gomerpyle

The Tennessee Travelers 17-under team won the 2010 BTI Indiana Shootout championship. The championship is the 35th in program history, not including 12 AAU state titles, Team members are: Craig Bradshaw Galen Campbell Jordan Cross Zach Garland Shannon Hale Brandon Lopez Dre Mathieu Tres Palmer Lester Wilson Rico White Coaches: Chad Smith, Larry Robinson

The Tennessee Travelers 17-u team, as part of the last weekend of regular season of play in the Nike EYBL, will be attending a special screening of the ESPN 30 in 30 Series for the episode "Straight Outta L.A." at the Montalban Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, May 28. The screening will be hosted by legendary entertainment figure Ice Cube and will consist of a question and answer session with Ice Cube following the screening.

The Tennessee Travelers' 17-under team is still in contention for a Nike Peach Jam invitation after round 2 of the Nike EYBL in Houston. The Travelers ended the second week of competition with a 1-3 record, but picked up a huge 83-68 win over the Albany City Rocks in their last game. The Travelers currently stand 6th out of 10 teams in the EYBL Division A, with automatic bids going to teams finishing in the top 5. The Travelers conclude EYBL regular season play Memorial Day Weekend in Los Angeles with games against the Georgia Blazers, Memphis YOMCA, Team Final, Mean Streets, and Louisiana Select.

The Tennessee Travelers' 15-under team reached the championship game of the Midwest Slam Jam in St. Louis before falling to the St. Louis Eagles 51-50 at the buzzer. The Travelers finished the tournament 4-1. The 16-under team reached the semi-finals and finished 3-1 before dropping a 6-point decision to the Illinois Wolves.

Here is the ESPN link to the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League and the Tennessee Travelers: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recruitin ... e=NikeEYBL

Actually, the Travelers program began in 1988. Prior to becoming Nike sponsored in 1995, the Travelers won 9 AAU state titles, reached the AAU Final Four four times, played in three AAU national championship games, won multiple titles at the Hoosier Shootout among other premier events, and won the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. All prior to Nike sponsorship. Additionally, the Travelers are one of only a handful of teams that have maintained their Nike sponsorship. Many other programs have been sponsored for a time and lost their sponsorship. The Travelers have not.

We haven't held a tryout in 23 years, and we feel like our record speaks for itself. We are more than willing to watch a player play, practice, or work out. .

Watch them play in high school...recommendations from high school coaches, college coaches, and our former players.

The Travelers do not use the sub-states as a tryout. The 16's and 17's play in the AAU Super Showcase only, and have not played at the sub-state and state level for many years. The 15's usually do play the sub-state and state, but that roster is already full, also. When we have a 14-u team, they do play the AAU substate and state. The Travelers are not having a 14-u team this season. In fact, the Travelers have never held tryouts. For many years, the Travelers won sub-state and state titles and were not the host club, so the AAU Eastern Substate has never been a tryout forum. In the 13 seasons the Travelers have participated in AAU competition at the state level, they have 25 sub-state titles and 12 state championships, including the 15-u state championship last year. A complete history is available at www.travelersbasketball.com

Dwight Tarwater was very deserving.

We do not have tryouts.

The Tennessee Travelers 17-under team has been invited to participated in the inaugural Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) featuring the 42 elite travel team programs. The league will begin in the spring and will consist of four 17-under events, culminating with the EYBL Finals at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, SC in July. The EYBL will tip off at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, VA from April 9-11. The final two regular season events will be held at League America in Houston, TX on May 14-16 and in Los Angeles, CA over Memorial Day Weekend (May 29-31). "The addition of the EYBL provides an organized and exciting format for these elite athletes to consistently compete against the best players," said Mike Hackman, Nike Elite Youth Director. The Nike link is www.nikebasketball.com/eliteyouth The league is comprised of four divisions, each with 10-12 teams. The Travelers have been placed in Division A along with the following teams: Albany City Rocks (NY) Baltimore Elite Georgia Blazers Howard Pulley Panthers (MN) Louisiana Select Mean Streets (IL) Team Final (PA) Tennessee Travelers Wisconsin Elite Memphis YOMCA

Our website is now easier to access. The new url is www.travelersbasketball.com

Congratulations to the four Tennessee Travelers (Brandon Herman, Lester Wilson, Jalen Steele, Dwight Tarwater) who have been named finalists for the TSSAA Mr. Basketball awards in various classes. 17 former Travelers have earned Mr. Basketball honors a combined 21 times.

We would just like to clear up any doubt regarding the Tennessee Travelers and Nike. The Travelers are a Nike-sponsored program and have been for the past 15 years. This information can be confirmed by Nike. It has come to our attention that other programs are telling potential players and even some of our returning players that we are no longer Nike-sponsored. This is not the case. These coaches are either severely misinformed or are simply not telling the truth. This post is not intended to bring about the merits of sponsorship, etc. The purpose is to make sure the facts are known, and the fact is this: The Tennessee Travelers are a Nike program again in 2010.

