The Highlander

Again, Cloudland is awfully good, especially on defense. Hopefully Unaka can compete with the Lady Highlanders this Tuesday. Krich, what do you mean "hopefully Unaka can compete...?" What kind of 'Lander fan are you!?! Since you gave away my alter ego as NumberOneRangerLover, I'll tell everybody you are also known as: LadyLanderLover So there! The Highlander

Cloudland took care of Hampton last night at Sonny Smith, 52-30. Please check out my more detailed Update on the Cloudland Thread. The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 52, Hampton 30 Well 'Lander Fans, if you didn't come out to the game last night, you missed a Standing Room Only crowd, and several good ballgames! Sonny Smith Gymnasium was as full as if we were playing a Sub-State game. Anytime Hampton comes to town, we are assured of full bleachers, and hard-fought basketball. Now for the game... The Lady 'Landers were never really challenged after the first few minutes. Hampton drew first blood as both teams came out a little tight. After that, the 'Landers were off to the races for the remainder of the period. By quarter: 1st CHS 13, HHS 6 2nd CHS 14, HHS 3 3rd CHS 12, HHS 12 4th CHS 13, HHS 9 For a final score of 52-30. As you can see, Hampton trailed in each quarter, only achieving double digits in the 3rd, which also tied Cloudland for the period. Hampton had only 9 points at the half. Cloudland's scoring was well-balanced in several ways. By quarter, the production was nearly as even as it could be, 13, 14, 12, 13. In other words, we didn't take a quarter off...that's a very good sign for future games! Player wise, the scoring was also fairly well-balanced. Brooke Johnson, 12 (led the game) Shellie McKinney, 11 (she's baaacckk!) Jordi Miller, 8 (two 3's) Rebekah Tolley, 8 (looked much better inside) Brittany Reece, 5 (really starting to contribute rebounds and points) Sydnie Buchanan, 4 (and probably triple that in rebounds) Danielle Potter, 2 (playing tougher inside as well) BJ went 4-4 from the free-throw line, Brittany Reece was right behind at 3-4. Hampton was led by Mikki Oliver and Megan Holtsclaw with eight apiece. Chelsie Weddle was right behind them with six. Chelsie is a bright spot for Hampton, she is a freshman, and really played with good poise. She is contributing points and getting a lot of playing time. I expect we will hear a lot from her in the future. Defensively, Cloudland was able to smother Hampton and prevent too many good looks at the basket. We had a number of steals and tie-ups on Hampton's end of the floor, and several blocked shots as well. Jordi Miller contributed two blocked shots, and also forced a timeout by pressuring the guard. Coverage on an inbound play also caused Hampton to burn a timeout. Negatives for Cloudland would have to be taking a little bit better care of the ball. Got to get that number down. And of course, we missed a few shots we should have made. I don't usually comment too much on the officiating, but last night's game was a little obvious. The fouls and free throws went like this: 1st Half Fouls Called CHS 4, HHS 10 2nd Half Fouls Called CHS 13, HHS 5 And the Free Throws resulting from those calls: 1st Half Free Throws CHS 9-11, HHS 0-2 2nd Half Free Throws CHS 1-2, HHS 6-15 If you think something looks odd about those numbers, I have double-checked my math. When coaches/players/fans on BOTH sides of the ball are ticked, you might have a problem! I can't believe the players on both teams completely and totally changed their playing styles and habits at halftime. It is not the job of the referee's to "even things up." Call it fairly and consistently throughout the entire game. And congratulations to a big win on the Boy's side. They took Hampton apart with a 54-32 reaming. I expect the games at Hampton will be very interesting! The Highlander

Big conference game tonight 'Lander Fans. Come out and support all four teams at Cloudland tonight! I'll have an Update after the game. The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 68, University High 42 Well, I can't give a huge amount of detail this morning, don't have the time yet. But I can say that the 'Landers were never threatened, and didn't expect to be. Scoring by quarter: 1st CHS 14, UH 4 2nd, CHS 29, UH 17 3rd, CHS 48, UH 29 4th, CHS 68, UH 42 Scoring leaders for the game: Jordi Miller, 14 (with four 3's) Bekah Tolley, 12 BJ Johnson, 11 Sydnie Buchanan, 11 Scoring was pretty well balanced, the entire team played, and the entire team scored. I'll try to put in a little more detail later today, The Highlander

