BandanaVTDavis4321

I understand the mindset and morality of playing JM because you are not going to prevent a great one time moment for a 15, 16, 17 or 18 year old kid in their High School State Title game and you aren't going to withhold that from your school and fans. I understand that. I respect that, but...........at some point.......at some time......what is going on at JM which is being ALLOWED by the VHSL crosses into the threshold of social justice. I don't know what that point is. I truly don't, but I do know we are getting close, and coming at this from a morality perspective, we cross over the threshold of the moral thing to do and ensuring your team plays to.........NOT letting them play, withdrawing, not playing the game, and the lesson here is not just for the kids on the team, but the town, the fans, the alums, and all other Class 2 schools taking notice that School B just stepped up and made a statement. They are SICK of TOLERATING bad behavior and are SICK of bad behavior being allowed by the VHSL.

The girls aren't ready yet. They will be in about 2 to 3 years ready for class 6. There are about 15, maybe up to 25 schools in VA girls right now that would beat them. I think they have losses to Deep Run and a severe beating (around 30 pts) by LC Bird this year within Virginia. The boys coach at JM is also a good floor coach and that goes with the great talent. I don't know about the girls coach on floor coaching ability. With these successful and dominant open enrollment HS coaches with AAU and D1, sports agents connections in cities or large suburbs, they usually move on after 5 dominant years to the next level, and the dynasty moves onto some other High School. Charlotte, NC, in HS football is the perfect example as well as Texas, and in the Northeast in HS basketball.

True, but I liked Richlands a whole lot more than VHS-Graham vs JM.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/lookaside/crawler/media/?media_id%3D10217189648883799&imgrefurl=https://www.facebook.com/groups/99250183400/&h=960&w=1280&tbnid=NjVJsS1upTT23M&source=sa.im&tbnh=194&tbnw=259&usg=AI4_-kRyz_0M31EpXIDB71S39QZUNkOJxA&vet=1&docid=9jw0ibFmjdj_CM Whitewood High Gym. Yep, looks rough

I think we are going to see a drop in public schools themselves and public education. Going to see far more online stuff and private education from home groups, literally neighborhoods that have 4 or 5 people teaching the kids. It's already happening. What will slow this down somewhat is migration from Latin and Hispanic countries which have kept the public schools afloat in cities, but it's coming. We will see it occurring first in suburban areas. Here's what to do if I were young again and I was young in 2024. I take the GED in High School 2 weeks after I finish my sophomore year. I then drop out of High School. I simply quit. I immediately enroll at the local community college, finish my 2 year degree at age 18, then transfer to a University and finish by 4 year degree when I'm 20, I have my degree. If I want to be a Lawyer, I'm done at 23. A physician, done at 24. A pharmacist? Done at 23. Now, the downside of this is obviously social groups, peers in High School and all of a sudden you are gone at 16, but again.......for these home-schooled kids across the country, stop fooling around with standardized programs that you complete through grade 12. Take a program where you can pass the GED and try to get that GED at age 16. I know some kids when they graduate High School, they already have a good year of college done because of AP stuff and all of that, but that's a lot of work. Too much work for my taste. This route isn't for everyone, but if you have a good who isn't a social bug, he or she is homeschooled, and fits this mold, then it might be a good option, and there are lots of kids out there that are like this. Especially in today's time where kids are connected seemingly more by technology than physically. I would be a sorry guidance counselor in High School. The principal would wonder why half the class is dropping out before their junior year. I would be fired.

The answer to the first question is yes, Yes, John Marshall has put into place the same program for the girls. Is it there yet? Nope. It is state championship winnable at this point? Yep. Is it good enough to win all 6 Classifications yet? Nope, but......it will be soon. Nationally Ranked yet? Not hardly, but again.....it's about 2 to 3 years away. In 2 years, but to be sure, about 3 years, you will see a John Marshall girls team similarly as dominant as the boys. They are on rapid trajectory and that will be evident by a state title this year and you can see on Maxpreps the previous scores and margins from say.......3 years ago until day.......those margins and wins are rapidly widening by the year.

