BandanaVTDavis4321

Princeton should definitely compete. I looked at the WV reclass system and counted 30 total AAA schools, so right off the bat 1 in 30 teams win a title and 1 in 15 teams will at least play for a state title. The Tigers still have to contend with the likes of Fairmont Senior who moved up from AA and Herbert Hoover, Point Pleasant, etc. Interestingly, I see where Independence moves up to AAA. The Beavers stay AA. Princeton has a golden opportunity to do big things. Teams like Hurricane, Morgantown, Parkersburg and Parkersburg South, Martinsburg are now rightfully in AAAA.

I got all the respect in the world for Princetons coach. I'm biased because he's also a Christian. But, we still got to keep stuff in perspective here guys. Princeton had never advanced past the 2nd game of the playoffs until last year and until last year, had only been to the 2nd game of the playoffs just a few times in its history. Yes, a solid team last year, but the stars and moon aligned to where there were crazy upsets in round 1 and 2 that allowed them to somehow play at home in playoff games 2 and 3 before playing the state title game which is game 4 in WV. Princeton was supposed to travel in games 2 and then game 3 if there wouldn't have been pretty decent size upsets which both happened. Princeton lost a kid to WV and one to Air Force. They lost 2 Div 1 players. They will be good again, but Princeton with this current run is only like 3 years deep. There's still no indication that they are completely over the hump and now in the realm of a powerhouse program. Jury is still out on them. I tend to think they keep trending up, but history is NOT on my side at all. History would say otherwise, but history is a weak predictor. The coach they have is incredible, on and off the field, but I truly believe the jury is still out.

They absolutely will. I think they keep it within 10. Adding to what Sixcat wrote about Liberty and that new roster look, this is the perfect example of why we should pay Zero attention to a statement regarding "how many senior starters" a Liberty or JM has. It means nothing. They can have 10 seniors that dress and no juniors, and the following year, they may be better than what they were the previous year. I'm a Christian. I like Liberty a whole lot more than most on here. I know there are faults but also positives. Here is my objective opinion. LCA has ZERO business being allowed to compete with/play for public VHSL titles in ANY sport. You are either public or you are private, period. Just my take. I think the lawsuit by Liberty was atrocious and wrong, and a bad look for Liberty.

Really Ryan? A Richlands guy looking for clarification or the intricacies about a WV/VA transfer from McDowell County? That's like a an Italian guy from Brooklyn asking what pizza is made of. Come on man

There is more to it with Jennings going to Princeton in my opinion. The Div 1 looks are already there right now at Graham. He's already in the recruiting realm and we'll entrenched into Div 1 programs radars. I think this might be related to a more personal, school thing. You don't announce in the middle of a school year that you are making a decision to go to a nearby school. You do that at the end of a year. 90 plus percent of the time, that announcement on social media would have a strong Emotional component. A strong emotional component along with the time of the announcement (middle of the school yr and not the end of the school yr) leads one to believe that there has been some type of event, a one or two time event related to school that quickly and emotionally led to that announcement. This is my opinion. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

The difference in the game was Auburn's ability to adjust offensively. After the 1st quarter, notice the spacing and cutting and passing by Auburn and offensive sets they would start in for a halfcourt set. It was DIFFERENT. That's coaching. Auburn's coach will adjust on a dime if sees something that he feels will be favorable and his decision is usually favorable. All coaches or most coaches make adjustments and try things and sometimes it works out well and sometimes it doesn't. Auburn's Coach seems to adjust just a little quicker than 99% of his peers and his decisions made with adjustments seem to turn out to be the correct one's a much higher rate than 99% of his peers. With all that written, Honaker is a also a well coached team and they looked pretty darn good out there also.

I think Central has a shot at JM's girls I favor JM, but Central might be able to win that game if they bring their A game and JM brings it's B- or C+ game. The difference isn't so great yet that Central doesn't have a shot. They do, but they will have to play lights out. Auburn and Lancaster could be a classic. Same for Eastside and Brunswick. Auburn's boys look like the Hickory Hoosiers out there. Just unbelievable coaching. Guys cutting to the basket, perfect passes, perfect off the ball position by it's players on both offense and defense. They are just absolutely fun to watch if you just want basketball 101. They have their hands full though. Lancaster also has ties to AAU basketball- Virginia Elite. They aren't John Marshall, but their Coach Dwayne Pinn has ties to Virginia Elite out of Fredericksburg. It might be a Lancaster assistant that is also an assistant at Virginia Elite, I am not certain, but there is a connection.

Will never happen. First time for VH in state title since 1960 and the mentality will be....this is for our town, our school, our players, our fans, our alums, we aren't taking this game from them and holding back this opportunity. Again, I understand that and respect that. I think Graham was the youngest team in Region D, so I was kind of hoping Graham would win so they could go and get it over with, then have the great chance to return next year....and then......there's the possibility of them not playing two years in a row. As long as the West keeps rotating with different teams each year....be it Gate City, Radford, Virginia High, and then next year possibly Gaham, Union, Gretna....it will never happen. I am rooting for Va High to win the west next year in Hoops. Maybe....if they win the west again....we could see something happen.

Bruton keeps it within 50. Final Score in Class 2 East. John Marshall 92, Bruton 42, and its sad because Bruton has a really, really good Class 2 basketball team that would win the state title (this year) on most years in Virginia's Class 2 if John Marshall weren't in the mix.

Boy Pairings All Set in Class 1 and Class 2 as Auburn beats Honaker in Class 1 Boys by a score of 56-44. Auburn vs Lancaster in Class 1 Virginia vs John Marshall in Class 2, even though I haven't see in the JM vs Bruton score yet, trust me.......it's all set.

