Never too early....Who wins Class A 2020-21

[rebelman101]

21 hours ago, pioneer42 said:

What will win Greenfield a lot of games is they won’t turn the ball over a bunch and they will create TO’s. Union City is a team to be reckoned with for sure especially if they learn to handle pressure better. The Gibson County game they led a lot of the game but Wilkins threw the full court pressure late in the game and they didn’t handle it. Williams and Bonds are big time players you can make a lot of hay with. Bradford is the sleeper in this district, IMO. Got the big post who can be dominant. If they get some good guard play look out. Gleason you have to think they have potential to be good because they were a pretty decent team with all of the injuries and some of these girls will come back. I look for Peabody to be good next year as well with a lot of athletic players coming back. They always seem to play Gibson County tough and I expect them to be a big challenge for Gibson County.

Peabody should be better as they matured and got better as the season progressed. I know they certainly improved especially after McKenzie played them 3 times last year. They have a great coach in Micheal Hart. For Union City I think this is their best chance to make some noise since Jada Williams is a senior.  Bonds has the ability to become a phenomenal player in our area and she certainly grabbed the fans attention with her fantastic play last year. Rn GC is the team to beat especially with the younger hart who is an 8th grader coming in. Competition wise will not be as good as Dresden Greenfield Huntingdon, and Gleason loses their main players but I think some other teams will step up to the challenge. McKenzie will be a different story with 8th grader Savannah Davis (plays like Tess Darby) joining and better conditioning. Bradford should be better with Walter improved and is  the Avery girl a senior? West Carroll should also be improved despite losing the Cunningham twins. 

[pioneer42]

13 minutes ago, rebelman101 said:

Peabody should be better as they matured and got better as the season progressed. I know they certainly improved especially after McKenzie played them 3 times last year. They have a great coach in Micheal Hart. For Union City I think this is their best chance to make some noise since Jada Williams is a senior.  Bonds has the ability to become a phenomenal player in our area and she certainly grabbed the fans attention with her fantastic play last year. Rn GC is the team to beat especially with the younger hart who is an 8th grader coming in. Competition wise will not be as good as Dresden Greenfield Huntingdon, and Gleason loses their main players but I think some other teams will step up to the challenge. McKenzie will be a different story with 8th grader Savannah Davis (plays like Tess Darby) joining and better conditioning. Bradford should be better with Walter improved and is  the Avery girl a senior? West Carroll should also be improved despite losing the Cunningham twins. 

Avery is a senior but I think they may have some more that could help. McKenzie will definitely be a better coached team for sure and they have some talent over there. Don’t know as much about that district of who is coming back but looks like it could be a McKenzie, Huntingdon and West Carrol war. I know West Carrol has several coming back and Huntingdon loses some good players but still has some talent left. How many does McKenzie have coming back? I will agree lots of teams lose really good players and that evens the field. GC loses good talent too, but getting Micah Hart in HS is something that fans have long awaited. She is a really good talent. I will say this. When she was a 6th grader, our HS JV had 2 play day games in April so we had some players out for whatever reason and she played two games as a backup and both games she more than held her own as she scored close to double digits in both. In GC, I see three double digit scorers for GC and great game changer talents in Madison Hart, Micah Hart and Evyn Cantrell and several other players to fill the lineup. Yes they will be young and will lose some games possibly early on, but will be super talented.

[Jaychapman]

Hope golf and volleyball resume in fall Summertown defending State Champions and odds on favorite to win again 

[rebelman101]

On 4/23/2020 at 8:01 PM, pioneer42 said:

Avery is a senior but I think they may have some more that could help. McKenzie will definitely be a better coached team for sure and they have some talent over there. Don’t know as much about that district of who is coming back but looks like it could be a McKenzie, Huntingdon and West Carrol war. I know West Carrol has several coming back and Huntingdon loses some good players but still has some talent left. How many does McKenzie have coming back? I will agree lots of teams lose really good players and that evens the field. GC loses good talent too, but getting Micah Hart in HS is something that fans have long awaited. She is a really good talent. I will say this. When she was a 6th grader, our HS JV had 2 play day games in April so we had some players out for whatever reason and she played two games as a backup and both games she more than held her own as she scored close to double digits in both. In GC, I see three double digit scorers for GC and great game changer talents in Madison Hart, Micah Hart and Evyn Cantrell and several other players to fill the lineup. Yes they will be young and will lose some games possibly early on, but will be super talented.

McKenzie has three starters returning including Lilly Bennett who should have a breakout year. Lilly has shown spurts of stardom but is a pass first player and wants to get other players opportunities to score. She has to become a more assertive player on offense for us to be a better team. GC had some growing pains early last year but I think they will be fine and should have a great year this year.

[pioneer42]

On 4/24/2020 at 5:34 PM, Jaychapman said:

Hope golf and volleyball resume in fall Summertown defending State Champions and odds on favorite to win again 

 

6 hours ago, rebelman101 said:

McKenzie has three starters returning including Lilly Bennett who should have a breakout year. Lilly has shown spurts of stardom but is a pass first player and wants to get other players opportunities to score. She has to become a more assertive player on offense for us to be a better team. GC had some growing pains early last year but I think they will be fine and should have a great year this year.

Couldn’t tell you a whole lot about them sports. McKenzie had a dark headed girl with an athletic build that played in our Fall Leaugue the last two years that I don’t remember seeing at Wayne County in the Region. She was an aggressive offensive player.

[rebelman101]

19 hours ago, pioneer42 said:

 

Couldn’t tell you a whole lot about them sports. McKenzie had a dark headed girl with an athletic build that played in our Fall Leaugue the last two years that I don’t remember seeing at Wayne County in the Region. She was an aggressive offensive player.