I haven't been there in years, but do remember it. Also, looked it up on the net. I remember the place holding a whole lot of people. It doesn't have a second deck, but it's deceptive. The single decks that it has on each side rises up very steep and tall, like......25 rows tall. I found something a while back that said this gym actually holds 2500. There's just a lot of space behind the basketball goals and there's no stands between the goal and the giant walls they have behind each goal. A player even with a lot of space can have perhaps a little bit more perception if there are seats behind the goal, but Lebanon doesn't have that. It's a really nice facility though. As for local high school gyms and regulations, I had no idea about the 84 feet thing until reading the posts above. Makes sense. When I was very, very young, I recall some gym in rural southern West Virginia in the coalfields my dad took me to for watching a game. Northfork (was beating the hell) out of somebody, but the half court lines extended into the other teams 5 second line. I know lots of gyms in the way back in the day use to be like this, especially in rural parts of the country. A friend of mine from rural Western Kansas told me one time (he's older than me) that when he was in High School, they played a school where the roof of the gym was so low in the corners that you couldn't shoot from the side of the basket far, far back near the out of bounds line because the ball would hit the roof, and the home team knew this, so they would freely let the opposing player drive to the deep corner of the baseline and play off him by about 10 feet.

I think Graham lost at Lebanon by 6, went ice cold and beat Lebanon at home by about 25 pts. Thar gym down there ain't no joke. It's like putting a basketball goal in the middle of an open field. Gmen better get thst figure out.

All 4 could be wrong and no surprise to me. They can all go either way. Honaker over Auburn would be the only surprise to me, not a huge surprise, but a surprise because if Honaker got the W, it would mean back to back wins over GW and Auburn and nobody saw thst coming if it happens. I don't even think Honaker fans would have figured that would happen.

Boys I think Honaker can beat Auburn. I'm picking Auburn, but Honaker won't be intimidated one bit and coming into the game thinking they can win. Auburn by 7 pts. VH vs Graham. Just seems like Graham can't beat em in a close game. I'm going VH by 6. In girls, I'm going Central close over RV as Wise has been there and done that and I think that helps. RV can beat Wise, but I think Central Wise gets the w by 8. Eastside and Honaker. Toss up. I have no clue. I'll go Eastside because of the previous win and their run last year having been there and done that. Eastside by 6.

Same question for me. Where to VH and Graham play? I'm guessing at Va High, and if not, then surely at Gate City?

Virginia High finishes off Martinsville by 14 to get the W. Good night for Region D. What I saw with Martinsville and Gretna were athletes and not great basketball players. Both teams are not very disciplined. They have good quickness, but just don't seem to have elite or great basketball players. Gretna and Martinsville had their athleticism neutralized by Graham and Va High's equally potent athleticism, but Va High and Graham just had better basketball players (at least that's what I saw-my opinion).

Auburn pulls away from Chilhowie, wins by 22 I watched the 4th qtr of GW and Honaker. GW with just several literally wide open 3 point shots and the ball just rims out. It happens. Teams go cold and 8 minutes is a short quarter, only 32 minutes in a HS basketball game. With that written, got to credit Honaker for scoring more points than GW. GW is very good defensively and Honaker put up over 60. Honaker deserved to win. It wasn't a fluke

Honaker wins by 2 points. Incredible win.

wow

Auburn and GW are really good teams.

Martinsville will be a toss up I think. Martinsville is very athletic and Va High doesn't see the amount of athleticism week in and week out in Region D other than Graham. But, Va High is also just simply good. Va High has not only really quick guys and athletic guys, but they move the ball well and are well coached, but they aren't going to simply out athlete Martinsville like they've been able to do for much of Region D other than Graham. I just give the nudge to them for not having to go on the road. Gretna is very athletic and Graham is athletic, but I think Graham's youth and playing on the road that far from home in a gym they've never seen against a team that has all the momentum in winning their first region title (I think it's Gretna's first region title) and that will be too much to overcome in my opinion.