Girls Pairings All Set for Class 1 and 2. Central Wise vs JM in Class 2 Eastside vs Brunswick in Class 1

Class 2 Girls West Final. Central Wise 58, Ridgeview 48. Central-Wise will play John Marshall for the State Title in Class 2.

Class 1 Girls East. Brunswick beats Buffalo Gap by a score of 49-48 and will play Eastside in the state championship who beat Honaker 66-52 in the West Class 1 girls semifinal game.

Class 1 Boys East- Lancaster 63, Middlesex 53. Lancaster returns to the state championship game.

Girls Semi's in Class 2 from the East. John Marshall 60, Strasburg 38.

VH beats Graham in yet, another close one down to the wire finish. 62-60

The dilemma JM coach has is what to do with the backups when up 40? Do you take your starters out up by 20,30,or 40? Those starters have moved from somewhere literally just to play basketball there and the Coach has direct communication with college coaches about getting the kid noticed and I'm sure has told the kids that they get so many minutes per game, etc. Then, here's the other problem......the guys 6 through 10 have also likely moved there or from outside the area and trying to make it. They are also trying to get noticed. Here's the scary thing, JM's 6 man through 10th guy could win the VA Class 2 state title game by 15 to 20 points, so what does the coach tell those parents of guys 6-10? Does he just let em pass it and hold the ball and play zone defense, etc? I don't know the right answer here. I do know this.........this is just yet another problem faced when you have a system in place that allows unfair competition. It opens up just crazy cans of ALL KINDS of worms, not just lopsided scores. It even creates some internal conflict (I'm sure) within the team/parents, etc.

Cool. Thanks

I don't think VH and Graham are on NFHS. I looked for it and there's no listing of this game as of this AM at 0745. John Marshall is on NFHS, but instead of listed as playing Bruton, they are listed as playing Burton.......as in....John I Burton. JI Burton is going to have a tough matchup tonight. I pick Burton to win.

I agree with you, but I couldn't write it as good. In some.....rare situations....and I think this is one of them, you are actually doing the morally correct thing by Not playing. I can see both sides and if a team does play, then I get it, but.............if you play in order to not take the opportunity away from your kids, your school, your fans, your alums, then I get it as you are guided by your moral compass to do it, but also be guided by your moral compass to at least say something, make a complaint, get an article in the paper, do an interview......like Scotty V did. I think if GC would have made it back to the title game the year after they lost to JM and Scotty V was still there, he would have actually not played the game that year. I truly believe that. Some people kind of called him out (not many, but a few did) when he made the statement to the media after the game and what Scotty V was doing was addressing an issue he could see was not just unfair, but was going to get worse. I think the few people that did call him out or made him out to be simply bitc*ing don't hold that same view anymore. The few that did call him out are probably thinking now...."Scotty V was right." And.....he was right.

If you watch Auburn in warmups, they have 5 different players that dunk the basketball. It's kind of alarming for a Class 1 school. I'm not saying that having 5 kids that dunk the ball in warm ups makes you a good team, but it's different for sure. They are athletic and have some hops.

Here's the other crappy part about this. Imagine if you are Bruton or Greensville County nearly every year or most years where you are in the same region as JM. You don't even get to say that you made the state title game like someone in the West does. At least a Va High or Graham can say, hey, we made the state title game at least. And in all truth, Bruton or Greensville County can't say that. I bet they are glad they still crossbracket in the final 8 because it at least gives a Bruton or Greensville County a chance to make the semi's because it seems like Region A's runner up team beats the Region B top team on most years in the final 8.

VHSL can make a rule. If you are the local AAU coach, you can't be on the coaching staff. That's rule one. They could argue conflict of interest and unfair competition and it would likely hold up in court and it would hold up to the point that a school like JM likely couldn't overturn that ruling. That fixes a good chunk of it right there. Lastly, all open enrollment schools that are within a city of over 200K have to play up in classification in athletics at the level in which the VHSL decides based on competitiveness. It's really that simple. Now, maybe only one or none of these rules holds up in court. Maybe they both do. But.......what you do is......TRY. You TRY to do something. So far....I've seen no trying.

I agree 100% on this. The thing going in Ty White and JM's favor is the open enrollment thing in Richmond. That's a gigantic variable that separates a school like JM which is RARE.....very RARE....think about it......a small school (Class 1 or 2) that is within a city of over 200 or 250Kish. You just don't see that, so even with open enrollment and the AAU connections and basically recruitment (which is kind of legal) they compete in Class 2. In almost 90% percent or more of the country, the school within the large city would compete at the highest or one of the highest levels like Class 5 or 6. I'm still not sure how the he** John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson haven't combined yet in Richmond, but oh well. It's just weird and all the circumstances for John Marshall to dominate come together like the swiss cheese model. 1. Open Enrollment City. 2. By incredible odds, it's a small school that is public that is located within a 250kish city, so it competes in Class 2. 3. Richmond has an AAU team. 4. The AAU coach is the coach of the local HS team. 5. It's located off or near I-95 (easy to travel to the Northeast and Southeast for tournaments. 6. The VHSL lost the lawsuit to Liberty. Everything just seems to line up. If John Marshall was playing Class 6, which would be normal for most schools inside a large city (see Hampton Roads and NOVA) then there's a chance at competition or at least some kind of a battle in the state semi's or state finals. The circumstances are just lined up and perfect.

Central Wise and Ridgeview can likely play with JM's girls this year. I would favor JM by 10 over Central. With 10 points, you still have a chance. Central would have a chance for sure. You may see John Marshall's girls have a game within 15 points with Strasburg who is pretty tough in the semi's. This year, 2023-24 will be the last shot at beating JM's girls in Class 2. This is it. Next year and for the years that follow (unless something changes with the program) not Class 2 school will beat them in girls hoops. Their trajectory continues to be straight up.