Now that's funny, right there! Kenneth Chambers claims to have a copy, and I tried to get him to give it to me last Friday. He was at the Cloudland-NG game scouting both teams. He said he would need it tonight, and it looks like it helped him. I see Unaka beat NG by 10. The Highlander

Alright Lady 'Lander Fans...big Conference games tonight at University High. The girls Varsity will probably start at around 6:30. Come out and support your team! I understand we had a good practice Monday, and it should be interesting. The Highlander

Well, we play at North Greene on Feb 1, I wonder if we can get a copy of the Greene County rule book before that date. If you are able to obtain a copy for Eliz, we would appreciate you sharing it with your county neighbors. Sportiemom might have a copy, not sure. Guess we should have asked Chambers last night during half time. The Highlander

Actually, NG has a good record this year, and is probably their best team in the last 4 or 5 years. And they will always be up to play us. I'm sure they remember the tournament last year, they were held to a total of TWO points at halftime. And that was two free throws made with about 30 seconds in the half. Tonight, Platt and the other guard were very quick, and did a good job. We also had a little foul trouble that put a couple of players on the bench for significant minutes. Gotta' quit reaching! This game was in Roan Mountain, so we can't blame Greene County Rules. Just tight calling to keep the game under control. The Highlander

Okay, due to popular demand (all two of you) I will start posting 'Lander Updates for the boy's teams as well as the Ladies. Now, you have to bear with me, I'm so used to talking about the Ladies, I'll probably slip up occasionally. As for tonight's game against North Greene, the 'Landers won by embarrasing the Huskies 77-31. This followed up the JV game, with a similar margin of victory. The 'Landers jumped out to an early lead with Jordan Hughes emptying a three ball. That started a 13-0 run to open the game. NG's coach was so frustrated, he called three timeouts in the first 4:00 minutes in the game. Brett Stockton had a huge defensive quarter, with two monster blocks. That nicely matched up with Logan Morgan's huge offensive quarter. Logan poured in nine points in the period. He followed that up with six more on two three's in the third. Cloudland led 19-9 after the first buzzer, and spread the lead to 35-11 at the half. I would write a little more detail about the game in the second half, but frankly I got bored. The 'Landers kept up the pressure and pulled out to a 61-20 lead at the end of three. The fourth period saw (thankfully) the mercy rule enacted to keep the clock rolling. Cloudland played the JV the entire period, with a preview of what is to come by Matthew Potter. Matthew pumped in nine points of his own in the fourth, not to let Logan get ahead I suppose. Tyler Chambers and Sha Presnell also added points in the period. The "bright spot" for the Huskies was Chase Ellenburg and Andrew Tucker with eleven each. Not many other highlights for them however. Scoring leaders were: Logan Morgan, 15 Jordan Hughes, 13 Randall Johnson, 12 Matthew Potter, 9 Brett Stocton, 8 Stacy Honeycutt, 7 Alex Gouge, 4 Tyler Chambers, 3 Great game guys! Keep up the good work! The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 37, North Greene 32 Well, just like the election a few years ago, it wasn't pretty, but we got a "W." The Lady 'Landers had a tough assignment for their first game of the new year, but they handled the run by North Greene and prevailed by five points. The first quarter, indeed the first half, seemed to be dominated by tough defense on both sides. The result was a low scoring affair with North Greene's Shaleen Platt hitting a miracle buzzer beater from about the scorer's table to lead 12-9 after one. To give her due credit, she didn't really force it, not a bad looking shot. That gave NG a ton of momentum heading into the second, and they capitalized on it to build a 24-19 lead at halftime. Shaleen had a great game, and ended up as NG's leading scorer with 12 or her 14 points in the first half. NG has a couple of good quick little guards, I can see how they have given people trouble this year. However, Cloudland was able to pull up the intensity in the second half. This group of girls just doesn't ever give up. They don't panic when they are down, they don't quit if the shooting isn't perfect, they just don't quit. If someone isn't shooting well, another player(s) will step up. I think that is indicated by the number of different players that have led the scoring this year. Tonight, again, it was Brooke Johnson and Jordi Miller tied with eight apiece to pace us. They just have tremendous patience, and will find the open player and the player with the hot hand. The turning point in the game was probably at about 4:30 to go in the 3rd. Jordi hit a three to tie up the game at 24. Just after that, BJ answered with her own three to give us the lead at 29-26. The third period was pretty much the game winner for Cloudland, we outscored NG 12-2 in the period. In the fourth, Samantha Weems hit her only basket of the night, and followed up with the "and-1" to tie the game at 31. Cloudland was able to answer with a couple of buckets by Danielle Potter and Sydnie Buchanan, then Jordi Miller finished up the scoring when NG started fouling, by draining two of two. Cloudland got a big lift from Brooke Hughes tonight. She came in and gave us a spark with two big three-pointers in the second period. Danielle Potter also played well off the bench, grabbing several rebounds, a steal, and pumping in four points. NG had six players score (to Cloudland's seven players scoring), but it was all concentrated in Shaleen Platt with a game-high fourteen. No one else scored more than five. Scoring leaders were as follows: Jordan Miller, 8 Brooke Johnson, 8 Brooke Hughes, 6 Bekah Tolley, 6 Danielle Potter, 4 Sydnie Buchanan, 2 Shellie McKinney, 2 Next up is University High at UH next Tuesday. This is usually a tough-fought game, and I would encourage all the 'Lander Faithful to come to ETSU to support your Lady Highlanders! The Highlander

