BBallExtreme

If school is out his 6 yr old has to go somewhere. If he has no one to keep his child while she is out for 2 days then he would have to miss work to take care of her. So, if he works an hourly job, that's 2 days pay out of his pocket.

 

I was in the Boro and was supportive of my daughter's school cancelling classes but just because someone doesn't agree with the decision doesn't make them a nut job. It's the same principle as to why people get worked up over canceling classes for snow flurries...

Good to see some balance on this topic. I am a teacher and the parent of a STUDENT-athlete. We have taught our daughter that academics ALWAYS comes first even though she has earned an athletic scholarship. Sure she's missed classes to participate in tournaments, but she has never asked for preferential treatment--if she is required to make-up assignments that's what she does.

The district could have given those students participating an excused absence instead of canceling classes altogether. Too often we give lip service to academics, but the adulation goes to athletes and entertainers. This sends the absolute wrong message to our young people. I wonder would they give the same time off if their school were participating in the Knowledge Bowl?

By the way, there is a large private school in Memphis that regularly sends teams to state tournaments. This school doesn't even give their own student-athletes an excused absence for representing their school! Now that's crazy too!

Class AAA

 

This is the easiest of the classes in terms of picking a winner. However, it is the toughest class in determining who the other two nominees should be. The favorites for a nomination should be:

 

1. Shacobia Barbee, 5-11 Junior F, Riverdale*

2. Kyra Kerstetter, 6-0 Senior W, Brentwood

3. Caya Williams, 6-1 Junior C, Mt. Juliet

4. Basharra Graves, 6-2 Junior F, Clarksville

5. Isabelle Harrison, 6-3 Senior C, Hillsboro

 

Others to Consider:

 

- Hasina Muhammad, 6-1 Senior W, Memphis Ridgeway

- Shanice Cason, 5-5 Senior PG, Siegel

- Ashlee Mitchell, 5-5 Sophomore PG, Tennessee

- Danielle Ballard, 5-9 Junior SG, Memphis Central

- Hannah Goolsby, 5-10 Sophomore W/F, Cookeville

- Jessy Ward, 5-7 Senior CG, Clarksville

- Armeka Booker, 6-0 Senior F, Oak Ridge

Much respect PT, but I'm surprised! I think senior Hasina Muhammad ranks better than an "also ran". AAU All-American, McDonald's All-American nominee, Auburn signee, offers from Kentucky, LSU, Texas A&M, and a long list of others. 2010 All District, All Region and All State. Averaging 19 points per game with a game high 31 points against a 5th ranked Potters House team. Hasina is a fantastic young lady and a perennial honor roll student as well, with a 4.0 gpa. ESPN Ranked top 100 player, 2nd in Tennessee in her class... come on!

Class AA

 

Favorites:

 

1. Jenna Adams, 6-1 Senior F, McMinn Central

2. Kayla Biles, 5-9 Senior W, Upperman

3. Mackenzie Sells, 5-10 Senior W, Livingston Academy

4. Emily Sissom, 5-7 Senior CG, Cannon County

5. Kendra Williams, 5-7 Senior PG, Bolivar Central

 

Others to Consider:

 

- Keiona Kirby, 5-6 Senior SG, Liberty Tech. Magnet

- Maelyn Cutshaw, 5-9 Sophomore CG, South Greene

- Haley Felker, 5-8 Senior W, Harpeth

- Cara Bowling, 5-8 Senior SG, Elizabethton

- Ann Jones, 6-2 Senior F, Liberty Tech. Magnet

 

There are a lot of tremendous players in AA this year. This is certainly not all of them, but if I had to give the ten that have impressed me the most thus far this season, these would be them.

I ask this question with only respect. Extreme, what association do you have with AAU in Memphis. This might give your answer some creditability although it sounds right.

I am a parent. I am not a coach. My daughter played AAU and exposure ball for Team Memphis Elite and signed this year.

