IrishBBall

To establish my credibility since you probably think I'm just an average fan, I've coached players that have gone on to play in the WNBA, NBA, been an NCAA Regional MVP, numerous D-1 players that have gone to little schools like TN, NC, Duke, Vandy, Bama etc. and coached several AAU teams to Final Four appearances. I also played and have an SEC championship ring. I've been offered high school and college jobs. I work for one of the biggest banks in the country so high school pay doesn't get me real excited. I didn't bad mouth Ogan I just said he made several coaching mistakes in the Catholic game that really cost them the game. Remember, He started stalling with about 5 minutes to go in the game when 4 of our 5 starters had 4 fouls. We have no depth if he would have attacked we would have fouled and we have no bench. PHS ball handling is shaky against good defense which makes it harder to stall. Point was proved by turning the ball over late several times that led to Catholic's win. Not continually bad mouthing, just stating facts. Since you're a Powell fan ask Lee Smith what he thinks of his AAU coaches.

No.I'd rather stick toothpicks in my eyes than coach bad girls basketball. That was Tony Scott who is a Catholic asst coach now.

The Tennessee Zags were a very strong AAU team. We were the top team in ET. We beat the Midstate Ballerz Select, Travelers #2, Wolfpack and played very well with the Ballerz Elite and the Travelers 1st team. We finished first out of 42 teams in the Silver division of the Kentucky Hoopfest which is one of the oldest and largest tourneys in the South. Our posts were Lee Smith-Powell, Blake Derrick - McMinn Central, Tremane Brown -Catholic, Tyler Powell - Farragut, and Jordan Glasgow- Wm Blount. With the exception of Tyler Powell offensively, everyone of these players was much stronger fundamentally than Wilson. It seemed like no one had ever worked with him in the post. He was WAY, WAY behind.

1. Connor 2. Smith 3. Hargis (I was giving him the benefit of the doubt on a good day) and ????? who is #4 McGaha would be my next choice but he is questionable at best. I realize that there are 10-12 other guys over there with orange uniforms.

Talent isn't overrated. Ben Williamson has committed to Birmingham-Southern. Several schools are interested in Brandon McGill and Justin Wilson certainly merits at least JC interest. Chase Snyder has put up 25+ in some games. Take Cameron Sharp out of the Halls mix and Central is far more talented. Powell only has 3 players. Clinton basically has 2 guards. How do you explain beating Farragut in the Chop House finals and getting blown out a couple of weeks later. They have been beaten by Catholic 3 straight times and they are far more talented at the 2-5 positions. They've been beaten by a very weak Karns team. I agree that O.R. is far better BUT Central led in the 4th quarter prior to giving up 36 points to end the last quarter and that is inexcusable! McGill and Williamson are as good as any 2 players in the district. They played against the top players from around the south this summer and played well. I wonder about their motivation having watched them play with Central this year. A large part of coaching is having your team ready to play both physically and mentally! The players hearts aren't in it and I think alot of that stems from the coach. What coach would let their best player voluntarily sit out the Powell game without a good conversation with him? He certainly does some unconventional things from a player's point of view. If they were supposedly working so hard in the open gyms over the past few summers, I would question whether or not they were getting any instruction during that time. It certainly doesn't show. Those guys were definately there when the hard work was going on. Just being there doesn't get it, you've got to have an idea of where you're trying to go!

I agree that coaches don't ultimately determine who wins the close games. It comes down to execution! There are some players who can screw up the play you just spent an entire timeout drawing up along with the other things you mentioned above. Having coached Central's big three in AAU this past summer (and 4 of 5 if you counted Lee Smith), I would strongly DISAGREE with the awesome coach statement. From an individual standpoint, these guys were some of the most fundamentally unprepared players I've coached in 15 years of coaching AAU. To me, that is truly a reflection of your coach. Not to knock any of those guys because I care tremendously for them, but they were clueless defensively, had poor offensive fundamentals, and played offense like they were straight out of an AND1 video. Justin Wilson actually quit because he didn't feel like he could keep up. Ben Williamson and Brandon McGill improved tremendously over the summer and I know it wasn't from what they were learning at Central. To see the improvement from our first tournament to the last was incredible. My take on the Central situation is that they have significantly UNDERACHEIVED given the talent level they have. They've got 3 seniors that have the potential to play at the next level and have a horrible record. If Lambert was such as good coach, how could he allow O.R. to score 36 points in the 4th quarter? Don't put all that blame on the players! He may be a tireless worker and great guy but so is the guy on the assembly line that never misses a days work and works hard but that doesn't make him CEO material. Who are the guys you think have improved beyond belief? My standards must be a little different than yours. Let me know please!

I'd love to see pictures of these gyms if possible. Summertown sounds awesome. Alcoa's is top notch in the East TN area.

I have just seen Tyler play at AAU tourneys while I was coaching. How do those that know him feel his attitude would have fit into Pearl's system? I thought he had a prima donna type attitude when the Tennessee players seem to have a team first approach. What's the real Tyler like? I don't question his ability at all, just his attitude. I know both he and Coach Pearl got a lot of bad press on his status as a Vol with recruiting issues hanging out there.

