boxn1

You are so lame hornet, that is all you can say. Your argument is bogus. I've shot holes in it. Where are your tournament wins, with your so called strong schedule. We had 3 more tourney wins this year that you have had in probably the last 5. I'm not sure of that but I'm not obsessed with Carter (East Knox) they way that you seem to be with Rutledge. You always pop up on Rutledge threads and cut them down, I guess that is because there are no threads about Carter. What is your problem with Rutledge? Did you lose a girlfriend to a Rutledge guy? Why do you not respond to questions about Carters poor performance? I expect that you would love to have 16-19 wins and 3 wins in the tourney. Why did you not respond to tigerballs comments?

Hornet, Why don't you start a thread about East Knox High School Basketball and see how many people really want to talk about it. This thread was about Rutledge and how they will fare next year. Your opinion about what their record would be is fine, but then you had to start throwing around insults which were not neccessary. I can argue with you all day and neither of us will give an inch. I'm not involved with Rutledge's team but I am close to the program. I know that we probably would have played last year, but you guys had no coach when scheduling was going on. Rutledge does not fear Carter, we have played recently and the records favor us. Our district was very strong this year we are not ashamed of it. Pigeon Forge, Cumberland Gap, and Claiborne all had very good teams and at the end of the season we were playing as well as any of them. I'm sure Coach Flatford is glad to know that you are now doing his scheduling. Why would he want to play a weak team like us, when according to your logic it requires playing a strong schedule in order to advance in the postseason. Your schedule seems tailor made for advancement. How has that been working for you? Again I compared apples to apples on common opponents and we clearly fared better, so I doubt that your schedule swap idea was accurate. Now go start your East Knox High thread and talk to yourself about it.

Tnbreakers, Tyler Garrett is the 6'7" player for Rutledge. He has made some big strides over the past couple of seasons, but still can improve much more. He has a very nice touch up to 15'. He runs the floor really well for his size. He rebounds fairly well when he is motivated. He needs to improve his hands, strength, and aggressiveness. It would be good if he could get hooked up with a good AAU team for the summer. If you know of one I bet he would like to know and you could probably contact his coach at Rutledge.

Every team has issues to resolve, and some do it better than others. That is a lame excuse. Rutledge overcame the loss of a starting point guard and many injuries that decreased their rotation from 10 players at the beginning of the year to only 7 at the end of the year. This resulted in some tough times and tough losses in the middle of the season, but they adjusted, overcame, and made a strong run at the end of the year. Instead of jumping on other teams programs you might want to get your own house in order. Carter has had little if any success in recent years and they certainly have a better talent base to draw from than Rutledge. I think that most of the games played recently between the two schools have gone in Rutledge's favor. We have no choice as to what District that we compete in and we must play those teams. We beat Seymour twice this year, Did you? How many quality wins did you have? And since when did you become the judge of what a quality win is? South Greene was ranked #8 in the state at the time we beat them 77-45. Comparing apples to apples, Rutledge and Carter played 4 common opponents. They were Seymour, Gibbs, Cocke Co., and Anderson Co., Rutledge was 7-0 against those teams while Carter was 5-4. Regular season wins are nice, but Rutledge also had three wins in the postseason. Carter had none. Anymore excuses.

spalinshornet, Why do you always want to put Rutledge down? You obviously didn't pay attention this year. They won their first round Region game this year by defeating the #5 team in the state (Unicoi County), which advanced them to the Region semifinals. They lost that game to Pigeon Forge, but led late in the 4th quarter and trailed by only 3 with less than a minute. I dare say that their schedule was what allowed them to be successful late in the season. Rutledge played the following : 5A- Campbell, GA, 3A- Rhea County(W), Cherokee, Cocke County(2 w's), 2A- Anderson County(W)(advanced to Regionals), Seymour (2 W's)(advanced to regionals), South Greene (Split) (advanced to Sub-State), Pigeon Forge (4 L's)(advanced to Sub-state), A- Cosby (lost by 3 85-82)(ranked #1 in state in A and advanced to state tourney). How would you like for them to upgrade? How did your Hornets fare this year? Did they win a game in the Region? Maybe they should upgrade. Waiting for you response. Should be interesting.

Hey bigtimemouth, It is easy to sit behind a computer and trash someone else without stating who it is that you play for. Are you scared? Let's get it out in the open or are you afraid that maybe your team might slip up against someone? If you are really bigtime then step up and tell us who you are. Rutledge does not have to apologize to anyone for the schedule that they play. They have to play the teams in the district that they are assigned to. That district includes Pigeon Forge who was the AA State Runnerup last season. Rutledge beat them twice last year. They also include on their schedule Seymour, Morristown West, Morristown East, and Greeneville. That is not bad competition. They are scrimmaging tough teams in the preseason which is admirable. When all of their pitching arms are healthy, and the Basketball players return to form after a good run in the tournament, the Pioneers will be able to play with anyone. Are you going to step up Bigtime(glove)mouth? I doubt it!!

BigFan4525, I agree that Rutledge won fair and square and I think that they wer more motivated. They have however advanced to the Regional Semifinals more recently than you suggest. They Upset Volunteer at Hal Henard in 2000-01 to advance to advance to the Semis where they lost to GP in OT. I believe that they also beat Alcoa in the first Round a couple of years earlier when the tourney was held at GP.

