Region 2 District 3A Boys Basketball - Is it Meigs and Grace again?

[Tiger2]

Meigs, Grace, Harriman, Tellico to the Region. Meigs and Grace to Sub-State and both advance to state.

[Tiger2]

So what are the opinions on 3A now that Levi Wood the destroyer of districts has moved on to Lee. (Great Player) GCA and Meigs both mowed through the Oliver Springs Thanksgiving Classic vs Oliver Springs and Coalfield. GCA I think has a tougher schedule early which should pay off but Meigs has great players and coaching too. Cawood at Midway probably best unknown player to D1 and D2 coaches. Kid's a baller. He should be getting stronger looks than I am hearing. Mostly small 2 year and D3.......he would be a steal at that level. Johnson at Harriman has a better supporting cast this year. Good player. I won't comment on our GCA guys as I'm biased, so will enjoy hearing other comments if you have seen us play. Oak Ridge and Beardon thumped us pretty good. But we have won 3 straight. Have Greenback, Midway, and Catholic this week. Get our football players back after heartbreaker in Semi loss to Marion County. Tough for them but good for basketball team. 

 

Let's go!!!!! Time to ball! 

Its tough to tell right now. Tellico beats Meigs without PG however then loses to Harriman. Harriman barely beats Midway. Meigs blasts Midway. The big guy from Midway is not that good. Meigs small posts shut him down and kept him outside. He got his points in junk time. I think both Meigs and Grace will do well and both could possibly advance to the state.

[chill]

Tiger2, Cawood is very good just doesn't have any help at all this year. Meigs seems to be a lock this year to get out of region. Harriman, Jellico, Grace, and Oakdale all have a shot too. Just my opinion.

[Tiger2]

Tiger2, Cawood is very good just doesn't have any help at all this year. Meigs seems to be a lock this year to get out of region. Harriman, Jellico, Grace, and Oakdale all have a shot too. Just my opinion.

I have seen him play a couple of games, he has a good shot from outside but if he took it to the rim with power he would be a much better player. He has the skills to do it. Oakdale played Meigs tough but that was without the PG. Jellico is not bad and they have an amazing player. Grace is the only team I have not seem but I think the tough schedule will help them out. I like Oakdale and Jellico but I think it will be another rematch from last year for the region title and it looks like the Cosby and Hampton teams will most likely come out of that region. Meigs has Cosby this Friday in Pigeon Forge in the King of the Smokies tournament.

[12thmanGCA]

GCA spanked CAK this week. GCA raced to an early advantage and CAK starters got put in the dog house or in rest mode. Not sure, CAK coach is good guy and very smart coach. Long season, I bet the second game will be tougher. 

 

Webb blew GCA out. Webb has two really good players and for some reason GCA just forgot how to rebound or produce 2nd half points. It was a tough night and our guys have been fighting off this flu and sinus garbage. Have to fight through that stuff, but still, they are kids. Had finals all week and so who knows. 

GCA not getting much of a break over Christmas. Play in Daytona FL December 26 to Dec 31. One thing for sure, the schedule has been a massive upgrade over the last few years. Never thought I would say thank gosh for district play coming up in January. 

 

I love it thought. This GCA team has balance and fight. Really, so far, only Beardon and Webb have throttled us. Hoping this schedule pays off in the District and long run! 

 

Go Rams

[IrishBBall]

I was very impressed with the way Grace played vs. Catholic. Players played hard and really executed their game plan. I've not had the opportunity to meet the head coach but thought he did an excellent job with their style of play. Catholic didn't play well but I thought Grace had a lot to do with that. They're one of the better A teams I've seen around here. Good luck the rest of the way!

[JoeDirt]

