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No, it's not a guess. Know for sure their top players did not play on travel teams. Their top players rarely do, and when they do they pay a price. Very much discouraged by coach who likes to keep them together to play area "summer ball" which is a joke. Even the smaller schools don't have all their kids there in the summer, so they're not even playing the best in the area. But, they win a lot of games and can walk around talking about how they're going to dominate and will "win state". That's said every 3 or 4 years. Only, they never do -- don't even get there. Can't tell you about this team this season and the Science Hill games specifically. Have held back from suggesting the team "choked" as some have said, though they must have felt a tremendous amount of pressure. It's been predicted that this senior class at D-B would "win state" in football and baseball and get to the state tourney in basketball since they were in grade school. As Waco points out, the end result in post-season play for many D-B teams (in multiple sports) is most often the same -- big talk before and during the season but still never get as far as predicted. Happens year in and year out. The constant in that is not players because they come and go. The constant is the coaches and the organization of their programs. And, maybe the problem is coaches identifying their "star" players when they're 9 or 10 and never watching again to see if those kids really mature and progress as players. And, they often don't watch other kids who may be in "weak classes" or late bloomers. Anyway . . . just my opinion.

By Ron Bliss TriCitiesSports.com May 18, 2007 "You have to be able to hit good pitchers like him when you get to this level and he dominated us,'' said D-B coach Mike Ritz. "You can't go anywhere if you can't hit those kind of guys.'' "We didn't even hit a ball hard off him today,'' lamented Ritz. "That is about as much as we've been dominated by a pitcher.'' "He's as good as we've seen this year,'' said Ritz. "He pitched a great game. He has good velocity, a good changeup and curve.'' Well, who have the D-B kids played against all year (or over the last few years)? That kind of training of your best hitters happens for the state's best high school programs in the summer. Those Knoxville guys spend their summers playing for The Thunder or The Yard and seeing pitching like this every weekend. Other guys across the state do the same thing with other elite programs. It all came undone for the Indians in this game -- with pitching, defense and offense all subpar. The four errors committed led to five unearned runs in the game. Again, the best players develop those pitching, defensive, and hitting skills playing against the best all summer long -- not playing just together since they were 9 or 10. And maybe it's not enough to "live by the long ball" as D-B is described doing. Maybe you also have to catch and throw without errors and to get the best hitters out. Burton allowed two-run home runs by Eric Conley and Matt Kirkland and was pulled in favor of Tyler Joyce, who then allowed a two-run shot by Bell to complete the six-run, first-inning outburst. Joyce allowed the Cherokees only two more runs -- both unearned -- while finishing, but with Bell's domination it was too little, too late. Does go back to someone's earlier question about why you'd start Burton on short rest when he hasn't pitched on short rest and Joyce hasn't pitched in 8 days, not to mention that Joyce has actually been the "big game pitcher" for this team for the last two or three years. The only hit off Bell, now 13-0 with a 0.90 ERA, was a soft single by junior Gabe Overcast who only came into the game after a change had to be made to pull starting pitcher Bo Burton in the first after it became obvious he didn't have the same stuff he'd shown Monday while beating Morristown West. Or, maybe he had the same stuff and SD isn't Morristown West or any of the other n'east TN teams. The only other strong team from the Big 9 beat D-B 3 times in the last 2 weeks and is "going to State" Or maybe the fourth, when he struck out the side. He finished with 13 strikeouts and fanned every batter in the Indian lineup except Jordan Adams. He got Wesley Lane, Derek Trent, Easton Ring, Wesley Jones and Overcast twice each. The only two runners to reach got there on walks. Derek Trent and Joyce each drew walks in the third inning. Bottom line is that D-B's pitchers didn't just give up 8 hits and 8 runs, the "best hitters in n'east TN" didn't get a hit. Heck they had 13 strikeouts and only had 3 baserunners. Maybe it's time for a true "grand experiment" -- consider putting the best in the D-B program out into the real baseball world to see how they measure up and to give them some training that will give them a chance to compete when they get into the post-season with their high school team. It's time to modernize the approach and to get those kids out of the cacoon. Again, not intended to pile on for the D-B seniors. They're probably not quite as special as a class as the D-B community has talked (and talked and talked), but they also weren't given the same instruction and direction as the best players in the big programs across the state. They weren't ever given a realistic measure of themselves as players because they only play with their high school team against weaker competition from little schools in their area. Feeds the ego while it's happening, but it also leads to season ending disappointments like the one last night. Baseball's not like football where kids are pretty dependent on the coach being able to schedule strong competition during the season for their teams to get better. Baseball players have full summers for skill development if they (or if their coaches) choose to take advantage of it. If your best players go off and compete against the best and succeed there, then maybe it's fair to talk big about how great the team is going to be and lofty season expectations. But, when they don't have success against the elite players from across the country, you might just end up with egg on your face when the actual measure of the team comes when it matters most in post-season play against the first real competition of the season and ends in a whimper (sad 8-0 loss as the one last night).

