Norman Dale

Penny will generate excitement but it still seems like a stretch of a hire by a desperate program that has lost its luster to me. Just my opinion- you could be right we shall see.

Since I posted, I have read a couple of articles and it does appear Memphis is headed in the direction of hiring Penny. I hope it works out but I don’t think it will, although it will generate interest like you say. However, there is a big difference between generating interest and winning. Penny will probably recruit well but so did Josh Pastner. It’s no accident that Memphis won big with Calipari as the head coach- Cal can recruit AND coach. I personally think Memphis should go after a proven college head coach that would be a good fit - somebody like Steve Forbes of ETSU. I will agree on one more thing- Tubby Smith was a TERRIBLE hire by Memphis. I knew that wouldn’t work out- Penny would be a much better hire than Tubby.

I could see a school like Memphis hiring Penny to be an assistant coach. But I don’t think there is any way he will get hired as a head coach at a high major D1 university at this point- he’s not ready, IMO. Even if he gets top notch talent he would get outcoached by other more experienced coaches who likewise have top notch talent.

All I know is that Alcoa hasn’t been to the state tournament in a while and they made it this year with Dante Harris as a sophomore PG so I think he is doing something right. Like I said, when guys get scrutinized on coacht, it is usually a sign that they are very good. Also, I don’t know who is the best out of the sophomores Harris, Anderson , or Lacy but I don’t think it is as clear cut as you think it is. You obviously think Lacy and Anderson are clearly better than Harris- that’s fine if that is your opinion.

Your criticism of Dante Harris( aka #3) is uncalled for. I know he has good teammates surrounding him but Alcoa would not be in the state tournament without him. Give me a PG that can score any day of the week over a PG that is not an offensive threat and distributes the ball only. I would rather try to rein in a scoring PG than have to play a PG who can’t put the ball in the basket. If your game is getting closely scrutinized on coacht it is usually a sign that you are very good and that there is probably some jealousy involved. Guys who aren’t real difference makers don’t get mentioned much.

Willie, I don’t know if I know more about hoops than you- you are a great fan for sure. OR was definitely very good last year. I didn’t say Bearden this year was better - just that they were as good. Splitting hairs to give either team an edge since both teams were so dominant- they both went undefeated in district regular season , district tournament, and region tournament. Can’t do any better than that.

Didn’t realize they had a common opponent- thanks for the info.

East is on a completely different level than other AAA teams. With the addition of Wiseman and the continued development of Lomax, Lawson, Dandridge, etc., they are far superior even to the East team of last year that won it. I think Bearden is every bit as good as Oak Ridge was last year and Oak Ridge took East to the wire. But this isn't last year so I can't see Bearden winning the AAA title, mainly because East is so much better this year.

Considering that Bearden ran the table undefeated in 4-AAA and their key players are mostly juniors this year, I think everyone, including Maryville, will be chasing them next year. Maryville will have very good guard play and outside shooting, but they need to find a rebounding presence inside for next year to replace a couple of seniors they are losing.

Bearden wins 71-57. Glover is a big time player at PG, more of a lead scoring guard than a true PG- he is really good.

Powell wins in OT 65-55.

55-55 going to OT.

Powell 46 Maryville 46 end of 3rd quarter.

Powell 32 Maryville 29 at halftime.

That was Chill’s comment, so I’m not sure exactly what he meant. I will say that Bearden is very talented but they have had several games where they have allowed inferior teams to hang around for way too long because of lackluster effort, IMO.

Oak Ridge has played a very difficult schedule this year against teams like Blackman and Brentwood Academy just to name a couple. They won’t be intimidated at all by Bearden. Bearden may be the favorite but never count out Oak Ridge against anybody. I expect a very close, hotly contested game.

On paper I would agree with you on Bearden vs Maryville for the title but anything can happen. I expect two very hotly contested games Tuesday night.

Comparing Upperman basketball tradition to Alcoa basketball tradition....very funny. Upperman folks might want to stop by and look at the banners in the Alcoa gym before they start making jokes about Alcoa basketball tradition.

I would agree that Bearden is the heavy favorite. I would also agree that Maryville would be the favorite to emerge as the # 2 team and get a sectional berth. Powell is my # 3 pick and Oak Ridge is my # 4 pick- not because I think Powell is better than Oak Ridge but because I think it is more likely that Powell would beat Maryville in the tournament than it would be for Oak Ridge to beat Bearden on Bearden's home court.

Cleveland has a good team but this just shows that that you don’t want to get into an up tempo game with Bearden, especially on their home court.

Agree- actually a loss before tournament may not be all bad to get their attention.

I said Maryville stole a game at Catholic last week that they probably should not have won and I feel like Bearden did the same last night. Maryville played very well and handled the pressure defense of Bearden much better than the first time they played. IMO, unsung hero for Bearden team this year is Robinson- deadly spot up shooter and good defender. He would be the best player on several teams in the district and yet he goes pretty much unnoticed on this Bearden team. Joe Anderson and Jake Giles played very well as usual. Brown and Davis really contributed last night, too. If Davis can tighten up his ballhandling a bit, he will be impossible to keep out of the lane with his quickness. The two technical fouls on Maryville for trash talking were killers last night- really killed their momentum both times and gave Bearden 4 gift points and they won by 3........ Great game.

Very true-was he sick or injured?

Irish, I was watching the game online and they actually had the camera down at that end where the foul took place but I was watching the ball and didn't see the foul in question. Ref blew the whistle and then I saw Kimble laying on the floor. I feel like Maryville stole that game last night. Watching it, it seemed like Catholic was ready to pull away the whole fourth quarter and win going away by 8-10 points but Joe just kept hitting big shot after big shot, a couple from ridiculous distance, to keep Maryville within striking distance.

Maryville beat Catholic 57-55 on a tip in at the buzzer. Joe Anderson had a great game as usual for Maryville. Catholic led most of the second half but let it slip away- turning point was two late possessions versus the press with a turnover right under the basket for a Maryville layup and then got a tough offensive foul called on them against press away from the ball after they had inbounded it and then Giles nailed a 3. Good win for Maryville. Three straight losses for Irish.