Who wins AA in 2020-21, and why?

[SportsWestTN]

23 hours ago, SportsWestTN said:

2nd game against Crockett, Cavs were without most of their team due to COVID (including their coach). I think Dyersburg has a lot more talent, but when Crockett locks in defensively they can make games tight. Crockett's problem is they can't score. They just don't have any kids that you can trust to get you a bucket. Crockett wins only if they play tremendous defense and find a way to knock down some threes and get a couple cheap transition scores or a bunch of free throws. Dyersburg has a couple of kids that can get to the rack, but if you force them to shoot from outside, they really only have one or two kids that can beat you. 

Crockett upset was big. Knew they could compete, but am surprised they pulled it out. Cavs are really well coached, which always gives them a chance (not that Dyersburg isn't well coached too). Didn't get to see it, so not sure if my "keys to victory" were correct, but a big win for them nonetheless. They avoid having to go get slaughtered by South Side haha

[SportsWestTN]

Now that the Region 7-AA tournament field is set:

#4 McNairy Central at #1 Westview

#3 Crockett Co. at #2 Chester Co.

#3 Scotts Hill at #2 South Gibson

#4 Dyersburg at #1 South Side

Here are my predictions for the tournament.

First Round

Westview easily handle McNairy (double digit win).

Crockett gives Chester Co. some problems early, but Chester Co. pulls away in 2nd half.

Probably the tightest game of the first round- SGC and Scotts Hill go down to the wire, South Gibson pulls it out in a one possession game. (Scotts Hill has a chance to win or force overtime on final possession of game)

Dyersburg maybe keeps things close in the first quarter, but doesn't have the depth to hang with South Side. (20+ point win- possibly running clock, especially if Howard fouls out)

Semifinals

Chester Co. spars with Westview better than most people would expect, but Chargers still come away with the win as free throws down the stretch seal it.

South Side can pick the score against South Gibson. (Running clock late in the 4th)

Finals

It's the Final (most) everyone wanted to see. Westview will want to play slow, South Side will want to play fast. Whoever can dictate the pace will win. I think Westview slows things down early, but South Side busts things open in the 2nd half and wins by double digits. 

[pioneer42]

59 minutes ago, SportsWestTN said:

No surprises with what happened last night in the championship game. Both teams played terrible in 1st quarter. Westview finally got out of their funk about six minutes in. South Gibson never did. Westview came out in a 2-3, which is what worked in the 2nd half of the regular season meeting. SGC shouldn't have been surprised that is what they came out in, but they never did anything to counter it. Not going to win championships in high school if you can only score 20 points...

Sounds like it was a defensive war with lots of long possessions. I knew South Gibson was going to struggle without a true post and trying to shoot threes against Westview’s length. Dyersburg loses again. Two biggest headscratchers all year this year is Dyersburg and Union City. They have lost a ton more games than I would have thought. Both talented and on a given night can beat really good teams. Both play well when they play Gibson County. 

[pioneer42]

11 minutes ago, SportsWestTN said:

Now that the Region 7-AA tournament field is set:

#4 McNairy Central at #1 Westview

#3 Crockett Co. at #2 Chester Co.

#3 Scotts Hill at #2 South Gibson

#4 Dyersburg at #1 South Side

Here are my predictions for the tournament.

First Round

Westview easily handle McNairy (double digit win).

Crockett gives Chester Co. some problems early, but Chester Co. pulls away in 2nd half.

Probably the tightest game of the first round- SGC and Scotts Hill go down to the wire, South Gibson pulls it out in a one possession game. (Scotts Hill has a chance to win or force overtime on final possession of game)

Dyersburg maybe keeps things close in the first quarter, but doesn't have the depth to hang with South Side. (20+ point win- possibly running clock, especially if Howard fouls out)

Semifinals

Chester Co. spars with Westview better than most people would expect, but Chargers still come away with the win as free throws down the stretch seal it.

South Side can pick the score against South Gibson. (Running clock late in the 4th)

Finals

It's the Final (most) everyone wanted to see. Westview will want to play slow, South Side will want to play fast. Whoever can dictate the pace will win. I think Westview slows things down early, but South Side busts things open in the 2nd half and wins by double digits. 

Westview will have teams put major pressure on them to speed the pace up like you said. Can they win a fast pace game?? Have a D-1 PG. Any time you have big time PG’s you are in it, IMO. We see what Greenfield is doing late in the year. 

[SportsWestTN]

4 minutes ago, pioneer42 said:

Sounds like it was a defensive war with lots of long possessions. I knew South Gibson was going to struggle without a true post and trying to shoot threes against Westview’s length. Dyersburg loses again. Two biggest headscratchers all year this year is Dyersburg and Union City. They have lost a ton more games than I would have thought. Both talented and on a given night can beat really good teams. Both play well when they play Gibson County. 

