TJ

It doesn't really matter which one starts. Neither one shoots the ball. Jonathan took a season high 3 shots last night and scored 8 points. They both are role players right now but will be looked for big contributions next year when Sanders, Allen and Wade all graduating and Reed possibly leaving for the league.

Sibo was all-conference a few times and made the Jazz summer team. I wouldn't call that a flop.

We lose both our 5 men next year at Lambuth so we obviously need some big men. My coach questioned me about the big boy out at Dyersburg. Do you think he can make a big impact at the college level next season? From what I remember about him in HS, he was very frail and didn't like to hang around the basket. If you have any other ideas for post men let me know.

Gomab, Opperman's right. Herring could be the sleeper of this class. I spoke to Coach Smith the other day and he said Herring could be the best he's ever coached if he wants it as bad as Coach Smith does for him. You need to make a trip out to see him!!!!

I dunno about being better w/o Ben b/c it's REAL hard to replace 6'10", especially in HS. Marc Gasol scored like 40 on them b/c they didn't have a guy taller than 6'4". I went and watched them play last week and they looked alright. Chase Hardin is playing really well and shooting the ball well and Jaycean is killin people by getting to the basket. He may be the longest player i've ever seen. He's like Scottie Pippen long. But anyway, Bartlett is good b/c they are REAL good defensively.

What do you know? I saw where they beat McComb who has that Elton Brand type player. Let me know what you know. Thanks.

NAIA Union University will beat UTM on the 5th if they play the way they are capable of playing

He's right. Dane is a great, GREAT, passer. I'd love to play w/ him. He's a great floor leader and does a lot of intangibles on the floor (i.e. taking charges and things like that, hustle plays) He has GREAT build. I dunno if i'd go as far as saying that he's a linebacker, but he's built like Wally Szerbiak (sp) of the T'wolves. He also is fairly athletic. Not that quick, but he pretty good hops.

I heard 6 people from the Lewis County Courts were all signing D1. LOL

C'mon now. Who are you to judge whether and AAU program is poorly coached and organized. From the people i've talked to, and I do talk to plenty of people, Jeremy's program is real well ran. How do you think he gets in the MAJOR summer tourney without being a NIKE of Adidas team?

Gomab, your list says Ben is "no college hoops." Not real sure what's he going to do, but he's hinted where's he's going and has been offered. I think he IS going to play.

Marcus Hill-Central High School Logan Mooneyham-First Assembly Christian School (FACS)

Well said Ego. Also, although alot of people may be arguing back and forth about whether it was assault or not, what do you guys do on your thread? All ya'll do is set up times to come down and play. You may have had one of the largest threads on coacht last year, but the people who are clicking on it and posting on it are all of you guys, to where the people clicking and posting on Ben's thread is everyone. Fastereddie, I don't have a problem w/ old hasbeens playing in leagues and you're right, i'll be one of them one day. But what I won't do it take up space on a HS message board telling how great I played. Also, I won't get on here talking about a fake book that i've wrote and how i'll be here and there to sign the book for people. That's just stupid.

If nobody cares about Ben getting removed from the team, check out how many clicks his thread has received and why are there 6 pages of posts? Nuff said

I don't read ya'lls crap anymore. Free speech goes both ways ya know....it's just so stupid how ya'll keep posting these things about these courts and ya'll make it sound so important. Nobody cares about fat, old, hasbeens playing on an outdoor court.

C'mon now, if you want to say that talking about a kid that was prolly one of the top couple big men prospects in the state and talking about the Lewis County outdoor courts are the same thing, then you're living in a diluted world. Those courts do have nothing to do w/ this site, but Ben getting kicked off a HS basketball team DOES. Just think about it and it makes sense.

