JoeDirt

That's crap about your three best players in foul trouble sitting for long stretches...I call BS on that statement. In fact, Valentine and Jones barely left the court. That's coming from someone who was there...now they sat a lot against Harriman and I'm not carrying water for them because you all played them on their home court, BUT they were missing one of their starters as well...pretty sure. However, you all ended up smoking them. By the way, you all are the biggest excuse makers for a team that is supposedly so flipping awesome. I've seen previous posts where you all whined for not having the Jones kid for parts of this season. I guess a good team would have won the 4 you loss...huh? As far as the "butt hurt (those are two separate words in the English language by the way) rant" comment goes...I'm not an excuse guy and Hampton won the game AND I said they have a good team. Yes, those comments about level of competition were definitely directed at Tellico...kind of obvious. YOU must not have read that part of my post about Hampton having a good team either:):). I ALSO wished you all best of luck the rest of the year...didn't read that part either I guess:):). My overall problem with some posts I've seen is that you all have an extremely over inflated view of what you think Hampton should do to EVERY team they play. There are other really good teams in this area and NO WAY you should think that those kids are going to walk out on the court and dominate other good teams.. Tellico will take the loss and maybe we'll meet again. If that happens, don't feel bad if Tellico plays you down to the wire OR whips that tail:):) By tthe way, in my opinion, Grace is the best team Tellico has played...not Hampton. I'll at least give Hampton credit in that they're the best public school I've seen Tellico play.

Give credit where credit is due. Tellico should have beat you all, if not for many missed lay ups in the first half. They are a good team and are playing without one of their top 8 players who is a '6.5' kid who would have helped them tonight as well. You all have a good team, BUT to not give other teams their credit is excuse making and ridiculous. Not everybody that you play, you should beat...you all are not THAT good. Hold your horses on saying "you all play to the level of your competition." That very well may be true sometimes, as with any high school, college, or professional team on occasion. However, today's game was an even match with good talent on both sides of the court and if you didn't see that, then you know nothing about basketball. Once again, Hampton has a good ball club, BUT so does Tellico and I bet if they played each other 10 times with both sides having ALL their players...it would be 5-5 depending on where the games took place. Those are facts my friend. So, talk all you want about how great you all are and keep giving yourself pats on the back...just don't get on here and make excuses about why a GOOD team played you down to the wire and probably should have beat you if not for many missed bunnies in the first half. Good luck the rest of the year and I hope you all do well. I guarantee you this though, your team probably would rather stay away from another match up any time soon.

I know you are a homer, but to say this Harriman could compete with some of the great Harriman teams in the past is just plain ridiculous I saw the Harriman teams of the early to mid 90s play against Sweetwater on several occasions and there is NO WAY they could stay within 20pts of those teams and I'm not sure they could compete with a couple of the teams that Xavier was on just a few years ago. You also have to remember that those 90s Harriman teams played AA ball NOT A ball. This is a good Harriman team, BUT their lack of being able to play solid defense against a good opponent is going to hurt them in crunch time this year. You talk about all those awesome sophomores, not a one of them has true size to them. The Johnson kid is a pole and not a post player and does not have a good shot at all outside 10 ft. Will Harriman have any size after this yr? They are not really big to begin with this yr. Although you do have the Gresham kid and another transfer bigger kid from Hardin Valley? Both are seniors right? Maybe you will get some more transfers or hire another AAU coach who will bring his You all have the same problem that Meigs has in my opinion and that is any true size. You shut down the Meigs 3pt and transition game and pound them on the boards...you win. With you guys, in my opinion, slow down Pace and don't let Bingham have set shot looks...you win. In fact, other than Pace and Bingham, you all have no other true shooters. You have nobody else that can go off...just my observation. You will say you do, but you don't. The one thing that Grace for sure has is some size and they can shoot...dangerous combo. Of course they should have a little bit of everything when you're a private with a sports emphasis at your school I may be wrong on this and Harriman could go on to do great things...just what I saw and some scores I've seen them give up to opposing teams. With all this being said, that is why games are played on the court and not on paper. Also, some teams just match up better against other teams. It will be an interesting 2nd half of the season.

I do believe it is a 4 way race for the district with Grace, Meigs, Harriman, and Tellico falling anywhere from 1-4. Harriman upgraded their roster with the hiring of an AAU coach who brought two players with him, otherwise Harriman would be in the bottom half of this district. Specifically the Pace kid who pretty much does everything for them. My observation on them in the long run is that they play a "street ball" style of basketball with very little defense. Defense wins come tourney time, UNLESS you have overwhelming talent (Carter), so I don't see them advancing very far in the Region...it is held @ Harriman this year though Also, they have a back loaded district schedule with both games vs Meigs, Grace, and finishing @ Tellico...not easy when you are trying to finish high in the district. They better not slip up in any other district games before then. Meigs shoots the ball extremely well and are all savvy basketball players, BUT they are not very big, not deep @ all (weak past #7 player), and are missing the #1 cog that got them to the title game last year...Levi Woods. However, IF you allow them to shoot uncontested 3s and get runout transition buckets, they are really good...they could be in a spot to contend for the Region title...especially with Zy back at full speed. Grace is, as always, well balanced. They have good guard play, size, and are fairly deep. They pass the ball well (not selfish), shoot it well, and are solid on defense. They have played a tough schedule, which will benefit them come tourney time. I do believe their Achilles heal would be that if a team could consistently pressure them for 32 minutes, they would struggle. In fact, I know that has given them some problems this yr...very good team though...should be when you are a private in the public division They will be a top contender for the Region title as well. Tellico is a team I wouldn't sleep on and could really surprise people come tourney time. They have good guard play, no "true" bigs - yet have good size with 4-5 kids 6 ft 2 or better, solid defensively, and have 4 players averaging double figures, they go 8-9 deep, and pressure the entire game. They do really well getting the ball in paint and crashing the offensive glass. Their losses this year in district play to Harriman @ Harriman and Grace @ home were both good games and with some things falling their way, could have easily won both of those games. When they traveled to Harriman, they had just played an emotional game vs a good Meigs team the night before and then had to travel over an hr to Harriman on a Saturday. One of their best players sat pretty much the entire first half, they missed a ton of bunnies around the basket (12-13 right at the rim),, and was a 2 pt game with 3 minutes left to go before Harriman pushed to the final of 9. In the Grace game, their 6th man (vital to what they like to do and significant contributor) went out with a knee injury in the first quarter and never returned. Give Grace credit, they took advantage of it and played well enough to get the win. Tellico does seem to struggle sometimes vs teams that play tight zones. Not a "great" shooting team, which could hurt them in the long run. They are a legitimate threat to make it far in the tourney though. Not sure about the other district other than Oakdale tries to out shoot other teams...very little defense. Jellico has an excellent point guard. Coalfield has the McKinney kid and Lee kid, but no size. Wartburg tries to cause chaos...which could benefit or hurt them in a critical tourney game. OS is big, yet have NO guard play or a "true" point guard to get everything under control. Just my observations and opinions about some of what has been posted on here. Everybody has a bias for their team, so I guess we will just see how it plays out come tourney time. It should be fun