Tri-County seven

[THE KING]

I figured I would start this topic to start the year off because Elizabethton fans have went awol. I will start off by saying that I like the elizabethton posters and want them to stay engaged on these boards eventhough they are no longer the top team in Carter County. We Lander fans have sit behind you for several seasons now its only fair that you get to sit behind us for awhile.

 

1. Cloudland- they have it all. They have top caliber point guard who can consistenty knock it home from downtown. They have speed wings. They have 2 post players who can light the scoreboard, block shots, rebound, you name it. Now the key is learning not to get too confident like the king can sometimes, lol. On any given night you can be beat. Hard work and playing as a team is the key.

2. Unicoi County-very good this year and I'm looking forward to seeing how my landers match up with them.

3. Elizabethton-not a powerhouse anymore but can still beat most of the seven.

4. Hampton-With a coach like Leon Tolley, Hampton will always compete.

5. Happy Valley-don't know much about them other than they had a slew of coaches the last several seasons.

 

6. The Creek-Already got a W under their belt and confidence is big in girls basketball.

 

7. Johnson County-I hope they can get some quality wins this year.

[coachh17]

King,

 

Since this looks like the "Year of the Lady Lander", you are welcome to take over the weekly posting of the Tri-County Seven thread. I have not seen any team play at all, but will take a stab at it based on the pre-season hype and speculation:

 

1. Cloudland- By all accounts this could be a gold ball winning team. The post transfer is apparently the real deal and will compliment an already loaded stable of guards perfectly.

 

2. Unicoi County- Everyone is saying this is their year to finally take the league back from Elizabethton. King, Thompson, and Bennett should be hungry seasoned seniors. Edwards is a great guard and Gardner is solid inside. Depth is a concern. It will be interesting to see if the Lady Devils can rule the roost.

 

3. Elizabethton- The Lady Cyclones have had a wonderful 10 year run with numerous league, district, and regional titles. They have also reached the substate about six times and made three trips to Murfreesboro. They must replace all five starters, three of which are playing college ball (2 D1 basketball and 1 softball), and the other could have played D1 softball, but chose to concentrate on academics. The cupboard is far from bare. Five junior starters, a couple of quality sophomores, and a very talented freshman could come together nicely. It may take them awhile to adjust to their newly expanded roles, but my guess is that nobody will want to draw this team come tournament time.

 

4. Hampton- Coach Leon's Lady Dogs lost two great players to graduation in Weddle and M. Dugger. Guinn, D. Dugger, and P. Dugger return to give the Lady Dogs a talented group of guards. How far this team goes will likely depend on the development of some post players. Always a tough hard-nosed team.

 

5. Happy Valley- Don't know much about them, other than they have a new coach. I know Hodge, Gouge, Perry, and Blankenship form a pretty good nucleus. They may surprise some folks.

 

6. Unaka- I think Coach Wright may have a nice little team here. Colbaugh and Bradshaw are good guards. Lawson is an experienced post. Kassie Winters is very talented on the wing and Brandi Ensor is developing into a formidable post/wing. If they can develop some depth and play some better defense, the Lady Rangers may pull some upsets.

 

7. Johnson County- This is Coach Whittemore's second year. They played hard last year and began building. I would expect to see them win a few more games this year. Building a winner takes time, but the Lady Horns are moving in that direction.

 

Good Luck and No Injuries to all!

Edited November 19, 2011 by coachh17

[THE KING]

Coach, I didn't mean I wanted to take it over. I just didn't want all you fans to disappear just because its a rebuilding year for you all. It just makes you look like fair weather fans which I know you are not coach. The King has had to endure a 1-9 season by the football team and I'm ready for some wins and a chance to leave a facility feeling pretty good for once.

[THE KING]

[The Highlander]

 

 

Now that's funny right there!!!

[limestonecove]

Looks like Cloudland gets a chance to prove its preseason status at the HV tourney this coming week.

Be careful what you wish for landers......

 

Guardedly optimistic about Unicoi's team this season. Seasoned team and coach in his second year should be familiar with his team and opponents.

[THE KING]

Looks like Cloudland gets a chance to prove its preseason status at the HV tourney this coming week.

Be careful what you wish for landers......

 

Guardedly optimistic about Unicoi's team this season. Seasoned team and coach in his second year should be familiar with his team and opponents.

Limestone, nobody is saying the Landers won't be challenged this year, but they don't have to be intimidated by anyone either. I believe this is the best highlander team since 2004 and they've scrimmaged no one but the best teams around here during the preseason. They beat Morristown West and lost to Science Hill. These girls wanted to go at it with the best teams. Thats what it takes to get better and they have their eye on a very big prize. Its very early in the year and all a loss would do at this point is show you have to be ready to play your best every game. There is some good competition in this area. My point with this thread was to show that I have stood by my team even when we weren't very good. I guess the Elizabethton cyclones graduated their posters along with their seniors not counting coachh17.