If Central wins the title then they will get the congrats they deserve but next year will be next year. You are to caught up in the past and future. Would Gibson County have been as good if the recruit fom OC had not have came over?

 

 

 

I thought that is what AAU was doing?

I did specify "for those who don't play over the summer".

For players who aspire to play at the collegiate level and who don't play over the summer, I really hope they are getting on the road in high school. The only coaches just "dropping in" to see local games are local coaches. Well that's great if those schools need a player with your skill set AND that school meets your academic requirements and your style of play, but how likely is that to happen with only one school showing any interest? Any player who limits herself in this way does herself a great injustice in not affording herself every opportunity to be seen, and thus have the best chance of making the choice that is right for her, not simply hoping that someone or anyone will offer her a scholarship. It's simple really. When you see a college coach sitting in on a practice or coming to a game, just ask, "who are you here to see and when did you first see her play?" That coach will likely tell you they are there to see a specific player that they first saw her play at a specific "exposure" tournament. They didn't just happen to stumble in to check out the talent, they didn't check the local newspaper for the stats, they came because they have already seen that potential recruit.

And the thing is, the Ballards and Whitesides actually don't need another exposure tournament, they have enough D1 offers already. It's the freshmen who need to be noticed and evaluated as early as possible to get on the radar and the role players on the team whose potential needs to be weighed by as many programs as possible for the best possible fit.

Those tournaments sell newspapers and shoes and the only ones making money are the promoters. And what does the HS national champions mean. Those who have paid the money to go to the events. There are 30 schools within 40 miles on Nashville who have competitive players. Its true California has been a hotbed but not as much now as before but if you look at the census, states around California are going to be stronger. People are moving out of California. Only the tournaments are left. Fussell is legitimate at Baylor but a little short. Advante will only be a role player at UT, a good player but small. Martin did get some good players but time will tell on how they develop. There are 30 schools with 40 players or more within 40 miles of Nashville that can play. The difference in Tennessee is coaching. Memphis is beginning to catch up with coaching but just placing a lot of good players at the same schools. So all of this hype only means some schools don't want to compete in state, they just want to travel out of state, get some promoter hoopguru to promote a tournament, and take the emphasis off of the good schools in the States. What a scheme and it won't work. they are trying to sell newspapers, shoes, athletic apparel and your tourist $$$$$$. And when you hear that the ticket price from TSSAA is going up, just remember that spending money out of state to attend those events, takes away money from the state and promoting Basketball here.

OMG! Before you get personal with specific girls at least know what school ther're playing for--Fussell is at TEXAS having a breakout freshman year, not Baylor...and know their NAME--Avant is coming off an injury at UT, if she's just a role player, why not play your role at one of the best programs in the country? What exactly do these specific players have to do with out of state tournaments anyway? Are you sober? I can't make heads or tails of half of the things you post, and what I can understand is absolutely incorrect!

ESPN Hoopgurlz has a great write-up and Tip Sheet as their headline NOW. Some very talented young ladies are receiving national recognition. Way to go!

(Sorry, for some reason I couldn't insert the link.)

This is probably not a place to argue who was more instumental in these girls careers. But from my experience the single most influential coach in my experience was the middle school coach. And the single most knowledgeable coach was the AAU coach. Techniques learned in Justin Wimmers presence are skills I have yet to see replicated at the high school level regardless of the program. And I am talking about basic skills. Albeit, college level basic skills. And that is why these girls are getting the recognition they are getting. Is that they have been taught skill sets that are of the college level. These skills were not taught in high school and any of these girls will testify to that. Wimmer is not an easy man to play for but his dedication is far superior to most any dedication level I have witnessed in any setting. Please coach, don't leave us yet. Signed...Greatful.

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments. While my daughter is appreciative of all the coaches that helped her to get where she is, her AAU/exposure coach has been the most instrumental in developing her talent--bar none. She has been under his instruction since she was eleven, what high school coach can claim that? (At least not ethically ) Most girls practice with their AAU coach more throughout the year and for longer periods of time without the constraints of academic eligibility or TSSAA dead periods. AAU utilizes a shot clock which demands better coaching resulting in the teaching and learning of more sophisticated offensive sets and man-to-man defense. That's certainly not to say that there aren't some very good high school coaches out there, I'm simply stating that most players spend more quality time with their AAU/exposure coaches and it comes down to time-on-task.

