catuballer

I think Dominique has more upside. When I ranked the players, I was purely speaking from the standpoint of college potential. I personally don't think McMasters or Jurick are top 5 right now. If they were, with their height, they would be dominating the Chattanoogoa area teams. Ricks is solid, but not top 10 college prospects in the state - in my opinion. Taylor has the ability to be very very good!

Bruce Pearl couldn't decide between Jurick and Gaines, so he flipped a coin and offered Jurick?

I must admit that Alex Carter is under rated. He is not just a good shooter. With the young kids they have to go along with Carter and Stephens, they can make some noise. Who afre the transfers? Where did they come from? Size and grade?

I would still love to see the Page Middle and Antioch High Scool game.

Other than Malone, who do they have?

I see 7 players that are worthy of mentionign on this list - the rest, well.......... They arfe OK The 8 top seniors on your list (but not the top 8) Caldwell Primm Giltner Mcadoo Wells Jefferson Malone Upton 2 obvious missing players are Henley and Cutter

1. Antioch 2. White County 3. Shelbyville 4. Ensworth 5. LaVergne 6. Centennial

Can't disagree more. Sports are sports. Home team advantage is everything you said, plus the fact that you have the advantage of a bigger louder obnoxious crowd.

How about a free throw in basketball? Yes. Gte real. That is part of the sport.

Great for Blake. I assume he will wait for Auburn before he makes a decision. I would. He has a nice selection of schools to choose from. I will be anxious to hear where he goes. I hope he is getting some good advice on making his decision. The longer he waits, the fewer offers there will be. Tell him that for every offer he has with each school, those same schools have 2-3 offers to other players for that same position. The first to accept, gets the scholarship.

I agree. I think White County has a shot, but I don't think they have any competition. Nor did I think Oakland had competition last year. Prior to that your District was loaded. After White County, there is balance. It is just a weak balance. Just my opinion.

GLJ - I totally disagree with you on this subject. Let kids have fun and go to these games and be heard. It is part of sports and going to high school. I have been to high school volleyball games in other states and they are way more rowdy than they are here in TN and it is a lot of fun. Girls have to learn to have thick skin and deal with it. You are way too overly concerned about fan involvement. I understand not cursing and the importance of overall good sportsmanship. But, when you play sports, there is an advantage to playing at home. It is not because the refs will "homer" the other team. It is because there are more fans than the visiting team and usually louder and sometimes ridiculously obnoxious. So what? Deal with it. Stomping feet on bleachers - artificial noise? No way! Well, then again, if we go back to the volleyball country club analogy, then maybe we should all start practicing our "soft claps" and whispering during serves. Oh, and maybe we should teach the players to not be so violent on the court when they hit those oh so powerful kills and jump serves. None of this bump set spike stuff. Just bump set bump. And, only underhand serves. Also, instead of teaching the girls to do cheers after nice plays, blocks, aces, etc., they should take a moment to apologize to the other team for making them look bad. That would make the sport nice and clean and wholesome along with all the polite fans. Yeah, that's it!

Overall, I think this district is even weaker than last year. This will make 2 years in a row that District 7AAA isn't considered one of the stronger districts in the state I think White County is going to run away with this district. They have almost everyone back from a talented team. Although Tyler Greene was All-State, I didn't even think he was the best player on his team. They have about 3-4 guys as good as him - and that is scary. Siegel has some returners, but will still be very young, other than Cutter. Question is whether or not Siegel will be able to put the ball in the hole when Cutter is being double teamed. Oakland lost some great talent, but I would not be surprised if they have another good year. Blackman will be solid, but young and athletic. However, they have a couple of good seniors which will help them win games. Riverdale may also be better than people think. I like Young! Cookeville will have low scoring games and stay with everybody based on their coach's mentality. I don't know anything about Lebanon or Warren County. Shelbyville and White County are going to battle it out for region champs. Shelbyville is my top pick in the region.

Impressed with the Ole Miss offer to Blake! Thanks for the info. I must admit you guys ahve a nice little hotbed of good players in your area.

I guess there is really no way to really say if one player is better than another, because it is a matter of opinion. One thing I have found out over the years is that you can generally tell where a player is (what level) based on who is recruiting him. Many times, a player will be recruited by multiple teams in the same conference. After watching numerous AAU games, college coaches can pretty much assess if a player can play at their level. Where you end up going to college is usually a pretty good indicator of your level. Tyrone is at a level that I think he belongs and he should be able to do well. He was one that had a very high reputation at a very young age and was on the radar of some bigger schools. I think if he had gone to a major, he would have sat the bench. Austin Peay is a good fit for him. I may be wrong, but I don't see Victor playing in OVC. How tall is he? He just seems to be a little short for his position. Who is recruiting him? If he does not have offers, then he most likely didn't prove to college coaches that he can play on their level. There is no doubt that he can play in college. I just don't think he is a D-I player. I have been wrong in the past - and maybe this is one of those times. Please let us know who is recruiting him. Prove me wrong. I hope for him that he is a D-I player and makes all of us (TN high school basketball fans) proud. By the way, I think you have to be very good to play D-II basketball and that anyone who gets a scholarship to play basketball (at any level - including D-II or NAIA) should be proud of their accomplishments. There is only a small difference between the different levels.

