goofoti32

Having seen quite a bit of Honaker, I can say that if they have to depend on half court execution to win a game...it will not be a good outcome for them.

I agree-you can only play who is put in front of you. It's impressive that they have remained focused and blown everyone out (other than one game at Grundy). I think Haysi is a step below the teams you mentioned-they have some talent, but no depth and really only one ballhandler will hurt them against good teams.

Honaker is a very good team, but they haven't faced any competition since the Alpha Classic-I wonder how that will affect them if they have a close game in regionals. Robinette is unguardable with single coverage, but Honaker often forgets about him on offense and falls in love with quick shots. That works around here because Robinette and Harmon gobble up offensive rebounds, but against a team with some legitimate size those rebounds may not come as easily. I will be curious to watch if they play Eastside in regionals-I think the Spartans present some unique matchup problems in that all five of their players can shoot and handle the ball, and they are well coached and will not give the ball away against Honaker's press.

The semifinals and finals will be held at VA High

First of all, Richlands has a tough road to hoe to come out of Conference 39, because they are the 4 seed right now and will need to beat Graham in the semis just to play for the right to go to state. Union is in the same boat in Conference 40-they will need to beat Virginia High in the semis and then likely either Gate City or Lebanon in the finals in order to make state. I also disagree with the author's comments on the weakness of Conference 40-there are several good teams in the league who have mostly beat up on one another. While VHS is the class of the conference, both Union and Gate City have wins over the Bearcats, and Lebanon has twice led late in the fourth against them.

Overall head to head is the tiebreaker...clearly stated in the by-laws. Last year, Lebanon and VHS had the same conference record and split in conference games, but Lebanon was the three seed based on their loss to VHS in the Alpha Classic Championship while VHS was the 2 seed.

It is not going to be counted as a conference game, but rather as a tiebreaker. If two teams have the same conference record, then head to head would be the first tiebreaker...not sure what is unfair about that.

Basically district play is meaningless...technically Abingdon is in the SW District and they are 3A. Lebanon would have played round robin, except that they were required to play district games as well, which added too many games to the schedule.

Lebanon-Gate City is Tuesday and will have an effect on what happens. A four way tie can occur if Lebanon loses to Gate City, Union beats VHS and then Lebanon beats Union. All teams would then have 3 losses. If Lebanon beats Gate City and Union and Union beats VHS then Lebanon will be the only team with 2 losses and thus the #1 seed. If VHS beats Union on Tuesday, they clinch the #1. If Union beats both VHS and Lebanon this week then they would be the #1 seed. I believe that with 3 losses the best Gate City can do is for there to be a 4 way tie.

No-VHS still has to beat Union at Union to wrap up. Lebanon has two losses, Union has two losses and GC has three losses (keep in mind, there are single games where the two teams only play once and so the result is doubled). The VHS-Union game is the only conference game in the series, so the result will be doubled. If Union wins, then VHS will have three losses in conference play. VHS still controls their own destiny. Lebanon hosts Gate City on Tuesday and goes to Union on Thursday. It should be an interesting week.

By "over the back" I mainly meant "on the back." Don't get me wrong, I respect what officials do and have officiated middle school and below-my complaints are pretty generalized to all of basketball not just high school level. I also agree with you that people complain when 70+ fouls are called, but I wish that people would place the blame on the coaching instead of the officials. Don't like having 40 fouls in a game, teach your kids how to move their feet on defense and not grab and clutch.

The officiating is brutal in this area. I watched Richlands lead VHS the whole game the other night and blow it at the end when the referees swallowed their whistle. Twice in the final two minutes Richlands got stops and rebounded the ball, only to be molested and lose the ball giving VHS and easy layup. Over the back is non-existent anymore, it is basically hand to hand combat when the ball is shot, and the handchecking on the perimeter is ridiculous. VHS is the worst culprit, and it is hilarious because Reed has great athletes who don't need to handcheck. Make no mistake, it's not just VHS handchecking and stuff, it is basically everyone. Some of these schools throw good football players out there who just body people all night long. Skill is no longer emphasized, instead physical play and athleticism rule the day. You can take a kid who is an average athlete but has superior skill because he has worked and worked on his game and neutralize him with a better athlete who is allowed to clutch and grab on defense.

Do they ever ask for permission? I'm not being facetious, I really don't know if they ask or not.

From what I understand, schools can play on days where there is no school provided they have permission from the Superintendent.

Crazy ending to this game-Lebanon up 4 with 19 seconds left and the ball and neither team has timeouts left. Richlands gets a steal, layup and the foul from Scottie Ball. During made FT another foul called on Lebanon on the box out, Richlands makes two FT's to take a 1 point lead. (5 point possession for Richlands) Lebanon throws the ball away and has to foul down 1 with 7 seconds left. Richlands makes 1 of 2 FT's, Lebanon throws a full court pass to Owen Slate, who scores and is fouled. Makes the FT for the win. 9 points in the last 12 seconds for the two teams combined.

I'm biased, but y'all are overlooking Lebanon-they haven't played a game with a healthy starting 5 yet this year. 3 different starters have missed significant time-if they get healthy they will be a tough out for anyone.

You predicted a 15 point win-what happened?

LOL

Lebanon has been down a starter all season and lost another one in the first game of the tourney to injury-sometimes you have to get creative, especially with a short bench.

It was Fuller that had 37 vs. Abingdon not Ball

It is always awful in that little gym over there. Not to mention that both GC and Virginia High play dog in heat style defense, which makes it even harder for inexperienced refs

Friday's results Virginia High over University High Council over John Battle Lebanon over Richlands Tazewell over Hurley

Today's results: Richlands over Happy Valley University High over Marion Lebanon over Honaker VA High over Chilhowie

Chilhowie over Hurley Honaker over Tazewell by 1....Tazewell choked big time. UHigh blowing out Council at the half

You may want to keep an eye on Lebanon-they were very impressive when I saw them the other night