crzybbmama15

I'm not a football expert, but I did watch a few WS games this year, including the Whitehaven game. As I recall, Jeff Link did not get off very many completed passes in that game because the Whitehaven defense was getting through and he (Jeff) had to scramble to avoid being sacked. I don't know if that was just a bad game for the offensive line, or whether the Whitehaven pass defense was better than other teams WS played, but that made the WS offense really sputter. But since WS does have a running game too--maybe not as strong as Millington's, but Derrion Sanders can break through and get some yards...that is going to help provide balance to WS's attack. And in playoff games, coaching becomes really important too. Again, I'm not an expert in football, but I have been impressed with how Major Wright handles his team on the field. I've never seen him lose his cool--he always seems intense, but collected and focused whether they are ahead or behind and I think that will enable his team to perform well. Hopefully well enough to advance against this formidable Millington team. Just my .02

We're beating a dead horse I think, so I don't intend to comment any more after this. But TNaau, if "the james team dominated with aggression," how come they didn't have significantly more fouls than the Miles team? And janinelpn2, I did not intend to offend you...of course neither team was waiting for my approval, and all of this is only my opinion and makes no difference to those on the floor, which is where it counts. I agree with you that "they played hard and gave 150%," I didn't see anyone out there who looked like they were slacking, but that doesn't mean it was stellar basketball. I think we've all seen good teams, heck, even professional teams--look at the Grizzlies--who give it their all, but the play during the game isn't everything it has the potential to be. In the end, the James team got the W, which is what they came for, and the Miles team didn't, which I'm sure was a disappointment to them since this game was obviously such an emotional game. The refs were crazy, but we've all seen crazy refs before and will again. Continued good luck in your season.

The refs didn't seem to have enough knowledge of the game to make the correct calls. It was almost as though they were unsure about alot of the calls they made. Play was stopped when it shouldn't have. I believe the fouls ended up being 31 for each team (give or take 1 or 2). There also were some major issues with the clock and the official score book. There were 3.5 seconds left when the Miles team got the ball out of bounds and the ball was inbounded, bounced off the back of a James player and fumbled by Jessica prior to attempting a shot, and when the foul was called there was 3.2 seconds on the clock. Am I to believe that all this transpired in only 0.3 seconds?(I think not) Fouls were either recorded incorrectly or reported incorrectly. Either way, it is unexcusable. The aggressiveness that you are talking about actually went both ways. We had girls that had scratches, bruises, and their jerseys pulled. We even had one of our players who was attempting to pivot after a rebound and one of the players was on the ground with her arm wrapped around our players leg. Basketball is no longer the non-contact sport of the past and sometimes it does get a little rough. Both teams played an awesome game, but unfortunately someone had to lose. I think if both teams continue to work hard and stay focused, they will make alot of noise at states and nationals. DUKnowDaGame was right, the competition level in this age group in Tennessee is very tough. Good luck to all the teams. I have to disagree with some of your comments...I don't think both teams played an awesome game. Intense, yes. Hard fought, yes. I think there were certain players that played well, but overall I wasn't impressed with the play of either team. Aggressiveness, yes, but real basketball, no. I thought the James team played messy ball--they're quick, athletic, aggressive, but I wasn't impressed with their basketball skills, except for Ms. James. The Miles team played well in the beginning, but they lost their heads and began trying to respond to the James team's athleticism, which I'm sure was the game plan of their (the James team) coaches. A top level team won't come out of their game plan like that. In order to make noise at Nationals, the Miles team will have to have more composure and the James team will have to have more discipline. Look at high school ball in Tennessee. The run and gun teams in Memphis often look like they will dominate, but they get into middle Tennessee and get beat by the disciplined teams. I do think both teams are aggressive, and of course some bumps and bruises are part of competition at this level, but I stand by my earlier post that the James team, particularly certain players on their team, takes aggressiveness to a more intense, closer to dangerous, level. But maybe I'm old school and this is the wave of the future. I still think it is wrong of the referees to try to even out fouls just for the sake of evening them out. I have seen plenty of games where one team got significantly more fouls than another and deservedly so. Who says fouls have to be even? The score isn't even--are they supposed to start giving lesser teams more points so they can keep things more even? When teams are more aggressive, they are going to get more fouls. If it's true that the fouls were even in this game, then that just speaks even more to the refs being inept. In my opinion the James team was significantly more aggressive, so it would seem they would have a higher number of fouls. Of course this is just my opinion, my perception---obviously you have another. That's what makes the world go round. Now, if the Miles team can get their heads together, and the James team can rely on basketball discipline along with their quickness and athleticism, and if both teams can play with aggression that is fairly governed by the refs, call me because that is a game I want to see.