I guess the rest of us are just exercising an effort in futility to attempt to qualify for the state tournament. Central has one spot locked up before we start and Ridgeway (your welcome BBE) I know is really good. I guess if we could get home town refs and make it to the region tournament, we might could cheat our way in.

Ughh, did you have to mention refs so early in the morning

Anyway, Central will have to prove itself just like every other team. Great players don't always equal a great team and at the end of the season it's all about matchups. Let's just chill DM, we'll get our chance...it's always better to be UNDERestimated in my experience

A few years back I worked at Ridgeway, and it was not an Optional School, did that change recently?

Yes, Ridgeway is now Optional for the International Baccalaureate diploma program.

So many things can be said and then you wish you had them back. I could delete my previous post but what is said is said. I stand by the fact that optional schools, magnet schools or what ever you want to call them, can and do create avenues to load schools with talent that otherwise would not be together. Good, bad, or indifferent, parents have the right for their child to have the most positive experience available. That is what generally occurs when we, meaning me say something about recruiting. I was simply stating in the previous post that to schedule tournaments out of state with the interest of getting adolescents to attend your school is not what we as professional educators should be about. The exposure of our student athletes to every possible avenue to further their education is a valid reason to travel to tournaments and camps.

Your post was well received DM. It's interesting that the major complaint I hear about "Optional" schools from an educator's standpoint is that they allow the best students to leave their neighborhood school. Some even believe that they were created so that "some" students would not have to attend school with an abundance of "other" students, I'm sure you know what I mean in the City of Memphis. It seems to me that the ability of athletes to, in effect, chose their schools is only a beneficial side effect for those student athletes who qualify for the program. Interestingly, this seems to affect the girls' side far more than the boys' side--female athletes tend to be better students than male athletes. I guess my thought is that if an athlete is also a good enough student to qualify for White Station, Central, or Ridgeway as an optional student they deserve to play for that school. Personally, I am a proponent of neighborhood schools for many reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with athletics. After all, it's really all about academics. But the system is what it is, and really Central is the only MCS that seems to be "stacked" because of that system.

And oh yeah DM...Ridgeway has to actually play against Central to make it out of the Region! Last year we lost by two. Who knows what can happen this year, we can complain or we can train!

I can't even respond to a post when I can't figure out exactly what the poster is saying. I will say this, if anyone read my original response to Phargis you will note that I said that "one" coach contacted my child and that mmball said there were "many" who contacted hers--neither one or many mean "most". Secondly, I stated that coaches contacting families about recruitment is "unethical". Period. I did not in anyway try to justify that behavior. I only pointed out that this is a problem all over the state, not just Memphis. As for students taking trips for academic reasons--well of course. I don't know of any Memphis City High schools whose students don't have opportunities to travel for academic purposes, in fact my children have opportunities to do so every year. What does that have to do with Central taking an athletic trip to Hawaii? It sounds like a bit of jealousy to me.

My posts on Coach T speak for me and my character. This isn't even my fight, as my daughter doesn't even attend Central. I should have taken another poster's advice and not even responded to someone many people on this board consider a joke anyway.

There is definitely nothing wrong in asking about the program. What would be wrong is mentioning that most of the high schools in Memphis were contacting Middle school players trying trying to get them to go to their school which were out of their zone. There must be some variance for that to be done or a program that allows it. The way you are explaining it does explain the way it works in Memphis and it is planned. It is not just being done. Maybe someone would like to post in some other part of the State the same is being done. Sounds like a good program. It works in conjunction with a group of Magnet schools MC being one of them. And a large number of Basketball players wind up at the same school. Are most of the players on the same AAU team, BBEX and is it yours? Is the tuition being paid by the parents or what is this foundation that is involved?

