Memphis Dandy Dozen

[TraderB]

Does anyone have the Melrose vs Olive Branch score?

 

I suspect that game must have been canceled or post-poned!

 

Here's why:

 

I saw two of Melrose's starters (Jones & Thomas) @ the 7:30 pm Ridgeway-White Station game! So, unless Melrose and OB hooked up sometime earlier during the day, Saturday, then I don't think they played...

 

Also, there was NOTHING in the Commercial Appeal about the results of that game. The CA is usually very good about reporting local scores (As you may know, Olive Branch, MS is local-- only minutes from the Memphis).

[kthuggin]

You're not making sense! You talk about core players, but White Station lost two! Ridgeway lost 4 right? So with your logic of the same group of players means White Station should've owned Ridgeway. With your logic thats how it should've been. Now you can tell me this doesn't matter, because they were playing small ball last year, but it really does. Do you honestly believe Darrian Gray is a Power Forward? Walter Davis a center? How many players did Southwind use off the bench? 2! Basing this year(Especially predictions) off last year is foolish. Look at White Station. They might be the third best team in their district. Nobody is underestimating Ridgeway my friend, they are Nationally ranked, but its clear that this is a good matchup for Southwind!

 

Darious Paige, Darrian Gray, Montez Phifer, Nick Mason, Darius Paige vs. Darryl Marshall, Cameron Golden, Marterrance Brock, Correion Pereson(sp?), and Kris Brewer! Should be a great match up of back courts.

 

P.S. The kid Matt who is now at Pine Bluff, Cordero Macklin, and Hampton all played big minutes my guy, and Cam Golden received no where near as many minutes as he should've last year.

 

You are making my point.....Cordero was hurt with a knee injury half the season, Matt started at the beginning of the season but Kris Brewer eventually started and played most of those minutes between the 2.......It's not about the number of players lost, its the contributions, White station being 3rd best in there district is not a stretch to me, they lost a big part of their team in Farakahn, my point is, if Farakan hall was returning with this years white station team they would be highly favored, Ridgeways graduating players wasn't as a significant loss.......James Hampton was the only senior player that consistantly played on ridgeways team last year, the most minutes at that position, besides him everyone else is returning contributor...............This match up Darious Paige, Darrian Gray, Montez Phifer, Nick Mason, Darius Paige vs. Darryl Marshall, Cameron Golden, Marterrance Brock, Correion Pereson(sp?), and Kris Brewer! Should be a great match up of back courts., was the same exact match up as last year games for the most part, Id send you a copy of the games if you like.......Regardless to what positions the kids played, their style is geared to a 5 guard line up....Im basing on what the match ups were last year along with the contributing returners.......Yes white station misses farahkan much more than ridgeway misses the 4 graduating seniors....The group of guys returning at ridgeway, beat southwind 3 times last year. It is a great match up nevertheless!

[JodyJoe]

Still don't catch your drift, since the core players of White Station beat Ridgeway twice last year. Right? Same players doesn't equal the same team, and I have film on the game. Both games could've gone either way so the point is really moot, because their average margin of victory(1,5,6) is like 4 points. If you wanna base your predictions off last year then be my guest, I'm going off this year and the vast improvement of Darrian Gray and how comfortable he is playing his natural position, so I don't know how you think thats not a big factor or can be shrugged off, their frontline and lack of size/height was their biggest fault last year.

[yankees8589]

It could be White Station is overrated. It could also be that they are not nearly as bad as being made out to be. I will go with the latter. Lets see how they fare in the Bass Pro Tournament this weekend and maybe then make a determination. White Station opens up against Sagemont (FL) featuring Fab De Melo, Will Sheehey and Rod Days (all high major recruits)...this same tournament features 4 of the top 25 teams in the country and a ton of high major players with several being nationally ranked in there respective classes.

 

White Station has talent. Joe Jackson, Andre Hollins and Nino Johnson are all high major player plus they are complimented by some other very good players. True, they may not be the best team in the city but this is still a good team. I think they lack discipline and could no doubt be a better defensive team than they have showed so far. Just because they won the State last season don't mean squat this season. I honestly think they bought the hype and we all know hype don't mean squat when it comes to taking the court in the city of Memphis. By No means am I ready to stick a fork in this White Station team.

 

Look for Ridgeway to crack the national ranking now after some impressive wins in and out of the state. Melrose is the best team in the state in my opinion and it ain't even close. I guess I would have to say now that the City of Memphis top teams in AAA would be.

 

(1) Melrose

(2) Ridgeway

(3) Southwind

(4) White Station

(5) Central COULD BE AS HIGH AS 2/3 BEFORE ALL IS SAID AND DONE to early to put them there now

(6) Germantown

(7) Craigmont

(8) Cordova

(9) Bartlett

(10) East

[TraderB]

It could be White Station is overrated. It could also be that they are not nearly as bad as being made out to be. I will go with the latter. Lets see how they fare in the Bass Pro Tournament this weekend and maybe then make a determination. White Station opens up against Sagemont (FL) featuring Fab De Melo, Will Sheehey and Rod Days (all high major recruits)...this same tournament features 4 of the top 25 teams in the country and a ton of high major players with several being nationally ranked in there respective classes.

