Tri-County Seven

[limestonecove]

Unicoi County beat Grainger early in the year but to be honest that was one of the better games the blue devils have played this year. It was over two months ago as I recall. I would not underestimate the GRizzlies.

[gcfball]

I have only seen Grainger play twice. I saw them last year when Elizabethton beat them badly in the Regional Tournament at Sullivan North. I also saw them beat somebody at the Daniel Boone Christmas tournament in December. I think Johnson is a very good post player and is a tough match-up for anybody. It is hard for me to judge the guard play. They did very little against Elizabethton last year and were playing a weak team when I saw them at Boone. They have to be a solid team with a 22-2 record and numerous wins over South Greene, Greeneville, and Chuckey-Doak. However, they have lost to Unicoi County and Morristown West, so they are not invincible. I will not be surprised to see them make it to Murfreesboro, but I will not be shocked if they get upset in the Regional semi-finals either.

 

One reason why Elizabethon "beat them badly" last year was because Betsy had 4 senior starters who had been in those type of games before. Grainger started 1 freshman, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors. Grainger returned everyone on that team and Betsy lost all 5 starters. This might be the reason some people are giving Grainger a good chance at substate/state.

You mention their 2 losses...those were to a top AA team in east TN and a good AAA team in east TN. It is not like they have lost to a team like Sullivan East.

Elizabethon may beat them, but you seem to be a little biased in your comments. Didn't Grainger win a tournament earlier in the season that Elizabethon was in?

Edited February 2, 2012 by gcfball

[etownsparky]

One reason why Elizabethon "beat them badly" last year was because Betsy had 4 senior starters who had been in those type of games before. Grainger started 1 freshman, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors. Grainger returned everyone on that team and Betsy lost all 5 starters. This might be the reason some people are giving Grainger a good chance at substate/state.

You mention their 2 losses...those were to a top AA team in east TN and a good AAA team in east TN. It is not like they have lost to a team like Sullivan East.

Elizabethon may beat them, but you seem to be a little biased in your comments. Didn't Grainger win a tournament earlier in the season that Elizabethon was in?

After reading coachh's post a couple of times, I don't believe he said that Grainger doesn't have a good chance at substate/state. On the contrary, he said he wouldn't be surprised if they made it. He clearly acknowledges the difficulty in assessing the situation based on a regional game last year (against a totally different Betsy team as you mention) and a single game this year against an inferior team in the DB tournament. The only reason for pointing out the losses is to make the point that Grainger is beatable, not that they have an inferior team. I'd say Grainger has to be the favorite in R1AA. Betsy has certainly lost some games they should not have. That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous and capable of beating goods teams on a given night though. I don't know how the districts or regionals will play out, but I do believe based on head-to-head and comparative results that either Unicoi or EHS would be a tough out for Grainger.

[gcfball]

After reading coachh's post a couple of times, I don't believe he said that Grainger doesn't have a good chance at substate/state. On the contrary, he said he wouldn't be surprised if they made it. He clearly acknowledges the difficulty in assessing the situation based on a regional game last year (against a totally different Betsy team as you mention) and a single game this year against an inferior team in the DB tournament. The only reason for pointing out the losses is to make the point that Grainger is beatable, not that they have an inferior team. I'd say Grainger has to be the favorite in R1AA. Betsy has certainly lost some games they should not have. That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous and capable of beating goods teams on a given night though. I don't know how the districts or regionals will play out, but I do believe based on head-to-head and comparative results that either Unicoi or EHS would be a tough out for Grainger.

 

I do agree that those 3 teams are best in the region. Greeneville an CD are too one-dimensional on offense, SG is not like past SG teams and are also one-dimensional on O. The 4th team may actually be WG. I do think 1 of these 4 will be the 4th team in the region. I don't think SE or HV can beat any of them.

[coachh17]

One reason why Elizabethon "beat them badly" last year was because Betsy had 4 senior starters who had been in those type of games before. Grainger started 1 freshman, 2 sophomores, and 2 juniors. Grainger returned everyone on that team and Betsy lost all 5 starters. This might be the reason some people are giving Grainger a good chance at substate/state.

You mention their 2 losses...those were to a top AA team in east TN and a good AAA team in east TN. It is not like they have lost to a team like Sullivan East.

Elizabethon may beat them, but you seem to be a little biased in your comments. Didn't Grainger win a tournament earlier in the season that Elizabethon was in?

