Bearden - Farragut - Anderson County - Hardin Valley Predictions

[K2ruth]

This may be the best Region 2 tournament ever. I don't remember a time when all four teams were so talented. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order.

 

Bearden is the surprise team. They have a great young coach and the best setter to come out of Knoxville in years. She has great hands, and makes everybody better. Her supporting cast is extremely athletic. They have an OH that can jump out of the gym, the other is average, but the setter makes her better. There middles are ok, again, athletic, but the setter covers a lot of sins. The L makes many errors, she and the OH cost them the Farragut match. They can be on fire or cold as ice. If the setter is on and the OHs limit their hitting errors they will be tough. The L is a concern.

 

Farragut is a great all around team. They have a great hitter, and all six serve well. Their club training really helps. They have touched a lot of balls. They have more club players than any of the four teams. This helps because their coach doesn't get real involved, but the athletes are well trained from club. Athletically they are the weakest of the four teams. Other than the one hitter they can't put it down consistently. They get overpowered. They played better against Catholic than Bearden in the District Tourny. Bearden lost as opposed to Farragut winning. Beardens hitters and L made a ton of unforced errors.

 

Anderson County is the tough read. At times they look like a state. Champion, other times they seem bored. When they play with high energy on defense they are the best team in the area, BUT, when they miss serves, don't play defense, they are beatable. Karns had them beat in Districts. They are big, and they move the ball around. Strong setter, good hitters, but they don't close out games well. They win, but too many long matches. Beatable.

 

Hardin Valley is a lot like Bearden. They have a great player in Winstead, but the supporting cast is up and down. The move of her to hitter. They beat everybody except AC who must be in their head. They play great defense, and don't make many errors. Offensively they just don't do much. The defensive makes them hard to play, and when they serve aggressively it is a weapon.

 

Record wise here is what I think, but I may be wrong. Feel free to update this.

 

Bearden has beaten Farragut multiple times but lost the money match because of hitting errors. They have never beaten HV, split with AC but AC didn't have two starters who were out with injury.

 

Farragut lost every time to AC and HV but did beat Bearden when they needed to.

 

HV beat Bearden and Farragut bad every time they played. AC owned them with HV losing four out of five, most badly.

 

AC owned HV, beat Farragut in five after being up two to zero, split with Bearden, but had players out.

 

I think HV beats Farragut in three.

 

If Beardens hitters don't make too many errors, they can play with AC. If AC shows up aggressive the Bearden will be over matched. If AC is not energetic Bearden will beat them in three. This is a toss up.

 

In the finals HV beats Bearden but loses to AC.

[PHargis]

Good analysis.

[bigbluevolley]

_{I looked up some scores and you need to check your info. Bearden did not beat farragut multipe times. They split in district play and then farragut won in the tournament. So Bearden has not beat them "multiple times"..You're funny!!!}

[K2ruth]

BBV I know you like to get on here and stir stuff up, but leave that to orcat!

 

I clearly said that I might be wrong on the records.

 

Are you sure Bearden and Farragut only played twice? I thought they played in the early bird and once in a non district three set match? Like I said I may be wrong.

 

Still, I don't see Farragut beating HV, do you?

 

The Bearden v AC match is a toss up in my mind. Who do you think will win.

 

I think Winstead and the Bearden setter are fun to watch. Imagine if they were on the same team. I think the two of them and the big OH from Karns are the best three players in Knoxville. If she hadn't hurt her foot early in the year Karns might be in this tourney.

 

I love the new Bearden coach. He may be the best coach in the area.

[bigbluevolley]

I think Farragut wins the whole thing. They have too many club players on the team. Although the coach has NO CLUE whatsoever. She should just put the girls out there and let them play. I have no idea how she got that job. I don't see her there next year.

 

I think AC vs Bearden will be a slug fest. Both those teams are equal. This game is a toss up.

 

The setter from Bearden is good not great. I've said that before. Our Big girl can play. I just wish she had better training. If she had better training the sky would be her limit. The HVA libero is good but not great. If you know anything about the libero position you would see that fundamentally she is just ok, but that's better than most around our area. She is by no means SEC quality. Like I said, if she's as good as you say then she'll be playing high up at the next level. I'm not convinced yet. I hope she does though. I hope all of our area girls play at the next level.

 

The new Bearden coach (although I have only seen him a couple times) is going to be good for them. A far cry from what they had. I heard he got a yellow card against farragut last week. Can you (K2ruth) tell me what happened there? He will keep that team competitive for a long time..

 

I did notice you said "you might be wrong"...That was after i wrote my post. So I apologize for that..

[PHargis]

Let me not get into the middle of this cross analyzation of these four teams but I Have to mention this. The coach at Farragut is the same coach they had last year. She has an asst that was supposed to have some heavy background. She was engaged at State to the task at hand. Having a bunch of club players mean only one thing. It is a profile that means they have spent some time of play other than High School play. Does it mean anything more? The high School coach has the job to take what she has been given and be the conductor of the train. She can't blame the ticket seller who got the passengers on Any one else who wants to conduct that train can just talk to the owner and assum last yeare the role. Last year she looked to know her job. The question now can she teach some players who are skillful but may or may not have the intensity or desire to do what she wants. One year makes no winner and while the school did great, last year was last year. The season is just starting and saying too much is not productive. These are High School players who are playing for themselves and their school. Predictions mean little and discussions can be had later..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

[bigbluevolley]

So with your last sentence are you saying stop the discussion on this "discussion" board?????? lol

[K2ruth]

BBV welcome to the twilight zone!

