What difference does it make if John Marshall waits up the road !
Because I would still like to be the 2nd best team or team that finishes runner up compared to the team that loses in the region title or quarterfinals or state semi's. The really crazy part is that Bruton and Greensville County are the 2nd and 3rd best Class 2 teams in the state, but are unfortunate enough to be in the same region as JM and 1 of those 2 (Bruton or Greensville County( will not even get to advance to the state tournament and out of the region.
Va High would easily win the region championship had Ethan Carpenter not got hurt, that loss is huge, now it makes that region tournament unpredictable. Yes VA High won the SWD tournament but that was somewhat delusional, the Cats jump out to a 21-4 lead and held on for dear life Graham cut it to 3 an just ran out of gas using so much energy storming back. I don’t have a real prediction but like most are saying all 8 are within 10pts or so within the other, probably all 8 have a realistic chance in advancing to state
I respectfully disagree with "Easily." Even with Carpenter, GC would be and is more than capable enough to top VA High on a good day. VH favs with Carpenter? Definitely they would be the favs, but I'm not buying the word "easily." Just my opinion though.
I agree Bcats for GCs team, but I think the kid from Lebanon is the best in the region. That home court advantage for GC could be that extra little nudge that puts GC over the top. Keep in mind, you don't need to win the region. You just need to get to the finals and you advance to state.
Noah Farley from Floyd County. Remember this name. He might be the best player in both Region C and D right now. Keywords is "might be." He's a Freshmen. This kid will flirt with Div 1 offers come his junior and senior year. He's a guard and has the body of a junior and is fun to watch. Floyd is the best team in Region C, but Martinsville and Radford could still possibly clip them on a good day, but Floyd would win 8 out of 10 against both of them. I think Floyd is the best in the West, but again, 8 other teams in the west could clip them. It's not a huge gap, but there is a gap in my opinion.
Whoever finishes 1st or 2nd in 2D has a very reasonable chance of playing for a state title against JM. 2C ain't pretty either. Floyd, Radford, Martinsville? Martinsville and Radford are shadows of what they once were. About 9 teams in my opinion from the west that on any given night, are within 3 to 4 points of each other. VH and GC kind of......kind of.....stand out in 2D, but not really. There's no major separation there.
Having Shaq don a Gate City jersey and dunking over him. Way to go Mac!
Never in a million years about 7 years ago would I have considered Mac would have become so popular that one day, Shaq would don a Devils Jersey and have Mac dunk over him. This is when you know.....Mac has made it, regardless of whether he plays a full season in an NBA jersey. He's made it in my opinion and hell be talked about in homes in SWVA 50 years from now for what he's done . Well done McClung!
Class 1, Grundy wins another title. Grayson County barely nudged ahead of Rural Retreat for a 2nd place team finish. Galax was 4, Parry McCluer 5, and Fort Chiswell 6th. Eastside was 9th and Holston 10th.
Class 2, Strasburg repeats, followed by Poquoson 2nd, and Central Wise finishing 3rd. Radford 4th, Union 5th. Richlands was 7th and Riverheads finished 9th.
Class 3. Staunton River repeats as state champs just like Grundy and Strasburg did. New Kent was 2nd. Christiansburg finished 6th.
For individual achievements, scroll up in this thread to the direct link for trackwrestling.
Congrats to all local teams. Grundy with that many left is expected and of course, stands out, but that's Grundy. Central Wise is the one that kind of jumps off the page at me. 9 left and of that 9, 8 of the 9 are the semi's. That's alarmingly impressive and around the state in wrestling circles, most thought is was Strasburg and Poquoson followed by Central and the rest. It appears that's not the case. Again, credit to all teams who have done well like Union, Galax, Richlands, Grayson and more, but Central really surprises me. I knew they were good, but.....dam@.
Heading into tomorrow's (Saturday the 17th) championship rounds. The current Team scores are as follows...
Class 1
Grundy 108, Rural Retreat 66.5, Galax and Grayson tied at 54, Parry Mcluer is 5th at 41, and Eastside is 6th at 39.
Class 2
Strasburg is 84, Central-Wise is 69, Poquoson is 68, Union is 4th at 54, Richlands is 5th at 40, Glenvar 6th at 35, VA High 7th at 31. The move up to Class 2 for Riverheads is looking like more than they bargained for as they set at 12th right now in the team standings, but unless they have a great day tomorrow, it looks like they might have been better off staying in Class 1 with Grundy because they are nowhere close to the top 3, or 5, and not even in the top 10, and they were supposed to return a pretty good group.
Class 3, Christiansburg is 7th, Abingdon is 21st.
Conclusions...as most suspected, Grundy wins (will win) another title as their lead is pretty much too wide at this point and Strasburg repeats again as they will widen their lead in the championship rounds over Poquoson and Central. In Class 3, it's neck and neck with Staunton River and New Kent as suspected and that team title in Class 3 will likely go down to the wire.
I will post individual achievements from the coverage area after the Championship team results are in tomorrow afternoon unless someone else posts them first.
At about 4 pm on Friday the 16th at the end of the quarterfinal round and heading into the semifinal round for Virginia's Class 2. Teams scores so far are
If you get updates for Class 1 and 2, and if Abingdon or Carroll County do some good stuff in Class 3, please post results. I have trouble finding wrestling results. If you Lonesome Pine homies find Results, please don't skimp out on Region C. Thanks in advance.
