17U State Tournament - Ballerz Win!

[ETNBB]

Congratualtions to Coach Shulman, Coach T and the Ballerz!!!

 

The Midstate Ballerz defeated a very good Memphis YOMCA team in the finals to win the 17U State tournament this weekend in Memphis. The Nashville Gators beat the Franklin Rage in the consolation game to take third. The Ballerz had to beat the Gators, Rage and YOMCA teams Sunday to win the tournament. The Ballerz won the 16U States last year as well.

[terop]

Congratualtions to Coach Shulman, Coach T and the Ballerz!!!

 

The Midstate Ballerz defeated a very good Memphis YOMCA team in the finals to win the 17U State tournament this weekend in Memphis. The Nashville Gators beat the Franklin Rage in the consolation game to take third. The Ballerz had to beat the Gators, Rage and YOMCA teams Sunday to win the tournament. The Ballerz won the 16U States last year as well.

 

do you have a recap...

[gomab2]

From the website...

 

Sunday's 4:30pm Championship game gave everyone just the matchup they were wanting to see, the top 2 teams in the State, Midstate Ballerz South and Memphis YOMCA. The Ballerz came out and played oustanding team ball in the intense, phyiscal championship game, and jumped out to a 41-22 second half lead before finishing the game out 55-46. A focused and defensively-charged Ballerz squad overcame a poor shooting and free throw shooting game to win the Jr Boys AAU State Championship, only the 2nd time this decade a non-Memphis team has accomplished such a feat (the other being the Ballerz as well)! 6'5 wing Nathan Parker scored 18 in the title game on a variety of threes, dunks, and mid range jumpers, and Austin East teammates Chase Jones and Travei Pryor each tallied 9 points, to go along with double digit rebounds. Pryor finished with 12 boards, Jones with 10. The 5-0 run to the State title was led by offensive balance, with 5 Ballerz players averaging right at double figures for the tourney. The Ballerz North squad, with new additions 6'4 PG Josh Odom and 6'5 wing Ashlon Adams also played well, earning a bid to the Jr Boys AAU Nationals in Orlando, FL. The Ballerz North lost a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals and ended up finishing 5th in the State...

[Flash Gordon]

Congrats to the Ballerz.

 

Wow, guys like Parker ( Bearden), Jones (A-E), Pryor(A-E) leading the way for the Midstate Ballerz and I know they have guys like Watson, McBee, and the other Jones kid from A-E. Looks like the Midstate Ballerz are becoming the East State Ballerz as well!

 

In all seriousness, it is good to see the ET guys doing well and making names for themselves. There are always a lot of good players in ET, though obviously not as many as middle and west Tennessee due to population and demographics of population. However, year-in, year out, teams like Bearden, Oak ridge, A-E, Fulton, Farragut, etc. will produce talented players that can generally compete with anybody in the state and the success of the Ballerz this year is showing that.

[gomab2]

Congrats to the Ballerz.

 

Wow, guys like Parker ( Bearden), Jones (A-E), Pryor(A-E) leading the way for the Midstate Ballerz and I know they have guys like Watson, McBee, and the other Jones kid from A-E. Looks like the Midstate Ballerz are becoming the East State Ballerz as well!

 

In all seriousness, it is good to see the ET guys doing well and making names for themselves. There are always a lot of good players in ET, though obviously not as many as middle and west Tennessee due to population and demographics of population. However, year-in, year out, teams like Bearden, Oak ridge, A-E, Fulton, Farragut, etc. will produce talented players that can generally compete with anybody in the state and the success of the Ballerz this year is showing that.

 

 

Flash,

I agree! And yeah, the core of our 17 Ballerz South roster is def filled with East Tn players! Parker is honestly playing his way into Top 10 Class of 2009 with his production and upside. McBee has Conference USA offers, to go along with Mid offers and High Maj interest. Pryor should likely settle in as the #3 player in the State in 2010. Sam, Chase, and Chance are all playing themselves into Division 1 scholarships!! Great class for East Tn talent!!

[sports_fan]

Help me understand Shulman's National rating system. The Ballerz have not beaten any of the top 20 teams listed. They beat the Y, who did not have Leslie McDonald, and they barely beat the Franklin Rage by 3 in the state semis. I'm not saying Shulman is biased and I agree the Ballerz have been playing some good ball, but to say they are the 15th best team in the nation. That is seriously patting ones self on the back. To be real honest I have seen most of the good 17U teams play and I don't think there is a Tennessee Team right now that is a top 20 team in the nation. That includes the Memphis Y, Tennessee Y, Ballerz or anyone else. No consistency.

[gomab2]

Wrong thread buddy... The rankings have not been posted on CoachT.com... Already started a negative thread on another site... Way to be completely off topic and negative on a thread about a great accomplishment of a group of hard working and underrated 17 year old kids...

[supersteve17]

From the website...

