lenoir city panthers

[dream n it]

they have a new coach and their much talked about freshmen class coming up this season. how will they fare?

[coachinhoops]

They are a great group of guys with a great attitude and they work at it everyday. They have a great coach with success under his belt from Loudon. They will be sophomore and junior heavy, with only two seniors. They are probably a year away from really making noise in 4AAA, but they will not be a pushover this year. I wish them the best and I hope they know that their old coach is rooting for them. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[dontknowmuch]

They are a great group of guys with a great attitude and they work at it everyday. They have a great coach with success under his belt from Loudon. They will be sophomore and junior heavy, with only two seniors. They are probably a year away from really making noise in 4AAA, but they will not be a pushover this year. I wish them the best and I hope they know that their old coach is rooting for them. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

 

They probably will make some noise this year. Wells is an excellent coach, and he is a players coach. I look for them upset some teams this year. They have decent size, skilled players, and shoot the ball well.

[FLMS]

This kids are young but very skilled. They've had a great opportunity to play under one of the best teachers of individual skills around in tony williams. Look for rhea county to develop each year. LC wishes their old coach the best!

[dontknowmuch]

This kids are young but very skilled. They've had a great opportunity to play under one of the best teachers of individual skills around in tony williams. Look for rhea county to develop each year. LC wishes their old coach the best!

 

Agreed. I did not intend to critize Williams. In fact, he appeared to be a good coach also.

[coachinhoops]

Lenoir City will create alot of mismatches with their bigs. All are skilled and shoot the ball better than other bigs in the district. I know Coach Wells is a master of creating and exploiting mismatches. If their bigs can stay out of foul trouble then they can compete with every team in 4AAA. They have better than average shooters. The question will be how fast will they mature and they need to develop confidence early in the year. I would rank the district as follows.

 

1. Bearden-most talent from top to bottom (Guards are the key) Shooting is questionable.

1. Maryville-extremely big and guards are the best in the district. Probably have the best overall coach.

3. William Blount-solid at all positions. Well coached. Hard nosed defense. Micah Ballard is the key.

4. Lenoir City- Great Coach- good young players. Need big things from Dylan Robinson. Need early momentum to ride.

5. Farragut - Rely on the flex and their overall size. Lost alot to graduation. Post is their strength.

6. South Doyle - Barnes will have alot of new faces that nobody has seen. JV last year was really bad.

7. Sevier County - Coach Wright has had a full season to develop his motion.

8. Heritage - might be higher return more than South Doyle and Sevier County. Well Coached.

 

Should be interesting. The top two or three in my opinion are solidified. The next 5 could be wide open.

 

Good Luck Panthers I will be rooting for you.

[IrishBBall]

Lenoir City will create alot of mismatches with their bigs. All are skilled and shoot the ball better than other bigs in the district. I know Coach Wells is a master of creating and exploiting mismatches. If their bigs can stay out of foul trouble then they can compete with every team in 4AAA. They have better than average shooters. The question will be how fast will they mature and they need to develop confidence early in the year. I would rank the district as follows.

 

1. Bearden-most talent from top to bottom (Guards are the key) Shooting is questionable.

1. Maryville-extremely big and guards are the best in the district. Probably have the best overall coach.

3. William Blount-solid at all positions. Well coached. Hard nosed defense. Micah Ballard is the key.

4. Lenoir City- Great Coach- good young players. Need big things from Dylan Robinson. Need early momentum to ride.

5. Farragut - Rely on the flex and their overall size. Lost alot to graduation. Post is their strength.

6. South Doyle - Barnes will have alot of new faces that nobody has seen. JV last year was really bad.

7. Sevier County - Coach Wright has had a full season to develop his motion.

8. Heritage - might be higher return more than South Doyle and Sevier County. Well Coached.

 

Should be interesting. The top two or three in my opinion are solidified. The next 5 could be wide open.

 

Good Luck Panthers I will be rooting for you.

 

I don't see how in the world you can have Farragut ranked 5th. They match up with Bearden very well (with better guard play). Toss up with Maryville unless Douglas is out. Better than Billy Blount and LC. Both teams are very well coached but the edge in player talent goes to Farragut.

[Flash Gordon]

I don't see how in the world you can have Farragut ranked 5th. They match up with Bearden very well (with better guard play). Toss up with Maryville unless Douglas is out. Better than Billy Blount and LC. Both teams are very well coached but the edge in player talent goes to Farragut.

 

 

Everyone has a right to their opinion Irishbball and I would say coachinhoops has a pretty good understanding of the teams in the district considering he coached in this district. I respect his opinion and appreciate him sharing it with us, even though I disagree with some parts of it as well.

 

I do agree with you that Farragut is a top 3 team in the district but I can certainly understand how someone would question Farragut considering they lost a great group of seniors ( Akers, Onusic, Kinney,etc.). Those guys were the heart and soul of a GREAT team last year. I know they have some capable guys waiting in the wings but they really have some big shoes to fill. I think they will be good but not as good as last year.

[aintnostoppinthishb]

If you think real hard about it you would know. The same reason Farragut dominates most of the year then tanks at the end. I don't think it has anything to do with talent.

 

 

And lenoir city should know what talent is?

if your basketball team is as good or even 10x better than your football team, your in for a long long long season. Id even be willing to put a nice wager on this..your basketball team will score more points in the first half than your football team has all season. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[IrishBBall]

If you think real hard about it you would know. The same reason Farragut dominates most of the year then tanks at the end. I don't think it has anything to do with talent.

 

As a rule I would agree with what you've said BUT I think this years group has more talent, a winning background since middle school and has worked much harder than the previous groups. The biggest difference should be in chemistry. Coach D has always been senior oriented to a fault. Having watched these guys for past few years I would say the group that just graduated was much more concerned about the name on the back of the jersey and not the name on the front. The coaching staff may have been trying too hard to keep everyone involved with the program happy instead of winning. I've not seen many high school teams that could play 10-12 deep without a dropoff. I agree completely with your post season assessment without question.

 

BUT, we are talking about the predicted finish in the regular season, not the tourney run.

 

Just an outsiders view that has beaten this much more talented team every time we've played them!

[UNIDEN780]

This is one to keep for February and have some fun with. Just how well will the anonymous group of Farragut, William Blount, Lenoir City, South Doyle and Heritage players do against the defending state champs and D1 laden groups at Maryville and Bearden? Based on the number of players returning to the defending state champs roster and the high profile Junior class at Bearden, this might be the best District in the state., but Picking Farragut 5th is really going out on limb. They lost 4 starters, but return 5 of the top 9 (and they played 9 all season) and have an experienced coach and proven system. Add a few strong Juniors and a surprise or 2 from 7 seniors and its hard to see them sliding to 5th. Has LC gotten that much better? Does WB have the depth? Do Heritage and SD have something up their sleaves? Can't wait to find out!

[chill]

Coachinhoops, you sure got it bad for Dodgen.....Dodgen has had some great teams at Farragut over the years despite himself....Farragut was 12-0 this summer at one point and I watched them roll through Fulton, Catholic, and Anderson County....They had some pretty good guards and solid depth to go along with Watson and Binder inside... I think they could surprise, if we're actually calling it a surprise....I think the Admirals, Maryville, Bearden, and William Blount will roll through this district while all the new coaches are still implementing their systems....the future is bright for this district with all the talented coaches.... probably the best district in the state of coaches..... Mark Blevins, Mark Eldridge, David Baumann, Donald Dodgen, Gary Barnes, Shane Wells, Tony Hardin, and Ken Wright....all great coaches!!!