ONLYAFAN

How does the paying work to get into the state tournament? Can a person pay once and stay all day, or are there sessions in which they clear the gym out and you pay to get back in?

Anybody know if the girls championship games today are on TV? What channel(s)?

It would be so much better if basketball had 3 divisions. Some of the coaches sent in a proposal to TMSAA for that to happen, but no word has come from the people in charge. The way that basketball is run is horrible. It is all left up to the coaches in that area. Of course, coaches are never going to agree. That is a why a standard needs to be set, and everyone should have to follow it. Having 3 set divisions would benefit all teams involved, I believe. Also, I feel like total middle school enrollment should count, instead of only 8th grade.

I don't know why people are complaining about the location being at caton's chapel. Knoxville would not be in the middle of East Tennessee (as far as driving time is considered). Teams are having to come from as far east as Rogersville, Johnson City, and Bristol. The drive to Pigeon Forge is about as far for them as it is for people from Morgan and Scott County.

Who won between Fairview and Lenior City girls?

Nothing like good old county jealousy. No one can have kids that are 15 before August 1st, all birthdates are sent in to TSSAA and checked. Maybe they beat you guys because they are better.

I feel that it would be in everyone's best interest to have guidelines to follow instead of leaving it up in the air every year. This is what happens in Area II. Things are different every year, coaches do not agree on what should happen, and no one ever wins the big fights. If rules and guidelines were somewhat established by an authority figure, people could not argue with those rules. They would either follow them or not participate. An authority figure in TMSAA should just attend one of the coaches' meetings in order to see how much guidelines are needed.

Are you talking about Area 2 large schools? Because I know Area 2 small schools did not do their season like this for the seedings. In my opinion, coaches should not meet and decide how things will be done. The rules should be laid out by the TMSAA for middle school programs just like TSSAA sets rules for high school. There is not enough organization laid out for the middle school season and tournaments.

Before everyone gets into it over being sent up to the large school or not, I believe there is a problem with how the small and large divisions are set up right now. Right now, it goes by your area, and that is all. Like right now, Oneida is somewhat large compared to most of their area teams (except Wartburg, there is not much of a difference there). However, if you look at other small school areas, many of the small schools are much larger than Oneida. I'm pretty sure schools like Eagleton and maybe even Holston (I'm not for sure on Holston) are larger than Oneida, yet they never have to deal with the issue of moving up. I think there should be some way that the enrollment number should be based upon the same number across the state, or at least the same number across the sectional schools. One option people have come up with is having 3 divisions instead of 2.

I know about that meeting and the district tournament was not taken from Wartburg and moved to PJ. The site is determined by drawing a name out of a hat. The group decided to rotate each year by picking a north division team one year and picking a south division team the next. Since the north had it this year, south teams were being drawn. PJ just happened to be picked. However, they said another facility would probably be used.

I doubt that Oneida has ever had to talk a kid into coming there by promising playing time. Oneida has had too many successful years in many sports without the help of any county kids coming to their programs. I know of plenty of teams (basketball and football) that were made up of pretty much all players that came up through the Oneida system. Who cares where a kid goes to high school? This Oneida/County issue is getting out of hand and very annoying. People from Oneida do not say anything if any of their players go to Scott High, but if Scott High people come to Oneida, they and the Oneida program are ridiculed for it. It's crazy. I have no personal ties to either of these schools; i just enjoy high school sports, and I am familiar with both school systems. Just let the kids play and support them no matter what school they are at!!!! The kids are the important thing here, not the school or team in which they are a part of.

Who will the Wartburg Lady Bulldogs be playing now? I did not hear the winner of the Area 4 consolation game. How will Fairview stack up against Eagleton?

Any results for the Eagleton tournament?

The word is that new brackets are being sent out today for Caton's Chapel. Some teams still aren't definite, but games will start on Monday night, supposedly. Instead of having all girls games on Monday and all boys games on Tuesday, they will be mixed. The top half of the brackets will be completed after Saturday, so the number ones from Area 4 and Area 2 in boys and girls will begin their tournament on Monday (play in games for Area 1 and Area 3 will be on Sat. at Caton's/ winners of those will play Area 2 and Area 4 number 1s on Monday). The other half of the bracket will not begin until Tuesday since some play-in games may not be played until Monday night. Hopefully, someone can revise/add more to this as more information is sent to the schools. This is just some info going around.

How are the Eagleton girls? How will they stack up against Oliver Springs?