Cheerleading at sporting events is cheering. Not a sport. Going to competitions and competing for a prize - that is a sport.

Is this the same McLin that played for the Mid-State Ballerz? If so, I"m sorry, but I didn't see the best player in the state of TN on that team. I did see the best player in the state of KY. There were 3 TN players better than McLin that I saw on the Ballerz alone. Caldwell, Primm and Walker. I am serious. Is that the same player?

Someone give this person some cheese to go with his/her WINE! And, by the way, I am heading to the volleyball country club. Shall you join me?

Going to have to go out on a limb here and say that your list below must be the top 5 seniors in your neck of the woods. I have seen 3 of these players play and would have to say that M.J. Brown is the only one that would be in my top 20. 1.Victor McLin - D-II player 2.Justin Blake - D-II SG - Needs to work on my aspects of his game. He is a very good shooter and could surprise by going D-I 3.M.J. Brown - Definite D-I PG material. He is one of top 5 PG's in the state. 4.E.J. Epprson - Don't think I know who he is> What AAU team did he play on - Size? Position? 5.Channen Geanes - Don't think I know who he is> What AAU team did he play on - Size? Position? If anyone knows who they are being recruited by - please let us know. Maybe I am wrong. My top 5 1. Elliott Williams - One of the best in the country. 2. Dominique Taylor - Flying way under the radar. Goes to Howard in Chattanooga. 6'5 - 6'6, quick, good handles, leaper, nice shot. The real deal. 3. Jason Jones - We all know how good he is. 4. Phillip Jurick - Has a lot of critics because he is so big and doesn't produce that much in high school, but Bruce Pearl didn't offer him a scholarship because he felt sorry for him. 5. Carter McMasters - Another big kid that is not well thought of, but he has tremendous upside and Liberty is very fortunate to have him. Next 5 Terrico White - Ole Miss will figure out how to use this athletic stud. Hard to figure out what position he is best at, but he gives 100%+ all the time Sampson Carter - He may go big! Tyler Cutter - Great summer - went from unknown to heavily recruited real fast. Best PG in the state. Needs to work on defensive stength and quickness to be an impact player in the Missouri Valley Conference (Indiana State) Laurence Bowers - Don't think he will get minutes at Missouri his first year or 2, but will eventually contribute in the Big 12 - which says a lot Tim Ware - Super quick and good PG - Would like to know where he is going to college. Expect him to contribute his Freshman year in college wherever he goes Best of the rest: Tyrone Caldwell, M.J. Brown, Jeremy Rhodes, Arnette Moultrie, Jarvis Jones, Tahj Wells, Michael Macadoo, Kevin Giltner, Rayshawn Walker, Jon Primm, Ricky Taylor, Quinche Dowdell, Erik Buggs, Aaron Douglas, DeMario Williams Blake and McLin are both very close to making this list

I guarantee that Page Middle School would beat Antioch High Scool.

I must admit that I am flattered that you agree with me. I tend to agree with your comments for the most part. I think you also agree with me regarding the club thing. Face it. Those high school teams that have the highest percentage of players that play club, are almost always the better team. And, the people who play club usually come from the higher income based areas. Ask Impact what percentage of their players come from Antioch or metro Nashville (answer -almost none). Most of their players come from the wealthier parts of town- Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro and other similar towns. In other words.......... where the money is. This sport is kind of like tennis and golf. We should start our own volleyball country clubs and all sit around and sip wine and talk about our investments while our children play a little volleyball at the "club". Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Like Anderson County and other areas that do have good middle school programs and good high school coaches that go out of their way and provide instrucion outside of their structured high school season. Now, I think I have cleared it up for you and you can go ahead and say you agree 100% with the CAT!

I guess I am not the expert afterall. I am as shocked as you are. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in the state tournament. Unfortunately, 3 of the top 10 teams in the state will not be given the opportunity to get out of their district. District 11AAA that is! Think about it, the 5th place team in that district could realisticly win every other district in the state. Just goes to show how being able to afford to play club really pays off.

KYDigs makes a good point. If Lafayette is 4th in their district in Lexington, KY, then they must be very very weak. Lexington still has not come up to par with Northern KY and Louisville. Middle Tennessee is more comparable to Northern Kentucky teams (Notre Dame is the exception as they would crush all TN teams) So, if AC and Knox Cath only beat them in 3, then they must not be that good. So, I may have to rethink the top 20.

Sorry, I was not there. You have me confused with someone else. I do not live in Cookeville, nor am I related to anyone from Cookeville. I follow them and think their Junior this year is the best player in the state. She will be an SEC player - or comparable conference. I would like to see Georgetown (KY) play Carson-Newman. That should be a good game. What do you think?

Thank you for the encouraging words. Any input?