Tri-County Seven- Week #6

[coachh17]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish everyone a wonderful New Year! All of our teams were busy in Holiday Tournaments. Nobody won a title, but Hampton and Happy Valley came close. Everyone picked up at least one win and everyone appears healthy heading in to conference play. I only made one slight change in the rankings, sliding Cloudland ahead of Unaka. Head to head gets more weight in my rankings. If you want to move up, beat the teams ahead of you. Let the fun, and controversy, begin...lol!

 

1. Elizabethton- (AA) (11-3)- Lost two games to very athletic teams in SC. Picked up a win in the 7th place game over a decent Spartanburg team. This team is streaky, erratic, and inconsistent right now. They do not look in sync. The five senior starters, plus Marosites, Bradley, Isaacs, and Pietrowski seem to be the 9 player rotation. Having six other players on the bench not playing much could be a problem. I might consider just dressing 10-12 and letting the others just play JV. Wins over Sullivan East and Clinton at home on Friday and Saturday might right the ship.

 

2. Hampton- (A) (13-4)- Lost in Johnson City Honda Classic finals to Dobyns-Bennett after beating three pretty good AAA teams in Seymour, Cherokee, and Sullivan South. Dorothy Dugger and Alexis Bowers are a great pair of guards. Olvera, Guinn, and Montgomery are solid. Depth could be an issue. All 4 losses (Cookeville, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Elizabethton, and Dobyns-Bennett) are to solid AAA or AA teams. Coach Tolley's team is a contender in Single A for Murfreesboro. Very interesting game at Unicoi County on Saturday.

 

3. Unicoi County- (AA) (8-6)- Lost to Boone before reeling off wins over Unaka, Gate City, and East in the Boone Tournament. Staring five of Edwards, True, Laughren, Hayes, and Harness coming together nicely and Coach King is settling in to her new role. The development of posts Hayes and Harness will determine how far they go. Host Happy Valley Friday and Hampton Saturday. Two wins and they slide in to the #2 spot. Elizabethton may start to feel them coming up soon.

 

4. Happy Valley- (AA) (8-6)- Coach Abel's team reached the finals of the John Loden Classic in Midway with wins over Portland and Midway. Lost a heartbreaker to Stone Memorial after giving up a big lead in the 4th quarter. Guards Shalee Perry and MacKenzie Blankenship are very good. Woods, Eaton, and Simmons are contributors on the wings.The development of Johnson and Kinser in the post is the key to success for the Warriors. The better they get, the farther the Lady Warriors can go. Two very tough games coming up this week. They host Boone Wednesday and travel to Unicoi County on Friday.

 

5. Cloudland- (A) (5-9)- Had a nice win over Tellico Plains (reaffirming last year's home sub-state win), before losing to Hamilton Heights and Hardin Valley in the Lenoir City Christmas Tournament. Rhodes and Wilson appear healthy. I look for Coach Birchfield's team to be right in the mix with Hampton, North Greene, and Unaka for a District 1 title. This is a dangerous second half team. Big game at North Greene Friday.

 

6. Unaka- (A) (8-8)- Lost to three good teams in the Boone Tournament (Smith County, Unicoi County, and Sullivan South). Picked up a win over Crockett. Nucleus of Colbaugh, Winters, Ensor, and Lawson is pretty good, especially offensively. Defense and physicality are still works in progress. Coach Wright's team will be a factor in the District. At Hancock County Friday and a possible Region preview when they visit a very good Cosby team Saturday.

 

 

7. Johnson County- (AA) (3-11)- The Lady Longhorns beat Greenback and Sevier County in the Boone Tournament for two much needed confidence boosting wins! They also lost two very close games to Cherokee and Seymour. Brown, Dugger, Swift, and Reece are all playing well. If the Lady Horns can develop a little depth, they will be scary for anybody in the seven to play.

Edited December 31, 2012 by coachh17

[bballfan05]

Looks good bout what i figured. Did notice you went from 'This team is solid and has a high ceiling. Look for the wins to pile up' TO 'This team is streaky, erratic, and inconsistent right now. They do not look in sync.' on Betsy

Betsy has the most talent by far but what's the old saying HARD WORK BEATS TALENT WHEN TALENT DOESN'T WORK HARD. I think they have that 'entitlement' attitude.Think they're entitled to EVERYTHING just because We have 5 seniors and We are Elizabethton. I may be wrong, and i am on occassions, but I don't see the heart that a Johnson County or a Hampton plays with night in night out. what do you think coachh?

Hampton needs more help from the supporting class noticed in a couple games they had a starter or 2 not even score.

Unicoi seems to be progressing well i mentioned earlier they could push Betsy for top spot by end of season.Their youth is gaining experience so that push may be right on track.

HV also progressing would still like to see more focus on D. Sticking by my prediction of a split with Eliz.

Cloudland is getting healthy still need better guard play.

Unaka is hot and cold up and down Colbaughs elbow seems ok a little more focus on D would hep.

JC making huge strides I'm pulling for them!

Edited December 30, 2012 by bballfan05

[GirlsBBRules]

Thank you Coachh17 for your weekly poll and the topic. I have enjoyed reading it very much, but I get tired of posts from people who obviously detest Elizabethton and take every opportunity to bash the Lady Cyclones and Coach Dugger. These girls may not all play with heart all the time, but they do not feel entitlement, and there no one, NO one who works harder than this team! Perhaps a topic should be started entitled Diss the Lady Cyclones and Len Dugger. People need to remember these are kids and yes, they read the coacht message boards. I'm finished here.

