Freed-Hardeman U. gets 2

[gogold]

Freed-Hardeman University(fhu.edu) announced the commitment of 2 quality players to commit early for the 2003-04 class. Ashley Helton, a 5'8 guard, from Lawrence County High School and Lauren Macpherson, 6'1 post, from Friendship Christian. Another great start for F-HU. Congradulations girls and have great senior seasons for you high school teams. The pressures off on where to go, now go out and have a big and productive year.

[10acvol]

Christy Wallace has decided to transfer to UT-Martin to play basketball, this basically leaves Mary Beth as to go to player at the post

[ladyeagle]

Do you have any idea why Christy decided to transfer?

[sportsguy1]

Freed is getting a good class in but they are losing some players unexpectedly early if Christy is indeed leaving...Leah Holcomb and Holly Milligan already

decided to quit the team.

[Guest gilessf]

Christie Wallace is for sure transferring and they will miss Leah Holcomb also . But I think the effects will be short term and force younger players to step up early . It hard to replace experiance but it helps when you have even more talented players to take their place . Also if your heart is not in it 100% commited to the team then you are better off with out them .

[TheBoredGuy]

I don't think Christy ever really fit in with the environment at Freed. There's some speculation thrown in there, but I feel that it's also pretty accurate. I hate to see her go... she could flat-out play. And at least she didn't transfer to Lambuth

 

All in all, though, I'm excited about the coming season. The Lady Lions will be very young, but the class we got in is also very aggressive, and that's what we need to compete with Union. Losing Leah Holcomb hurt, obviously. It also hurt to lose Tosha Gardner, probably more than most people will realize. Tosha didn't have a great season offensively last year, but she was an excellent defender and rarely made a dumb mistake with the ball. Holly Milligan rarely played, so I don't think her leaving will affect us much.

 

There will be some growing pains in the 02-03 season, no doubt... but when I look down the road and see what we could have over the course of the next 3-4 years, I get pretty fired up.

[BigWillie]

No way any of these girls are good enough to help the Lady Lions compete with Union. Lose by around 10 points, yes. Defeat Union, no. Campbell at Union has the best college basketball program in West Tennessee.

[gogold]

This year will be tough to compete because of Freed-Hardemans age of players and Unions talent. I do believe that in the next 2 to 3 years they will be able to compete and beat Union. Union did not out recruit FHU's 2001-02 class this past year and FHU has started strong with this upcoming 2002-03 class. If they all stay, FHU will beat Union. Union has always been the Tennessee of this conference, but Freed has been knocking on the door the last 6 years. With the talent level that they are getting, they will be on a even ground to compete with Union in the next 2 to 3 years. It's taken a few years, but they are now starting to get the same level of players mighty Union has enjoyed for years.

[TheBoredGuy]

Interesting. I compliment Union, you knock Freed. Very nice.

 

There's no doubt Union is the class of the TranSouth. No doubt at all. But don't forget, the two years previous to last season, the ladies split the regular season matchups. One of the problems last year was the fact that FHU didn't play near the level of Union's aggression in either game. In order for FHU to get to that level, the next level, they've got to match that type of aggressiveness. And the class they have coming in this year is, by all accounts, made up of the type of players who can do that.

 

I've got nothing against Union's teams. I've known both Coach Campbell and Coach Turner from their days at Lipscomb, when Mark played and Ralph assisted Don Meyer. I have nothing but respect for both of them, and nothing but respect for their programs. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about all their fans.

[BigWillie]

Easy BoredGuy. I didn't knock Freed. I just said that the players the have recruited weren't good enough to beat the best team in that conference. No knock, just the truth. Union simply has the ability to get the best kids out of west Tennessee anytime they want and if those kids aren't good enough, then Coach Campbell can use his resources to go out of the country for a post player or get a D1 transfer. Smart on his part. He is doing what it takes to compete on the national level and that is to recruit in the same manner as the national powerhouses (i.e. Southern Naz, OK City, OK Bap. etc) The Lady Lions are recruiting simply to be able to, on their best night or Union's off night, defeat Union. No knock on FHU, just the truth.

[wbbfan]

There should be no surprise that so many players leave the Lady Lions basketball team. Look at the past history. The young ladies mentioned that have left in just the last year are just the latest to leave Henderson. Holly Milligan, Tosha Gardner, Cristy Wallace, Leah Holcomb, etc. all left the team because of the Head Coach. Coach Neal may know how to win but he is not very well liked by current and past players. Even with the good quality players coming in this fall, the majority of them will leave before there Junior seasons. Look at the past six years! History does not lie. That is why FHU will never finish better that third in the TranSouth behind Union and Trevecca

[sportsguy1]

This is the first time that such a mass amount of girls has decided to quit early in years. Yes there have been minor players that have left through the years but every program has people that come and go. Name a program where all the players usually stay for 4 years...you will be hard pressed to find one. I am sure that some of these girls will leave before their senior year or maybe before that but that is normal for any program.