big 9 basketball

[tricitiessportsfan]

Quick rundown, and spoiler alert. Rocky beats Apollo Creed in Rocky 2, they become buddies, Apollo trains Rocky, including a beach scene where they have a real intense man hug on the beach in Rocky 3 I believe. Then in Rocky 4 Ivan Drago comes around, and Apollo wants to show he still has it. Too bad Ivan whips his tail, tragic ending. Rocky then fights Ivan in Russia and wins, and the Russian crowd turned against Ivan and cheered for Rocky. That was when he pulled the quote, "During this fight, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!". That was what rebelrebelman pulled out.

 

Seriously dude, watch the Rocky's.

 

I see your point now.

 

Dobyns Bennett 70

Greeneville 50

 

Lady Greene Devils 58

Lady Indians 55

 

I'll have my game rundown posted later tonight. There is too much college football left to watch. Oh yeah, Maryville lost 10-7.

[DBTeepee]

The Tribe makes it look easy against Greeneville.

 

DB is looking like a state tournament caliber team in early season. Has anyone noticed how much impact Ashlon Adams is having already? He's averaging nearly 17 points per game and has fit in amazingly well with the team. He is a truly unselfish player and Coach Morgan says that he has a great work ethic too. He has earned my respect.

[tricitiessportsfan]

Dobyns Bennett 70

Greeneville 50

Final

 

This match up was a good test for both, speed vs. speed, big man vs. big man, undefeated vs. undefeated. However, the Indians, as DBTeepee said, almost made it look easy against the Greene Devils. Why did the Tribe win by twenty points you ask? Two names, Jordan Edwards and Ashlon Adams.

 

Dobyns Bennett opened up in their usual press and up tempo man to man. Greeneville handled it well initially, setting up in the half court, running pick plays allowing for them to knock down a couple three balls in the early going. The Indians struggled to get to the shooter off their pick, allowing Greeneville to have many open looks from three in the first. It appeared, in the early going, that Greeneville would shoot the lights out from three the rest of the night. Due to this, Dobyns Bennett allowed the Greene Devils to take an early lead in the first quarter. Greeneville, however, let the Indians back in it with turnovers on subsequent possessions. The Indians also set up in the half court, again scoring few fast break points. Edwards was challenged by the Greene Devils big man, Hopkins (though he sat out most of the first quarter with a blood related injury), for most of the night, but Edwards was up for the challenge, putting up six points in the first quarter. Also, it seemed Greeneville didn??™t have an answer for Adams. When Edwards was cut off down low, an outlet pass to Adams, with eight points in the first, was the answer. The back and forth in the first resulted in a tie score, 18-18, at the end of the first period.

 

Greeneville opened up the second quarter, quickly knocking down yet another three. The Indians, however, had the answer, going on an 11-3 run in the first four minutes of the quarter, pushing out to a 29-21 lead. During this run, Greeneville was scoreless, taking few shots, for over three minutes. I would attribute that dry spell to Dobyns Bennett??™s continued use of the press and in your face man to man. The remaining four minutes of the quarter was back and forth, 10-10. Overall, the Indians outscored the Greene Devils 21-13 in the second, on the shoulders of McConnell, who knocked down three three pointers, and Adams, allowing the Tribe to take a 39-31 lead into the locker room.

 

The story of the third quarter was a story of Dobyns Bennett runs. Greeneville turned the ball over on back to back possessions to open the period, allowing the Indians to go on an early 9-2 run out of the locker room, pushing their lead out to 48-33 in the first three minutes of the third. After trading baskets, the Indians again went on a run, this time a 9-4 run, pushing their lead out to twenty points near the end of the third. The Greene Devils suddenly became disorganized on offense and cold from the field, especially from three, missing up to four shots on one possession (not including both free throws). The Greene Devils also appeared to get a little lazy on defense, allowing for easy foul calls when the Indians would drive or roll to the basket. The press, again, was very effective for the Tribe and the half court defense did a much better job contesting the three and other jump shots. Dobyns Bennett outscored Greeneville 18-6 in the third, giving the Indians a 57-37 advantage at the end of three. The Greene Devils came out in an up tempo 1-3-1 half court defense to start the fourth, and it was somewhat successful, but the Indians did a good job of beating it with a quick pass to the paint where Edwards or Adams were obliged to finish. The quarter ended with many substitutions and back and forth scoring, culminating in a 70-50 Indian victory.

 

My only complaint on the night, and a few older gentlemen sitting near me agreed, came when Greeneville started subbing heavily around the five minute mark in the fourth, with Dobyns Bennett up by 23. The Tribe, however, left all of its main contributors in the game until around the two minute mark, and subbed for all starters with thirty seconds left. On Coach Morgan??™s behalf, the starters were not attacking the basket by any means, only playing ball control to run clock, so it is somewhat acceptable. I just found it a little odd that he did not heavily sub minutes before the two minute mark, with the victory in hand.

