Top 20 is tough and entirely too many things go into that kind of ranking. Plus if youre not in the top 10 you are really just guessing anyway.
My Top 10:
1.Radford-Easy pick for the most part. Too many athletes on that team!
2.Gate City-McClung, Ervin, freshmen kid will be a fun group to watch. Maybe not as deep as a traditional GC team but they should make a run to Richmond
3.George Wythe-Arguably has one of the best players in SWVA on their team (the guard). Unsure what they lost last year but should be high in the standings.
4.Richlands-Losing Fuller and Lowe hurts. Senior heavy team that is poised to win finally. Horn and Brown should contribute a lot for them. Could be a fun team to watch play offense.
5.Graham- Lost 2 solid players but reload with young talent. It will be a different team this year but not a bad team. They will sputter early but by season's end could be playing with the big boys. I look for them to knock Richlands off once.
6.Union-Lost a lot due to graduation but they have a solid shooter in Slagle and athlete in Mitchell. They will be in any ball game they play due to this.
7.Abingdon (if their athletes play)- Weird team... The talent is there but Abingdon does not seem to be bought into the basketball atmosphere. They are always playing 3rd fiddle to football/baseball.
8.Eastside-Casano is a senior right? if so good place for a 1A team. Damron does a great job there.
9.Fort Chiswell-If memory serves me right their coach was tossed in the last game of the year at Honaker. FUN. I feel like they return a lot from last year. They won't beat GW but they will give it a good effort.
10.Chilhowie-I was at a loss of who to put here. Snodgrass does a pretty good job here. This spot is a toss up.
Most of the people I heard mentioning them as the "dream team" wasn't even RHS fans. It was just fans of other teams that were having a little fun with what they had heard.
I've seen several good high school players but I guess Josh Shoemaker was the best basketball player I've ever seen in SWVA.
What all does Ridgeview, Lee, Battle, and VA High have this year? Anyone have the scoop on these teams?
Ridgeview and Battle both lost a ton from last year-not sure what either team has in the system to replace.
Va High only had a couple of seniors last year, and I would expect them to bring in a few recruits/transfers before the season starts.
Don't know much about Lee other than their stud last year was a senior and they have a new coach now.
Top 3 teams in SWVA? Top all around teams and bench. Would like to hear everyones opinions.
Top 3 teams: 1. Gate City
2. Richlands
3. Union
Best bench: 1. Richlands
2. Union
3. Gate City
Union lost quite a bit from last year-surprised to see them listed as top 3 but they do have a dynamic duo in Slagle and Mitchell. Graham will be strong again this year. Timmons will have VA High on the rebound shortly, as I imagine he will bring several recruits. Honaker also with a couple of 6'4 recruits and bringing back 3 or 4 starters from a team that went undefeated in the regular season.
You start your post in a somewhat adversarial manner. You then concede 2 of the 4 reasons I make my assertion (the others being lack of elite competition and inconsistency, which you tangentially reference yourself), making my point for me. Then you conclude with literally the exact same conclusion I made at the top of the page, which is that McClung is the best basketball player in SWVA.
He projects as a lower-rung D1 guard, which I went way above and beyond to praise as a noteworthy accomplishment.
How are we disagreeing, exactly?
Are we even disagreeing?
You referred to him as "not a strong guard" in terms of D1 talent, which I generally disagreed with due to my own assessment of him having seen him on multiple occasions over the past few years, not to mention his multiple D1 offers as junior. Perhaps you are in Richmond where there is a lot more high quality talent-but I feel like his ceiling is that of a mid-major starting guard--which in our area is pretty lofty. After a bit of back and forth, we are probably pretty close in our opinions of the kid as a player, but even if not reasonable minds can always disagree
None of those are P5, and only three could generously be classified as mid-majors.
Considering the last 5 seasons for each of those teams, we have 35 seasons of data. There are a combined 15 winning seasons for those teams, 14 of which are ETSU, Wofford, Kent State, and Radford. Only Wofford has reached the NCAA Tournament (twice), and it is 0-2 when it gets there.
Any D-1 offer is a whale of an accomplishment, and I hope that McClung lights the world on fire, wherever he goes. I want to see kids from this area succeed in the worst way.
But in terms of purely D-1 talent, he objectively doesn't project well. But that's the thing...where there's a will, there's a way.
I'll certainly keep a watch.
In what objective respect does he "not project well?" He's not projecting as a high level ACC level player but that's mostly due to him being only about 6' and not having top line quickness. Kid can windmill at 6' and has a frame that can put on some muscle so the athleticism is certainly D1 level. At our level he can finish at the rim with but I would agree that he will likely have trouble translating that to the college level. His midrange game is top line due to the elevation he gets on his jumper if he puts the effort in to become a quality shooter he can be a pretty good guard at the mid-major college level just off of shooting the ball. The physical tools are certainly there-
If people are talking about him being in the ESPN 100 then they definitely need to be given a reality check-but for our area he is the very definition of elite and is certain to get a full ride to a D1 school which would make him the strongest guard in the area.
