TonyG

I think he means they aren't playing enough college teams lol

Most of the top players play for loaded prep schools. There aren't many public or private schools that play state regulated ball that are as talented as East. HH is not a tenn school. Most of the kids are from Canada and Africa, im just saying.

Who's the best team in Tenn? Nvm HH i didn't think. I still don't think they are better. That was a bad night for East.

16-6 (7-3 in the district) isn't bad considering that they've played much better since they got a few football players back. Especially if you consider that the football players won state and basketball team lost to MUS, Cordova, and Ridgeway in their absence. Two loses against East and a split with Central isn't a disappointment year considering what they lost last year and the age of the team. They went on win streaks of 8 before losing to East the first time and won 6 more before losing to central. Not bad.

pretty sure malcolm and tj weren't apart of the Lester group. but im honestly not hating, i dont have a dog in the AAA fight currently. pig nick & alo were part of the group, heck even with those three i think you could have a solid team with the addition of chandler. East has an abundance of talent.

I've also heard that Dj will be at East next year and he's a few strides better than lawson imo, just lacks the coaching. but hey i dont know anything

Give some of the younger boys time to come around. Mark my words, when Murrell gets accustomed to the pace of the game he will be special.

I dont agree with them having the bigs. Yes they have some height but none of the tall guys are really bigs that will bang with Malcolm down low. And one of thier better taller players Jones isn't really a post player either. Luckily they don't graduate much so they will be contenders next year also. I kinda want to go watch them play East tonight at home.

Chase Hayden SGS

Penny's thoughts: `We're breeding an NBA mindset here' John Varlas , USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee2:31 p.m. CT Jan. 30, 2017 During a recent Thursday game at East High's cozy gym, the best show of the night came in garbage time. That was when junior reserve James DeJesus came off the bench with a flurry of 3-point shoots, connecting six times from beyond the arc to finish with 20 points on only a few minutes of action. DeJesus' efforts drew cheers from the crowd and his more illustrious teammates along with a big smile from Mustangs coach Penny Hardaway. Like many games of late for the top AAA team in the state and the top team in The Commercial Appeal's Dandy Dozen, this one wasn't close; the Mustangs won the District 16-AAA game 107-46 to improve to 19-3. But if you think Hardaway is going to let his Mustangs cruise into the playoffs, think again. There's always something to compete for. "We're breeding an NBA mindset here," said Hardaway. "We instill that in them early ... and these are great kids." It would be understandable if the Mustangs became complacent, biding time until the third week in March when they're strongly favored to defend their AAA state championship. In its 12 victories against Shelby County competition, East has a winning margin of 38.2 points per game. No local team has even gotten within double-digits; the closest game was a 66-54 victory over White Station on Jan. 5. To that end, Hardaway put together a daunting national schedule for his team. East advanced to the finals of both the City of Palms Tournament in Fort Myers, Fla. (losing to nationally-ranked prep school Montverde Academy) and the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Mo. (losing to nationally-ranked Sierra Canyon out of California). Their only other defeat came against another prep school team, Chattanooga Hamilton Heights. And the Montverde loss? Well, East has made up for that. Twice. The Mustangs defeated the Eagles 75-73 at the ARS/Conway Services Penny Hardaway National Hoopfest on Jan. 7 before Alex Lomax's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave them a 59-56 victory six days later in the Bass Pro semifinals. "We knew locally that our league was down this year," Hardaway said. "So that's the advantage to playing a national schedule. We wanted to see where we stood." Added standout junior guard T.J. Moss, "We want to be competitive with the rest of the country. That's one of things that motivates us." Beating Montverde is all well and good. But Lomax — the reigning AAA Mr. Basketball and Gatorade state player of the year — says winning another state championship is the primary goal. The Mustangs defeated Cordova 64-60 in an all-Memphis final last year and are looking to be the first repeat winners in the state's largest classification since White Station in 2003-2004. "That's our main goal," said the junior, who recorded his first career triple-double (20 points, 10 assists, 10 steals) against Overton. "It wouldn't be right to be nationally-ranked and not be the best team in your state. That's why we're trying to be our best every night." And even though they won last year, Murfreesboro still holds some bad memories. Lomax and Moss were freshmen on the 2014 team that lost to Brentwood in the semifinals. "That year, we were crushed," he said. "We always want to make sure we never let that happen again ... Coach does a great job of keeping us in the right mindset and staying motivated." Improbably as it seems for a team that's ranked No. 4 in the nation according to unapproved website, Lomax said his team is still contending with doubters. "It's been like that since middle school," he said. But their talent isn't in doubt. Lomax and Moss are the gold standard when it comes to local backcourts, with Moss providing the knock-down 3-point shooting and Lomax providing an uncanny knack for doing whatever is needed to help make the team successful. And the emergence of Jayden Hardaway - the coach's son - adds an extra dimension. The Mustangs can also go big; Chandler Lawson — the 20th-ranked player in his class — goes 6-8 as does the rapidly-improving Malcolm Dandridge and Olive Branch transfer Antavion "Dude" Collum. Watching those three run the court while passing the ball back and forth and not letting it hit the floor is scary. Looking at the roster and seeing that all three are just sophomores is scarier. As coach Hardaway said, "We're playing for next season too." There's still a lot left in this season though starting with Tuesday's district game against visiting Whitehaven. The regular season concludes with games at Melrose (Friday) and at White Station (Feb. 7) before the district tournament begins. That's followed by the region and if everything stays status quo, another trip to state. But there's one tantalizing prize beyond that, a possible spot in the prestigious Dick's Sporting Goods High School National Tournament, an eight-team invitational in New York designed to crown a high school basketball national champion. No Tennessee team has ever participated in the event, which was won last year by Oak Hill Academy. "It would be big for us," said Lomax. "Big for Memphis and big for the state of Tennessee." Reach Varlas at john.varlas@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @johnvarlas

