ruready246

I was really impressed with the play of Hammond's, Tate, and Mitchell. I think Tate had some big 3's but he also took some ill advised shots. I agree, Ridgeway did not look like the normal Ridgeway team we usually see. I think Siegel has a shot. Siegel is peaking right now and with their sophmore talent playing as mature as they did last night, very impressive.

Way to go Captain Obvious! I stated above that your coach had a great plan for stopping Alex. I also stated you won't be able to do that to Siegel because everyone can score. Andrews has a nice shot but Blackman did not do anything special to stop him and he only scored 14. If he is such a take over player he should have shot more. As far as Twilley, he is a dirty player. If he is so unstoppable why doesn't he score more points.

Siegel is just as deep and they have scorers at every position. The only reason you beat Blackman is because #1 they are not deep, #2 they only have two scorers and you were able to double team them and leave the two small guards open #3 we were out coached. It worked for you and kudos to your coach for a great game plan. In doing this you were only up on Blackman by 8 until they had to start fouling. If Siegel is on you guys are in trouble even on your home court. And before you start calling me a Siegel fan I am not. I am a Blackman fan stating my opinion.

My thoughts exactly. I think Blackman takes the consolation game and Siegel takes the championship. Siegel is loaded with talent and I have a feeling they can make a long run if they play like they did against Oakland.

Good effort tonight by the Blaze, just out manned inside. If Brown had not torn his ACL in football we might have been a contender. Hats off to Alex Carter for how hard he played tonight. The game was very physical and Coach King always seems to have a plan on trying to stop Alex. I think he still had close to 20 but it was all hard earned. Paul played good but it would have been a much different ball game if he had made all the layups he missed. Really need someone else to step up and help Alex and Paul.

Heard Alex had the flu but I thought he played well. Didn't really get much of chance, there was just too many turnovers.

You need to read again. OaklandPatriots is one of the better posters on 7-AAA. He knows his stuff!!

I didn't get to the game last night but from what I hear it was a lot like the Siegel game for the Blaze. The game started out with a couple of steals and White County is hot and Blackman is cold. Blackman has young point guards and they can get frustrated. The opposition works on shutting down Carter and the other guys are average shooters. If they are not hitting you are down 20 points before you know it. As for Delaney he is a good player but if I had to guess about it I would say he was guarded by one of the small point guards. Most 6'3" players can score a lot of points on a 5'5" guard. I know in games against Oakland and Riverdale Delaney only scored 8 and 5 points. Sparta has a whole team of shooters so no one can concentrate on stopping one player. It makes it easy for players to put up big numbers especially against a team having a bad night. Blackman doesn't have that. Alex is face guarded and shadowed every where he goes and usually double teamed. From what I heard, last night was not a good game for him but he still came through with 11, which is probably the least he has scored all year. Keep your spirits up Blackman, you have played some good games against good teams this year. You almost beat Oakland after the Siegel loss so put this behind you and go on to Warren County.

It took him a while but he got cranked up. Especially, with those beautiful 3's he delivered in the second half. But, he seemed to run out of gas which is understandable. But, I was really impressed with his games against Oakland and Riverdale. He was double and triple teamed everywhere he went but he still managed to score 14 points against Oakland (hope I didn't mess that up or I am sure I will get corrected). The one thing about Alex is he sees the court so well and passes off to his teammates. He doesn't force it. His teammates are getting better but they are going to have to make more shots. To many misses of easy layups and poor shot selection. Blackman can't win against some of the talent in this district unless they play an almost perfect game. I have played with and against Alex and I can tell you if he had the green light he could make things happen. They need Paul to step up more. I have been impressed with us play since the first few games of the season. I think he is improving every game in every aspect but his scoring. The one thing Paul needs to learn is if he does not have a shot inside kick it out. He tends to force the issue sometimes and creates turnovers.

Oakland by 15. The reason Shelbyville played such good defense against Blackman was they didn't guard the point guard. It allowed them to defend 4 players with 5. White County did the same thing in the district tournament and won because Blackman does not have a point guard who can score. All 5 starters for Oakland can score so Shelbyville won't be able to do that.

I've been saying it all season. We need a point guard. I'm really surprised Turnham was letting Smith continue to play. I don't believe Smith driving the lane was his game plan. You don't put the game in the hands of the guy who averages about 2 points a game. Hope Felix will be back next year. I don't know why anyone would complain about shooting the 3's. Alex started the game out with 3 in your face 3's and then we got away from that. We were driving the lane and feeding it to the posts but we weren't converting. Our defense inside let us down last night. We let them have to many little 10 foot jump shots.

Sure he could if he played like half of the players you are probably talking about. Everyone can create a shot but how many of them actually make the shot. How many ill advised shots do you see in a game where a guy goes in makes a 360 turn and shoots the ball. They throw up lame duck shots but everyone admires how fast they made that turn. I don't know why you think Alex is slow. He is smoother than a lot of players and while he may not be the fastest player on the court he is not slow. I really don't know what Alex can do. I see a well rounded and consistent player and I think given the opportunity he could make things happen.