 

I don't think my comments are biased. It is just hard for me to tell how good Grainger really is because I have not seen them much. Their league is down from recent years, they played in the weaker bracket in the Boone tournament (Cloudland, Elizabethton, Unicoi County, and Morristown West were all on the other side), and they do have two losses. You brought Elizabethton in to the discussion. I have no idea whether this erratic Elizabethton team can beat them or not. However, we know Unicoi County can and Elizabethton has beaten them twice. Grainger very well make the state tournament and good for them if they do. They are a relative upstart, as this Region has been ruled by Elizabethton, South Greene, and Greeneville for about ten years. Maybe this will be the year of the Grizzlies. We shall see.

Edited February 2, 2012 by coachh17

[gcfball]

I don't think my comments are biased. It is just hard for me to tell how good Grainger really is because I have not seen them much. Their league is down from recent years, they played in the weaker bracket in the Boone tournament (Cloudland, Elizabethton, Unicoi County, and Morristown West were all on the other side), and they do have two losses. You brought Elizabethton in to the discussion. I have no idea whether this erratic Elizabethton team can beat them or not. However, we know Unicoi County can and Elizabethton has beaten them twice. Grainger very well make the state tournament and good for them if they do. They are a relative upstart, as this Region has been ruled by Elizabethton, South Greene, and Greeneville for about ten years. Maybe this will be the year of the Grizzlies. We shall see.

 

Their league is down, but elizabethons league is awful! If you combined the 2 conferences, this is my prediction: Grainger, Elizabethon, and Unicoi are top 3 followed by 4 Greene county teams (any order), then claiborne, followed by SE. So, top to bottom BRAC is much better.

Grainger's only 2 losses are to an eventual 20+ win Unicoi team (who beat your girls once too) and to an eventual 20+ win AAA Morristown West team.

Grainger may lose 1st round of region, I don't know, but yes your comments are biased towards Betsy girls. No need to defend yourself though because most people are biased towards their team, so it is ok.

[coachh17]

I think you are reading in your own bias and attributing statements that I have not made to me. I stand by everything I have said in every post and I do not think there is a single thing that I have said that is untrue.

[gcfball]

I think you are reading in your own bias and attributing statements that I have not made to me. I stand by everything I have said in every post and I do not think there is a single thing that I have said that is untrue.

 

I never said you said anything untrue and it is ok if you are biased towards your team. Most fans are. I was just pointing out some facts about Grainger because you said you didn't know much about them. You use facts about who beat who and so on and that is fine. Unicoi beat Grainger in November and then beat Elizabethon 2 weeks later. Unicoi started season hot (8-1, 12-2). Then Elizabethon beat Unicoi the next 2 times. Grainger hasn't had a chance to play them again. Let's look at a more recent same-opponent match-up: Grainger beat SG by 32, SG beat Elizabethon.

I know Elizabethon is good, probably the 2nd or 3rd best in the region and could win region if they play well. I was just giving some info on Grainger.

Edited February 3, 2012 by gcfball

[THE KING]

With the landers having played sh, betsy, meigs, motown west, wise central, and unicoi, I think these lady landers are ready to bring home that gold ball!

[screenandroll]

Well, Cloudland walloped UH last night 75-48. Landers have to be prepared for a tough NG team on their home floor. These girls need to keep winning and they will reach 30 wins for only the 2nd time in school history with this year being a much tougher schedule.

Do agree with you King, Cloudland has a very good team and has a very good chance of making some big noise down the road but I do remember the other Cloudland team that won 30+ games and their schedule could match this one. Cosby and Hancock Co (back when they could play) both were in the conference and theres no tougher place to play than playing them at their home floor. They also played Hv, Unicoi, SH, Hampton (AA), the North Carolina teams plus others. So I wouldn't say this years team had a much tougher schedule. The conference back then was much tougher than it is today. Just getting out of the District tournament was a major task.

[limestonecove]

coachh and sparky are NEVER wrong; just ask them.............JK

As I said before this is the most wide open Region I AA has been in quite a while; I give five, maybe even 7 teams a legitimate chance of winning.......Unicoi and Eliz from D 1 and Grainger, SG and Greeneville from D 2 with West Greene and host CD as darkhorses.......

[THE KING]

Screen, we all remember hanson, webb, storie, and johnson. That team was not as deep as this years team. I dont think they defended as well as this team either. Those are the 2 differences that stick out to me. Offensively, that team was exciting to watch.