I'm certainly not defending this ref, we've had our share of over the top games through the years. But I will say that as someone who has spent many years now "on the floor" either as an Asst. Coach, Head Coach, or at the Scorer's Table, I am very aware that the view from the stands is indeed quite different. I have also been dumb enough to get suckered into calling scrimmages, I am not a TSSAA official however. (And never will be!) Yes, there are a few ref's at all levels through at least high school that take it upon themselves to even out a game, and we have had a 10-1 foul ratio against us this year as well. I've seen only a couple of cases where I thought it was intentional however. Let's face it, some times it is just plain incompetence on the part of the ref. And guess what, sometimes, just maybe, our little angel is actually...gasp...guilty. On the floor, you actually lose the angle that you have from the stands and it makes it a little difficult to see through the crush of ten players, five in each color, that you have to watch. And while the family in the stands is usually watching their star player, the ref's are trying to watch all of them, plus the clock, the coaches, and each other. It really is very difficult to do. And sitting at the Scorer's Table, you get to hear some of the comments from the crowd that make you wonder if the fan has ever seen a basketball game before, let alone ever actually played other than in the street. The backcourt violation no-call when a ball is tipped by the opposing team is one that usually brings howls from the fans. Actually, fan comments might make a pretty good thread too. Maybe we should start one on the dumbest things we have heard from a fan! I'm glad our Tennessee team won the game in the end. We have had a couple of games even in Tennessee where "home cooking" seemed to be the norm. And one county in particular in our area has there own set of rules, and they seem to be making a lot of them up as they go. The Highlander

Oh well, I guess since I was quite happy to brag on our coaching staff, I can now be considered a "special kind of moron." Actually, I feel a little remiss for not mentioning that no program is going to be successful without a good feeder system. The middle school programs at Cloudland provide the high school with players that have at least heard about the fundamentals of the game, and have experienced what it is going to be like at the next level. On the ladies side, Lance Jarrett is in only his third year of coaching. Last year, his eighth grade team won the Sectional State Championship. So, I'd have to say Lance is doing things right. This years team may or may not repeat last years success, but they are well-coached, and giving good effort. The boys side is coached by Scott Potter. Scott's program has had good success, and I believe they will continue the tradition this year. I don't think the 8th grade record is truly indicative of their potential, and the 7th grade team is doing very well I believe. I'm unable to attend many of their games due to my schedule however. The Highlander (aka, Special Kind of Moron)