Trust me if there was a lawsuit the TSSAA would be front and center. I'm 100% positive they wouldn't want to be involved. They are actually sub-contracted employees of the TSSAA.

The fan can be ejected for "Unsportsmanlike Conduct" for disrupting the game. Before anyone gets any bright ideas: It is a felony in the State of Tennessee to assault an official. Think any of these guys would try to bait you into trouble and laugh all the way home? Funniest or wildest thing I've seen with an official occurred a couple of years ago at an AAU game at Baylor. Guy who was a former small college coach in East TN rode/belittled the ref the entire game. With the game almost over the guy kept threatening the ref and told him he was going to come down and whip him after the game. The ref told him to "come on big guy" and proceeeded to knock him out cold a soon as he stepped on the court. The police came into the gym immediately afterwards and the ref proceeded to him them he didn't want to press charges. They hauled the guy off in an ambulance and our game was delayed until they could get the blood cleaned up.

I've seen several West games with Coach Pearl in attendance. He is obviously as intense watching the game as he is coaching it. I love the passion that he brings to the game BUT he should be more of a role model. I can't say much because I get on the officials as much as anyone. He needs to realize that he is representing something bigger than an"average" fan at the game. I think some officials are intimidated once he starts getting on them. The easy out for Shane Mynatt was to ask that he be removed. The officials don't actually kick out any fans, they ask the game administrator to have them removed. I've not heard him use any vulgarity which is the main reason I've seen fans tossed. I've actually heard one ref say that he didn't mind the heckling (and some find it funny) but he wouldn't allow the fans to single any ref out by name. As a rule, I think the majority of refs in Knoxville do an adequate job at best. I talked to one of the supervisors at a game and asked him what % of refs actually played (not just sit the bench) at the high school level and he said probably half at best. When I asked if many had played above high school he just laughed. He didn't think it was necessary to have played to be a good official. He pointed out that some refs were good "RULE BOOK" officials and some had a good "COURT PRESENCE" but it was hard to find those with both. I don't see how anyone can say certain schools have better or worse refs in the Knoxville area. They are randomly assigned and have the option of opting out of games involving certain schools if there is a conflict of interest (kid at the school, alumni etc.). Coaches are also able to "black ball" 2 refs from doing their games at all. Most of the Knoxville area refs also do football games and they do bball to stay in shape (DON'T LAUGH). The good ole boy network is alive and well with these guys. Trust me Coach Pearl has been well discussed amongst them.

You've obviously not seen Oglesby. There's no comparison! I've watched Plavich play since he was a freshman against Catholic and he's never even scored in double figures. His shot is butt ugly!!! You sure you weren't thinking about his brother. Do you watch the games in red tinted glasses?

Thanks for the info. My son's team has played in your tournament for the past 2 years and we have found it to be a good local tournament.

I won't debate the good man part since I really don't know Coach Lambert at all. BUT, I would certainly question good coach. I'm obviously not a Central, Powell or Halls fan so I won't address alot of the character comments. I've seen Central play numerous times and have coached several of their players in AAU. He is certainly underachieving when you look at the talent he has had for the past few years. His players have been very poorly prepared from a fundamental standpoint and from a TEAM point of view. It is unconceivable to me how you can have the talent of the last few years and stay near the bottom of the district. They have had 4 players score over 25 points in a game this year so it's not like the cupboard is bare with no talent. One win against Powell without their key player hardly constitutes a good coach!

The deal with Kyle Cruze was the culmination of 2 years worth of problems. I agree it was handled poorly by Kyle BUT if you would talk to him and hear his side of the story you would without a doubt have a different opinion of Coach Blevins. If it was all about teaching/building character, why would he tell Kyle's younger brother at tryouts to not even bother? There is no question that he puts out a quality product but alot of his players hate him by the time they leave. Can you say EGO?

Can someone explain why the thread started by BigCatt about Knoxville Central was removed yesterday? He started another today that was removed. I had added several posts to it regarding specific questions from several people. I saw nothing on the entire thread from any posters that seemed out of line. There was absolutely nothing derogatory about any of the players, their team, or their opponents. I've seen numerous threads posted that blasted/trashed players, opponents and even other people that had posted. WHAT GIVES?

I didn't see anything in your posts that were out of line. It was a viable thread and I'd love an explanation of why it was deleted. Given the way I've seen other fans trash each other and the opponents teams, that post should have continued. I hate that my other 2 posts were unavailable for you to read. Keep in mind there was very little derogatory info in my posts. To answer your question for the second time, yes, it's possible just not probable. I had a kid that ended up getting his GED and only played his high school team thru his sophomore year. He had a incredible run in the AAU Nationals and got a JC offer and lots of interest from D-1 schools. He ended up being the MVP of the NCAA Regional tourney and was drafted by the Celtics, but that's a Hollywood type story that came true. I think college coaches will take into account the quality of coaching and competition a high school player faces. They would rather see the character a player shows in a bad situation. But the exposure he gets in AAU and Showcase tourneys is very important.