 

White Station has talent. Joe Jackson, Andre Hollins and Nino Johnson are all high major player plus they are complimented by some other very good players. True, they may not be the best team in the city but this is still a good team. I think they lack discipline and could no doubt be a better defensive team than they have showed so far. Just because they won the State last season don't mean squat this season. I honestly think they bought the hype and we all know hype don't mean squat when it comes to taking the court in the city of Memphis. By No means am I ready to stick a fork in this White Station team.

 

Look for Ridgeway to crack the national ranking now after some impressive wins in and out of the state. Melrose is the best team in the state in my opinion and it ain't even close. I guess I would have to say now that the City of Memphis top teams in AAA would be.

 

(1) Melrose

(2) Ridgeway

(3) Southwind

(4) White Station

(5) Central COULD BE AS HIGH AS 2/3 BEFORE ALL IS SAID AND DONE to early to put them there now

(6) Germantown

(7) Craigmont

(8) Cordova

(9) Bartlett

(10) East

 

I don't know for certain if White Station is over-rated or as bad as they are made out to be....I DO know that they are NOT as good as many polls make them out to be... Their three glaring weaknesses (poor rebounding, poor post-production, questionable defense) are simply not traits of "good" teams, IMO.

 

Nino Johnson did NOT look anything like a "high major" type player, versus Ridgeway! He looked like a average to slightly below-average High School player. Absolutely nothing special--NOT scholarship worthy... without a TON of improvement.

 

I was very impressed with Nino Johnson's hustle last year, as a role player for Melrose. He was an excellent "garbage man--" someone who has no plays run for them, but scores off loose balls, tip-ins and other opportunistic type plays. Great BB instincts--seemingly always in the right spot at the right time. He was a decent defender also.

 

This year, now that Nino is a starter and being asked to step-up and help replace the production of Farakahn Hall..... Well, I'll just say that Nino doesn't even come close to filling ANY part of the HUGE void left behind by Farakahn's departure (graduation)! So, unless Nino's lackluster performance vs Ridgeway was just an aberration (or he improves dramatically), White Station is likely to lose a whole lot more games and, as a result, continue sliding down the rankings.

 

As it stands, your rankings look pretty darn good to me.... Overton appears to have a highly competitive team also, and might crack the top-12 at some point.

[JodyJoe]

I'm going with the former. I honestly think this White Station teams lacks the hunger and toughness that other teams have shown. Joe Jackson seems to have actually regressed this year overall. He doesn't seem to show that will or leadership that I expected him to show. He also still doesn't commit to the defensive side of the ball either. He's not the only problem, he's really their biggest solution, but Andre Hollins hasn't really stepped up consistently. Doesn't get double digits against Ridgeway, isn't even noticable during the first 3 Qtrs of the Gtown game, and is non existant for LONG stretches of time against Southwind. Nino has been a real disappointment, I don't think he's even averaging double figures. He has to learn how to duplicate the same success he has in the summer time so he can be successful during the fall.

[terop]

After watching White Station 10+ times last year and about 5 times this year I'm with the conclusion that they just havent improved at all. Ridgeway, SOuthwind, Germantown, and Melrose are all vastly improved since last year due to added players or just maturing on the court. LIke Yankee said they still are a great team and be quite difficult to stop at times...I wouldn't want to play them in the tourney! I'm still going with which ever two teams to make it out of Memphis one will win state...

[terop]

Jody, Yankee, and Trader your assessments are right on...I've totally seen the same things!

[chipper_jones_4mvp]

Im with Yankee on this one.Everyone is downing White Station now,but they lost to Bellaire,tx and got blown out by Ridgeway twice while beating a team from MO,KY,and TX,and also beat Raleigh Egpyt,Germantown,and So.Wind.Maybe Ridgeway have their number,but it only takes one night to get knocked off.An in the case of Memphis,they have Melrose,WS,Central,Germantown,Ridgeway,RE,So Wind that could all go along way.I remember WS wasnt suppose to get out of Memphis 2 yrs ago,but manage to srting along some wins thru the tournament and made it to the championship and remember they still have Joe.S i wouldnt just count them out yet.I say that Melrose is the best followed by Ridgeway,Ws,So.Wind,Central,Germantown,and RE.Does anyone have a schedule on the Bass Pro Tournament,if so could you post it and also where is it played.

[yankees8589]

Im with Yankee on this one.Everyone is downing White Station now,but they lost to Bellaire,tx and got blown out by Ridgeway twice while beating a team from MO,KY,and TX,and also beat Raleigh Egpyt,Germantown,and So.Wind.Maybe Ridgeway have their number,but it only takes one night to get knocked off.An in the case of Memphis,they have Melrose,WS,Central,Germantown,Ridgeway,RE,So Wind that could all go along way.I remember WS wasnt suppose to get out of Memphis 2 yrs ago,but manage to srting along some wins thru the tournament and made it to the championship and remember they still have Joe.S i wouldnt just count them out yet.I say that Melrose is the best followed by Ridgeway,Ws,So.Wind,Central,Germantown,and RE.Does anyone have a schedule on the Bass Pro Tournament,if so could you post it and also where is it played.

I have it printed off at home. As soon as I get home I will post it.

[GCPioneer]

It's played in Springfield Missouri.

[yankees8589]

yes it is. One of the top tournaments in the country in my opinion. Much better than the Arby's classic and that is a very good one to.