did columbia central win tonight?

[c-town'sfinest]

well columbia will be very good next year and the next and probable even the next.after all as middle schoolers they wont their conference like 3 years in a row

[PG23FHSWR1]

Oh! I'm sorry lionsfan! I apologize, everyone gets us mixed up w/ FCHS because we are both the rebels and have Franklin. My bad!

[liveagua]

Actually when Coach Graves was at Arkansas they were ranked and they lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament on a last second shot. Joe Johnson (9th pick NBA draft)was playing for them and they won an SEC championship. Also, I have never met a student who doesn't play basketball, that has even a clue about how the game is played. My biggest issue is that we have the biggest fair weather fans anywhere, I mean anywhere!!! We aren't that talented, I don't know what the heck you guys are talking about. We are decent at best and certainly aren't good enough to play as individual players. When we don't play as a team, we lose. It is that simple. Coach Graves understands basketball, how else have we won 13 games this year. We aren't a good team. Period. That may be hard to hear, but making up something to justify the shortcomings of kids talent doesn't make it any better. You can't coach at the level that Coach Graves has coached without understanding the game. Period.

 

I am so sick of all the fair weather fans in Columbia. If you don't win 30 games they want you gone! Unbelievable.

 

About the team, if they don't play as a team...you won't win. This isn't unorganized AAU basketball. I am so tired of people who play decently in AAU ball that think they are good. Totally different scenario. We need to get the idea of "getting mine" out of our heads if we want to go anywhere in the playoffs. You have a good coach, an honorable coach. He knows what he is talking about, I have been to a lot of games this year and have seen him coach. But when we have players who give up at the end of the game...that is not acceptable.

[lionsfan9]

Well, I disagree.

 

I've been to several Central games this year, and seen several of these kids play last year. And despite what you say, this is a very talented team. As talented as last year's squad? No. But very talented nonetheless.

 

They've returned two full-time STARTERS from last year's semi-final team (Walker, Gray), not to mention several players who saw significant playing time last year. Is this a young squad? Yes. But not as young as many people make it out to be.

 

Now to Coach Graves........He may have done all well and good at Arkansas or wherever he was in college, but you know what? College ball and high school ball are ENTIRELY different animals. It takes a different TYPE of coaching. Now I'm not questioning Graves's knowledge of the game. I'm questioning whether he was cut out for THIS job.

 

Columbia has ALWAYS had talent. Always always always. But not every coach has always been able to make the most of that talent. Collie came in and got the job done (as evidenced by his 7? 8? straight district titles). Did he always have the most talented team? No. The team was disciplined, and he had the boys ready to play hard EVERY GAME.

 

Graves does not. Now you can blame it on the boys, who are responsible for the way they play, but ultimately it is Graves's responsibility as coach to GET the boys ready to play and to MAKE the boys want to play hard. And that's one of the biggest differneces in high school and college ball. One that Graves seems to know nothing about.....

 

And as far as 13 losses this season......I'm sorry, but in Columbia it IS unacceptable. Is everyone expecting to make a return visit to state or knock off powerhouse Giles County? This year, probably not. But that doesn't mean it is acceptable to finish .500. Especially when you lose games to Spring Hill?!? at home against Franklin County?!? (who Columbia beat handliy once already earlier this year.) Or how about our most recent game against Franklin High? The first meeting? We pull out a hard-fought 3-point win. Tuesday night's game? They blow us out of the gym by 24-frickin points! There is NO excuse for that. And the ultimate responsibility falls on Graves's shoulders.

[BigJack]

I have a solution to the Columbia woes. Why don't one of you BIGMOUTHS that are so critical of the coach, get an education and coach? Get real, most of you know nothing about basketball! Get off the coach or get an education! I am sick of arm chair coaches. Give the guy a chance or get an education an you coach them, ha!

[lionsfan9]

Actually, I have a better solution.

 

Bring back Collie.

 

GO LIONS!

[c-town'sfinest]

i was just wondering but how good did coach collie do in his ast year at columbia?

[shirleymurphy]

i agree with lionsfan, columbia is at .500 rite now. this is unnacceptbale for a columbia team. we have the most talent in the district by far. the teams that we play are pretty bad so we should have at least around 18 or 20 wins. im not saying we should be undeafeted but crap we have 13 losses. we havent had 13 losses since the late 80s. and graves doesnt discipline the team and i know because ive been told by players how he handles some of his practices. and i do play basketball, by the way, so i know what im talking about .

