BigBoy10

Wilson Central and Dickson Co both had good showings on Saturday.

A ranking in the 7th grade is about as useless as a screen door on a submarine. The only thing those lists are good for is screwing up a kid's head. The last thing you want as a parent or a coach is for a kid to think he "has arrived" in middle school. All it does is put a bunch of sharks in the water to start harrassing these kids and get them thinking about all the wrong things.

He was at Milan and South Gibson over in West TN... Coached boys I think...

Where is Hudson now?

A coach is only as good as his players! A coach can help a team to over(or under)achieve but you can't win the KY Derby on a donkey. You have to have horses! Both coaches have been fortunate enough to have a good number of really talented players over the years. Both are good coaches no doubt but you can't make chicken salad out of chicken poo. Fryer's high-low offense looks really good with 6'4, 6' and 6'1 running it. Give him three 5'7 posts that can barely make a layup, it looks a little different.

What a mess at Dickson! Sounds like no matter who gets the job, they will be unwanted by one side or the other. Not a good position to be in. When taking a new job, you hope that you are wanted and supported by the powers that be, which doesn't seem to be the case here. Agree that Barrett is a quality coach who will work hard at it. I do think it will be hard for an administration to sign off on that decision so soon after the debacle at Riverdale... but then again Smyrna did hire Bud "The Nature Boy" Brandon. So, who knows. I also like the Blackman hire. Coach Jackson will do a good job there. I am a little shocked that Dawn Barger, her assistant coach, hasn't surfaced as a strong candidate for one of these head coaching jobs and decided to follow Jackson to Blackman. She was a really good head coach at Lake Co!

Will be very shocked to see that happen!

You're probably right. I would think that competing at a state championship level is all consuming. There's an old proverb that says something like If you chase two rabbits, you wont catch either one. I would think that it would be very difficult to run a program of that caliber and also be a level 5 teacher teaching 6 classes. Plus, be a present husband, father, etc... just not enough hours in the day...

Don't forget the Blackman football coach left as well... I wouldn't be surprised if the boys bball coach is the next to exit. The new admin over there is not playing nice. (or at least that's the word on the street) I don't think it is connected to the Riverdale/Smyrna situation at all. I'm not sure about Riverdale/Oakland boys jobs, as far as what led to them leaving but there sure is a lot of moving and shaking going on in Rutherford Co right now.

So how many District 9AAA Championships does that make for Chris Fryer? They dominated a good Wilson Central team from the opening tip!

I think he has exceeded expectations so far.

I agree that Drew is a really good basketball coach. I'm just saying that Ensworth vs CPA is apples to apples. CPA vs Giles Co, Marshall Co, or any other public school is not a level playing field in any shape, form or fashion. How anyone at the TSSAA thinks that it is, is absurd.

CPA isn't quite the juggernaut when they play teams that also get to handpick their players... Hmmmm, that's interesting. No wonder they want to stay in Div 1.

On paper, your prediction makes perfect sense based on scores, records, etc. But crazy things happen at tournament time...pressure, injuries, flu...anything can happen. I think Mt Juliet is the best team in the region but the best team doesn't always win...same for Rossview, Dickson etc. It'll be interesting to see what happens...It'll be here soon.

Big 9AAA matchup tomorrow night as Wilson Central hosts Mt Juliet. Both are undefeated in district play and are having great seasons so far. Who ya got winning this one?

Dickson has talent no doubt but they have played a pretty weak schedule. It looks like the best team they have played is Beech who is 6-6. I think Dickson is a solid team but they haven't been tested yet.

Here are my preseason predictions, not sure what I was thinking with Lebanon.

1 Mt. Juliet 3-0 2 Wilson Central 3-0 3 Beech 2-1 4 Station Camp 2-1 5 Hendersonville 1-2 6 Portland 1-2 7 Gallatin 0-3 8 Lebanon 0-3 Here are the current standings. At this point I'd have to say Beech is the biggest surprise considering what they lost from last year.

I totally disagree that officials are doing the best they can do. Some are, sure. We have about 10 good officials in the mid state. But there is a large group that is apathetic. But I think what you said about the pay is the contributing factor. If I get paid the same whether I do a great job or a terrible job, and no one is going to reprimand me for doing a bad job... where's the motivation? The apathy is worse in girls games! The pay needs to be based on merit, evaluations and job performance just like anything else. Otherwise the problem will never be solved. My issue is that they have have too much influence on the game and zero accountability. They can take the best players out of the game, toss a coach, toss fans, and yet they dont have to answer to anyone. All the tssaa cares about is what they have on and their mechanics when they report to the scorers table. Accuracy of calls isn't even part of the equation. It's sad. The kids work their butt off, year round in many cases, and some schmuck in stripes can end their season just because a fan or coach rubs them the wrong way on a particular night. It's just not right!

Here are the 9AAA standings after last night: Mt Juliet 1-0 Portland 1-0 Beech 1-0 Wilson Central 1-0 Hendersonville 0-1 Gallatin 0-1 Station Camp 0-1 Lebanon 0-1

Thats a big win for the Purple Panthers! So much for my soft schedule theory...

From the games I've watched Truth, I don't think that is out of the question. Gallatin has some talent. Duncan can create her own shot and if Hudson gets hot, look out!

Hendersonville is 3-1, lost to Rossview Station Camp is 3-2, lost to Rossview and Sycamore Wilson Central is 4-2, lost to Riverdale and Smyrna Mt Juliet is 3-1, lost to Oakland (beat a tough MLK team today) Lebanon is 1-2, beat Clarksville NW Beech is 3-4, lost to Stewarts Creek twice, Brentwood and Dickson (3 good teams) Portland is 6-1, yep not a typo... lost to Westmoreland (who is also 6-1) From what I've seen so far, I still think WC and Mt Juliet are the 2 best teams with Gallatin and Hendersonville right there in the mix. Portland has played a soft schedule so far. District play starts next week. Should be interesting...

I think it's safe to say that most of the top high school programs in the state have solid middle school coaches and programs. Otherwise, the high school programs would have a tough time maintaining any level of consistency. Unless of course they go out and recruit their players, or in rare cases are just blessed with an abundance of talent. Pretty sure Rick and Chris didn't teach Sally to be 6'4... Who gets credit for that? Isn't it the middle school coach's job to get the players ready to play at the high school level? Or are they shooting for the middle school basketball Hall of Fame? If you guys have an ax to grind and want to start a MJMS thread, be my guest but I'm not sure what this has to do with this topic.