those girls even though they lacked the talent of other teams in the area. Anybody with as much talent as Bruce Winningham has had the last few years and can't win should be embarassed. There is no future for York basketball. Qualls is gone. The ross twins....gone. Sarah Pierce, she's gone too. The red head that plays down low....she's a senior and she's gone. And oh yeah, the point guard is gone. All they have left is Brandi Brown. An AWESOME player, and I do mean AWESOME, but she can't do it all herself. It seems to me that the coach was trying to develop the blonde headed sophomore, but she's not any good. She can't throw one in the ocean, dribble, or pass the ball. York COULD be good next year....if the Ross twins were playing and they had even a DECENT coach. They probably won't make it to region for a very long time. That's a real shame too considering that Brandi Brown needs that exposure for college. That girl can play anywhere she wants too, I don't know her, but from what I understand she's a classy lady and very smart too. Anyway this is much longer than I meant for it to be, just wanted to say GET A NEW COACH. By the way, the only coach to ever win a State Championship at York was Coach Sam Beaty. I don't know if that is who you are calling "Cheeseburger" or not. It sure is looking good for Upperman the next few years with the lack of talent at Jackson and Livingston and the lack of coaching at York.

WOW! Speaking of problems...I just read that York shot 10% the first half. I was there and yes, it was that bad. I think the starters may have had something like 16 points--combined. On a bright note though, number 4 came off the bench and may have had the first double-double of his career, with 10 points and 10 turnovers. Upperman is good. State champions? Just maybe. Meanwhile in Smith County, they are planning an upset in the championship game. Hopefully UHS will come out ready to play like they did against York. 1) Upperman 2) Smith County 3) Livingston 4) York Just my opinion.

Soccerchick is right about the fans supporting this team. I saw the York crowd at TTU Saturday night and they never got excited, not even after the winning shot. Most of them just sat there like a big purple blob. Maddog doesn't have to tell who he is, that's the beaty of coacht. You can voice your opinion without people knowing who you are.

Good idea!

Maddog2020- I do not think you should be counting out York just yet. Although they have played up to nobody's expectations, I still think they have time to pull together and make a post season run. Like somebody else pointed out, it seems they always do. About next season though, it seems to me that they are going to have the same problems next year, that they do this year. This year Josh Stevens and Derek Ledbetter do almost all the scoring, with Tipton adding a few baskets. Next year Derek and Tipton will do all the scoring, with Brandon Stockon adding a few baskets. As for saying Burke has talent, I think he does but I haven't seen him play any in a long time. I'm not sure I know exactly who Dustin Buck is. I don't know how talened he is, but maybe he's one of those talanted freshmen that we hear about but never see. Good luck against Upperman dragons.......YOU WILL NEED IT