Thanks for the update...I watched this game too. All I can say is 4 things. 1. Jasmine James took her team on her back and got the win for them. She is a smart player. 2. For those of you playing the James team, wear padding and be prepared to be scratched and scraped and your jersey grabbed. I was sitting next to a former D-1 men's player and I kept checking in with him to see if what I saw was what he saw (the elbows and roughness by the James team) and he did. If it is a meaningful game to them, they will be tremendously rough. Both teams are aggressive, but IMO the James team takes agressiveness to a point past aggression. 3. The Miles team gave away the game at the end. They had some mental toughness lapses which cost them the game. Except for the girl who shot the clutch free throws at the end to tie the game up, it appeared to me that most of the rest of them just did not have the mental toughness to stink it up at the end and re-take charge of the game. 4. The refs lost control of this game. They did call a lot of fouls--more for James' team in the beginning. And they did make some obvious mistakes--once they gave the Miles team an extra possession because the possession arrow hadn't been changed. But from several people I heard that, at half time, the refs were told that they needed to call fouls more evenly. In the second half, they called lots of fouls on the Miles team--to be honest I don't know if it was even with the James team or not. But I do know there were LOTS of fouls that went uncalled. I have never been a referee, and I know it must be a hard job, but there were some glaring fouls that just didn't get called. The game was rough. Always interesting when these two teams play. I'm sure they will have many more battles before it's all said and done. If you ever get a chance to watch them play against each other, it's well worth the admission price.

I think the Elite has enough talent to field 2 strong teams. Both teams were at state last year. The James/Pruitt team came in second. Miles' team was not in the top 3 or 4...not sure exactly where they finished. Andre Pruitt coaches a 15U Elite team this year that includes many of the girls from the 13U James/Pruitt team last year. James has a nucleus of players from that team, including his daughter--a future D-1 player for sure, and has put together a strong team with some other talented girls. Both are good teams this year, so this will be a fun game to watch.

If the TN Team Pride 15U was in Georgia this weekend, who was the TN Team Pride 15U that played in the Adidas Deep South Classic in Raleigh this weekend? Was that the 14U Team Pride just listing themselves as 15U since there was no 14U division? I think they did pretty well, coming in 11th or 12th place, among a field that included both 14U and 15U teams. But that north middle substate 15U sure does sound like a barn burner. Good luck to all teams--hope everyone plays their best.

Muffin, it seems to me that the 14U Team Pride is keeping a very low profile. They haven't updated their website, so no info there, no one is responding to your post or biting on any other post that mentions this team, they haven't shown up at any of the bigger tournaments like Super Regionals...they were at some tournament where they demolished a team by some huge number of points, all this behavior seems to me to point to a very good team that is laying low and lying in wait to pounce on all the teams at state! Since no one has jumped in to talk much about them, it makes me think they have "orders" from the coaching staff to do this and then let their actions do the talking at substates and state. I guess substates are coming up so they will be revealed somewhat at this tournament, so I will be curious to hear what is said about them after teams play them at this tournament. They were certainly very strong last year, beating the Lady Elite/Tigers team that so many had picked as the favorite in the state. And then of course they went on to do very well at Nationals. They have to be the favorite this year in the state as well, I would think, wouldn't you?

Why would the Memphis team play substates in middle Tennessee?

Is the 14U Pride really that scary? Last year they were challenged in the state tournament by both Memphis Elite teams. I think one of the Elite teams was ahead the whole game until the very end, if memory serves. Obviously they ended up doing very well at Nationals, so they are clearly a force to be reckoned with, especially if they have most of their team coming back, but it seems to me they should expect to be challenged anyway. Also, all the top level 14U teams can play well against 15U and 16U in my opinion. Just because the Pride can do it doesn't mean they will dominate every 14U team. Most girls are full grown by this time, and so many girls start playing ball earlly, their experience level at 14U is pretty good and can match up well with girls 1 or 2 years older. The 14U state tournament will be very interesting this year I think. Clearly there is much talent at this age group in TN.