 

 

Either way, it was an overall great job by the Indians. They took a good opponent and wore them down with their hustle on defense, while taking what they were given on offense and knocking down shots, including free throws. I??™m beginning to expect great things from this bunch.

 

 

Notes: Edwards finished with 21 points, Adams finished with 19, and McConnell finished with 15 points, leading scorers for Dobyns Bennett. The referees definitely let the players play last night, with both Davis and Halverson having to sit for a while with obvious head injuries (due to scuffles on the floor for jump balls), not to mention Greeneville??™s Hopkins having to sit out most of the first quarter with some type of bleeding from his face. The only annoyance of the night came from a female fan of Greeneville, who continuously screamed ??

[rebelrebelman]

Sorry for the delayed post, last night was too eventful in football. But here it is nonetheless.

 

Greeneville: Greeneville started out on fire, trading buckets with DB. Greeneville kept up the sharp play in the second, but a big swing at the end of the half gave DB the momentum. Greeneville threw the ball away with only a few ticks left in the half. DB pushed it up the court and Dustin McConnel threw up a prayer, and well, it went in. Pretty unreal shot but Greeneville shouldn't have let DB in that position. They should have had the last shot. The 2nd half started, and Greenville went cold, and couldn't hit any of their outside shots. I hear really good things about Jordan Short, and he did hit a few threes, but he missed a lot of shots. #23 for Greeneville played the PG position really well, but his sharp passes didn't matter because the other guys couldn't catch them. Greenville blew all kinds of lay-ups, as well. To sum it up, once their jumpers stopped falling, their offense could do little to sustain any offense. The bad thing is, Greeneville could probably finish 2nd in the Big 9. Even in a 20 point beatdown, they looked better than the rest of the conference. Lucky for you guys, we'll never know. Grade: C+

 

DB: Even in the first half when Greeneville was keeping it close, DB was still playing extremely well. There's not much you can do when guys are knocking down contested 3's left and right. Once those shots stopped, the better team pulled away. The word that kept coming to my mind was 'smoothe.' Greeneville was playing good, tough defense, but DB just used their passes to find open shots. It was a balanced offensive attack, that took good shots all night. The defense was tough, and created quite a few turnovers. Greeneville found few good shots around the basket throughout the game. DB was able to use their dribbles and sharp passes to get the shot they wanted. They used a lot of lob passes into Edwards for easy lay-ups. Ashlon Adams was the standout player tonight. I knew he had talent, but I had yet to see him as a post-player. Ashlong knocked down a few jumpers, ripped down rebounds, and showed some impressive post moves to score easily. DB should be very thankful for him, because he looked like he could terrorize the Big 9, and combine him with Edwards, well, I just don't know if anyone in the conference can hang with them. Grade: A

[tricitiessportsfan]

rebelrebelman, tell me you heard the obnoxious woman on the Greeneville side? She was quite comical yet annoying.

 

Also, imagine if Ashlon was still with the 'Toppers. The Hill would be unstoppable with Odem, Smith, and Adams. I guess we'll never know, but what a hypothetical.

[rebelrebelman]

rebelrebelman, tell me you heard the obnoxious woman on the Greeneville side? She was quite comical yet annoying.

 

Also, imagine if Ashlon was still with the 'Toppers. The Hill would be unstoppable with Odem, Smith, and Adams. I guess we'll never know, but what a hypothetical.

 

 

I didn't hear that actually, but once you hear Taylor Harmon's dad going off about anything he wants, everyone else is just noise. Side note: Get Harmon's dad a muzzle. For Christmas.

 

I think the Hill would be pretty stoppable, still, though. Although, it would be addition by subtraction, because DB would be much smaller and would have a huge hole. But at SH that coach (not smart) would play Adams at wing and let him throw up jumpers. That was frustrating, watching a coach who claims to be qualified, playing Adams at wing, and not post. Now he's in the post, and looking awesome. SH might be unbeatable when it comes to the big 9 thanks to everyone else is terrible, and DB would be Adams-less. But overall, come tournament time, SH would get bounced, quick.

[Fanofall]

Dobyns Bennett 70

Greeneville 50

Final

 

 

My only complaint on the night, and a few older gentlemen sitting near me agreed, came when Greeneville started subbing heavily around the five minute mark in the fourth, with Dobyns Bennett up by 23. The Tribe, however, left all of its main contributors in the game until around the two minute mark, and subbed for all starters with thirty seconds left. On Coach Morgan??™s behalf, the starters were not attacking the basket by any means, only playing ball control to run clock, so it is somewhat acceptable. I just found it a little odd that he did not heavily sub minutes before the two minute mark, with the victory in hand.