 

The problem is that where ph is from the Farragut coach would be considered fantastic. Schools in that part of the state like Siegal, Independance and Brentwood rely exclusively on club to train the athlete. The parents have the money to pay, and the high school coach requires it. The high school coach is nothing more than a figure head. The players learn in club.

 

There are exceptions like Ravenwood and Father Ryan who have real coaches. Look at Independance and Siegal. They both hired young girls right out of college with no coaching experience. That is why PH thinks the Farragut coach is so good, because she is better than what they are used to seeing.

 

As Knoxville club ball continues to grow the rest of the stats will have to recruit real coaches to keep up.

 

Back to this thread, I think Winstead is the best all around player in Knoxville. She looks out of position sometimes because the block is nonexistent. She is there most consistent hitter, I like her.

 

I think the Bearden setter is the real deal. Remember, she is young. The Bearden OH, the good one of the two, is a GREAT athlete but not a great volleyball player. Same with the middles. They have a really good one, and one that is ok. The good middle is a great athlete, not a great player. The setter makes them all look good. An average setter and this team isn't in the equation. Also, look how bad they pass! Their best defensive player went down early and they use. Freshman Libero who is not consistent. The passes are everywhere. How this setter gets these balls to the net shows how good she is. I wish she was more forceful on the court. I like setters to be leaders. She is the best player and she runs the offense, college scouts will want her to be more vocal. She lets the bad passing slide too much. Probably because of her age. I wish she were more forceful, but I stand by my statements.

 

HV whips Farragut.

[PHargis]

BBV, you know better than that. No one has ever stopped you in the past. Your choice.

And K2, good post. Why didn't you apply for siegel job? Couldn't meet the qualifications or was it too far under your qualifications? All of the mentioned coaches will be good and some are icons. Here we are a week from The State Tournament and an Official of one of the largest clubs in East Tennessee now gets on this site and tries to Torpedo a prospective State Tournament School and Coach for the sake of a few hundred dollars in fees from their families. Hope you have a good Club season. Make you feel better? I'm sure it makes the players and parents of that school feel better. And from the afore mentioned schools in Middle Tennessee that you mentioned. East Tennesee is a long way from Middle and you seem to be keeping up with some of the top ones. Trying to influence their play. The same thing happened last year with the coaches of some of the schools in East Tennessee before State. And for that matter the year before also. Club politics is the reason this is a High School Site. Too much money floating around. I will say the same thing this year as I did last year, i applaud the coach at Farragutt and hope she and her players are not a part of all of this noise. She may be the best or she might be the worst coach but all of that does not matter, RIGHT NOW. The facts are she and her players deserve better. Now two years in a row Farragutt and the year before Karns was smeared. Must be a lot of Club money floating around up there.

Edited October 13, 2012 by PHargis

[K2ruth]

You sir are too biased to be a moderator.

[clubonlyforus]

K2ruth, I think you need to look at the actual stats of HV. Crockett has a much better percentage of kills than Winstead. I think Winstead should have stayed Libero but that is not up to me. Best player in Knoxville? That is hard to say because there are so many that play their positions so well, but I would not rush to always say Winstead is the best.

[PHargis]

The only thing I might say about bias is look at the results last year and after State this year. I said, and wrote, and noticed what K2 had done in Club this past year. Impressive and portends for some good players. The only thing this Forum can be accused of is biasis tward good play and performance. It thrives on that with the posters it has and the good Schools they follow. At the end of the day its those schools and the vehicles they follow to get where they are. There ae certainly a number of vehicles but a High School Coach does discover what got them there.. There are some exceptional individuals who run clubs around Middle Tennessee. Some wind up being high School Coaches. All are great personalities. They have to be. They, right now are feeding off or the popularity of the game, just like you are. You might like to beat up on young aspiring head coaches. Most have more than a lot to learn. Even you were young one time. Most player use clubs becasue just like many other sports, it a means to learn in off season and maybe find some contacts they have not known. I doubt very seriously there are very many Club Coaches that are High School Coaches but those who are likely are exceptional. So everyone follows their own role, what they do the best and makes the most of it. Some make it and some don't. But all try. Some just find a way to give someone a chance, a start and ;listen to all of the naysayers scream. Young coaches are selected for a lot of reasons. They will only go the longer distance if they enjoy it enough to intensly learn their craft. Learning to be a high school coach entails a lot more than the x's and o's and the pay sometimes is not the greatest. Learning the craft and the craft of a teacher at the same time is not easy. It will take the better part of two-three years. With the right person, its worth the trial. Without the right person who doen't want to learn, is an eternity. Everyone, who has qualifications, deserves a trial but they do need a mentor at the school and maybe two, especially if they are a teacher/coach. So you evidently were not a young coach or forgotten the feeling or are doing things for other reasons. The school made the decision, they took a chance, it was not like the hire of the first coach the school hired but now its up to a person and what they make of it. It won't be easy. And to the naysayers, chill out. Coaches will tell you what they need and ask your advice if they need it. And I would bet they would ask for it. And the parents and players will to. They like excellence also.