I'll go Gretna by 12 points and VA High by 2 points and Gretna beating VA High by 5 points and then losing by 52 points to John Marshall

There's no rule prohibiting the AAU coach from coaching the HS team, but yes........it doesn't look good. There's no rule prohibiting the players at JM mainly attending Richmond Community School, but again.....it doesn't look good. The fact that things "don't look to good" is the fault of the VHSL not doing anything about it and more Class 2 AD's not lobbying the VHSL to do something about it. JM is technically breaking no rules, at least not openly or something that is overwhelmingly clear cut. I do blame JM for not playing up in competition. That is lame. They do have the ability to play up if they petitioned the VHSL. They VHSL would be more than happy to take this ball of wax out of it's ear and the VHSL knows fans would complain less if JM played at higher classification and if JM requested that, I am sure the VHSL would allow it. But, JM isn't requesting it. If you have a guy who is the AAU Coach and Coaches High School Ball, he would more than likely argue that he loves basketball and likes being around the game and is competitive (and is he by the way) but he should have the same spirit of competitive nature and play up. That's the part that surprises me some. Overall, I like watching JM play. They are fun to watch and I think their Coach is doing a great job overall and does good things for the kids and he has built that program. Only complaints I have is him not wanting to play at a higher level of competition and the VHSL not putting more rules in place regarding AAU coaching and HS coaching in the same area/region. You open yourself up to a ton of complaints and issues when this is allowed to happen, especially when the AAU/HS Coach is in a locale that has open enrollment. It's the perfect scenario for the situation at present for JM to happen, but again..........it's not JM's fault.

I watched the VH vs Graham game. Back and forth. What you can make of this game in my opinion is the ability of VH to close the distance or widen the distance at the end of the quarters. At end of first, big three point to get it within 4 when they were down 7. A team that has just a touch of momentum or a "good break" in football and basketball at the end of quarters or halves often is a precursor to what will happen late in the game. I've seen this a hundred plus times. It doesn't always hold true, but it does far more than most of the time. In the college or NFL football, watch how many times the team that scores right before the half in a very close game ends the game in similar fashion. Same in basketball. A team down 10 with 40 seconds left that incredibly cuts it to 4, or a team only up 2 or 3 points for most of the half then goes on a little run in the last 30 seconds and ends the half up 7. It's amazing how games often end for whatever reason, the same way. With that written, VH got a lot of calls man. No, the refs did NOT cheat, but it die seem that VH got a huge chuck of 50-50 cause, especially in the first 4 minutes of the game. The shot at the end was a late clock start. The clock started late. Ball did leave hands before the expiration, but the clock started late. Still, it was Virginia High's ability to finish each quarter and in the end, VH's ability to steal the in bounds pass. VH continued to seemingly do great things in the final few seconds of each quarter. All 4 left are close. Any of the 4 can win it, even the road teams.

I do think it could be the difference if the two are very closely matched up talent wise. Not so much the bus ride as this is no factor in my opinion for today's 16 and 17 year old kids. They are chilling, listening to music, enjoying it. But, playing in a foreign gym, an unknown, simply not playing in your home gym can be the difference in 2, 3, or 4 points in my opinion.

As for Graham and GC. Credit to Todd Baker. He pulled off some high level stuff in my opinion. Used his athleticism as much as possible to counter GC's size and strength, but also saved his athleticism and the press until the 4th quarter because Graham has a limited number of guys that play, so didn't want to gas them. That was like landing an airplane or balancing a tightrope based on the timing, when to do, how to do it with the guys he had, etc. Wizardry was pulled in GC last night by Graham's head man.

So Gretna will host the VA-Graham loser while Martinsville will travel to the VA-Graham winner. This thing could turn. For example, all 4 teams are so close that lets say Graham loses to Virginia High. It's a situation where Graham could turn around and beat Gretna and Martinsville could turn around and beat VH on the road. All 4 teams are close, very close.

Same as Graham and VH. It's their region title. Radford and Floyd are eliminated. For the Graham-VH winner or loser, it sounds like it's about the same. Seems like all 4 teams left are very close and anything goes. I guess I would rather play at home instead of away, so the region title games do matter because that home court advantage might be the tiny difference in 4 pretty darn evenly matched teams it seems.

Good choice. Central Location and also, it is sometimes NOT always about the kids. Sure, the game should be mostly about the kids, but......parents, fans, alums, administrators put in whole lot of work to make things happen as well and these people drive to the game, pay the hotel bill, pay the boosters, etc. I'm certain the overwhelming majority of kids in WV would want to play at WVU, but again, in some instances, it's not just all about the kids and when money, finances, travel, support, planning, logistics come into play, it absolutely starts to bring those that are not kids into play.