South Gibson struggled to even get three point shots off. The zone should have played into what they like to do, but they didn't have any off-ball movement to free people up (lots of standing around). They played pretty well defensively, especially in the first half, but gave up a number of open threes to their guards because of bad communication. Both teams seemed nervous early, Neither team scored in first six minutes. Neither team played with any pace, which helped keep the score low, but a lot of it was because of bad offense/turnovers and not stellar defense.

Dyersburg and Union City are very similar in that they have a couple of talented scorers, but there is a decent drop off after that talentwise. I think Union City's scorers are more talented, but aren't as aggressive as they should be, given their supporting cast. They are definitely both wild cards moving forward. You never know what they'll show up with on a given night.

[SportsWestTN]

2 minutes ago, pioneer42 said:

Westview will have teams put major pressure on them to speed the pace up like you said. Can they win a fast pace game?? Have a D-1 PG. Any time you have big time PG’s you are in it, IMO. We see what Greenfield is doing late in the year. 

Westview is going to struggle to play fast on the defensive end. The twins aren't very quick and that is going to put someone out of position defensively. South Gibson exploited that in the regular season meeting, which is why they moved to a zone. South Gibson had a few opportunities last night to try and push the pace after misses or steals, but didn't take advantage. I don't know if McNairy or Chester can do enough to really exploit it, but South Side definitely will. As long as Westview can make their baskets on the offensive end, they can get back and get set defensively, but if shots aren't falling, they'll struggle to get back against all the speed South Side has.

[pioneer42]

24 minutes ago, SportsWestTN said:

Westview is going to struggle to play fast on the defensive end. The twins aren't very quick and that is going to put someone out of position defensively. South Gibson exploited that in the regular season meeting, which is why they moved to a zone. South Gibson had a few opportunities last night to try and push the pace after misses or steals, but didn't take advantage. I don't know if McNairy or Chester can do enough to really exploit it, but South Side definitely will. As long as Westview can make their baskets on the offensive end, they can get back and get set defensively, but if shots aren't falling, they'll struggle to get back against all the speed South Side has.

South Side will come at you full court the whole game. Westview has done well with South Side in the past granted South Side has had terrible times with injuries with star players. South Side and Westview both still have some games they can’t overlook but this is the game that people want to see no doubt. 

[SportsWestTN]

38 minutes ago, pioneer42 said:

South Side will come at you full court the whole game. Westview has done well with South Side in the past granted South Side has had terrible times with injuries with star players. South Side and Westview both still have some games they can’t overlook but this is the game that people want to see no doubt. 

Like I said, my concern would be less about Westview offensively, but defensively. Top level PG and smart kids you can handle the press, for the most part. The bigger issue is handling things in transition defensively. Any rebounds or live-ball turnovers become a big issue. You either sacrifice offensive rebounding, or risk getting beat on fast break. Neither is a good predicament against a team of South Side's caliber. 

[Dash]

1 hour ago, SportsWestTN said:

South Gibson struggled to even get three point shots off. The zone should have played into what they like to do, but they didn't have any off-ball movement to free people up (lots of standing around). They played pretty well defensively, especially in the first half, but gave up a number of open threes to their guards because of bad communication. Both teams seemed nervous early, Neither team scored in first six minutes. Neither team played with any pace, which helped keep the score low, but a lot of it was because of bad offense/turnovers and not stellar defense.

Dyersburg and Union City are very similar in that they have a couple of talented scorers, but there is a decent drop off after that talentwise. I think Union City's scorers are more talented, but aren't as aggressive as they should be, given their supporting cast. They are definitely both wild cards moving forward. You never know what they'll show up with on a given night.

Dyersburg will have a couple long years after this year but has a good group of talent coming up that are very coachable. I say coachable because the team this year has some talent but there’s some attitude issues with some of the key players that is keeping them from reaching their full potential.

[HawkGuy06]

54 minutes ago, pioneer42 said:

South Side will come at you full court the whole game. Westview has done well with South Side in the past granted South Side has had terrible times with injuries with star players. South Side and Westview both still have some games they can’t overlook but this is the game that people want to see no doubt. 

I hope & pray this year is different! God knows we have struggled with key injuries the last 5-7 years 

[pioneer42]

1 minute ago, HawkGuy06 said:

I hope & pray this year is different! God knows we have struggled with key injuries the last 5-7 years 

I pray before every game for the health and safety of the players, coaches and fans. I think South Side is good to go. One game at a time though. Dyersburg is your next one and Bradford is ours. Have to stay focused on the next game and not look down the road. I am talking to myself here too.

[SportsWestTN]

15 minutes ago, Dash said:

Dyersburg will have a couple long years after this year but has a good group of talent coming up that are very coachable. I say coachable because the team this year has some talent but there’s some attitude issues with some of the key players that is keeping them from reaching their full potential.

I could see the attitude issues, so that's not a surprise. I know they have a couple good young players that should move up next year, and some other kids that can improve on the current team. I think Dyersburg will be fine moving forward. In that respect, they are in a much better spot then Union City is.