Those may be 2 of the worst gyms in the district. Not teams or atmospheres, just the gym.

BigCatt2 - What happened to the thread we had going on Central yesterday? I don't know if you saw my last post regarding some of your questions. It's totally gone????

I was blessed with the opportunity to assist Coach Burkey for over 10 years with the Tennessee Stars AAU program. I can't imagine that he won't be just as successful as Coach Insell was. He has been a winner everywhere he has been and it should be easy to continue that pattern with the tradition of the Shelbyville program. He cares deeply about each person that has played for him. He will make a great effort to help every player he's involved with to find a place to play. It takes a while to adapt to any new system that's installed. As the year progresses, I predict marked improvement in the team. He's a great teacher of the game and a well-prepared, respected strategist. I've taken alot of what he taught me and applied it to start one of the more successful boys AAU programs in East TN. Several of the players that played for the TN Stars are now starting to coach and applying the basketball and life lessons they learned under Coach Burkey. His coaching and mentoring of these players filters thru far more than he could imagine. The highest compliment I could pay him is that if I had a daughter I couldn't think ofa person that I would entrust her basketball career and well-being to than Coach Burkey. You've got a WINNER Shelbyville!

HUH????? What is he talking about??? I was going to say amen to that BluNWhite but we're already pushing the envelope mixing religion and basketball. But seriously, if God were a Catholic fan he would have surely sent us a big post to go with all the good guards we've had. He's given us the patience of Job to watch our bore-you-to-sleep offense. I intially thought a statement like that might come from a Webb fan, but they pay way to much for a education to come up with a comment that assinine.

I've explained several of the reasons to you earlier and my wife was the girl's coach so I think I at least have a credible source. But ScottA11 is a little overboard in the reasoning behind the scheduling. We will now be playing Alcoa and AE in the Regionals when we weren't in the past years. It was a good matchup for both schools in preparing for the tourney. Each plays a style of ball that they wouldn't normally face against their district opponents. It wasn't because we have beaten them the past few times. There was/is bad blood with Fulton over a transfer student acouple of years ago. But it's amazing how many kids transfer between Fulton, AE, Carter and South-Doyle but Catholic gets accused of recruiting. Trust me if we recruited, then we need to fire our recruiting coordinator. Also several of the bigger schools didn't want to play us because they had nothing to gain by beating us, just embarassment if they lost. Kind of like UT not scheduling the Belmonts and David Lipscombs of the state.

Harrison Smith's "MONSTER JAM" against Webb is by far the top I've seen this season because: 1) Against your biggest rival 2) Standing room only gym 3) Student sections from both teams looking like the Cameron Crazies 4)Giving your team the lead 5) Dunk was started by diving for a loose ball, throwing an outlet pass laying on the ground, guard taking it 2 on 1 with a great dish for the flush 6) The pure "power" and "hops" of a stud D-1 football player almost shattering the backboard 7) White men can jump!

Having seen most of the good players in the Knoxville area for the past 20 years, I would say Lee Humphrey is without a doubt one of the best all around players to come out of this area. He obviously shot the lights out for Maryville and has for FL also but he is a much more complete player than that. He did/does all the little things to make him a total player. He moves better without the ball than any player I remember. That is part of the reason he's such a deadly shooter along with great footwork and hands. Donovan has said he is his top perimeter defender. The best example of his all around play I saw came against Kyle Cruze of Bearden. Maryville trailed until halfway thru the 3rd qtr of the game when the coach switched Lee onto Kyle. He absolutely locked him down for the rest of the game and proceeded to score 15 points in the last 3 minutes of the qtr. For the true Lee story on TN/FL recruiting, talk to Charlie Benson of the Travelers-shame on you Buzz. You mislead a great player and person. He should be in Orange& White! I'm not sure how Lee Humphrey got on this Catholic thread except being compared to Matt Parton (just kidding).

Good answers. Again I wish Bearden wouldn't have stacked the Super 16 brackets like they did. It would have been a good matchup with MC. I don't think Bearden would have rattled under your full court press like Farragut. They are stronger offensively than Fulton which put up big numbers against MC. I thought you were questioning my bball knowledge. The lack of respect thing for Catholic goes back much farther than just this year. We have tried for years to schedule more of the local teams but they really have refused to play us I think because 1) they percieved we were out here recruiting 2) they had nothing to gain if they beat us and 3) supposedly it was suggested that they play other Knox County teams to keep the $ in their school system. Again in the past few years we've beaten Farragut, Powell, Baylor, Alcoa, McCallie, Notre Dame, Unaka.We're 84-20 over the last for years with 5 of those losses coming to Brentwood, which, by the way, we added to our schedule. We never met them in the tourney. Remember we only have about 500 kids in our whole school. Not that summer team camp or fall league means much but we've beaten William Blount, Maryville, Halls also.