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 42, Harriman 33 Okay folks, I'm home and awake enough to provide a little detail on yesterday morning's game. Sorry about the delay. I tried to post the scores from the gym, but I wasn't able to get connected wirelessly to do it. Harriman did play us closer than the other two teams we played in the tourney. Part of this can be attributed to them scouting us for two games. Part is their pretty good athletic girls, and part is just the effects of the third game in three days, bus lag, and an early morning game after sleeping in motel beds several nights. And part was the curse of the non-working basketballs. More on that in a minute. The first quarter was pretty well played by both teams, score was 17-12 after one. Harriman was able to play more or less evenly with the 'Landers with a very quick point guard pushing the ball up the floor. They also had the advantage of playing on their home floor on a day with very bright sunlight streaming in the large windows. Not saying it was a huge factor, but it was very bright in the stands, and I can imagine the view from the floor looking up was different from what the 'Landers generally play in. Harriman also had the not inconsiderable benefit of sleeping in their own beds (that can't be overestimated) and not riding a bus from West Knoxville before the game. The second quarter looked a little more like we would expect, with Cloudland outscoring Harriman 13-6. The third period was a dead heat at 6-6, and in the fourth, Harriman actually outscored us 6-9. I'd point out though that the game was well in hand, and both teams played the full benches in the fourth. Not that the talent drops off drastically, just a little more unsure when you change point guards and posts, and run plays just a little differently. Actually, Brooke Johnson had a very quiet game. But looking at the stats afterward on paper, I was amazed to see she had tallied seventeen points, nine rebounds, two steals, and two assists. Sydnie B. was right behind with nine points, a team-leading ten boards, and a team-leading six steals. Again, a truly exceptional performance that looked very quiet during the game. Brooke Hughes had another good performance. Of late, she has been very good, and very consistent for the team. I'm not sure, and certainly unofficial, but I don't think she had a turnover in the tourney, an area she needed to improve upon. Her play as a starter when Shellie was injured gave her the confidence she needed, and she is going to be a key to our performance as the season continues. Another key to our tournament performance was the care we took of the ball. By my count, we didn't have a single game with double-digit turnovers. If we can limit the TO's to fewer than a handful, keep pulling down 35+ rebounds a game we will put ourselves in a position to win most any game. As I mentioned after the second game, we had a rough shooting tournament with the exception of the Kingston game. Don't know if it was the gym, the goals, or the motel stay. I do know that Jordi Miller had the best line of the tournament Saturday morning. After draining a three in the 1st, and showing her usual technically flawless shooting form (thanks Coach Summitt, years of Lady Vol camp show in that form), she went cold. During the half-time warm-ups, JJ took a shot and missed. She went back to the ball stand and got another ball, shot and missed again. On her third trip to the ball stand, Coach Smith asked her what she was doing. She pointed to the gameball and said, "I'm trying to find a ball that works. Don't give me that one, there is something wrong with it!" That pretty much summed up our perimeter shooting in the second and third games of the tourney. Thankfully, most of our scoring inside the arc wasn't affected, and excellent ball-movement and patience let us score enough to win. Of course, exceptional defense and rebounding prevented our opponents from putting up any points, so an average of about 44.3 ppg was sufficient to win. Defensively, we allowed only 26.7 ppg.

