R2-AAAA Knox Area

[FastGunFIfe]

2 hours ago, SweetScience said:

Yeah, losing Ray (PG) in OT was OR demise. Like you said, could’ve gone either way. Karns end’s their losing streak to OR @ 26 straight losses. Incredible run by OR either way you stack it up, because Karns has had some really good teams during that time period. I think they have a great chance to make a title run this year. They have all the key pieces from a great PG, a really good big man, and 3 shooters all over the place. I wish them well. Thankfully for OR, they bring back every guy except for 1, so look for them to be top notch next year too. I could definitely see them making a run at state next year.

     I agree with you concerning Karns this year. They have a great starting 5. The big man is deceptively skilled and can move better than I thought. The two guards out front on their 2/3 zone are outstanding on the offensive and defensive ends. The 3 and 4 have good size, play sound defense and are very athletic. The only issue I see is bench depth. Only watching them one time, I'm not sure what is past player 6 or 7 on the bench. As far as WB, I heard this morning that WB had lost 40 straight times to Bearden before this year's 4 games (won all 4). That's incredible! I do think Karns and WB would have a better than average chance at making the state tournament. I cannot speak on DB, but I have seen Sevier County play a few times this year. They are extremely young with only 1 senior, 1 sophomore, and 3 freshman starting. The Smoky Bears are very well coached and a tough out at home. They play in a round gymnasium with depth perception issues for opposing team's shooters. It definitely creates a home court advantage. On the road, they are a little more vulnerable. 

    As far as Oak Ridge, I was very impressed with them. Sweetscience, which player is the senior? I don't know names, so if you can give me a number, that would help. Obviously, the Wildcats are well coached, play good defense, and shoot the ball well. They will have to be considered one of the favorites next year. 

[SweetScience]

19 minutes ago, FastGunFIfe said:

     I agree with you concerning Karns this year. They have a great starting 5. The big man is deceptively skilled and can move better than I thought. The two guards out front on their 2/3 zone are outstanding on the offensive and defensive ends. The 3 and 4 have good size, play sound defense and are very athletic. The only issue I see is bench depth. Only watching them one time, I'm not sure what is past player 6 or 7 on the bench. As far as WB, I heard this morning that WB had lost 40 straight times to Bearden before this year's 4 games (won all 4). That's incredible! I do think Karns and WB would have a better than average chance at making the state tournament. I cannot speak on DB, but I have seen Sevier County play a few times this year. They are extremely young with only 1 senior, 1 sophomore, and 3 freshman starting. The Smoky Bears are very well coached and a tough out at home. They play in a round gymnasium with depth perception issues for opposing team's shooters. It definitely creates a home court advantage. On the road, they are a little more vulnerable. 

    As far as Oak Ridge, I was very impressed with them. Sweetscience, which player is the senior? I don't know names, so if you can give me a number, that would help. Obviously, the Wildcats are well coached, play good defense, and shoot the ball well. They will have to be considered one of the favorites next year. 

FGF, the Wildcats will lose Grayson Strader (#3, I believe ), who I thought was their most consistently good player all year long. He was good for about 15 and 10 ppg and rpg, respectively just about every game. The 2 tall kids down low and Ray Watson the PG are all just Sophomores, so bright days ahead for the Wildcats, so long as they work hard in the offseason, which I have no doubt they will.

Edited March 1, 2023 by SweetScience

[TribalEmpire]

27 minutes ago, FastGunFIfe said:

     I agree with you concerning Karns this year. They have a great starting 5. The big man is deceptively skilled and can move better than I thought. The two guards out front on their 2/3 zone are outstanding on the offensive and defensive ends. The 3 and 4 have good size, play sound defense and are very athletic. The only issue I see is bench depth. Only watching them one time, I'm not sure what is past player 6 or 7 on the bench. As far as WB, I heard this morning that WB had lost 40 straight times to Bearden before this year's 4 games (won all 4). That's incredible! I do think Karns and WB would have a better than average chance at making the state tournament. I cannot speak on DB, but I have seen Sevier County play a few times this year. They are extremely young with only 1 senior, 1 sophomore, and 3 freshman starting. The Smoky Bears are very well coached and a tough out at home. They play in a round gymnasium with depth perception issues for opposing team's shooters. It definitely creates a home court advantage. On the road, they are a little more vulnerable. 

    As far as Oak Ridge, I was very impressed with them. Sweetscience, which player is the senior? I don't know names, so if you can give me a number, that would help. Obviously, the Wildcats are well coached, play good defense, and shoot the ball well. They will have to be considered one of the favorites next year. 

