chattanooga

no chance is stretching it. csas can play witha and on a special night they could upset temple or grace.

even with the first five in the reason CSAS was able to score is the fact that mcmasters was out of the middle in the man to man scheme. csas is a poor outside shooting team. the patriots were faster then the grace players. when they would beat the grace defenders there was little stopping them on the way to the basket. if grace would have put a 2-1-2 or a 2-3 3 defense in place and forced csas to shoot from the outside or meet mcmasters everytime they drove to the basket the game would have never been close and probably no foul trouble to start with.

i am a patriot fan and i have to say they would have to have the stars align to get into the regional finals. their main weaknes is not enough threes on a consistent basis for one thing. and the ones shooting them should not be. the fans at last nights game were great, a real boost for the home team.

grace was lucky to escape with a win. if eldridge was not in the zone they would have lost.

what does grace do outside of A ball? losses to mcallie, central notre dame, these are not powerhouses. yes good solid teams but not powerhouses in AA and AAA. thank about it it. whitwell, silverdale creative arts 21st century, davind brainerd copper basin, you see what i mean, these teams can't match on talent close enough to make coaching a difference right now. i think coach mathias is a great guy, great christian man. but i have felt his teams play soft, and they are one dimensional on defense and it costs them. a zone defense is not a sin. grace has long armed somewhat quick players, if they played a solid zone temple would not be in the game. but it ain't ever going to happen.

i am not sayinmg he need to get the ball more, but at 6-10 if he is in the paint or the low block he will get rebounds and get his points. if he was in the paint skogen could not have driven to the basket so many times. grace refuses to run a zone defense of any kind and it hurts them. stick carter in the paint and figure out a defense to do that even if it is a zone. also last year the middle skogen could not be guarded by anyone on grace's team, but what happened, he was guarded man to man and he drove to the basket anytime he wanted. man to man 24/7 is insane plain and simple.

did anyone else see the dribble by smith when he was taking the ball out under grace's basket? never seen that before even in 5 year old ball. but in his defense he has improved more then anyone of the seniors the last 2 years. i thought newsome chunking an ill advised three down the stretch was a huge part of the outcome as well. van horn did not play the overtime. just a great high school athletic event.

huge win for grace. down 6 with 4 minutes to go. i expected them to fold and they did not. i also think skogen was the best player on the floor. grace was trying to throw the ball in and i believe it was smith who just dribbled the ball. i do not believe i have ever seen anyone do that at any age at any level and it came at a crucial time in the game. van horn kept the eagles in it in the third and early 4th quarter which allowed the heroic 3 by eldridge to send it into overtime. i also noticed that mcmasters basically scored zippo from the field. i feel that the craziest coaching move is playing any type of defense where my 6-10 guy is out defending at the arc. also it is great that occasionally he can hit a three he should never leave the post area on offense. instead of a three what about a drop step power move to the hoop? never seen 6-10 wasted more then mcmasters is in the scheme being used at grace this year. in a blow out fine, close games let him be a big man. i think that long term and deep into the postseason this will hurt them. it is not a sin to play a zone defense, but it has seemed that way for the three years i have watched them play.

someone posted that grace was 20 points better the arts and crafts not temple was what i was refering to. up until this year did grace place "soft" compared to temple in their meetings. i tiook this way from the 5 or 6 times i have watched them play. curious if anyone else felt that way. i also thought unaka beat grace back in the finals a few years ago because the "toughness" side of the game went to unaka. i remeber very vidily watching van horn and a kid fom unaka getting tied up with a loose ball and the kid from unaka got a little physical with van horn and he did seem to answer this very well. should he punch the guy, no, a little backbone shown yes. i have not seen them play a close game this year and i am anxious to see how they play tonight. they will be solid next year the program is stout all the way down to the 6th grade teams.

howard vs. brainerd is a great rivalry in the chattanooga area. grace and temple are becoming a very intense rivalry for single A ball as well.

i have watched this battle closely for the last 2 or 3 years. i always thought that temple was better coached and that grace played soft, a bad combination for grace. i believe the losses were something grace needed. grace's players and fans seemed to be extremely cocky this year prior to the losses. there is a difference in cockiness and confidence.grace is 8 deep or more in solid players all with the ability to score. taking a pot shot at arts and sciences seems a little cheap by the way. arts and sciences will win their region which is not too shabby. grace has an excellent middle school program and they are going to be a power for years to come. i am looking forward to the game with grace winning the rematch this friday nite. the game has been moved to tennessee temple university's gym.