dmm88

Little spicy in here lol but it's all good talk. No way would last year or this years McKenzie team would come within 20 points of beating Chloe/Tess Greenfield team's. That team had length, shooting, and a will to win that was unmatched. Now Gibson County teams against Greenfield, I'll stay out of that one lol

TCA looked well playing uptempo basketball, think the faster pace will serve them well.
 

CPA was as good as advertised, the 4-star kid they have doesn't wow you with athleticism, but he can shoot the heck out the basketball, they had another kid I really liked too. 
 

Humboldt is gonna be good again, got some big kids again ready to work in the low post, the key again will they be able to make threes to keep teams from collapsing the paint.

Riverdale looked good as well. They had 2-3 kids that were very solid, they do a good job of moving the basketball and playing together.

Saw South Gibson today at Sacred Heart, I think they are gonna be just fine with Embrey at the controls. Looks like they are gonna play uptempo basketball, which is a very good thing. Also saw new JCM for the first time, and they are gonna shock a lot of people.

Went to Unions team camp yesterday. Saw Madison, Sacred Heart, South Gibson, and ECS.

South Gibson looked really solid in a one point win over ECS, don't think they are gonna miss Wilkins too much. Still can shoot the ball, the ultimate ceiling raiser or lower for them will be if Clark can hit that 10-15 footer, hes gotta be a threat to score.

Madison had a decent showing against Baldwyn (MS) I'll hold judgement on them until I see them again in preseason play days.

Sacred Heart looked solid in beating Huntingdon, the key for them is to get production from younger kids. Headed back over to Union today to check out CPA, TCA, Humboldt, Riverdale and others.

South Side stepped down 45, and headed north to Mississippi for Blue Mountain's team camp. Went 3-0 for the day, with a very good win against the 4A Mississippi state champion Pontonoc Lady Warriors.

Bolivar is still a surprise, so is West Carroll. Thought those would've been announced by now.

Went to McKenzie yesterday. Saw South Side, TCA, McKenzie and Peabody. 
 

Saw Peabody and TCA in the 8 am morning game. Honestly I wasn't watching the scores, but more so looking to see who would bring that energy and effort to start the day off, TCA is gonna be pretty good obviously and should be a favorite to get to the state tournament. Peabody is rebuilding after a state tourney run, BUT I'm so encouraged because those kids play so hard, and they communicate with one another very well. I look forward to seeing them progress.

And in the game of the day, South Side and McKenzie basically went down to the wire, with South Side grinding out a one point win. McKenzie is the unanimous favorite in 1A, and  anything less than a gold ball will be disappointment. So much talent, I really hope they play Gibson County and Westview this season. South Side is South Side, what else can you say really???? The most athletic team in West Tennessee with excellent coaching, internal improvement with a few returning players mixed with the freshman class could be the key. 

Strayhorn to Dyersburg is official. Just had the press conference to announce his hiring. Watch Dyersburg rise back to the top very quickly.

Definitely a HOME RUN hire for South Gibson. They were patient and got the best possible candidate. Summertown has been one of the best shooting teams in the state, and I don't expect that to change at SGC.

1 minute ago, BallIsLife1 said:

Ripley High School job is now open with Lonnie Starks taking over both programs at Liberty Tech in Jackson. 

That's a GREAT hire for Liberty. The boys basketball pantheon of coaches in Jackson now, is ARGUABLY the state's best.

Ripley girls are OPEN. Coach Lonnie Starks has come home to take the reigns for Liberty's girls.

Fred Morris is one of the best coaches in Mississippi, took 5A Louisville to the state championship a year ago, before that won a state championship at 5A Neshobia Central. I'm wondering why he left a very good situation, to come to a program who has fell on hard times. If Milan girls basketball is gonna make a resurgence, he's definitely gonna get them there. I'm assuming his salary is gonna be very good.

7 hours ago, SportsWestTN said:

Well that is now the best open job in West TN. South Gibson and Milan better not drag on much longer if they want to get someone good. You would assume there is going to be a lot of interest in the USJ job.

South Gibson has to move QUICKLY or their top choice may get a USJ call first.

6 hours ago, GrumpyBulldog said:

Rick Rudesill to JCM. Tip of the hat to the JCM administration. Two splash hires to reboot one of the most storied athletic programs in West TN history.

TREMENDOUS A++ hire by the superintendent and JMC school system. A state championship coach is so hard to come by, and for JCM to land him is just remarkable. Now with that being said, it's a new school and he's gonna have to implement his way into a new program. BUT in a year or two, JCM could very well be a serious contender in single A.

Wow what a weird, phenomenal, out of WAYYYYY left field hire by JCM to get one of the premier coaches in this region. I think there is something going on behind the scenes at USJ that we know nothing about, OR this is him wanting to take on a new challenge.

As I'm typing this, MASE is disqualified for playing Jalen Brown, who I believe this was his 4th high school in the last 12 months??!!?? Memphis schools up to they old tactics again SMH winning at any cost to the kids

Classic game!!!! The top two teams in AA and it certainly lived up to all the hype. Aside from the officiating, which I won't discuss South Side had chances to win, but it all comes back to small details and that was the difference. Jada Harrison is a SEC player, point blank. Big time players step up in big game situations. Best of luck to both in sectionals and let's get a state championship rematch!!!

I was very critical of Arlington even hiring Shields in the first place. I didn't like it, and this just validates my point. She should be fired immediately and any player or players who were involved should be suspended indefinitely. 

None of us expected Westview boys to make it to the region championship.........but that's why they play the games. Did anyone go?? And if so, did Westview take away South Gibson's three pointers???

What are some keys to this heavyweight bout???? Predictions??? And also key matchups.

Anybody got any updates from Greenfield????

Experience is the best teacher. McKenzie will come back hungrier and motivated next year.

South Side didn't play great but corrected some things in the second half to win. I hope South Gibson uses this game to blueprint how they should play going forward: pressing and trapping and doing more offensively than shooting the three. I just wonder long term is Wyatt gonna be the coach to get them where they need to be?????

Peabody and Gleason is typically the best #2 vs #3 matchup in the West TN area, and I don't expect this year to be any different. This is a tough matchup for Peabody, as Gleason wants to slow the game down and work the offense. Like I told someone earlier, Peabody has to push the basketball after makes and misses to force Gleason to speed up. Offense may be hard to come by, so the Lady Tide have to crash the boards and attack the rim to get free throws. I think Peabody wins a low scoring 35-26 game

8 hours ago, maddams said:

For the sake of argument, let's define upsets as lower seeded teams beating higher seeded teams. 

Potential upsets:

Peabody as a 2 seed potentially losing to the 3 seed from District 13 (Gleason, Greenfield, or Union City). 

2 seed Cloudland beating 1 seed Cosby in the semifinal.

2 seed Loretto beating 1 seed McKenzie in the semifinal.

2 seed Pickett or Clay Co beating 1 seed Whitwell or Van Buren.

I'm not saying any of these will happen, but they seem the most likely potential lower seeds beating higher seeds.

The other game people should watch is 3 seed Wayne County at 2 seed Huntingdon.  Wayne has gotten healthy and was playing better before the snow hit.  They could be a dangerous matchup for Huntingdon

 

I actually see two of these happening: I think Gleason, Greenfield and UC are all better than Peabody.

And I love what McKenzie has done, and Savannah Davis is a star, but Loretto has Karly Weathers and I think Loretto beats McKenzie, in a game I HOPE is moved to Bethel to maybe get a good crowd.