 

 

Well if you came to the game the night before against Crockett you would have observed Charlie Morgan put in their "junior varsity" players with two minutes remaining in the game and it was a complete joke. There were about 7 turnovers in this two minute span and made for a lot of laughter at the end of the game. It was embarrassing for the players and for the team. This is not a knock to the players. Just that they need to continue to work for next year. So if you are wondering why Charlie didnt put them in earlier in the game... here is your reasoning.

 

And Justin Sylvester and Todd Halvorsen did a nice job of not trying to attack the rim in the final minutes as they could've easily ran up the score instead they passed back and forth. I would much rather see that kind of class as opposed to watching the ball go back and forth and lots of turnovers.

[crawdad]

Well if you came to the game the night before against Crockett you would have observed Charlie Morgan put in their "junior varsity" players with two minutes remaining in the game and it was a complete joke. There were about 7 turnovers in this two minute span and made for a lot of laughter at the end of the game. It was embarrassing for the players and for the team. This is not a knock to the players. Just that they need to continue to work for next year. So if you are wondering why Charlie didnt put them in earlier in the game... here is your reasoning.

 

And Justin Sylvester and Todd Halvorsen did a nice job of not trying to attack the rim in the final minutes as they could've easily ran up the score instead they passed back and forth. I would much rather see that kind of class as opposed to watching the ball go back and forth and lots of turnovers.

 

I for one am very excited about this years matchup between DB-SH.Early on I thought DB would be too strong for SH. I have yet to see either team, but reading posts like this lead me to believe DB may not have the depth to weather the Hill's 32 minutes of chaos. I noticed they played 17 in a double OT win. I doubt any of these guys would be considered "junior varsity" players with a big game on the line. Now that's bench depth!

[Fanofall]

I for one am very excited about this years matchup between DB-SH.Early on I thought DB would be too strong for SH. I have yet to see either team, but reading posts like this lead me to believe DB may not have the depth to weather the Hill's 32 minutes of chaos. I noticed they played 17 in a double OT win. I doubt any of these guys would be considered "junior varsity" players with a big game on the line. Now that's bench depth!

 

 

Well it doesn't matter if you play 17 or 5 as long as you get the "W". And I have yet to see a Charlie Morgan coached team get out-conditioned in a game so dont count on it being a factor.

[rebelrebelman]

Well it doesn't matter if you play 17 or 5 as long as you get the "W". And I have yet to see a Charlie Morgan coached team get out-conditioned in a game so dont count on it being a factor.

 

 

Depth is certainly a big deal come tournament time for DB. In the big 9? Nope. No other team has any depth besides Science Hill. DB has SH beat with their starting 5. And Morgan's coaching could run circles around Cutlip's. I make fun of Morgan all the time because the term "Morganized" was coined and that's terrible. But Cutlip doesn't get it. My favorite move on his was the on going episode of wasting arguably the most talented player in this area, by letting him play wing, and didn't ever say "Hey, Ashlon, let's give post a try. Whattaya say?" Long story short, Morgan can get more out of his top 7 than Cutlip out of 15.

[Fanofall]

Depth is certainly a big deal come tournament time for DB. In the big 9? Nope. No other team has any depth besides Science Hill. DB has SH beat with their starting 5. And Morgan's coaching could run circles around Cutlip's. I make fun of Morgan all the time because the term "Morganized" was coined and that's terrible. But Cutlip doesn't get it. My favorite move on his was the on going episode of wasting arguably the most talented player in this area, by letting him play wing, and didn't ever say "Hey, Ashlon, let's give post a try. Whattaya say?" Long story short, Morgan can get more out of his top 7 than Cutlip out of 15.

 

 

Well said and I do think that Morgan will have his boys ready and they will beat SH. And teams in the state tournament only use 7 or 8 players anyways and this is what DB has. Last year the Indians only went 8 deep with Flack, McConnell, and Edwards off the bench. So not a huge change. 6 of the 8 State tourney teams last season only went 7 or 8 deep. And the two teams in the championship only went 7. Just saying.... Maybe not as big a deal as we are making it.

[WaCoJaCo]

Using 7 or 8 players in a game is about right. Its nice to have a deep bench where you could use 9 or 10 players in a game. But when you use that many the players are in and out to many times and they can't ever get into the flow of the game. Also you will have players that get hot, then when you sit them they lose that mojo. Thats why you usually see the tourney teams only using 7 or 8 players. Two much at stake.