I do believe it is a 4 way race for the district with Grace, Meigs, Harriman, and Tellico falling anywhere from 1-4. Harriman upgraded their roster with the hiring of an AAU coach who brought two players with him, otherwise Harriman would be in the bottom half of this district. Specifically the Pace kid who pretty much does everything for them. My observation on them in the long run is that they play a "street ball" style of basketball with very little defense. Defense wins come tourney time, UNLESS you have overwhelming talent (Carter), so I don't see them advancing very far in the Region...it is held @ Harriman this year though Also, they have a back loaded district schedule with both games vs Meigs, Grace, and finishing @ Tellico...not easy when you are trying to finish high in the district. They better not slip up in any other district games before then. Meigs shoots the ball extremely well and are all savvy basketball players, BUT they are not very big, not deep @ all (weak past #7 player), and are missing the #1 cog that got them to the title game last year...Levi Woods. However, IF you allow them to shoot uncontested 3s and get runout transition buckets, they are really good...they could be in a spot to contend for the Region title...especially with Zy back at full speed. Grace is, as always, well balanced. They have good guard play, size, and are fairly deep. They pass the ball well (not selfish), shoot it well, and are solid on defense. They have played a tough schedule, which will benefit them come tourney time. I do believe their Achilles heal would be that if a team could consistently pressure them for 32 minutes, they would struggle. In fact, I know that has given them some problems this yr...very good team though...should be when you are a private in the public division They will be a top contender for the Region title as well. Tellico is a team I wouldn't sleep on and could really surprise people come tourney time. They have good guard play, no "true" bigs - yet have good size with 4-5 kids 6 ft 2 or better, solid defensively, and have 4 players averaging double figures, they go 8-9 deep, and pressure the entire game. They do really well getting the ball in paint and crashing the offensive glass. Their losses this year in district play to Harriman @ Harriman and Grace @ home were both good games and with some things falling their way, could have easily won both of those games. When they traveled to Harriman, they had just played an emotional game vs a good Meigs team the night before and then had to travel over an hr to Harriman on a Saturday. One of their best players sat pretty much the entire first half, they missed a ton of bunnies around the basket (12-13 right at the rim),, and was a 2 pt game with 3 minutes left to go before Harriman pushed to the final of 9. In the Grace game, their 6th man (vital to what they like to do and significant contributor) went out with a knee injury in the first quarter and never returned. Give Grace credit, they took advantage of it and played well enough to get the win. Tellico does seem to struggle sometimes vs teams that play tight zones. Not a "great" shooting team, which could hurt them in the long run. They are a legitimate threat to make it far in the tourney though. Not sure about the other district other than Oakdale tries to out shoot other teams...very little defense. Jellico has an excellent point guard. Coalfield has the McKinney kid and Lee kid, but no size. Wartburg tries to cause chaos...which could benefit or hurt them in a critical tourney game. OS is big, yet have NO guard play or a "true" point guard to get everything under control. Just my observations and opinions about some of what has been posted on here. Everybody has a bias for their team, so I guess we will just see how it plays out come tourney time. It should be fun

[pujo]

I do believe it is a 4 way race for the district with Grace, Meigs, Harriman, and Tellico falling anywhere from 1-4. Harriman upgraded their roster with the hiring of an AAU coach who brought two players with him, otherwise Harriman would be in the bottom half of this district. Specifically the Pace kid who pretty much does everything for them. My observation on them in the long run is that they play a "street ball" style of basketball with very little defense. Defense wins come tourney time, UNLESS you have overwhelming talent (Carter), so I don't see them advancing very far in the Region...it is held @ Harriman this year though Also, they have a back loaded district schedule with both games vs Meigs, Grace, and finishing @ Tellico...not easy when you are trying to finish high in the district. They better not slip up in any other district games before then. Meigs shoots the ball extremely well and are all savvy basketball players, BUT they are not very big, not deep @ all (weak past #7 player), and are missing the #1 cog that got them to the title game last year...Levi Woods. However, IF you allow them to shoot uncontested 3s and get runout transition buckets, they are really good...they could be in a spot to contend for the Region title...especially with Zy back at full speed. Grace is, as always, well balanced. They have good guard play, size, and are fairly deep. They pass the ball well (not selfish), shoot it well, and are solid on defense. They have played a tough schedule, which will benefit them come tourney time. I do believe their Achilles heal would be that if a team could consistently pressure them for 32 minutes, they would struggle. In fact, I know that has given them some problems this yr...very good team though...should be when you are a private in the public division They will be a top contender for the Region title as well. Tellico is a team I wouldn't sleep on and could really surprise people come tourney time. They have good guard play, no "true" bigs - yet have good size with 4-5 kids 6 ft 2 or better, solid defensively, and have 4 players averaging double figures, they go 8-9 deep, and pressure the entire game. They do really well getting the ball in paint and crashing the offensive glass. Their losses this year in district play to Harriman @ Harriman and Grace @ home were both good games and with some things falling their way, could have easily won both of those games. When they traveled to Harriman, they had just played an emotional game vs a good Meigs team the night before and then had to travel over an hr to Harriman on a Saturday. One of their best players sat pretty much the entire first half, they missed a ton of bunnies around the basket (12-13 right at the rim),, and was a 2 pt game with 3 minutes left to go before Harriman pushed to the final of 9. In the Grace game, their 6th man (vital to what they like to do and significant contributor) went out with a knee injury in the first quarter and never returned. Give Grace credit, they took advantage of it and played well enough to get the win. Tellico does seem to struggle sometimes vs teams that play tight zones. Not a "great" shooting team, which could hurt them in the long run. They are a legitimate threat to make it far in the tourney though. Not sure about the other district other than Oakdale tries to out shoot other teams...very little defense. Jellico has an excellent point guard. Coalfield has the McKinney kid and Lee kid, but no size. Wartburg tries to cause chaos...which could benefit or hurt them in a critical tourney game. OS is big, yet have NO guard play or a "true" point guard to get everything under control. Just my observations and opinions about some of what has been posted on here. Everybody has a bias for their team, so I guess we will just see how it plays out come tourney time. It should be fun