SNR, I can indeed give you commentary on the Cloudland Teams. You are correct that these people don't typically get the attention they deserve, but I've also noticed that many of them may not be interested in any head coach position, they are quite content where they are. The Lady Highlanders coaching staff is headed by Matt Birchfield of course, and has been for a number of years now. I do not have his record on hand, but he has done a great job year in and year out. One assistant is former Cloudland standout, Ashley Stocton. She was one of the best to ever play at Cloudland, and then had a nice college career as well. The longest tenured assistant is Deani Smith. Deani is the mother hen to the ladies, and is incredibly well-respected and loved by both the players and the parents. Ashley and Deani also handle the coaching duties for the junior varsity since the TSSAA idiots think the head coach might get too tired if they were to actually coach two games a day. The Highlanders head coach is Ned Smith, Deani's brother. He is very ably assisted by Brandon Carpenter. Brandon also has the privilege of running the JV team. These two are well-matched, and make a great team. Every year it seems like they spend the first 10 games just getting the football out of the players and getting them into b-ball mode. This year is no exception if you review their record. The last four games have probably been their best, and they are winning and playing much more consistently. I will not speak about the potential for head coaching among any of these people. I think all are quite capable of contributing to any program at which they find themselves. However, I'm not sure the interest is there. All of them bleed Old Gold and Royal Blue. The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 40, Rockwood 20 Well, this was one of those "Ugly Wins" everyone talks about. Really, it wasn't particularly ugly, we just had an off shooting night. The other aspects of our game were not too bad at all. Rockwood was a quicker team than Kingston, and they appeared to have had a better scouting report on us. It didn't really help, but they did seem to have a little better idea of how to match up. However, while Kingston had 3 six-footers to help out, Rockwood lacked that height. And there speed and stamina still were not up to Cloudland's. We need to welcome Shellie McKinney back. She played a little more freely last night, and was just shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds by my unofficial count. That made her our leading scorer on the evening. Great job Shellie. By quarter, the scoring was like this: 1st Cloudland 10, Rockwood 4 2nd Cloudland 12, Rockwood 2 3rd Cloudland 9, Rockwood 7 4th Cloudland 9, Rockwood 7 Holding any team to only 14 points in a half is good, holding them to only 6 is even better. Our defense turned up 10 steals on the evening, and we had only 6 turnovers for the game. I think that is about what we had against Kingston also, so we are taking care of the ball very well. Rebounding was another strong skill again. As I mentioned Shellie had nine to lead the team, Bekah was right behind with six. By my count, we had 32 rebounds counting both offensive and defensive. We let down a little in the fourth with Matt trying various lineups. Other than that, we controlled the boards. BJ had another good outing, with eight points and six boards before she left the game about half way through the third. BJ had picked up a personal foul at mid court, and after the call, she leaned down and slapped the floor with both hands. To anyone that knows her, she was just frustrated and a little angry with herself. But, the ref took it as an indictment of his calling and gave her the T that fouled her out. Oh well. Here is the scoring recap for the game: Shellie McKinney, 9 BJ Johnson, 8 Bekah Tolley, 7 Jordi Miller, 6 Sydnie Buchanan, 4 Amber Clawson, 4 Danielle Potter, 2 Today at 10:00, we play the tourney host, Harriman. I'll post the update after we get home later today. And congratulations to the Landers, they came from behind to beat a pretty good Rockwood team. Special note to Randall Johnson who poured in 29 points to lead the team back. Several very pretty threes, and a couple of circus shots included in his display yesterday. Great game Randall! The Highlander