Wow--either the other teams they played were really bad or this team is awesome (or maybe both). I only recognize 4 names as being 14U (Phelps, Hazzard, Dawson, Christopher), but I could be wrong about that. The Memphis Elite 15U team has lots of 14U (and a 13U) players too...will this make the 14U age group weaker? Is this a TN tradition for top players--not to play 14U and move up to 15U for better exposure?

Who left Team Pride and where did they go? And where did there new players come from? Is this a case of middle Tennessee team shuffle? Whatever happened to the Bulls, anyway....they didn't even make it to the state tournament last year. Are they still together?

Hey now!! Not all Memphis athletes are Beale street partyin' animals!

One problem with girls basketball is that girls basketball has no clout in Memphis. A lot of the good coaches would rather coach boys--there is a lot more glory there. It sounds like middle Tennessee has a lot more press coverage of girls basketball and a lot bigger crowds. In the public high schools here, the crowd for the girls' games is basically parents and family, and maybe a few friends. In the 4th quarter, as folks trickle in for the boys' game, the crowd is a little bigger, but no one comes to watch the girls games. And press coverage is pretty much non-existent. A Saturday blurb or 2 (like 2-3 sentences) in the newspaper about maybe 3 of the games from a Friday night, and the box scores--that is about it for local coverage on a regular basis. Plus, there is so much good men's basketball with the U of M Tigers and the Grizzlies and several good boys HS programs, that girls ball just don't get no respect. So that may be why some good coaches don't come here. Plus, a lot of the public schools are rough (my kid goes to public school in Memphis too), so that may be something else that sways a coach. They still have to teach P.E. or something and deal with kids other than their basketball team. Also, probably the private schools do a better job of putting together a team than the public schools can (witness the DII private schools Briarcrest, Lausanne, Harding, ECS). While girls who live in the city can be enrolled at any school in the city if there is room, it's tough if you live in south Memphis and want to go to school in the east part of Memphis--just getting there and back everyday is difficult (distance, traffic). So a lot of Memphis girls go wherever they are districted for and this spreads the talent out. I think Memphis is still one of the largest public school districts in the country. Some of the private schools can lure folks to them with education, of course, but a more secure environment as well, so that if they have to hang around later after school for someone to pick them up, it's safer and more manageable. Plus since they are smaller, they can more easily work with a parent to take care of things like this. Although I will say, I have been amazed at the lengths some families go to to get their kid somewhere because of basketball--moving in town or out of town. Anyway, these are ramblings, and may be completely off base in others' eyes. I think there are multiple issues here that make girls basketball in Memphis rockier than it should be. There IS a lot of talent in Memphis. Hopefully one day soon a team will make some noise and those of us who live here and see it regularly can make you middle Tennessee guys see we weren't telling stories.

One thing that really struck me about this tournament was the shooting. Especially outside shooting. Shelbyville, TN Elite and TN Stars had girls that could run and gun with the best of them. There was such a difference between 13U and 12U in this area. My daughter came home knowing what she needs to work on--she's in the gym right now--yep, shooting! There are so many great players to watch in Tennessee. If I was a betting mom I'd put money on TN to place several teams in the top 10. Good luck to all going to Dayton!

There is so much discussion in the 13U bracket about the Tigers and Shelbyville--just wondering about some of the other teams...are most of the contenders similar in make up to their last year's teams? Obviously the Memphis Elite and West TN Tigers had players change teams, as has been discussed, but is SSS and Team Pride essentially the same? I know Team Pride has the famous Tiffany as coach, but are her players basically the same from last year's 12U team? What about TN Elite? Are they a different package or are they pretty much last year's team...I know that the further in age the girls get, the more conglomeration there will be, so there are more and more "superstar" type teams like the SSS 16U...just wondering how much of that has happened already across the state. Along those same lines, when "superstar" teams do form, what happens with the girls who are not superstars but are good solid players. Do they start playing more D2, MAYB, PrimeTime Sports, etc.? Just curious....