Kareem, first of all, I apologize for calling you and idiot. Second, I never claim to be an bball expert and as far as the Top 20 poll goes, I was asked to HELP put that together by Gomab. I really don't care about polls. Next, the reason I did call you an idiot is the way you came across relating your opinion. If you would've related your opinion like you just did in the previous post, I would've simply said that I disagreed w/ you and left it at that. But you decided to make fun of a kid, that you don't know or know the level of his intelligence, for a few spelling errors which I felt was out of line. I've stated numerous times that Ben is the one that is the most at fault, but I do also know Coach Smith and know how things run around there. One of the main reasons he and the program has been so successful is b/c of the way he's run it. He doesn't care what anyone thinks and puts up w/ no crap. He doesn't listen to anyone but himself and his staff. No parents, buddies, ect.) But I also know that he CAN take things too far and like i've said before, if you don't know how to deal w/ the demands he puts on you, you could very well fail in his program. I battled w/ him for 3 years until I bought into what he was saying. I didn't fail in those 3 years, but I wasn't as good of a player as I became when I bought into what he was trying to teach me. If I didn't buy into those principles, I wouldn't be as prepared for the college level and thank him for that and for helpin me mature. As far as our state championship team, did you ever see us play? Yes, Jonathan made us a lot better team, no question about that. If you take him off our team, we prolly don't win it, or maybe even make it to state. BUT, also if you take me off the team, if you take Keith Duggin, Adrian Jones, Brandon Wallace, even Ben at that time, we may not win it. Every person on that team played a huge role in our sucess, some bigger pieces of the puzzle than others. I was told just a few months ago something that was said by Coach Smith about our team in 2001 that was one of the biggest compliments that he's ever given me. He said "Jonathan was our best player, Keith was our heart, and Troy was the glue of the team and leader on the floor." That meant more to me than anything i've ever been told by him. Because in my earlier years at Bartlett I was the team screw up. Always getting in trouble in class, clashing w/ Coach Smith, being accused of being selfish, being accused of not working hard enough. So I went from that to being the glue of a championship team that could've been nationally ranked if we wouldn't have had a few garbage losses. So I don't think Jonathan was 100% of our success. Jonathan's talent was the perfect compliment for the rest of our team and helped put us over the hump.

Softballa, what are you talking about? Someone asked me a ? so I answered it. You're prolly right. This thread has nothing to do w/ HS bball. Ben's does though. Anytime the best big man in memphis gets kicked off his team, people want to know about it. [Edited by TJ on 11-2-02 1:02A]

The thing about White Station that makes them so good is that they have 10+ good players that could prolly start a every school in the city and Tippett has molded them together to play as a "team." They are a team that you don't know where the points are gonna come from and they are very unselfish.

LionBoy, I know you know coach Smith, BUT wouldn't the players that played for him know him a little better than you? You speak as if you are the law of Hubie Smith. I think coach Smith cares about his players, but some of his former ones don't, and I think they prolly know him a little bit better than you.

He poked in the chest w/ a finger people, not saying that's right, but it ain't like he hit him over the head w/ a brick. Someone said something about assult and everyone just took it and ran w/ it. And Ben is going to school, gateway home school and he may be going to Lausanne from what he told me. Coacht, how do some of these people get to be your plus members. They are making that classification look bad.

Gomab, did your brother end up making the team at MTSU? Also, Brandon Allen is more like 6'4".

Well, I went up there and met with Coach Wiel at the end of January and everything was set up for me to be an "invited walk-on" next year. Then, of course, he resigned/got fired and the new coaching staff didn't want to take on another walk on. This was June when they finally got back to me so I guess they already had a number of walk-ons. So now i'm playing at Lambuth Univeristy.

Geez man, get a grip on life. Why are you so angry? You don't even know Ben but you talk like you know him personally. Ben is the last person that craves for attention. He's actually really quiet. You have a real chip on your shoulder and you might want to consider counseling if you HOPE bad things happen to a person. Ben got on here to clear up and give his side of the story b/c he was getting a bad rap. Like i've said before, i'm not on his or coach smith's side, but i'd bet if coach smith, or any coach got on here to tell their side, people on this board wouldn't be so critical of him.

White Station is preseason #11 in the country led by 6'5" (LOL!!!) Dane Bradshaw. If they don't win the state AGAIN this year, i'll be really surprised. Rumor has it that Terry Tippett will be retiring after this year or real soon. Next, Johnson City is ranked #15 in the SE region. Not to take anything away from JCSH, but are they really the 15th best team in the Southeast?