refuge

MTCS is 2-9, but they are putting a good program together and have some talent. I think this is a should win and must win for Van Buren. They have a real good team and have lost some close ones to district rivals.

Unless Santa Fe gets the flu, they should win this one in a walk.

From the little I have seen and heard, East Robinson is a very tough team. Other than that, the district 9 leaders look stronger.

OK, I'm going out on a limb here (hey I am a fan).. I don't think Forrest can stop Norris from scoring, so Shankel/Norris is a wash even if they don't post up against each other. Now, Forrest wins this one by a comfortable marin, but, the game comes down to the other players. I think community gives Forrest a scare in the first half the same as they did to Van Buren. And Forrest/Community is a long rivalry that was not there for Van Buren, so the guards are going to go after each other all game and play to a draw. The game comes down to Ezell and inor outplaying their man in the second half. All that is unless community's guards can't break the Forrest press. Then its over early. I will concede Forrests experience, not their talent. This is not make or break for community, but a good performance will serve notice. I think these boys are ready to do that....let the games begin

Interesting comment. Having seen them play, do you not think Norris and Shankle will be an interesting match. Can the Community guards contain the Forrest guards? The community coach may not have a great eye for matchups, but I don't really think he just tells the boys to "go out there and guard somebody" Is Forrest going do dominate because of the age/experience disparity or do you really think Forrest has such a great edge in talent? You see alot of ball, I really am interested.

Eagle, no doubt your old region had some tougher teams in it. Anyone who follows mid state ball knows those programs are excellent year in and out. I was actually quoting someone, but I can't say he was from Van Buren. No slights intended, your boys look good. Van Buren is a great addition to this district, another good program to push the envelope. Teams in our area do tend to get underrated though. Eagleville is always dangerous, Cascade is always well prepared and Forrest does what it has to to put a good team on the court.

So much for reasoned analysis although the point total is about right. Of course Community has talent. Norris is averaging over 10pts as a freshman playing varsity, White, another freshman, is on the leader board for 3 pointers after only 7 games as a sub! If I remember correctly, the freshman "fresh" was talking about won a most valuable player trophy for forrest at their middle school tourny last year, or maybe that was another boy. How do you folks think the individual matchups will work, Communities freshman against Forrests juniors and seniors.

Their coach is getting alot more out of this team than they are ready to give right now. They have some good players but this is a rebuilding year for the team. The real suprise is how they have beaten or given a scare to teams they should have been blown out by. This bunch will be real trouble in a year or two.

Forrest wins this one by a good margin. Would like to hear thoughts on the matchup, especially from folks who have seen either team play.

Forrest is a good dark horse pick. They are not loaded with talent but they play a tight team game and adjust well. If one or two of their shooters get hot they could knock off anyone on a given night.

Ditto that. Our team matches up well with them for talent, but they rolled us both times. The coaching strength was evident watching them play.

Dustin White. A Community freshman, 10 three pointers in 7 games off the bench. He is almost automatic when he has an open look. This kid is going to light it up in a year or two.

Wilder Norris at Community, averaging over 10pts per game playing varsity.

I didn't see this game, but we have played Huntland twice and I watched them once. They are very physical and they have some real shooters. Huntland will burn any team that plays loose and does not adjust well.

At the begining of the season some VanBuren fans were predicting they would dominate their new district because it was "weak". I guess it isn't as weak as all that. VanBuren does seem to have a good team though. VanBuren lost close games to Forrest and Cascade. Both of those teams play disciplined half court games and pounce on mistakes for easy scores. Forrest beat Eagleville soundly by forcing them into a half court game and by not getting rattled by the Eagleville press; Cascade almost upset Eagleville by doing the same thing. Since Van Buren can obviosly play a strong half court game they have a good shot at winning this in a close game. If they let Eagleville run, Van Buren will loose.

The program at Community has been weak for a long time. From what I can see it a similar problem to some of these messages...The coach seems to strugle in years with talent and years without talent. He lacks support from alot of parents over many years; some of whom agitate for kids who have no business getting a lot of court time on a varsity team, and some of whom let their talented kids get the idea that they should play for themselves and not the coach or the team. It can be hard to tell if the parents have a legitimate gripe or if their lack of support is undermining the coach. They have a young, but very talented team right now, so the next 2 years will tell what the problem really is.

In A and possibly AA, one of the best freshman squads is Community. However, since they are also most of the Varsity team, they don't get a chance to play Freshman games. I suspect these boys could give a AAA freshman team a good game.

VanBuren will probably win this game by a comfortable margin, but they are going to have to work to do it. The Community boys can play ball, ask SantaFe. If Van Buren has any weak spots Community has enough talent to take advantage of it.

Community starts 3 freshman a sophmore and one senior. The team has 9 freshman, 2 sophmores and one senior. Moore County showed up at the tournament with 8 players, they left the JV home. When the comunity coach put the second string freshman in the game 3 minutes into the 3rd quarter, Moore county had no JV players to put in. Community actually has some very talented young players, but they lack the size and experience to climb back into a game against a strong team. Watching these young boys play is exciting sometimes, they have a freshman forward who has given good varsity posts all they can handle, and a feshman guard who plays lock down defense and will be dunking by year end.