[bballfan05]

Hope they do and hope coaches do as well. Maybe they'll see you need to play with heart EVERY game you never know when its your last or HV will read it and say hey maybe we should work on D or Hamptons reserves say we need to step up and be a factor or Cloudland's guards will see and say hey maybe i need to work harder and show these people and prove them wrong. Even one of your followers said they played uninspired vs Fayette so we are using words from Betsy supporters. I've said it over and over you (i'm assumming you are from Eliz or may be Unicoi or you may be from somewhere else ) and by you i mean the Lady Cyclones have the best talent and one of the best point guards, Morgan Depew, in East Tennesse. It's the high and mighty fans of Elizabethton that get us riled up and don't you know everyone hates the team on top(last year it was Cloudland) but i've never seen anyone diss a kid individualy on here a coach yea sure but they're adults they can handle it. I hope. I use to go to the local watering hole and find out what the heck I was doing wrong. Wish internet ws around back then it'd saved me some money and about 5o pounds i put on.

[bballfan05]

Thank you Coachh17 for your weekly poll and the topic. I have enjoyed reading it very much, but I get tired of posts from people who obviously detest Elizabethton and take every opportunity to bash the Lady Cyclones and Coach Dugger. These girls may not all play with heart all the time, but they do not feel entitlement, and there no one, NO one who works harder than this team! Perhaps a topic should be started entitled Diss the Lady Cyclones and Len Dugger. People need to remember these are kids and yes, they read the coacht message boards. I'm finished here.

time for practice? just kidding geez somebody can't take some ribbing Edited December 30, 2012 by bballfan05

[THE KING]

Coach, cloudland beat Tellico in last years substrate. Figured I'd correct you on that one. Cloudland lost to clay Co at the glass house

[THE KING]

You other guys grow up. Its OK to criticize a player's performance but to say they are entitled is not a fair judgment unless you know them all personally and even then coacht is not the place for personal comments

[coachh17]

Coach, cloudland beat Tellico in last years substrate. Figured I'd correct you on that one. Cloudland lost to clay Co at the glass house

 

 

Thanks. I fixed it. I am losing my mind....lol! I was at Cloudland and watched them beat Tellico. I guess the loss to Clay was still on my mind and needed avenging.

[coachh17]

Thank you Coachh17 for your weekly poll and the topic. I have enjoyed reading it very much, but I get tired of posts from people who obviously detest Elizabethton and take every opportunity to bash the Lady Cyclones and Coach Dugger. These girls may not all play with heart all the time, but they do not feel entitlement, and there no one, NO one who works harder than this team! Perhaps a topic should be started entitled Diss the Lady Cyclones and Len Dugger. People need to remember these are kids and yes, they read the coacht message boards. I'm finished here.

 

You are welcome. I have enjoyed doing this for years since I left the coaching profession. I know most of these coaches, some of the players, and many of the fans of all the teams. All the teams work hard and deserve recognition. There is a lot of passion on all sides and sometimes people can get a little carried away. Personal attacks are rough and I try to refrain from ever attacking the kids. I have been known to constructivley criticize a coach or preach to a few fans....lol!....but the intentions are good and it is all in fun. Elizabethton has been very successful in recent years which makes them a target. They usually let their play on the court do their talking.

[THE KING]

Hampton is having an awesome year. I think all of our girls teams put in a lot of practice time and give us a lot of exciting spectacles to watch during the long winter.

[coachh17]

Did Happy Valley and Daniel Boone play Wednesday night?

[coachh17]

Thought I would throw this little bit of information in the computer bank. Everyone has been talking about talent or lack thereof and what is being done with it. Here are each of the TC7's"strength of schedule", from strongest to weakest. (1) HAMPTON (6th out of 116) (2) UNICOI CO. (27th out of 113) (3) JOHNSON CO. (31st out of 116) (4) UNAKA (48th out of 116) (5)CLOUDLAND (65 out of 116) (6) HAPPY VALLEY (87th out of 113) (7) ELIZABETHTON (96th out of 113 teams). My question is.............who is doing MORE with LESS and who is doing LESS with MORE? *schedule rankings according to coacht.com*

 

I have never put much faith in the strength of schedule rankings, which basically are factored on opponents winning percentages, until very late in the season and not even much then. Playing a few really weak teams with horrible records can really throw it off. Some good teams just have mediocre records early. I am not even sure they count out of state teams and many teams do not accurately post their records on coachT. It is just an approximation. Hampton has no doubt played a very tough schedule for a single A team and it will serve them well later. Everyone else plays a pretty similar schedule. Elizabethton's schedule is skewed low because of the records of Central (2-14), Johnson County (3-11), Morristown East (4-11), Clinton (5-9), and Cherokee (6-12). They drew Cherokee and Central in the Happy Valley tip-off, a good Morristown-East team has been ravaged by injuries, Clinton is up and down, and Johnson County is a very competitive team to have a 3-11 record. Betsy has also played Tennessee High, South Greene, Sullivan South, Hampton, Unicoi County, Alcoa, and three very athletic teams in South Carolina than any of our seven would have been hard-pressed to beat. So that is 9 games against solid teams, 2 games against competitive teams with bad records (Cherokee and Johnson County), and three games with teams that are having down years (Morristown East, Clinton, and Sullivan Central). Not nearly as weak of a schedule as it appears on the coachT rankings.

Edited January 3, 2013 by coachh17