Great post,

[Tiger2]

Great post,

Thanks for the info. It is going to be an exciting District race and tourney. I think district 3 could sweep the region. We should learn a lot more about the teams in these upcoming christmas tournaments.

[SportsnetWriter2]

This is one of the best Harriman teams I've saw take the court in a long time. You can look back on the success we've had in basketball with the district titles and what not, this team would give some of our best teams a great run for their money! What's scary about this Harriman team is that you'll quickly learn, they are young! Starting 4 sophomores and if they really had to, they could go with all five sophomores and be just fine. Nothing has been won yet to this point and it's a long haul with some great teams in the way! All I have to say is the boys in blue are a force and when they're on i'll take them against anybody in our area.

[JoeDirt]

This is one of the best Harriman teams I've saw take the court in a long time. You can look back on the success we've had in basketball with the district titles and what not, this team would give some of our best teams a great run for their money! What's scary about this Harriman team is that you'll quickly learn, they are young! Starting 4 sophomores and if they really had to, they could go with all five sophomores and be just fine. Nothing has been won yet to this point and it's a long haul with some great teams in the way! All I have to say is the boys in blue are a force and when they're on i'll take them against anybody in our area.

I know you are a homer, but to say this Harriman could compete with some of the great Harriman teams in the past is just plain ridiculous I saw the Harriman teams of the early to mid 90s play against Sweetwater on several occasions and there is NO WAY they could stay within 20pts of those teams and I'm not sure they could compete with a couple of the teams that Xavier was on just a few years ago. You also have to remember that those 90s Harriman teams played AA ball NOT A ball. This is a good Harriman team, BUT their lack of being able to play solid defense against a good opponent is going to hurt them in crunch time this year. You talk about all those awesome sophomores, not a one of them has true size to them. The Johnson kid is a pole and not a post player and does not have a good shot at all outside 10 ft. Will Harriman have any size after this yr? They are not really big to begin with this yr. Although you do have the Gresham kid and another transfer bigger kid from Hardin Valley? Both are seniors right? Maybe you will get some more transfers or hire another AAU coach who will bring his You all have the same problem that Meigs has in my opinion and that is any true size. You shut down the Meigs 3pt and transition game and pound them on the boards...you win. With you guys, in my opinion, slow down Pace and don't let Bingham have set shot looks...you win. In fact, other than Pace and Bingham, you all have no other true shooters. You have nobody else that can go off...just my observation. You will say you do, but you don't. The one thing that Grace for sure has is some size and they can shoot...dangerous combo. Of course they should have a little bit of everything when you're a private with a sports emphasis at your school I may be wrong on this and Harriman could go on to do great things...just what I saw and some scores I've seen them give up to opposing teams. With all this being said, that is why games are played on the court and not on paper. Also, some teams just match up better against other teams. It will be an interesting 2nd half of the season.

[gcapride]

Great post,

Go Away, Go Away. The only part you liked about that post was that Grace should be good since they are a private school in the public school division....lol

 

Grace needs to keep improving to make a deep run during tournament season. We have a good group, I hope they can put it all together in Feb and March.

 

I did hear from Jones (Hampton) today. He said he's back at it on the court and the ankle feels good. Glad to hear that news, Pujo. He's a kid I will always root for. That young Lunsford boy ain't so bad either, just glad he's not playing bball.