District 6A

[mjca00]

Well last year proved interesting with lots of upsets during the regular season and Marion finishing atop the tournament. What will this year look like? Who will be coach of the year, player of the year, etc? I'll start:

 

1. Lookout Valley - should return everybody from a team that finished very strong and beat everyone in the district at least once last year except SP. Coaching is excellent. Could have a couple of guys challenge for POY

2. Signal Mtn - i think they only lost one? solid group that had some big wins last year including a huge win vs SP. top notch coaching. Couple of guys could be POY

3. Whitwell - return almost everybody. good young guard player and best player in district in the big guy. He should be POY. coaching = needs some big wins and to avoid the slip ups like last year vs RH

4. Sale Creek - one of the best coaches in the district will surprise some this year with this group. solid core returning.

5. - 7. Van Buren, Marion, South Pitt - I'm not convinced about any of these 3. These guys could upset people and lose to anyone in league. Marion & SP lost lots but all will always have athletes availabe. Just hard to handicap that much attrition. Van Buren = I'm just not a believer

8. Richard Hardy - just have to convince me otherwise.

 

Thoughts?

[Tbolt]

I think the champions will come from right here in Hamilton County. There should be a pretty good gap between the upper three teams and the rest of the district. My prediction is:

 

1. Signal Mtn. They will miss Locke from last year's team but they return a solid group of kids. Depending upon what tranfers/freshmen they have, they could be the cream of the crop. Solid coaching staff. Also, if they are going to bump up to AA next year this will be their last chance at a plaque for a while. Possible COY and POY.

 

2. Sale Creek. Coach Helton has worked hard with those kids. They were young last year and suffered some pretty hefty loses. They will use that experience to turn the tables this year. Possible COY

 

3. Lookout Valley. Best coach in the District hands down. Look for Lookout Valley to make some noise but rumor is they have lost a player or two due to off-the-court reasons and that could hurt. The school's enrollment number is down, the number of players out for football is down, just don't know if the core team will have enough depth to get over the top. Possible COY and POY.

 

-BIG GAP-

 

4. Whitwell. The only team on the valley side to have a reasonable chance at making it to the Region Tournament. Will have the big guy back but unsure if there is enough of a supporting cast to help.

 

5 - 7 I agree is a crap shoot. Van Buren returns everyone from last year but is that enough to win district? They had a very good guard but the other players went unnoticed.Van Buren could be the one team from the valley side to jump over Whitwell for that #4 spot going into regions. South Pittsburg and Marion lost most of their teams due to graduation. It will be interesting to see if one of them can bring the young guys up to speed before the district tournament. South Pittsburg always has athletes and if they can keep from becoming discouraged early, they may just have enough for a late-season charge.

 

8. Richard Hardy. The school just isn't big enough or doesn't have enough athletes to be a realistic contender. You have to give the players and coaches credit, they never seem to give up trying. It seems like they always have every guy in school suited up.

[THELEGEND]

How do you think these teams will do in the region?

[Tbolt]

How do you think these teams will do in the region?

I don't think anyone in District 6 can play with CSAS, period. CSAS was so young last year and did so well, they can only get better this year because of the experience that they got. Signal Mtn should be able to compete with Grace, especially if Grace continues to be hit with the injury bug. After that, I think District 6 will do very well in the Region. My pick for the top 8 in Region are:

 

1. CSAS

2. Signal Mtn / Grace (my bet is Signal Mtn)

3. Signal Mtn / Grace

4. Sale Creek

5. Lookout Valley

6. Whitwell

7. Boyd Buc

8. Copper Basin

[8Abball]

Well some interesting thoughts on here for sure. First though, I'm curious as to who Lookout Valley lost or if they even really did? Also, how certain is that Signal Mtn is moving up after this year? As for how this district should fair in the region I have to agree with the poster who said pretty good minus CSAS- they have to be considered the heavy favorite.

In the district however I'm not so sure I agree with some of the other predictions. I'm not sure how Sale Creek should do unless they have had some transfers. They lost some players and I'm sure other teams in the district have also worked very hard in the offseason. That said though I think Coach Helton does a good job and the 2nd year in the system should help a lot. I think Van Buren is probably being sold a little short as I don't think they lost anyone. Whitwell's big guy should also prove to cause many teams problems this season. I'm thinking it looks something like this:

1. Signal

2. Lookout Valley

3.-5. Sale Creek/Whitwell/Van Buren

6.-7. Marion/South Pitt

8. Richard Hardy

[THELEGEND]

What were the jamboree scores?