We (D-B) are definitely nowhere close to last year's title team talent wise.  Gillespie and Stump are the only two starters left from last year's team.  The category where I would put us above most anyone else is coaching.  Poore knows how to get everything out of what he has probably 80% of the nights we take the floor. However it's those other 20% of nights, like Boone in the district tournament for example, where we take things for granted and slip up and get knocked off the pedestal.

[CU06]

Finally! This thread picked up some steam this week. I'm looking forward to this matchup tonight. Two veteran teams with scorers getting up and down the court. If nothing else, I'm excited to see some new blood representing region 2 in the sectionals.

[Nontypical]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:48 PM, SweetScience said:

FGF, the Wildcats will lose Grayson Strader (#3, I believe ), who I thought was their most consistently good player all year long. He was good for about 15 and 10 ppg and rpg, respectively just about every game. The 2 tall kids down low and Ray Watson the PG are all just Sophomores, so bright days ahead for the Wildcats, so long as they work hard in the offseason, which I have no doubt they will.

Nymore tee higgins coming up sweet?

[SweetScience]

12 minutes ago, Nontypical said:

Nymore tee higgins coming up sweet?

Them kind don’t come around very often. 

[blitzinbuc]

Wasn't the Karns victory over William Blount a bit of an upset? 

[williebgovs04]

13 minutes ago, blitzinbuc said:

Wasn't the Karns victory over William Blount a bit of an upset? 

Maybe slight upset. I would put wb as 3-5 point favorite on a neutral court.  It was a great game last night. Only person that could stop Caden windle was Jason Martin , unfortunately he is a referee and has a vendetta against the young man , otherwise great game by two great teams overshadowed by the poor antics of the karns players and fans. The AD has apologized but man you can tell they haven’t won very much 

 

I expect karns to over sevier co, but wb will have its work cut out for them going to DB 

[eyeinthesky]

2 hours ago, williebgovs04 said:

Maybe slight upset. I would put wb as 3-5 point favorite on a neutral court.  It was a great game last night. Only person that could stop Caden windle was Jason Martin , unfortunately he is a referee and has a vendetta against the young man , otherwise great game by two great teams overshadowed by the poor antics of the karns players and fans. The AD has apologized but man you can tell they haven’t won very much 

 

I expect karns to over sevier co, but wb will have its work cut out for them going to DB 

They have won just as much as WB has.

[SweetScience]

2 hours ago, williebgovs04 said:

Maybe slight upset. I would put wb as 3-5 point favorite on a neutral court.  It was a great game last night. Only person that could stop Caden windle was Jason Martin , unfortunately he is a referee and has a vendetta against the young man , otherwise great game by two great teams overshadowed by the poor antics of the karns players and fans. The AD has apologized but man you can tell they haven’t won very much 

 

I expect karns to over sevier co, but wb will have its work cut out for them going to DB 

Definitely have Karns over Sevier, but wouldn’t surprise me a bit if WB goes up to DB and brings back a W. Of course DB are the defending champs, so it won’t be easy on their home court, but I give the slight edge to the Govs. Man, they’ve got some boys that can shoot. I know there are fans of each team on here, besides maybe a Karns fan, so as an OR fan I wish all of you the best of luck with your respective teams you pull for.

[WaCoJaCo]

1 hour ago, SweetScience said:

Definitely have Karns over Sevier, but wouldn’t surprise me a bit if WB goes up to DB and brings back a W. Of course DB are the defending champs, so it won’t be easy on their home court, but I give the slight edge to the Govs. Man, they’ve got some boys that can shoot. I know there are fans of each team on here, besides maybe a Karns fan, so as an OR fan I wish all of you the best of luck with your respective teams you pull for.

As for DB I would have rather seen WB beat Karns. I just think DB would stand a better chance against Karns. Yeah I know they beat us handily the last time but I trust in coach Poore to make the necessary adjustments to beat them the second time around. In my opinion WB is the best team left and I think they should get the nod to win it all. But I also think DB could come up with the upset. I would only be slightly surprised. DB is very well coached. Shades of Buck Van Huss. 

[SweetScience]

1 hour ago, WaCoJaCo said:

As for DB I would have rather seen WB beat Karns. I just think DB would stand a better chance against Karns. Yeah I know they beat us handily the last time but I trust in coach Poore to make the necessary adjustments to beat them the second time around. In my opinion WB is the best team left and I think they should get the nod to win it all. But I also think DB could come up with the upset. I would only be slightly surprised. DB is very well coached. Shades of Buck Van Huss. 

Beating the defending champs is always a chore, so I wouldn’t be surprised either way really. Best of luck to the Indians.