The Tennessee Travelers are a Nike team and have been for the last 15 years. Anyone at Nike Youth Basketball will verify this. There are only 40 Nike programs in the country. For more information, you can check the website at www.eteamz.active.com/tntravelers.

That is correct. The Final 8 finish was at the Hoosier Shootout in Indianapolis. I inadvertently mixed those up when referring to our website. Nevertheless, the Travelers did win their pool in the 16-u Super Showcase, placing them in the Gold Bracket (pool winners only), where they lost 62-52 to Louisiana Select, an eventual Final Four team in the tournament. This information, as well as the power rankings, can be found at www.aauboysbasketball.org. They did so without Rico White, who was injured, and 3 sophomores who were playing only on the 17-u team. Two Tennessee teams (Travelers, Memphis YOMCA) were pool winners. The Travelers 15-u team won the state championship (12th in program history) and reached the Final Four of the Hoosier Shootout. Additionally, the Travelers will be announcing exciting news in the next few days regarding Nike Youth Basketball and their 17-u travel schedule. This will be part of a groundbreaking event in summer basketball, and the Travelers will be the only Tennessee participant.

The Tennessee Travelers 17-u team is a pre-season honorable mention selection in the newly released AAU Power Rankings. The rankings are based on results in AAU competition during the 2009 season, as well as perceived strength headed into the 2010 campaign. The Travelers 16-u team won their pool and earned a spot in the Gold Bracket of the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando last July despite multiple 16-u players competing with the 17-u team only. The power rankings consist of a top 25 and a list of approximately 10 honorable mention teams. The Travelers are one of only two Tennessee teams to be listed, along with the Memphis YOMCA.

You're right on Jeff County now that I look back. My mistake. I may be wrong on some others as well, but I thought those were accurate. I'm the coach at Seymour, so I know we are 4-3. We didn't play Cocke County on a night when everyone else in the district did play, so that game is set for Feb. 9. We haven't played Jeff County or Cherokee yet, but we've played East and Sevier twice each.

The IMAC is playing under the following format in the district tournament: Everybody has to win a game to make the region, and all games will be at Morristown East (no satellite games in first round). District standings are pretty jumbled because few teams have played the same number of district games due to snow. Every team has at least two district losses with the exception of West, who is undefeated. Some teams have played each other twice, while others have not played each other at all yet. As of right now, these would be the seeds. 1. West (7-0) 2. Cocke County (5-2) 3. Jefferson County (5-2) 4. Seymour (4-3) 5. Sevier County (5-4) 6. East (5-5) 7. Cherokee (1-7) 8. South-Doyle (0-9) #1 v. #8 #4 v. #5 #2 v. #7 #3 v. #6

Seymour is better than their 4-6 record...much improved since the early part of the season...had games with Sevier County, Jeff County, and Morristown West that they weren't decided until late in the fouth quarter or overtime. They are very good on defense, and that keeps them in games. They aren't highly productive on offense, but they've become efficient. Tennessee High should certainly be favored, but Seymour is dangerous.

Fulton has to be the pre-season favorite. They are the 2-time defending champions and return Jalen Steele (Auburn), last year's tournament MVP, and Robert Boyd (Lipscomb). Bearden transfer Galen Campbell is very good, and most of their role players from last year are back. There are certainly no guarantees, but it would be surprising if they didn't make a deep run.

Seymour High School point guard Casie Cowan will sign scholarship papers next week with Cumberland (TN) University. She has been the starting point guard for the past two seasons on teams that combined for a 44-18 record and won the district tournament title in 2008 and region tournament title in 2009. She was an all-district, all-region tournament, and all-county selection as a junior and is closing in on the 1,000-point career scoring mark.

They are close. Much better than they were earlier in the season. Coaches have done a very good job - team is much improved. Probably do not have the horses to compete for championships, but they are certainly not an easy win for anybody. Not a team that can make a run in November I don't think, but not a bad team by any stretch. Very good defensively - gives them a chance most nights.

I don't know the other person you were referring to, but I've been dealing with Bobby Dodd for many years, and to say he doesn't care about kids or is all about money is ridiculous. Bobby is a very good man and has worked very hard for AAU in all sports. Again, I was speaking from the boy's perspective. But I can assure you those Nike sponsorships were very well-earned. I don't really know much about the girl's side, but the organization of AAU is a very strong one and provides many benefits and safeguards the other competing organizations do not. Perhaps the Super Regional concept needs to be looked at or amended a little bit, but all in all, AAU is an excellent organization. But AAU can't be all things to all people.