You have said nothing wrong man.

Dude these kids aren't that good on a individual basis is what im saying. It's the system. All of the kids there except for Conrad are virtually no-names, and Conrad is only receiving attention as of late. Their best players could transfer to other good schools and would be solid bench options. First you guys complain of the top tier players, now you complain about role players executing a system. An old coach of mines would always tell me "scheme beats team, when the team doesn't have a good scheme" and that's true here. The AAU program isn't a serious thing. They did a few small tourneys thats about it. They are not Team Penny, Thad, M33M, or Memphis Magic.

Why bring our personal lives into this lol? I'll give the nod on years because you are way older than I am judging from the pic. But I watch a good amount of ball myself. I've been everywhere you listed and seen talent including NY (the so called mecca of ball), I've been to Seattle on business with Boeing and had a chance to see Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs put on a show at Rainer Beach Highs cool, and many other places but it’s nothing to brag about its just basketball. I also seen a lot of talent in Arkansas and as of late I think that they are just as talented player for player than Memphis is, their kids are just spreaded out. I’m not here to talk about myself this is a ball forum, but if you think I’m just a homebody who can’t see ball outside of the hood that’s not the case man. But If you want to talk more personal things I could give you an email, if you don’t call me out for not having the PM and having a free account lol.

If East were zoned they would still be good enough to win it all, IF they could get out of memphis. I know off top that if the school was zoned, they would only lose one starter and one rotation guy. Subtract these two players and they are still 15 pts better than any team in the state. You speak as if penny has his the top tier of the best individual players in memphis. And East just won state 4 years ago way before penny got into the picture. The open enrollment actually helps everyone outside of memphis bc players don't want to play with another equally talented person in their position. Do your research and ask someone with legitimate knowledge of middle school ball in the area and youll be told that alot of kids played together in middle school and if they stayed along that path the east & southeast schools would win year after year bc they would be loaded. Majority of the top players went to schools such as highland oaks, whitestation, bellevue, john p freeman etc. So that means year after year Middle and East TN would complain about Whitestation, Southwind, Ridgeway and Whitehaven being way more talented than the rest of the state. The selfishness of players helps you all out with open enrollment honestly.

