maddams

Rode over to Wayne Co and watched a bunch of game Monday and Tuesday. Wayne Co is going to be really good again. They are sooooo long. Baugus is great. They can shoot it. They added two freshman, including Coach Ashley’s 6’2 daughter. State title contender USJ is better. Ayers is always the best player on the floor. They’ve got a couple kids who can shoot it and an athletic post. Post kid doesn’t score much but plays really hard. They could challenge for title with Webb moving to AA. Creek Wood lost a lot but added a freshman STUD. She can flat score the ball. With their new district/region, Creek Wood could potentially get to a state tournament. South Gibson looked solid. The Allen kid was really good. They’ve got some other kids who can shoot it. Not much depth. They could be in the same situation as Creek Wood - not as good as last year but should be successful. Red Boiling Springs was there and good grief can they shoot the 3! They pushed Wayne Co and South Gibson to the limit just by draining deep threes consistently. They may upset some people this year. Everybody else I watched (Harpeth, Scotts Hill, FRA, JCS, Loudon, Gleason, Houston Co) was below average or worse.

I feel like Summertown has some tough years coming. Brazier and Campbell will keep them competitive this year, but it looks like a big dip in the next couple years. You seeing the same thing?

Webb’s coach resigned last night to take a job at Montverde - national power in Florida. This hire could have a huge impact on schools in TN.

Those should be good games. I expect South Side and South Gibson to be down a bit compared to last year but both should be competitive. Loretto should have a good year-played some young kids last year. I know Huntingdon has to replace some pieces but I expect them to challenge for a state tournament spot now that they’re out of the GC/Westview path

I’m going to try to ride over to Wayne Co next week and watch some of their camp. Not sure who will be there. It’s usually Wayne, Summertown, Creek Wood, USJ, Lawrence Co. South Gibson was there last year.

Coach Williams did a great job at Cleveland. To have that level of success in the literal shadow of a powerhouse like Bradley is impressive. If Cleveland’s admin is measuring success based on record vs Bradley, that’s gonna be tough for anybody. That said, Coach Hensley can coach. She does a good job and her personality may give her a chance to keep more of the Cleveland Middle School kids. We’ll see. I wouldn’t have fired Williams, but Cleveland made a good hire

I don’t know much about Murrell. He has not been very successful at previous stops, but that could be lack of talent. Surprised their weren’t some bigger names looking to get that Williamson Co money

Heard yesterday that Lawrence County coach resigned after two pretty good years. Seemed like they had something good going. Now looking for a new coach. Tough deal

Were you talking about Crockett Co? Saw an announcement today that Coach Rudesill will be taking over that problem. He won a lot at Bolivar before going to JCM when they reopened a couple years ago. I don't think he coached anywhere last season. Coach Simpson had only been there 2 years. Looking at schedules, he went 35-26 in two years with a substate appearance.

Williamson Co pays well but there are some negatives about it as well. I'm not surprised Wild left Summit, but going to Santa Fe is strange. He's not a young coach, so taking on a major rebuild at a small school with limited resources is surprising and doesn't really match his previous moves.

There hasn't been a lot of significant coaching movement up to this point. I know Warren County is open. Looks like Summit is open now - John Wild headed to Santa Fe (interesting move). Also heard Giles County is open, though they have not been competitive in a long time. Any other changes out there?

I think Huntingdon has potential to go further next season as the new alignment gets them away from Westview and GC. Kee is a great player, but don’t think you can graduate a kid like Singleton and get better

I think McMinn, Gibson Co and Gatlinburg are probably top 3 going into the season. Gibson will miss Cantrell but has some young kids ready for bigger roles. McMinn brings everybody back. Gatlinburg brings almost everybody back. Westview will be good, especially by February. Loretto and Summertown will be good not great. Probably same for Huntingdon. Alcoa graduates a lot. York graduates some important pieces but Beatty still there keeps them in the conversation

AAA should be wide open next year. Lot of teams losing pieces. Upperman graduates some big pieces but always seems to be in the conversation. I heard they some nice middle school pieces coming. Livingston graduates their bigs, but will still be good. I think Greeneville graduates 3 starters (?) I know the Bailey kid graduates. She was their leading scorer. Creek Wood graduates almost all their production and takes a step back Elizabethton graduates 3 starters, including the guard that played so well in the state tournament. Dyersburg will be really dangerous. Multiple scorers and athletes. You could make an argument for them being the preseason favorite. South Side will take a step back, but I think, with the new district/region alignments, they get back to Murfreesboro. South Gibson graduates 3 starters but probably has a region semifinal game against Fayette Ware to decide who goes to state tournament. You never know what will happen in the transfer portal to change some of this.

The way it should be? You're certainly entitled to that opinion but I disagree. The one class idea makes for a great story once every decade or so. The rest of the time, it's just big schools playing each other in a state tournament.

I didn’t see any “cheating”. That’s a word that should be avoided when discussing referees. They called some touchy stuff out front and let some harder stuff go in the paint. Not saying the game was officiated well, but no cheating. A game being officiated this way was my biggest concern for South Side coming into the tournament. There seems to be a couple every year that end up with multiple players fouling out due to touch fouls while players get hammered around the basket with no calls. South Side survived, which is all that matters. Lawson was unbelievable. One of the best state tournament games I’ve ever seen. Anybody know where #4 for Elizabethton is playing college ball? Not many players run past South Side’s guards like she did

Looking at South Gibson’s schedule on CoachT - 10 losses on the season 4 to Jackson South Side - 3A finalist 2 to Gibson County - still playing in 2A Livingston Academy - 3A finalist York Institute - great team with bad draw at state tournament McCracken County (KY) - still playing in KY state tournament Pleasant Grove (AL) - 5A state champion Apparently this was the first state tournament appearance in school history. They were never a threat to win the gold ball, but still an impressive season. Embrey has done a great job in two years there. No need for bashing them

#4 for Elizabethton is incredible. Tamia Lawson for South Side is incredible

Disagree. AP poll voters are local sports writers. Most of these guys do a great job in their local market but have no way of knowing what teams in other areas look like. It’s not like college where games are televised. Most weeks the AP poll has 10-15 voters statewide.

There’s really no good way to do it other than blind draw. State polls are voted on by high school sports writers who really only see teams in their area all season. TSSAA could save themselves a lot of grief by live streaming the draw. There’s enough technology available to make that easy

Livingston Academy vs Greeneville winner has a good chance to play for a state championship. I would say the three best teams in this tournament are South Side, Upperman and Elizabethton. All three end up one the same side of the bracket

Gibson and Community should win their first round games. The other two are coin flips and should be great games

I've seen Dyersburg a couple times. They are a year away from being very dangerous. This year is about gaining some state tournament experience since they bring all main pieces back. They might be able to beat Fayette Ware if that's their draw. Don't see them beating anybody else up there.

The Upper Cumberland is top tier girls basketball in the state of TN. Good chance they bring back more gold and/or silver this year. But to say there are four teams in 7AAA that could have easily gone undefeated with that schedule is just not true. Could South Side have scheduled harder? Absolutely. BUT there are not 4 teams in 7AAA that would have beaten Gibson County, Trinity Christian, Hewitt-Trussville, Meade Co, Cardinal Ritter, McKenzie (2x) and South Gibson (4x). Upperman might could have done it. Who are the other 3?

MARIA'S!!!! Been there twice. Love it