[THE KING]

I will be looking at the cloudland betsy matchup closely. Betsy is better than I thought they would be. Should be a great match.

[johnk731]

Well from getting a chance to watch a numerous amount of games through out the week I can kinda share what I think about our girls basketball outcome could be in this area. My top 6 for this week goes like this.

 

1.Science Hill- Hats off to the Lady Toppers for defeating a very tough but young Lady Trojans team at Daniel Boone High School this week by a very large margin. Copney and Tarter are probably the best two "Athletes" in the area bar none. Lyon is one of the top 5 post players in this area absolutely dominating Morristown West last night along with the way Knack is shooting the ball right now the Toppers are heading in the right direction. The Toppers will be tested on Friday though as they play my #2 team in this area the Cloudland Lady Highlanders.

 

2.Cloudland- Big win over the Cumberland Gap Panthers on Friday.Brooke Rhodes proved to show everyone why she is one of the top players in this area recording a double double with 21 points and 16 rebounds along with tough Sophmore Courtney Clarke having a good showing for the night with 16 points. Started off shaky against Sullivan East but ended up pulling it out at the end by 9. Landers better come in focused Friday or it could be a long night at the Valley.

 

3.Tennessee High- Lost to a tough Jeff County team 61-55 but bounced back over the week with 2 key wins over Elizabethton and Morristown West 56-55 and 66-46 over Elizabethton.Mitchell and Neil are very tough players they will be tested tomorrow night though against a good Lady Greene Devils Team.

 

 

4.Daniel Boone- Big 52 to 44 win over North Greene this week.I think they are going to fair pretty well in that big 9 Conference this year possibly finishing third. They are very well coached patient on the offensive end and they play very good defense.

 

 

5.North Greene- Took one on the chin to Daniel Boone but picked up a solid win over Elizabethton.If North Greene can stay healty and get production consistently out of Bailey like she played against Elizabethton they are going to be a force in Single A.

 

6.Unicoi County- With 2 wins over Sullivan South and Volunteer Unicoi showed why I think they are going to win the 3 rivers conference.King,Thompson,Gardner and Bennett are all playing well at the moment I think this is one of the better Unicoi teams they have had in a while.

Edited November 20, 2011 by johnk731

[THE KING]

Pretty accurate, john. Cloudland is still trying to find its best 5. If it was me, I would have rhodes and wilson out there together. Wilson can really handle the ball for such a tall girl and opponents cant all collapse on rhodes because wilson can dominate too. The other 2 I would have out there is miller and of course clarke. Miller is very quick and can create turnovers. She is vital to the teams defense. As for the final starter, I think you gotta go with hughes. She's a scorer, probably more than she realizes.

[etownsparky]

Looks like fair analyses for pre-season and through the first few games. I'm a Cyclone through and through, but pull for the other Carter County teams when we're not going head to head. I'm glad to see other schools have success (except some of those from the dark side in neighboring counties - LOL). I hope to see Cloudland play sometime this year since based on all the hype they should be good. I expect the Lady Cyclones to suffer some growing pains early for all the reasons previously posted. However, I do agree with Coachh in that they will likely be a tough draw come tournament time. In A, I expect Cloudland and NG to be the front runners, but I wouldn't count out Coach Tolley's Lady Dawgs either. All three of these teams have quality coaches and quality players. On the AA side, Unicoi is the logical choice to win the TRC. I'm guessing Coach Epperson better have success this year or the UC folks may become even more restless than they already are. Good luck to all teams this year unless you are playing the Lady Cyclones. Go Cyclones!

[johnk731]

I agree Sparky and I am not counting Elizabethton out by no means I think you will see a big improvement out of them once Christmas time rolls around. Epperson infact needs to win this year because I am hearing about the same choice words you are hearing and they aren't good. East has alot of potential to upset any of the top 2 teams in that conference. They are very well diciplined Offensively very sound defensively got a decent crop of good shooters and good role player type of posts so dont count them out. Johnson County will battle your tail off every night and atleast compete. Happy Valley hasn't really played anybody yet so it's hard to tell with them. I think the Cloudland vs Science Hill game this week and the North Greene vs Cloudland series will be the best 3 games all year. But it pretty much goes like this if u are in Cloudlands situation. They can come in fearless and play their best basketball and allow themselves a chance to win or come in flat and get beat by 40. I will go out on a limb and make my predictions for this weeks top games.

 

Science Hill 58

 

Cloudland 51

 

 

Cloudland 55

 

Elizabethton 46

 

 

Tennessee High 61

 

Greeneville 45