[c-town'sfinest]

you cant blame everything on the coach...the players are the ones that actually play the games.

[liveagua]

I would agree with armchair coaches, heck most of the people who are complaining are guys who interviewed for the job and didn't get the job. You are right when you say that college and high school are different. College kids can play, that is why they got recruited and have a scholarship. High school kids think they can play, because they have parents who don't have the guts to admit their kid isn't as good as they think. I guarantee the reason that most of the naysayers on here don't like Coach Graves is because he doesn't put up with crap from parents. High school basketball is mostly parents living vicariously throught their kids, hoping to make up for the parents' shortcomings. I was at the Franklin High game and saw how selfish they are. I had a friend in from out of town and he was remarking at how selfish they played. A coach tries to sit a kid because he is being a knucklehead and then 3 players get 4 fouls, what can you do?? You have to try and win. We want him to be a disciplinarian, yet we are unwilling to accept the consequences that are necessary if you are going to discipline kids. Coach Collier saw the writing on the wall and knew that there were some knuckleheads in this group of players, that is why he got out when he did.

 

Sorry, you don't know what you are talking about when you say these kids are talented, they aren't. That is evident in their lack of heart and their selfish play. Talented kids can play and don't give up. I heard a player at the end of the Franklin County game complain that the game was over and he was giving up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How arrogant can you be? Like you are too good to be involved in a losing effort? These kids have a lot of growing up before they will be successful.

 

On a positive note...we have nothing to lose in the playoffs. Period. The funny thing is that if we went deep into the playoffs, suddenly Coach Graves would be a great coach. That is how uncommitted some Columbia fans are. We have to stand behind him in order to make this team better. Players read these boards and see that we are bashing their coach without giving him a chance, do you think they will respect him? We have to respect him before the kids will. I may not agree with everything that Coach Graves does, but I know he can coach. Period. He gets it.

 

Instead of picking on the coach for not disciplining the kids, why don't we get on the parents for not disciplining the kids. It isn't a coach's job to raise the kids. Why aren't parents holding their kids accountable for being knuckleheads? When my dad found out that I talked back to my coaches...I was in trouble. We are teaching kids how to be adults, lets not expect a coach to raise our undisciplined kids. That is our fault.

 

Oh and by the way, if no one has ever said anything to Alston Enyard...man you need to start high jumping...you could goto college on a scholarship and possibly goto the olympics for it. You have a gift and you are wasting it. It would also help you keep in shape for basketball.

 

My $0.02

[lionsfan9]

First of all, Collie did not quit because of the group of kids coming up. He was actually going to retire a year earlier, but got talked back into one more year. Besides, you think this group of kids at Central is the most selfish, hard-to-handle bunch Collie has ever seen? Please. Obviously you haven't kept up with Central basketball over the years.

 

As far as discipline, there IS a such thing as TEAM discipline (i.e. the way he runs practices and how he manages the game). And THAT is what Graves is responsible for. And that's what these kids don't have.

 

And I still disagree. This team DOES have talent, and anyone who says otherwise is just excusing their play over the last couple of months.

[liveagua]

You just said that they have lost 13 games this year, the most since the eighties, I am not a mathemetician but last time I checked it takes talent to win games. They have won many, maybe that means that they don't have much talent. I realize that you are a student and a lot of these guys are your friends. But not addressing all the issues isn't a good way to formulate an argument.

 

Collie left because he saw what was coming. Period. Second, I never said they are the most selfish Columbia team ever. I did say, they aren't the most talented. That is a fact and it is undisuputed. Thirdly, you can lead a horse to water...but you can't make him drink. Discipline is necessary and good. The fact that these kids don't understand that says a lot about their upbringing and their lives outside of basketball. Sorry, they have to each make an individual decision to be obedient and disciplined. Coach Graves has sat kids, ran them...you name it. Some of these kids are a virus to the idea of team. It happens in the pros and in college all the time and those kids lose their scholarship. Hopefully these kids who are an issue can learn over the end of the season or over the summer...because if you aren't ready to buy into what your coach (who is a good coach) is trying to do...there is the door. I hope when these type of decisions happen that we will be standing behind Coach Graves and supporting him by holding our kids accountable. It will have to get a lot harder before it gets better. I am believing for a win tonight, lets get on a roll guys.