maddams

1A favorite has to be Greenfield. They bring back their best two players. The rest of West TN 1A is down. Humboldt, Middleton, Memphis Middle College may be the next best teams. Middle TN 1A will be interesting - a lot of good teams. Only two of McEwen, Wayne Co, Richland, Moore Co, Eagleville will make the state tournament. McEwen has probably the best player in 1A (though you could make an argument for Shields at Unaka). Wayne Co is down a little but still competitive. Richland is really good. Pickett and Van Buren will be really good. Clarkrange could upset one of them. Way east looks like North Greene and Unaka with Cloudland definitely capable of knocking one of them off

My take on GC for this year: Based on what I saw last year and heard this summer, I’m not sure GC could surprise me next year with any outcome. Wilkins is a great coach - they could win the district and region and go to Murfreesboro. They could also come in third in the district and not get out of region. The two returning starters are very talented but Guru is right that they didn’t always play hard last year. The other three starters are good enough in their roles for GC to be successful. There is no depth. Foul trouble could be a problem - Wilkins may avoid it by playing a lot of zone. An injury would be catastrophic. I hope they have a big year and Wilkins rides off into the sunset in Murfreesboro because, without some significant transfers, there are some tough years coming in the next few.

Daniel Boone coming down to 3A makes this much tougher. They added a couple transfers to the Flores girl. Cocke Co, Northview, Greeneville, and Daniel Boone - only two headed to Murfreesboro.

Crockett Co will have the Maddox sisters, one a junior and one a freshman. Not sure if they have much to go with them but those two will keep them competitive.

The Bell kid at Middleton is a good player.

TCA has a rising freshman, last name is Ingle. She’s going to be really good. Fayette Ware has a senior, last name is Bugg I think, that can flat score the ball. South Gibson also has the Allen kid coming this year. She’s going to be really good for them

Not sure it’s worth talking about the Dyersburg, Crockett, South Gibson district until school starts. Lots of rumors about players coming or going at all three schools. Won’t know what that district looks like until probably August

JCS make a hire?

If I thought there was any way to get Haskins to leave, I’d put him in the top spot on the list. I don’t think he would even answer the phone call. Wilkins probably wouldn’t either. The other three would probably take the call and at least listen to an offer.

A surprising hire announced for MTCS today. They hired Shala Ferrell - a middle school coach from Tullahoma. She may be a great hire but not a splashy one

If I was JCS and was serious about girls basketball, I’d call in order: 1. Brent McNeal - offer him so much that he has to think about it; he could get players to JCS from public middle schools 2. Mitch Wilkins - tell him to draw state retirement and a private school paycheck 3. Tim Strayhorn - can’t see him leaving Dyersburg but has two granddaughters who can play 4. Catie Embrey - won everyone she’s been; has a history of moving around Make all 4 tell you no then move on to other candidates

Maybe I’m wrong. Brain doesn’t always work right these days. But I thought the Long girl was a transfer from Maury County. I don’t remember which school

Didn’t that really good Summertown team from a few years ago have a transfer in the starting lineup?

You used the Miss Basketball finalist at Westview as an example in your post. If you were her parents, would you have left her at South Fulton for her senior year? Assuming you had the means and a legal way to get her to Westview or any other better situation, would you not have done so? Kids and parents will always look to get to successful programs and coaches. If her family was directly contacted by a Westview coach or administrator, that's against the rules. However, it seems that most "recruiting" is done by players and/or parents. This is not illegal because there's no way to police it. If the rumor floating around about a transfer for Westview next year is true, it will again make them significantly better. They're not the only program in West TN with transfer rumors floating around. I've heard a couple different ones for USJ and South Side. The common denominator is a history of success that people want to be a part of.

Really haven't seen a lot of coaching movement in West TN so far. A few jobs that came open but nothing crazy. I have heard some rumors about player movement that could have an impact

I did not mean to imply that by my previous post. Just saying, the privates in Jackson are playing for second until Haylen graduates. After that, with the right hire and continuing to bring kids in from the city, JCS could be a contender in west TN. The Memphis privates have not been very good for several years. I'm not saying the Ayers stay at USJ after Haylen graduates but I'd be shocked if the move was to another school in Jackson

Accurate. What happened with Coach Shutes at JCS? Did he retire? I haven’t seen anything related to the job other than it being posted. That job could be interesting after Ayers graduates from USJ. JCS has done of good job of bringing in kids from the public schools recently in football and basketball (boys and girls).

Tony Hill has been around the middle TN area for a long time. Coached at Centennial, Independence, Huntland, and a several other places. I was surprised at Hardin hiring him. Feels like Hardin is rebuilding and really needs to focus on building the program from young kids to middle school. I wouldn’t expect Tony Hill to be there long enough to do that.

Obion County announced Bryon Freeman as their new coach

I'm not sure they had a lot of options. Obion is in a brutal district/region for girls basketball (district has Dyersburg, South Gibson, and Crockett Co; region has South Side). They were below average last year and will graduate their best player. Tough spot

Heard some rumors that Hart might be giving up the girls and focusing on the boys. Not sure if there's any truth to those rumors...

Shutes retiring?

Probably some disappointment for all the west TN 3A teams in Murfreesboro. Dyersburg was the most talented team there - probably the only team that could have beaten White Co. If Dyersburg and Northview play 10 times, Dyersburg probably wins 8. But hard to win if only 3 players score. They’ll miss Crawford next year but will still be really good. South Side felt like they had a shot this year with Askins as a senior. They drew a team that got hot at the right time. Scoring will be a lot harder for them next year without Askins. South Gibson struggled offensively most of the season. If they couldn’t turn teams over, scoring was hard. This has been the case for them the last two years and will probably continue to be the case until they get more skilled players into the program. The way the games were officiated also had a big impact on all three West TN teams. All three are very physical teams and were allowed to be so all year. If you watched the semifinal games, foul trouble was one of the main factors in not getting round five of Dyersburg and South Gibson.

You could get me onboard with this. Would like to see some added points for playing teams in larger classes, but this seems fair

I have not seen that formula, but I’m intrigued by the idea. I assume strength of schedule was accounted for?