Why is West TN so good?

[ruppsrunt]

I'm gonna tell you that MLK has played many teams that have cracked the TOP 25 this year.  David Lipscomb (20-8), Greenbrier (19-8), and Station Camp (20-9) are all district foes for MLK and all of them are TOP 25 teams in AA at this moment.  MLK swept them all, so there is six wins right there.  MLK lost to Brentwood Academy, who is pretty good to say the least.  MLK also lost to Fairley (23-3), who beat Mitchell this year.  They are like the ONLY team in the midstate to go out and play the best night after night, but the point is that they do just that.  That is why they will be so tough for anyone out west to put out of the 'Boro next month, AGAIN....

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sorry catfish breath..........shelton is gonna have to do alot of fancy prancing to beat RE or Bolivar.............TAKE THAT.

[Guest catfish-hunter]

Catfish, I'm assuming he meant Top 25 Nationally... And I doubt Greenbrier, Lipscomb, and Station Camp quite meet those qualifications...

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Are you saying that they aren't quality opponents??? Their records seem pretty good to me gomab2!!!

[realdeal02]

Memphis has long produced the best basketball players in the state even before open enrollment. The band of basketball played there is just better than the level of ball in any other city. The talent is spread out across AA and AAA and their are at least 8 teams that stand a chance at winning a state title coming out of Memphis every year.

[Purple & Gold Standard]

THEY PLAY ALOT OF WEAK TEAMS!

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That is funny..... ....

 

I don't know where you are from...But...Union City who 31-2 in AA has already beaten one of the East's 20 game winners this year Knox.Austin-East 72-58 on a neutral court in Missouri....

 

Bring whoever your team is to Memphis or say..Bolivar,Haywood County,Union City,Lexington,Liberty,Fayette-Ware and see what happens to them.....

[bballfever]

the richardson girl and tonya tuggles were two miss basketball winners two different years at bradford high school where david russell was the coach.since russells departure,they have gone down a bit but russell is doing quit well at gibson county high school.the guy is a heck of a coach.the mlk team i saw in the state last year.they play great defense although they dont seem to be as talented as some others but they seem to have a great coach with several assistance who help out as well.

[crockettfan]

Open enrollment is why west tn teams are so good. In Chattanooga you have to go to the high school you are zoned for, and if you don't, you can't play sports. From what I can see all the good ball players can go to the good basketball schools in west tn.

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Open enrollment may exist in Memphis, but it does not exist in the rest of West Tennessee. There are several contenders (Bolivar, Jackson Northside, i.e.) that the "open enrollment" cry from East Tennessee does not apply to.

[bulldawgs#1]

Open enrollment is why west tn teams are so good. In Chattanooga you have to go to the high school you are zoned for, and if you don't, you can't play sports. From what I can see all the good ball players can go to the good basketball schools in west tn.

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Actually pretty much everyone that plays basketball lives in the town they play for. Afraid you'll have to think of a better reason

[warriorbball]

not trying to be mean or sterotype but the black athlete is in the west. basketball is a big sport in large cities i.e memphis

[bulldawgs#1]

THEY PLAY ALOT OF WEAK TEAMS!

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You're a waterhead!!!! If all these great teams(all the memphis teams, bolivar, liberty, union city, haywood, humboldt, westview, lexington, fayette ware, northside etc.) are playing each other how can they be playing weak teams?

[Opperman]

Open enrollment is why west tn teams are so good. In Chattanooga you have to go to the high school you are zoned for, and if you don't, you can't play sports. From what I can see all the good ball players can go to the good basketball schools in west tn.

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Open enrollment is in Memphis only, not West TN as a whole. It exists for academic reasons.

 

I'm sure if someone challenged the rule you cite in court, it'd get struck down. How can you say a player can go to a school but can't play there?

 

If open enrollment is everything, why doesn't Memphis dominate every sport? Especially football?

[Opperman]

I don't think it because of the size of the area. Knoxville, Nashville, and Chattanooga are all large areas as well. So what makes west TN so good. I do not dispute the fact that west TN has the better teams (top to bottom) than any other area in the state but can you tell me why?

And why does it not correlate to girls basketball, where the better teams are normally from Middle TN i.e. Shelbyville, Mount Juliet and a few years ago Lawrenceburg.

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One is demographics...minorities from poorer areas tend to be the best athletes -- look at pretty much any NBA roster, that jumps out at you. West TN has high concentrations of minorities and poverty.

 

But the bigger reason is simply priorities. Middle and East TN live for football. That's why they win most of the football titles. Over here, we play football, but aside from about 5-10 schools (Germantown, Collierville, Melrose, and a couple in rural West TN like Milan), we don't really care THAT much about football...basketball is where it's at. And it shows.

[HvGal16]

occhs, i probably wouldnt brag too much about beating austin east. they came close to losing to one of the worst AA teams in tn, elizabethton, twice