Black hair? That is whitley Smith.. she tore her acl and didn't play at all this past season. She got a couple of offers to play at NAIA schools and local community colleges but her leg is still bothering her. She was a very effective player on the offensive and defensive ends. Whitley will definitely be missed.

[pioneer42]

49 minutes ago, rebelman101 said:

Black hair? That is whitley Smith.. she tore her acl and didn't play at all this past season. She got a couple of offers to play at NAIA schools and local community colleges but her leg is still bothering her. She was a very effective player on the offensive and defensive ends. Whitley will definitely be missed.

No doubt y’all missed her. Yeah she played on my nieces team a couple of years ago. I knew I didn’t see her. Wilkins will do a good job with them. I expect them to be a different team for the mere fact they have a Wilkins as a coach.

[rebelman101]

On 4/27/2020 at 5:23 PM, pioneer42 said:

No doubt y’all missed her. Yeah she played on my nieces team a couple of years ago. I knew I didn’t see her. Wilkins will do a good job with them. I expect them to be a different team for the mere fact they have a Wilkins as a coach.

They will definitely play more up tempo and try to turn teams over. We should be able to beat a press now as well 

[pioneer42]

19 hours ago, rebelman101 said:

They will definitely play more up tempo and try to turn teams over. We should be able to beat a press now as well 

One of the main things I have noticed from our Coach Wilkins is how well his teams are conditioned. Noticed it big time against Pickett County how they kept pressing and rotating lots of players in and out and Wilkins was playing 6 and just when you think they will get tired they continue pressing and turn up the heat. His players seem to get tougher as the game goes on and lots of players don’t get rest. I do know the Wilkins Family are masters at keeping all of their kids 3rd grade through 8th grade on the floor a bunch and heavily involved in their youth which in turn makes it easier for them when they get in HS. I expect McKenzie to start getting better just because of what they will have going in their feeder programs, their conditioning, disciplining their teams to practice good fundamentals every possession and the main thing is getting their players to utilize every ounce of talent they have. 

[bobcatfan300]

On 4/17/2020 at 10:11 AM, maddams said:

It definitely feels weird discussing next year without a state champion crowned for this season.  I hate it for all the teams that didn't get to finish out their seasons.  I can't imagine the disappointment.  Next year will be very interesting.  I don't expect that teams will get summer seasons, certainly not the normal summer season.  That being said, this is what I see for next year:

Clarkrange goes into next season as the favorite and it's not close.  They bring back all of their major contributors from a team that could have won it this year.  Coach Rogers has a great chance to get another gold ball.

Gibson County will be a contender.  Freshmen PGs usually have a learning curve but she should be settled in by tournament time.  The older Hart keeps getting better.  Wilkins is fantastic.

Summertown will be tough.  Lost no contributors to graduation.  They were really good this year despite losing their leading scorer early in the season.  If she fully recovers from her ACL repair, they could win the whole thing.

Loretto will be very good.  They will have the best player on the floor in every game they play.  However, I think they take a small step back from this year's team.  They lose a lot of length, leadership, and shooting with their graduating seniors.  Weathers is good enough to take them to a title with above average supporting players.

Pickett County belongs in this group too.  I believe they only lose one senior.  Their press causes problems for a lot of teams.  Can they beat teams that handle their press?

I think your state champion comes from one of these 5 teams with Clarkrange as the clear favorite.  Union City, North Greene, and Cloudland will be good and could make state tournament runs

Pickett does lose a senior, but in her place will be a junior (in the upcoming season) Shayla Wood who made both the district and region all tournament teams. She will be an outstanding player. They also have another very good junior Carol Ann Stockton who will play a lot. The incoming freshman won the state tournament as 8th graders. All that added to four starters back, they will be much better. They only lost to Clarkrange and Gibson Co. last year. They struggled in their last few games last year...bad timing. Had they played at Murfreesboro like they had played most of the year they might have gone far

 I think Clarkrange would have won the tournament had it not been cancelled. I couldn't be surprised to see a Clarkrange vs Pickett championship next year

 Our district has had both teams in the finals several times.

[Greenfieldfan]

16 hours ago, bobcatfan300 said:

 I think Clarkrange would have won the tournament had it not been cancelled. 

 

Oh my, You are absolutely nuts. Greenfield had a 20 pt better team this year than last year and Greenfield embarrased Clark Range at the state tournament last year. It could have been a 50 pt game if Greenfield had not called the dogs off. 

Anybody that kept up with girls basketball over the last 50 years will tell you The 2020 Gold Ball belonged to Greenfield. That could be the best team ever to come out of Class A. 
 

Now next year could be and should be Clark Range’s year but Loretto may have something to say about that. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Greenfieldfan

[gogold]

5 hours ago, Greenfieldfan said:

Oh my, You are absolutely nuts. Greenfield had a 20 pt better team this year than last year and Greenfield embarrased Clark Range at the state tournament last year. It could have been a 50 pt game if Greenfield had not called the dogs off. 

Anybody that kept up with girls basketball over the last 50 years will tell you The 2020 Gold Ball belonged to Greenfield. That could be the best team ever to come out of Class A. 
 

Now next year could be and should be Clark Range’s year but Loretto may have something to say about that. 

I do understand your disappointment, but as good as Greenfield was, Clarkrange was better than last year.  I feel like Loretto would have beaten a good Gibson Co team on their side of the bracket.  I feel like Loretto had one of the better single A teams is a while too.  Loretto had been playing great ball going into the last part of the season.  I can promise you Loretto would have not rolled over and they matched up great with Greenfield.  We were just as disappointed, but we felt we could have won it all this year.  We will never know and anyone that claims the title does not either.