It's true. Their style isn't some you see often. East isn't made to play like that honestly, they aren't a team full of runners like WEB. Granted East was banged up early on and penny did give everybody minutes.

Their coach runs a playing style that fits his team. He doesn't mind giving up points as long as they are executing. The press for 32 minutes attempt over 30 threes a game and get alot of turnovers. Around the third quarter their opponents are exhausted and the threes falling can be overwhelming. He has the right players to run this style, 4 extremely quick guards and a 6'4 shooter who is among the best. Their AAU team isn't much to look into, just a local club not one of the big shoe teams. And 4 of them sat out last year after transferring as someone already said, so no one can complain about them not being legit.

Everyone always wants to bring up the enrollment numbers but its not as if a 500 school is playing 1500 schools. Oh wait the best team in the state is doing that but that doesn't count lol.

Maybe he's only seen A. Everyone doesn't play D like Mitchell in A. But there are always scorers in A, maybe thats what has him thinking that way. I guess we don't play D in memphis bc we press and play man instead of sitting back in a zone allowing 30 passes before a score.

I dont even reply to that guy anymore just about everything he says involving Key and West TN is a joke. Top 5 player in what state? Maybe top 5 in 2017, but if some were in their right grade he wouldn't be top 10. Can't let those boosted numbers get to his head. I dont think their are many people on this forum who would agree with West TN not playing D lol. Playing stall ball and 2-3 zone with scores of 35-32 doesn't equate to excellent defense, just a scheme.

Douglas is definitely a combo guard. He plays the 3 for cbhs but runs all the PG duties when he's on the floor and played alot of PG on the circuit over the summer. He's maybe a 2 on the next level but i dont think he would be ranked and recruiting as a 1/2 option if he were a 3. I think Key is better than Jarrett. I was just talking athleticism comparison. Both of them are kinda sneaky athletic. And from what i seen from team thad over the last few years when they were together, Marshall is probably a little more athletic than Douglas in some aspects. He just doesn't play the same role or have the handle. Handles and straight line speed sets these two apart outside of their roles. CJ can really shoot it and its underrated.

I wouldnt compare him to 5'11 6'0 PGs. Compare him to a 6'4 6'5 William Douglas or a 6'5 Carlos Marshall or a 6'4 Tristian Jarrett all who are in the 2017 class. If that's who you are comparing him then he isn't very athletic.

There isn't a discussion imo. The only person that could challenge him for this award is Conrad from Dubios imo. He's the only other stat stuffer that will have a chance at getting a ring in march. Post season matters idc what anyone says. Unless your stats are just so amazing that you ignore the winners. Key's stats are so good he will get it regardless, but im also sure CC will make it to the tourney due to the region. I've seen players win it with stats and without stats. I've seen lomax win it basic stats, ive seen Jordan Bone lose it two years in a row to players he avg 10 more ppg compared to. I'm saying this to state that post season matters. But the race isn't close bc Key will have the stats along with the region wins.

thankyou!

The Adidas events also have 3 different levels of tourneys. I know this bc i went to Chicago, Atlanta, Vegas, and LA over the summer following a team. They have a Gold, Silver and Bronze division. The Gold and Silver are not open to public and only let Club teams in. And the size and athleticism differences between the Gold and Silver divisions are crazy; you go from the tallest guy on the team being 6'4 with a few low major offers to playing a 4 star 6'9 forward with coaches on the sidelines watching that you never think you see in life. I was just making a point so the guy who said he torched kids all over the country should know there's a difference. Eybl on the other hand is closed and doesn't allow freelance teams to play.

.......TN bobcats isn't even a big aau program. Everyone knows that the best players play for the teams with the shoe contracts so don't gauge the real talent off of a few lowly AAU teams. Key is at the top of A as the best player but i honestly don't think there's much that separate him from Parker Stewart besides the stats and Stewarts much better shooting ability. But then again Stewart can't get those stats bc he's in West TN where the talent isn't as scarce as it is in Region 4. There's no doubt that Key will win the award but hold your horses on deeming him as the best thing in A if you haven't seen everyone.