Agree that the Big 9 is not all that some think it is. Plus teams like Farragut and other strong teams have their strongest players play on elite (and competitive) travel teams in summer. Those kids see great pitching, and the pitchers have to learn to pitch to the best hitters. They play for coaches who have played professional (or top college) level ball. They really learn the game -- all aspects. D-B's coaches keep their kids together to play a few pick-up games with local teams -- not nearly the same training and experience. When they get to the most competitive time in the high school season, it shows. Maybe the problem is D-B's coaches, or maybe this senior class that was predicted to compete for state championships (in all the big three sports, they said!) isn't quite so extra special after all - good but not great. Or maybe it's both. Whatever the case, D-B lost 3 games in 2 weeks to arch rival Science Hill (who goes to State again) at the time in the season that matters, and tonight D-B had more errors than they had hits. The one hit they had didn't come from any player in the senior class. Not intended to beat up on D-B's seniors, just meant to suggest that maybe folks ought to actually watch the games, pay attention to the strength (or not!) of the competition and not listen to all the talk . . . for years and years and years. Whole classes of players were pushed to the side to let these seniors play early in multiple sports to get them ready to "win state" this year. Well, that didn't happen in any sport.

Just a fan greatest. Problem? Congratulations. Sounds like you guys settled down and everybody played a good game.

Sounded like a good win for the Indians. Good to have the whole team together. Like I said before, nobody should count this team out. They don't have a lot of varsity experience, but they've got a group that can mature quickly and play well together by mid to late season. No fighting each other, either. There are plenty of minutes for everyone. Morgan has said he'd like to play 10 guys regularly all season if they're ready to play. And, it will take all of them playing together and playing well to win games -- especially the big ones. Good job, guys. Roll Tribe!

Who are you "greatest"? Word was from a bunch of D-B players.

Not sure about that, WaCo. Both Henry and Throp are good players. Both should play plenty this year. It will take both playing well for this team to win ballgames. Both worked at the point over the summer. Scouting report from the D-B kids is that when the two went head-to-head at camps this summer Henry dominated Throp. Sensabaugh is probably the most athletic and versatile of the soph players -- could play 2, 3, or 4 spots on this young small team. Important for him to make a quick transition from football to basketball. No player except Blackwell has played real varsity minutes, so who will play and how much remains to be seen. Not sure who will start every game. Those are all coach decisions -- and anybody who has watched Morgan coach knows that the starting lineup changes from game to game depending on who has done what at recent games and practices. Heck! Which players are playing varsity or JV changes almost from game to game -- for the same reasons. I'm sure who plays and how much will depend on which of the younger players mature. It'll be trial by fire for this young team! Especially with young inexperienced players, Morgan seems to decide playing time by player decision-making (especially turnovers) and whether they can adjust to his defensive approach at a varsity level-- defense being one of his primary focuses. I'll say again, though, folks shouldn't count this young team out. They'll probably make some dumb mistakes from inexperience, but they may surprise some people, too -- especially by late in the season after they've gotten some games under their belts.

Yes-- Lamon will play. In what some say will be a down year, D-B really held their own against Bradley Central and Knox Fulton in scrimmages Saturday. They played Bradley dead even for 3 quarters. They did lose one quarter while playing the younger JV kids, but it was good for those kids to get the experience, too. They also played well against Knox Fulton. Starters for D-B are -- Ryan Blackwell, Brett Bigham, Will Henry, Ray Dunkin, and Frankie Adams (L Williams after football). Sophomore Logan Williamson may have started a quarter, too. Blackwell shot the lights out all day -- really showed the senior leadership that this young inexperienced team will need. He's the only returning player with any significant varsity experience. Bigham played some minutes on varsity last year, too. Henry runs the point. He handled the ball well against an extremely athletic Bradley Central defense. And his man on-the-ball defense was flawless. The entire D-B team played good defense -- no surprise since that's a primary focus for Coach Morgan -- tells his players that if they don't play defense (his way) they won't play, period. Bigham really seems to have matured in the game and is playing with confidence. Dunkin, Adams, and Williamson have had no experience at this level, and all played well. Chad Sylvester came off the bench and scored some. There may be some bumps along the way this year with such a young and inexperienced team, but Morgan will do his usual great job of teaching the game. With some sophomore football players to add needed depth, they should be okay.

D-B and Science Hill should continue to be strong over the next years because their coaches run solid programs with some focus on player development. Science Hill has freshmen who started on the varsity this year who should only get stronger over the next 3 years. They also had other underclassmen who played a lot on this year's varsity. That will give them an edge over DB in the area of varsity experience. But, Coach Morgan does a great job having his teams ready to play by the end of the season. As for D-B freshmen, Codeair, Powell improved every game this season. He played mostly JV and dressed with the varsity. He should develop into a nice post player over the next years. Actually J. Throp never had a varsity uniform. He and Sensabaugh did play in one pre-season scrimmage with the varsity when some older players were sick or injured. They did play part of the season on the JV and should be in the mix to compete for varsity uniforms next year. Besides the freshman Powell, only 2 younger players dressed with the varsity during the season. Will Henry (soph) dressed both JV and varsity through the Arby's tournament--until the football players joined the varsity. Raymond Duncan (soph post player) has practiced and dressed with the varsity during post-season tourneys since the JV team finished their season. D-B could have as many as 3 sophs dressed with the varsity next year. This entire freshman group is pretty strong -- not just 2 or 3. They won every game they played until the last game (even without Powell on the varsity and Throp and Sensabaugh late in the season) . WaCo's right. On any given night . . . Point is, D-B and SH should be strong for several years to come.