[global98]

What were the jamboree scores?

 

 

CSAS Boys beat Whitwell 55-10, Richard Hardy and Signal Mtn. tied 25-25. Don't know any other scores or even who played.

[smeagle1]

CSAS Boys beat Whitwell 55-10, Richard Hardy and Signal Mtn. tied 25-25. Don't know any other scores or even who played.

 

Don't read anything into the SM score. They will have a rough beginning because three of last years starters are on the football team. When they return after winning the state on Dec 4th the basketball team will be very different.

 

And yes SM will move to AA next year most likely district 7-AA.

[Tbolt]

After watching the Jamboree, I still haven't seen anything that changes my mind about District 6A being stronger top to bottom than 5A. Hands down, CSAS is the top team in the region this year. But the #2 spot will surely go to a 6A team, most likely Signal Mtn. Let's revisit my previous picks:

 

1. Signal Mtn. Although they tied Richard Hardy in the Jamboree, that's really not a good assessment because 8 or 9 of their top players (3 starters as smeagle said) are still playing with that oblong ball. SM may take some early losses due to the football team making a deep run, but in the end, they will win the District tournament.

 

2. Sale Creek: I still say that Coach Helton will have his guys ready for the tournament and will be playing SM for the championship. As long as he has this team believing in themselves and in what he is trying to do, they will continue to get better. They are head and shoulders above where they were last year.

 

3. Lookout Valley: I'm just not sure they have enough depth to make a realistic run at the top spot. The first five are athletic enough and have the experience, but when the subs come in there is a definite drop off. LV would have to keep everyone healthy all season in order to have a shot in my opinion.

 

4. Whitwell: Lost big to CSAS but then I don't think anyone else could have done better. Still look to be a one man show with the big kid being the key to their success. With his size, he should dominate the district and should easily win the Player of the Year. Guard play seems to be a little sporadic. The Tigers need to find help for the big man or they could slide down a spot or two.

 

5. Van Buren: Wasn't that impressive but appeared to have an off night. They didn't graduate anyone from last year's team and should be poised to make a run in the tournament. Their lack of size will work against them so they will need to play disciplined, controlled basketball.

 

6. Marion County: Graduation was not kind to the Warriors. Last year they had the tallest team in the region and this year they are very close to the shortest. I only recognized one or two players from last year's team. I'm not sure how many they returned but it can't be many. They looked very unorganized against Grace.

 

7. South Pitt: The Pirates are a shot in the dark. Rumor was that they didn't have enough players to field a team because everyone was still playing football. I find it hard to believe that their "entire" basketball team plays football but we'll see. You know they'll be athletic and will run the floor but the question is, will their coach be able to get them disciplined enough to win the close games? Depending on who plays for SP they could move up a couple of spots.

 

8. Richard Hardy: Same Richard Hardy. Same result. You got to give these boys credit for even suiting up and playing but realistically, they don't have the athletes or the coaching to win a championship. The Robinson kid appears to be a pretty good player and the one guard (Adkins?) has decent skills. Beyond those two, any JV team in the District could beat them game in, game out. Wonder why those two never thought about moving up the street and playing for the Pirates? At least they would have some help at SP. But hey, at least they can say they tied this year's eventual champion (SM) in the Jamboree!

[8Abball]

Well- How is this district looking so far? I am having trouble finding scores/standings so I am curious if the earlier predictions are holding to form. I know its early, but I'm guessing district games have started.

[Tbolt]

The season has gotten underway and everyone has at least one District game under their belt. It's still very early so any "standings" at this point would be premature. But here's how my prediction for District is shaping up:

 

1. Signal Mtn. 2-0

2. Sale Creek 0-2

3. Lookout Valley 1-0

4. Whitwell 0-3

5. Van Buren 3-0

6. Marion 1-0

7. South Pitt 1-0

8. Richard Hardy 0-3

[8Abball]

The season has gotten underway and everyone has at least one District game under their belt. It's still very early so any "standings" at this point would be premature. But here's how my prediction for District is shaping up:

 

1. Signal Mtn. 2-0

2. Sale Creek 0-2

3. Lookout Valley 1-0

4. Whitwell 0-3

5. Van Buren 3-0

6. Marion 1-0

7. South Pitt 1-0

8. Richard Hardy 0-3

 

Have you seen any of these games tbolt? Anyone impress/surprise you- good or bad?