I know Coach Combs and he wouldn't get on a message board a trash talk, just as Coach English wouldn't. Coach Combs did a wonderful job with the team this year, winning 19 games was a great accomplishment. They played a tough schedule in Regular season and it helped prepare them for the tournaments. They were the better team on Tuesday and Pigeon Forge was better than them on Wednesday. They played hard every night and left it all on the court. Congrats to Unicoi on a great season and Congrats to PF for winning it all.

They were not local officials, they were from Athens which is a 2 hour drive from Union County. They do not assign local officials for the Regionals. Get over it you lost fair and square. Their were many calls, or no calls, made during the game that affected the game just as much as those as the end and some of those went against Rutledge.

Yes terolico you can make it to Union County and back in one day. Our district was able to make it to Unicoi Co. and back last year, so it should be no different for you guys this year. The road runs in both directions. Enjoy the drive it is very scenic.

I think it would be a stretch to say that the refs had anything to do with a 20 point loss. The Rutledge student section was rowdy and they got into the head of Roach who seems to be a head case. Sounds like sour grapes to me and all of the other teams in 2AA feel the same way abouth the officials when we play at Union County.

Rutledge is 0-5, but everyone has to come to Rutledge now.

Rutledge won over Seymour tonight, I believe the final was 75-63. The score really wasn't that close as Seymour scored some late buckets against the Subs. Reischling led 4 Pioneers in double figures with 30 points and Hudson had 18. Good win for the Pioneers.

From what I've been told it is not the first time he quit, I believe he's been given a second chance already. From what I saw I don't believe he could outplay McBee over the course of the season and he probably knew that. It only hurts them in depth right now, but maybe someone will step up.

Rutledge over Cocke Co. 88-78. Pioneers have been thin due to injuries and defections. They appear to be getting healthy again. Should be full strength by next week except for Point Guard who quit, and even that may be positive in the long run. His repalcement Skylar McBee had 20 last night. Hudson had 25 and Horsley 28 last night.

I got to check out the Pioneers last night for the first time. They won at Cocke Co. 88-78. Cocke County seems to be down this year but it was a good win over a AAA tem on their court. Rutledge is thin right now due to injuries and their starting point guard quitting the team. They dressed only 8 players and had Reischling and Horsley out the entire 2nd quarter with foul trouble. It appears that in the long run they will probably be better off with Freshman Skylar McBee at the point though as he scored 20 points last night. Horsley finished with 28 points and Hudson had 25. From all indications they should have Backup post player and backup wing player back from injuries by next game on Tuesday against Seymour.

Atta boy KevB! Run and hide now. You should know better than to get on here on make the kind of predictions that you did abouth this game. They have computers and internet in Cumberland Gap and you better believe that they used your comments for bulletin board material. If you are the Pioneer fan that you claim to be then you wouldn't put your team at that kind of disadvantage. Great game by Cumberland Gap. Please don't think that all Rutledge fans are like KevB. In fact he was the only one that was on here spouting off. Rutledge simply has lots of youth and inexperience. It is a cycle that most High School programs go through unless you are Maryville, Fulton, A-E. Don't go the coaching route KevB I know that is probably what you think the problem is.

Dennis "Coach" Roach

Hey Hit & Run, why don't you ask Gladiator or PioneerPirate about the Pioneers since all 3 of you guys are the same person?

I agree Gloryseeker about the MVP of this district. Crockett and King have both had super seasons and are just as worthy as the other two of receiving the MVP award. Who decides on this award and the All District Teams? Sounds political to me. It might also serve as motivation that the Pigeon Forge Coach said after the South Greene game that no one in the district could guard Dewyse. That is a bold comment!

Warriorbball, I don't think 2AA is weak but it is balanced. Any of the top 7 teams could win the tournament and #8 seed GP is no piece of cake. I believe South Greene can play with any of the teams from 1AA. Cumberland Gap has probably the best material of any team in the District but they have been inconsistent. Chuckey, Pigeon, and Rutledge are all capable. Only time will tell, but 1AA has the advantage by making 2AA travel all the way to Unicoi. 2AA has always tried to host in Morristown to cut down on travel for the other district. Maybe they will pay them back next year. No teeam should have homecourt advantage in the District or Regionals.

I haven't been on in a while, but I was disappointed to read the comments by Hoosiers20. You guys had a great season and deserve congratulations for it. You do not have the right to run down other teams and their programs. You seem to really get happy after you have won a game. South Greene should have won the title this year with all of your returning starters and it should not have been as close as it was. I don't agree that Pigeon Forge is one of the two best teams. Looking at the records it seems hard to pick who the best teams are. Chuckey, Rutledge, and Cumberland should be mentioned as well. Again Congratulations on the Regular Season crown and good luck in the tournaments.

Not much talk on here lately. What's Up? Where is everyone?

Predictions for Friday: Chuckey in a close one over Claiborne Pigeon in a close one over South Greene Rutledge and Union to close to call. Chuckey gets the #1 seed.

So what does everyone think about the games Friday. SG @ PF, CD @ CC, Rutledge @ UC. The bottom seeds look to be set but the top ones could get crazy.