'Nole, I bet I'm a little too late with my answer, but on Saturday we play Harriman at 10:00 am. Hope you can make it. The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE, UPDATE: Okay, I went back and watched tape of the game, so I have a little more detail to add. I do need to correct something I said in the previous post. I mentioned it was Jordi 5, Kingston 0 early in the game. That was incorrect, Kingston hit a free throw. So, 44 seconds into the game it was Jordi 5, Kingston 1. Sorry about that. As I mentioned, the scoring was not too badly balanced for the Highlanders, as follows: Jordi Miller, 13 (high for the game, I believe) Brooke Johnson, 12 Bekah Tolley, 12 Sydnie Buchanan, 5 Brooke Hughes, 3 Danielle Potter, 2 Shellie McKinney, 2 Brittany Reece, 2 Note that we hit seven three-pointers in the game. J had 3, BJ 2, Sydnie 1, and Brooke H. 1. I didn't count assists, but BJ had a bunch of them. A pretty high percentage of our scores were assisted actually. Ball movement was excellent for the game, both in transition and in half-court sets. I can't say enough about our teams mental focus. They were patient, working the ball around, but the instant there was an opening, the ball was fired to that player. Beautiful! Defensively, we had quite a few steals and forced several turnovers. I don't think we had 10 turnovers in the game ourselves, so a nice ratio there. Rebounding was another bright spot. Sydnie B. led the team with seven, BJ was right behind with six, and Shellie had five. Jordi and Bekah added three apiece, and Brooke H. and Danielle had a couple apiece. Kingston has some pretty good athletes. They hit several threes, although I wouldn't consider their form to be picture perfect, the shots went in! They also had a couple of nice possessions with good ball movement resulting in scores. They just didn't handle the high-speed, pressure play of the Highlanders. Next up is Rockwood Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm. The Highlander

To All, I put the Lady 'Lander Update on the Cloudland post. But I thought I'd add a brief comment here. I know the Ranger Ladies won over Rockwood, didn't get to see the game though. The Lady 'Landers easily defeated Kingston 51-27. Congratulations to the Gentleman Highlanders as well, they manhandled the Kingston men 65-35. Keep it up to both the Carter County Ladies Teams. You are representing us well! The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 51, Kingston 27 Sorry, I don't have the exact scores by quarter tonight. Too busy watching to try to take notes. But I do recall the 'Landers jumping to an early lead of about 13-1. I believe the first ended about 17-8. The halftime score was 30-14. I think the end of the third saw 37-19, and of course I got the final. I may be off a point or two, but I'm probably close. The game opened with Jordi Miller driving into the lane and draining a jumper from about the foul line. Our next possession she pulled up and drained a LOOOOONG three. Score: Kingston 0, Jordi 5. From there Cloudland had a plethora of weapons just causing turnovers, picking up loose balls, wreaking general havoc with Kingston, and then off to the races for Cloudland buckets. I didn't keep up with the damage we did from behind the arc, but J led us with 3, BJ Johnson, Brooke Hughes, and Sydnie Buchanan also added threes of there own. Kingston didn't know who to cover, the scoring was pretty well balanced by my very unofficial count. I'll watch the tape and come up with details. BJ played an exemplary game at point, scoring and dishing to whichever weapon was open. The inside play wasn't bad, although we did miss a few block shots. We had a few turnovers, but nothing to complain too much about, although I'm sure Coach Birchfield will! Overall, a good win against a team we've never seen before. The Highlander

Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT! The Highlander

Hey Krich, Are you planning to broadcast any of the Harriman games? The Highlander

Yep, the windstorm left me a few trees to burn. At least it didn't tear anything up. I believe the "gentleman" you are speaking about actually lives in Charlotte, if it is behind you and across the creek. If you want to meet them, go out in the creek and throw a few rocks around, they will come down to introduce themselves. No, I'm not kidding. Well, time to start eating for Christmas! I'm going to get off here and enjoy my family now. I can hear them starting to wake up. The Highlander

First, let me say...MERRY CHRISTMAS !!! Now that's out of the way, back to basketball. I pretty much agree with the above polls I guess. I do need to add a little correction to the Cloudland schedule. We have now been told we will play Kingston, Harriman, and Oneida. I'll get the schedule corrected on CoachT before it matters, as soon as I have confirmation on the "new" schedule. King, that is the most insightful, well-written post I've seen from you. It is thought through to conclusion, and written concisely and fairly. Well done. See, fatherhood has already been good to you! The Highlander

King, You are very perceptive! I could not agree with you more. Brooke is part of the group who has played together since 3rd grade. Sydnie, Shellie, BJ, Jordi, Danielle Potter, and Brooke Hughes have all been the on the same team since third grade, not only that, they are all the best of friends, which can only help their chemistry. Thanks for your continued support! Merry Christmas to you and your family. The Highlander