That is what some people up here are saying. People I know from Richlands and Graham believe this is their year to head to state. Group AA will be a dogfight next year as my guys told me the Bobcats are going up to AA from A next year? That should be fun to watch. All that I have heard about GC up here at Tech is that the McClung guy is a good athlete but not a strong guard as he can be erratic at times. I remember the Barnes guy last year and he can shoot it. If GC is as young as people say in some places I wouldn't expect a lot. Being inexperienced isn't good come playoff time. Richlands and Graham are strong. I would expect they will represent the West in a big way this year.
McClung not a strong guard? LOL-you need a better informant.
On the boys side, doesn't Ridgeview lose their entire starting 5 to graduation? Battle also graduates a ton, top 3 scorers I believe. Lee loses their best player as well. Central should be on the rise, as they won't lose anyone of note from this year. Lebanon only had one senior this year-so they will return a lot from a team that finished third. Union and GC look like the two teams most able to absorb their senior departures, and in GC's case they can always reach across state lines to reload.
One thing I noticed from the Graham game is we didn't play any full court press. Usually we run it the vast majority of the time, but we backed off of it for that game. It'll be interesting to see if Phillips chooses to apply it again or to go back to what worked for the Graham game.
Graham handles the ball well and is well-coached, I thought it was a good move not to press. Pressing GC is probably an even taller task...I would be shocked if Richlands came with anything other than token pressure.
Having seen both teams on the surface it would appear that Union has the huge advantage, but Graham is well coached and I think they have a pretty large advantage when it comes to tactics. Home court won't matter much here, as the kids from Union will play better in a hostile environment (that is not Gate City).
I see Graham playing a lot of zone-they have size inside that can bother Barnette. Union can struggle to score at times, especially if they can't get easy buckets on turnovers. Defensively I think Graham will be ok, the problem is that you have to score to win. Union has the athletes to really smother you in the halfcourt if you don't have an elite athlete like McClung to break them down, and I think Graham depends a lot on Workman penetration to score and that may not be available against Union's length and athleticism.
GC defense nowhere near it's usual level this year, and that will play a factor in this game. The shots will be there for Richlands, the question will be if they can make enough of them. I think they need to hit at least 9 threes to win the game, and that could be a challenge
GC offense a three headed monster, and with Richlands being exclusively a zone team Barnes will probably get plenty of looks, which will in turn open up driving lanes.
I will be curious to see what happens if the game gets really up and down. GC only goes about 7 deep, but they excel in transition. Richlands is built for a war of attrition-if there are a lot of fouls called then a high paced game with lots of attacking could favor their depth.
If you think that was a personal attack, you "ain't seen nothing yet". I guess a sense of humor is not required in GC; nor is the concept of sarcasm apparently. Statements of fact are not attacks by the way!
You have the everybody is against us mentality. No, no they are not. Do you guys ever just sit back and laugh at yourselves? I would venture a large amount that you are not capable of such a feat. I think it is really an insecurity issue for the most part. But I guess it is possible that I am incorrect (perish the thought).
I do not (and have not to my recollection) remarked about GC until this thread. There may have been the passing mention in another thread but little else, if that much. But go ahead and do your research. Looks like the snow will allow plenty of time for that.
I will tell you straight up what I think about GC. When I was in high school, no VHS team I played on had a worse than .500 record v. GC. You were a team in the SW District that we played. That was it. Our rivals were JSB, Tennessee High and Abingdon to a lesser extent. GC was a tough place to play no matter the sport. We always knew that we had to be prepared for a battle; did not like nor dislike GC; still the same today; respected their programs and players. That is it my man.
I said and I meant that GC plays undisciplined basketball from my recollection of playing them and from what I have seen the last few games v. VHS. Nothing meant by that except that they have a lot of talent year in and year out but sometimes get lost in the one-on-one game. I also said I have not seen them that much and things may be different now. I said I think the coach has under performed on the big stage. I believe the facts are right there for all to see. GC always has the talent to win the district but has really achieved little more than that. If you are okay with that, then good for you. I seem to recall that GC only settles for rings so it is a little confusing that so much support is given a coach who has never won the ultimate prize given the talent over there.
So there you are. I feel a little less intelligent for having wasted perfectly good time discussing this but at least you now know exactly what I think of GC.
I will answer your question with a question: What coach in SWVA has achieved less with the talent GC has had over the tenure of his time at the helm?
While you ponder that, I am off to clear the roads in my neighborhood...just because I am a nice guy!
Congrats to the bearcats. Honaker will be waiting on two standard size 7 rings from the bearcats for all the help them honaker boys have contributed the last two years.
Just having a little fun before anyone gets bent out of shape. Very difficult to win one much less win 2 in a row very impressive.
They will have to send rings to a lot more schools than just Honaker. Battle, Dobyns-Bennett, Tazewell, and a couple Sullivan schools and everywhere else they recruited from.
Completely agree weather it is a good move against those two teams it's the only move they have.
Which is crazy, because if any team should be able to grind it out it should be a team with two skilled big men. Lebanon had the same problem last year when they had Robinette-they were a run and gun team and couldn't figure out how to play in the halfcourt.
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The Nearly Thanksgiving SWVA Top 20
in SWVA Basketball
Posted
Cusano graduated