The previous poster stated that there were coaches that contacted her family regarding her daughter, she did not say that "most" did. Yeah, there was "A" coach who contacted my daughter directly...I know that as unethical as that is it happens all over the state, not just in Memphis! It seems that half the threads on Coach T every season are about some shady happenings and they are rarely in Memphis.

My daughter does not play for Central, but I feel compelled to defend a coach and program against attacks based soley on ingnorance and innuendo. My daughter did play on the same AAU team as one girl from Central. She also played with two girls at White Station, another optional school. There are only two girls at Central who play on the same AAU team. I don't have an AAU team, I'm a parent. If a county student attends an optional school, of course it would be up to the parents to pay the tuition, just as they would at a private. Believe me, there are enough talented girls who live within the city, no Memphis City School coach has to scrape up tuition for county girls to play for their team!

Now can we get to the original question, who can beat Central this year?

My daughter was in the optional program at her middle school, which was one of the many feeder programs for MC. When word of her talent got around the city, there were many high school coaches who crossed the line to RECRUIT her. They called my house, approached me and her father at games, etc. The only coach who did not do this was Coach Bray. In fact, we watched other teams play all the time; my daughter was impressed with the way Coach Bray interacted with her students; she loved the testimony of the other girls who played there and loved the curriculum. The exposure that Coach Bray planned was a bonus; sponsors who believed in the school stood up and the girls themselves raised funds by washing cars, selling candy, etc. Coach Bray works hard to keep her program clean and she earnestly goes out of her way to instill that philosophy in her players.

 

While I must confess that she hit some adolescent bumps and did not continue in optional programs after her first year at MC, my daughter kept her GPA up, we (her parents, Coach Bray, her instructors, and the awesome staff under principal McCullough) stressed that without that foundation, she could not play. But it was the integrity of that program at MC that impressed us the most. I know that Memphis does not have a good reputation in its own state; sometimes it is deserved. There are those of us who try to live above the pettinesss by constantly proving our naysayers wrong. Excellence is the answer.

 

There are surely enough athletic shenanigans going on in any high school in the state; why pick on Memphis and MC? I'm sure you have your reasons sir. However, I am afraid of what those reasons are.

 

MMB, I passed over responding to this post but the more I passed over it, w2ent back and read it, it brought out so many questions that I have to ask a number of questions that I felt others had the same questions. Your post gave me the impression the optional program you mentioned did what you wanted it to do, ws part of a school program of Middle Schools that allowed your daughter to go to any high school and was part of a Foundation and right or wrong, High Schools were allowed to recruit Middle Schools. This optional program had some stipulations that a student had to qualify, such as minimum GPA. And that money was raised by by some means and put in that foundation.

 

Because you posted this and I am sure it is definitely all right, I know of no other schools or school system that is doing this, nor should I. This had something to do with a player being able to play by being in one of these optional programs. If a student did not meet the qualifications under which this foundation was started, she could not play. DM was right. Recruiting is not right.

 

Foundations make me think of private schools but MC and other public schools are , not Privates. Maybe all high Schools are open. Just trying to understand what was happening here because under some situations wverything is all right and under others

there are likely some misunderstandings.

OMG, it's not rocket science! Memphis Central, White Station, Ridgeway, Overton, Whitehaven among other Memphis City Schools are optional schools (sometimes called magnet schools in other areas). These schools have special areas of focus, for example college prep, fine arts, international baccalaureate, performing arts, aviation, etc. Any student from any area in the city can apply to attend that school through the optional schools program. Criteria range from percentile scores from TCAP or other standardized tests to auditions in some cases, conduct, volunteer hours, grades, etc. In fact, students who do not live in the city of Memphis can attend an optional school if the student qualifies and the parent pays the tuition (like a private school). Therefore, optional schools have the ability to attract students (players) from anywhere in the city as long as the student (player) meets the criteria for the program at that school. Some of the very best basketball players are also very good students. If a player is an exceptional student, that player has her choice of attending practically any optional high school, so why not pick one that also has an awesome basketball program. I'm sure that there are many other districts in the state that have similar programs under other names. There is nothing peculiar about basketball in Memphis, except that we are gaining national attention as a hotbed for talented players.