Yep. Bluefield, VA, and that I'm certain of because of Double Gates Grocery hotdogs. Graham High is in, or very near the Double Gates neighborhood and that is a few miles from the WV border. 100 percent for sure in Virginia.
Yall leave the "DEQ" dam$ Dairy Queen out of this! I love that place.
On a serious note. I recall many years ago back around 1990ish Graham High had a sinkhole or something like that which was so bad the school was closed for a few months and the High Schoolers had to go to the Middle School. It was all over the Bluefield Daily. I wonder if there is any chance that thing could rear its ugly head? I remember some Graham fans on this board many years ago saying their is a cave or cave system or something crazy like that which runs under the school or something like this. My memory is way vague on it.
Every great team in this area the foundation of that team was built by "daddy ball", long before the high school coach was ever in the picture.
I agree and also apply to even the not so good teams and I apply that to the overwhelming percentage of High School Teams in the United States. I apply it the overwhelming portion of cheerleading teams and moms across the country. It's like anything else. It's good and bad. It is very good and very helpful to have dads in the community helping out. The overwhelming portion of them do good things. At the same time, like anything else, you will have a few bad apples that take it too far and tries to dominate and their kid may end up playing perhaps more than he should. It happens, but I still think this is largely the exception to the rule. I think as a state, a country, a region of Virginia, we want and need dads and moms participating early on. The good of this by far, by far...outweighs the bad in my opinion. We will hear about the 1 Dad at school A who has far too much influence and his kid probably shouldn't be starting QB or Point Guard or Running Back, etc, but we never talk about the other 9 dads who have just put in the work, helped the program, helped all the kids and not just their son, and volunteered his time after a 40 hour work schedule. Just my opinions though. I'm not saying I'm right. Just giving my perception.
As for the High School Head Coach, I would disagree with you some Duke. I think it's the same thing as above. Some do think they are completely entitled or a "genius" as you wrote, but the overwhelming majority of them are not that. They, by in large are good and decent people without a narcissistic complex just like most of the daddy ball dads and moms who are just trying to do the right thing. It's the few bad apples that makes the news and message boards.
Wow. GC is something else man. Jokers have had ice like in their veins regarding close and miracle type wins in so many sports for decades. They lose some of these type of games also, but it does seem like GC wins far more than their fair share of them. Congrats to the young man who nailed the 3.
What's the deal with Graham? Is it simply "a field?" Or.....are they building a new football stadium where Graham will play home football games there? Huge difference in a "new field" or "new track" and a new stadium which means...parking, seats, bleachers, lots of concrete for bleachers and concessions, etc. Anyone know if Graham is building a home football stadium or simply putting down turf for a practice field? Thanks in advance. By reading this thread, I think it's a new stadium, but I'm not all the way sure. Somebody wrote that Graham would be complete with their project by August? If it's August, that sounds to me like a new "field" and only that, not a new "stadium." It seems a new stadium wouldn't be anywhere close to being done by August.....if it's a new stadium.
You never know about kids. Some surprise in other ways. Keep your eyes on the former Graham player at ODU named Gage Sawyers. He was kind of an under the radar player in the region even though he was first team All State. I've heard good things about him at ODU. You may see a situation kind of opposite of Adkins where this kid takes off. He was highly underestimated in my opinion coming out of High School.
Mike Compton out of High School was good and an All State type, but few thought he would become a first team All American and 11 year NFL starter and a near miss for All Pro (next guy up that got outvoted) 5 times. Sometimes, they go the other way. Heck, Bill Dudley if we go back to the 1940s is an example. A scrawny little kid UVA just took a chance on and a "good" High School player but nothing special or elite, and of course....NFL Hall of Famer.
Unfortunately, more times than not, it goes the other way and the above are exceptions to the rule. Jury is out on Sawyers. He's one to keep an eye on.
This. I was told this by two local college coaches directly. The wash out rate is very high, significantly higher than non-locals. One coach said the sweet spot was 3-4 hours away.
This is true and it's not just true for SWVA, it's that way all across the country. The kid at the JUCO in central Kansas is generally not from the local area. Exceptions to this rule for rural areas are urban areas where you are more likely to see this compared to rural areas.
Very impressive win as the Bears beat the breaks off the Devils. Three really good wins stick out for me in Region D, Class 2 this season.
Union beating GC like this. Virginia High beating Graham the first time like they did in the blowout. Graham beating Bluefield the first time in a thriller.
Definitely safe to say that of the 6 teams that are actual contenders to win the region; the only one everyone can pick to win is whoever they’re a fan of
Said it earlier, its a giant pool of mediocrity with no team that stands out because no team should be considered very good. The mediocrity is so great Graham can lose to Marion and get blown out by VH, then win at VH, and VH playing within 4 of Richlands and GC thumped by Union, but Union struggling against Lebanon/Honaker. On and on it goes.
These teams are all dead even because their isn't one team that I would consider a "very good" basketball team.
I'm still going with Graham because of the athleticism and youth at seasons start that I figured to mature just enough to get them over the hump.
Marion 3? No way. One could make a reasonable or at least have some kind of argument for your top 8. I don't think Union is 8th or Central 4th, but again one could make an argument within the bounds of reason for this, but.......not Marion at 3rd. That's out of bounds.
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Region 2D Predictions? Boys
in SWVA Basketball
Posted
Agree 100%. That's the only game that would have me scratching my head.