 

Sunday's 4:30pm Championship game gave everyone just the matchup they were wanting to see, the top 2 teams in the State, Midstate Ballerz South and Memphis YOMCA. The Ballerz came out and played oustanding team ball in the intense, phyiscal championship game, and jumped out to a 41-22 second half lead before finishing the game out 55-46. A focused and defensively-charged Ballerz squad overcame a poor shooting and free throw shooting game to win the Jr Boys AAU State Championship, only the 2nd time this decade a non-Memphis team has accomplished such a feat (the other being the Ballerz as well)! 6'5 wing Nathan Parker scored 18 in the title game on a variety of threes, dunks, and mid range jumpers, and Austin East teammates Chase Jones and Travei Pryor each tallied 9 points, to go along with double digit rebounds. Pryor finished with 12 boards, Jones with 10. The 5-0 run to the State title was led by offensive balance, with 5 Ballerz players averaging right at double figures for the tourney. The Ballerz North squad, with new additions 6'4 PG Josh Odom and 6'5 wing Ashlon Adams also played well, earning a bid to the Jr Boys AAU Nationals in Orlando, FL. The Ballerz North lost a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals and ended up finishing 5th in the State...

 

Congrats to these kids! What website was this posted on? I'd like to check it out!

[sports_fan]

Wrong thread buddy... The rankings have not been posted on CoachT.com... Already started a negative thread on another site... Way to be completely off topic and negative on a thread about a great accomplishment of a group of hard working and underrated 17 year old kids...

 

 

Whatever, and I was not being negative about the players at all as I did acknowledge they are playing the best ball right now of the Tennessee teams. Any time you win a state championship, it is a great accomplishment. Just not convinced of the the national ranking.

 

But you can't really say you have a group of underrated kids if they are ranked 15th in the nation!!!!

 

I was also addressing Tennessee basketball in general. The TN teams have to show more consistency in the national tournaments.

 

And agree I should have started a different thread to voice these opinions.

 

Thank you for correcting me.

[gomab2]

No prob...And I stated underrated kids, because they are. No player on the Ballerz South 17u roster is ranked higher than #13 on Andre's Prep hoops site in Class of 2009. Same in 2010. And of course none are Nationally ranked. I feel a number of the guys on the Ballerz roster are vastly underrated, and hope to see them getting more pub soon...Same with the Ballerz 16s, who have now beaten the NIKE Boo Williams winner and the NIKE Memorial Day winner this season... (Amare Stoudamire Team Stat and Illinois Warriors)... Again, pretty impressive feats for a TN team on the National circuit...

[ETNBB]

I was also addressing Tennessee basketball in general. The TN teams have to show more consistency in the national tournaments.

 

Although the Ballerz do have a tendency to play to the level of the competition (who doesn't) they have "consistently" won their pool in every major national tournament they played going 3-0 and making it to at least the sweet 16 or final 4 of championship bracket play where they have had a few heart break 2-5 point losses to top teams. They do not have a bad loss. This is not easy to do. With their team speed on offense and defense, multiple shooters and scorers, good coaching and enough size and strength to keep other teams big guys from going off they are a very hard team for any one to beat. These rankings are amazingly subjective but from what I have seen you could easily justify this ranking plus or minus a few spots. If they can hold it together and get that break through win over a top ten team by the end of the summer I could even see them moving up.

 

If you don't agree with the rankings why don't you do something constructive like giving an alternative and rationale instead of picking out one team (the Ballerz) to bash.

[sports_fan]

Although the Ballerz do have a tendency to play to the level of the competition (who doesn't) they have "consistently" won their pool in every major national tournament they played going 3-0 and making it to at least the sweet 16 or final 4 of championship bracket play where they have had a few heart break 2-5 point losses to top teams. They do not have a bad loss. This is not easy to do. With their team speed on offense and defense, multiple shooters and scorers, good coaching and enough size and strength to keep other teams big guys from going off they are a very hard team for any one to beat. These rankings are amazingly subjective but from what I have seen you could easily justify this ranking plus or minus a few spots. If they can hold it together and get that break through win over a top ten team by the end of the summer I could even see them moving up.

 

If you don't agree with the rankings why don't you do something constructive like giving an alternative and rationale instead of picking out one team (the Ballerz) to bash.

 

Just maybe if you would read all the posts you would see I was not bashing anyone and certainly did not single out the Ballerz, I was merely pointing out that I thought the Tennessee teams needed to be more consistent. Sorry I should not have included the Ballerz. What was I thinking. I do think it is interesting how much press the Ballerz team gets especially for a team that supposed to be underrated, and yet they appear to have no chinks in their armor and are a destined to be a top ten team in the nation.

 

I have seen the Ballerz play several times this year and they are a very good team and a good set of kids. I wish them all the best. They have went from an underrated team to a top national team. Several of you have put them on a pretty high pedestal. I just hope for the boys sake they can live up to those expectations.