As the comments last year, hope you are not saying that going some 750 miles and such to play basketball makes one a better player than a player who competes with players just as good here in State. or Maybe one will never knowor may not want to know. But it is true, if a school does not want the State Wide Comparisons, going out of the State is what is best. And it only means the national school comparisons likely are only a bunch of hype that someone has hyped the school. Playiug in one's Tournament tht 6 0f the 10 schools are from out of state says something. Just stay away from those Tennessee high Schools and hype those freshman. You are in your own world down there in Memphis.

So sad that a general discussion about the benefits of national exposure has to degenerate into cheap shots againt Memphis. By the way, Memphis Central has two juniors, Danielle Ballard and Aliyah Whiteside, ranked nationally #10 and #35 respectively--that's no "hype". Show some respect, if not some class.

National competition gets teams national coverage for their players and their program, that's a good thing. Memphis Central is hosting the Turkey Jamm again this November where in-state schools will, once again, face competition from around the country. It was very successful last year with excellent ESPN coverage of the event. Good luck to any Tennessee team playing in Hawaii or anywhere else they can represent our state.

If a person is too small to see the advantages, then it's probably best they don't venture beyond the stateline.

I realize this might be a little off point and I don't have a horse in this race; however, isn't "high academic standards" and Memphis city schools an oxymoron? To be fair, I've heard White Station is a good school academically, but I've never heard any other non-privates mentioned as such...Regardless, Memphis high schools have been known as long as I can remember for stacking various athletic teams with 'out of zone' players. Just sayin'...

Obviously you don't know more than the negative headlines about Memphis City Schools. Memphis produces its share of highly motivated academic achievers. Yes, White Station is an excellent school with students accepted by universities around the country and graduates earning over $25 million is scholarships, but so is Whitehaven on the other side of town whose graduates earned just above $20 million. Ridgeway High School's International Baccalaureate program makes it one of the most competetive high schools in the state, and Central High School has a proud history of academic success. Sure Memphis City Schools has its problems, it's the poorest district in the state for one, but let's not stigmatize the students who strive to beat the odds both on the field and in the classroom.

Congratulations to Team Memphis Elite Daniels as 16U 2010 AAU Nationals Runner-Up this year in Orlando, FL. Additional congrats to Daniel Ballard and Hasina Muhammad in taking AAU All-American honors. Best wishes to the five rising seniors, and to the 2012's and 2013's keep up the good work!

Good luck today in the Semi's Memphis Overton and Memphis Central! I would love to see a Memphis one-two punch in the finals!!!!

Unfortunately we've witnessed similar displays by "#30" in the past. She has signed with Ole Miss so I doubt that she's particularly worried about any other coaches in the stands. I hope she makes the necessary mental adjustments to be successful at the next level.

Congratulations are definitely in order! I can't wait to see Nia and Karissma (Overton) on the floor together next year!

MCS Freshman City Championship is today at Ridgeway (Ridgeway v. East).

DM, will Shelby County participate in the "State" sectional tournament this year, it starts next week? I didn't understand why Shelby County didn't participate a couple of years ago when other west TN schools did. Maybe additional bragging rights would lure more teams to participate.

Here we go again The list states that it is meant to be an indicator of future collegiate performance--that's a joke. Just look at his "predictions" from last year. He's got girls ranked in the top twelve who haven't contributed twelve minutes or twelve points as freshman, then he's got Jasmine James as a "Best of the Rest" and she's a four-time SEC Freshman player of the week. Clearly this man hasn't seen the majority of these girls play, thank goodness D1 schools aren't relying on his services--as evidenced by D1 signings.

Ridgeway's Hasina Muhammad with 32 against Southwind.