I thought it was a good game. I agree about the refs. Where did they find those guys at? I think Blackman got the worst of it under the basket early on but I think towards the end of the game there should have been calls on Blackman that the refs let slide. Have any of you ever seen a game that physical that no one fouled out and the refs called less than 20 fouls the whole game? It would have been great if they had called Kevin Smith for half the walks he made. Would love to have seen Blackman win but I don't think we can be unhappy with their effort. Blackman really needs to work on their inbound plays. Their plays are to slow to develop. Come tournament time that will get them beat. I thought David and Alex played well but they need to get the ball to Alex more often. I don't know how many foul shots he had but he didn't miss any. I thought David tried to do a little too much but that is understandable coming off his game with White County. Everything was falling for him that night. We need to get ready for Warren County on Friday and not have any more upsets. Want to finish the season on a high note.

I thought Oakland was the best student section we had seen all year. They had a lot of energy and were fun to watch. I think our Blackman section does a good job but Oakland was very impressive.

Congratulations to Oakland. It was a good game and Oakland's student section is probably the best in the Boro. Really loved the sound track and the enthusiasm. Hated to see the Blaze loose. It was a tough loss. The game was really even. I was amazed that Blackman out rebounded Oakland. I wouldn't have thought that would be possible with Oakland's big guys. All stats were pretty close except for the free throws. Blackman has lost a couple of games because of free throws. Blake Bragg really stepped up tonight. I thought he had a really good game. Wish we could count on him to do that every game but I think Chaisson brings the best out in him. Paul Stephens has really improved his game. Love to see him contributing. Carter should have gotten a foul called when he was mugged by Chaisson in the corner. Noticed he had a big red mark under his eye after that so I am sure he will have a black eye today. I have to give it to the kid he is tough. He will stand in and let them knock him down and is not afraid to take a charge. I just wish he had a little more padding to cushion some of the falls. Blackman needs a point guard. The Smith kid will be good in a year or two but they need someone with better court vision. Really hurt us tonight. Loved David's long three tonight. I thought he played really well. Turnham needs to turn Carter loose. He has him standing in the corner waiting for someone to throw him the ball and that's not happening. Let him play. We were winning earlier when he was more active in the offense. Teams are keying on him now. Don't help them out coach. Overall Blackman just couldn't seem to get it going. Give Oakland credit for taking them out of their game.

If you want to look back at your earlier posts I think it looks more like Alex Carter bashing. And by the way, Alex or his sister are not your posters. They were both in Cookeville at the game along with his dad and mom.

Alex does more than shoot. He had at least 7 or 8 rebounds and he has great vision on the court. People seem to be so impressed with someone because they can run inside and throw the ball at the basket. That worked for Cutter in the first half but Blackman adjusted and then he started whinning. If he would work to help his younger players get involved in the game they would be a better team. If their coach showed confidence in the other players they would be more confident. The sign of a good basketball player is not how many points they score but how they play the game in order to win. Gooch and Hockenberry could both contribute if someone would pass them the ball!!

Cutter trys to do to much. He has some good players around him. #23 looks to be the player and Hockenberry can shoot the 3. Siegel was out coached. Turnham will not let Alex or any other player try to play by themselves. Alex is a team player and a classy kid.

I agree about Carter but I doubt he cares what is said on CoachT. Kid seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I agree about Turnham. The kids seem to respect him and I think he really cares about them, but man can he give some really dirty looks on the sideline. But , I am sure Blackman is glad to have him and they have a very talented team. 2p I really enjoy your posts. Wish Blackman had someone like you to help out on these boards. Blackmanpride trys hard but he just gets out numbered.

I don't know why everyone is talking about the freshmen.The game was won by the play of Bragg, Barnes, and Carter. Bragg was fantastic the first few minutes, Barnes was big on the boards and some big 3 pointers. Thomas was off because Carter was in his face all night. Best defense Alex has played and as usual he had some great shots. They played like a team and they won.

I think Blackman will come away with the win. Riverdale is talented and playing well. Young has really been giving them a lift but Blackman has been playing well too. If Blackman plays team ball they could win a close one.

I think what they need more than anything is a point guard. Wallace tries hard and #15 dribbles to much. But I agree, give the guys an opportunity to make some plays without worrying about getting yanked and put on the bench.

I agree about Blackman, but don't you think it's because Turnham has them running plays almost everytime they come down the court. Let the guys make things happen on their own. I may be wrong but it appears to me he runs guys in out a lot because they try to do something different and don't stick with the play.

That was the problem last night. Blackman only had one go to guy and Oakland knew it. Oakland's defense keyed on Alex Carter with Allen shadowing him everywhere he went. Coach King knew that David Barnes was not going to be in the game and he had a game plan to stop Carter. It worked. Makes you wonder what the outcome would have been had Barnes and Mims played. Blackman played some really good defense and I think they probably surprised Oakland. The rest of the team stepped up and scored tonight so it was a team effort. Allen had 17 points and over half of those had to be free throws. He really did not dominate like I thought he would. Blackman must run the same plays over and over because Allen knew where Carter was going to be before he got there. Blackman was out coached. I enjoyed the game. I thought it was well played by both teams. Just wish Blackman had been able to get the win. It will be hard to beat Oakland at home even with our starters returning. By the way both student sections did a great job. Love the Oakland shirts.