Hey Devilfanatic!

[ShutupandPlay]

I believe I saw your son ( 5th or 6th grader) play this summer. He looked good. Did you teach him to shoot like that?

[UCSportsFan]

Well i would like to take the credit for it but he has been to alot of camps and although i do coach him in AAU i could never shoot that good! lol He will be in the 6th grade, and i do love to watch him play as i do all my boys. I only have boys! lol

[ShutupandPlay]

Actually, I was very impressed. Hated to go to that box and 1, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Sure would like to have another shooter like him though.

[UCSportsFan]

Thanks for the kind words for my son, he definately loves the game thats for sure. I actually have given some thought in to relocating him, and he has always said that if we were to move the only place he wanted to play was Allons. Hopefully they will get the boys program here in Jackson County back to where it used to be, however no one here plays AAU basketball except for the teams that i coach so i don't see how we will ever compete with the programs that are. I wish that these two 6th grade teams played eachother during the year as it would be fun to watch, we had one starter that wasn't there due to baseball, so that would help us some, but regardless of the outcome it would be a great game for the kids and fans.

[ShutupandPlay]

That's the truth about AAU. It's a shame that local kids have to travel to Knoxville or Nashville to play on an AAU team that might get them some recognition. Hey, Allons Varsity goes to camp at Oak Ridge next week. It'll be nice to see how they stack up against some East Tennessee talent...Karns, Oneida, Harriman, Pigeon Forge, Lenoir City, and some others. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[UCSportsFan]

Thats the whole reason i started my local AAU team here, as there was none available here locally. It has definately helped not only my son but his whole age group. I believe that your Allons varsity team will fare pretty well, although you should face some pretty quick teams up there and speed is always a factor as you know. There is a kid in our area thats in the sixth grade, will be in the seventh next year, he plays with me on my AAU team, but this kid is so fast and he is already dunking a volleyball, and can jump up and hang on the rim, before every game he used to go out and grab the rim and pull it down, and let me tell you at age 12 that is very intimidating! lol We had a great squad, won every tournament that we entered, unfortunately i had 2 get into accidents that required stiches before the super regional and was unable to go any further, sure would have liked to have seen how that team would have faired against the nations best. Good luck and let me know how you do in East Tn.

[ShutupandPlay]

Where does that 7th grader play? I would have enjoyed watching your AAU team play. You're right again..those East Tennessee teams definitely have some speed. Karns was the only team to beat us there last year, but that was last year and we don't seem to be in as good of shape yet this summer. But hey! I like that competition where everyone you play is good enough to beat you. That's what really helps us improve. Win or lose, probably some of both, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[bob77]

James is very talented, He has major D-1 in his future, take my word for it. thumb

[ShutupandPlay]

I thought this was interesting. Allons, about 99% of the time, plays schools with larger, sometimes much larger, enrollments. So as far as camp at Oak Ridge next week..here are how the enrollments compare.

Allons - about 120 students in 6-8th grades vs....

 

Karns Middle - 1000+ in 6th-8th grades

Jefferson Middle - 700+ in 5th-8th grades

Pigeon Forge Middle - 680 in 3rd-7th grades

South Doyle Middle - 1100+ in 6th-8th grades

Harriman Middle - 200+ in 7th-8th grades

North Middle (Lenoir City) - 500+ in 6th-8th grades

LaFollette ?

Oneida Middle - 290 in 6th-8th.

 

More info later.

[UCSportsFan]

Allons is a much smaller school than those thats for sure, but they are also getting most of the young talent that Overton County has to offer, there is another kid that plays for LMS (left handed) that could play for Allons but outside of him i didn't see anyone breaking your starting rotation from that area. However your still in a much smaller area than the others and its a great accomplishment for the kids to not only be able to compete but beat most of those larger schools. It gives all the smaller schools hope! Hopefully next year at camp our 7th and 8th grade team can give you a little better competition as all the boys that will be on that team will be from my AAU team and we certainly hope they show improvement. If i could get my big man down here then we would most certainly be looking at the strongest team ever fielded from JCMS, and yes, bob77, if he keeps going and improving he is Major D1 he is so fast and so intimidating, I'm sure there are kids in the Memphis area like him but none around here and there were none in the middle or east tn this year or atleast none that i seen, lets put it like that. But even without him we should still be very very good NEXT year. Last year was the first time our sixth grade team had ever beaten White County Middle School, and 2 of the boys (my son and the McMillan boy) were in the fifth grade so we have come along way, due mostly in part to all of them playing AAU since the 3rd grade. I just wish our school team attened more camps, we played in only 1 camp all summer so we are once again behind the rest of the teams playing in 2 and 3 camps and practicing during the summer months, but there is nothing i can do about that, just have to practice harder and get better. Once again good luck and let me know how it turns out.

[ShutupandPlay]

I will let you know. I agree, the kid from LMS can play. Actually, as far as Overton County goes, Rickman is usually pretty good and should be even better next year. Overton County has a really good group of rising 8th graders from Allons, Rickman, and Livingston Middle.

[ShutupandPlay]

Here are the results from camp. As usual at summer camps, many teams were playing lots of players and trying different combinations of players. All in all, it was a good experience. It went like this:

 

AES 45, Karns 32

AES 33, Jefferson Middle (Oak Ridge) 48

AES 51, Pigeon Forge 31

AES 49, South Doyle 28

AES 46, Harriman 21

AES 48, North Middle (Lenoir City) 29

AES 38, LaFollette 43

AES 39, Oneida 32

 

6-2 overall. AES ran out of gas against Jefferson. That game was tied at half and Allons led by 4 midway through the third quarter. Jefferson had a kid that was VERY good, could do about anything. In the LaFollette game, AES led the entire game and handed it to them at the end. The LaFollette game was AES's worst performance. Overall, though, the competition was good and it was a positive experience.