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BandanaVTDavis4321

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Everything posted by BandanaVTDavis4321
 
 
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Same question for me. Where to VH and Graham play? I'm guessing at Va High, and if not, then surely at Gate City?
  6. 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).
  7. 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
  8. Honaker wins by 2 points. Incredible win.
  9. 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.
  10. 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
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. I agree and disagree on this. I agree if it's a first time event for the opponent or JM or a championship appearance where the team hasn't been there for many years such as Martinsville (possibly) this year. But in Radford's case, Cormany had kind of been there and done that. Had many deep runs and some titles. I think there is harm is not giving kids a chance to play, but there is also a lesson learned. Is the harm to the kids that don't play the game against JM greater than the continuous harm and unfairness that the VHSL is allowing annually with the JM situation? That's the discussion that isn't 100% clear. Many could see that both ways. One could argue there is actually a lesson learned for the kids that don't play JM. I can see both sides of this. As for Milan and Muncie Central. I got to hear Ray Craft from Milan speak in the 90's while at the Univ of Texas. Incredible thing. Milan, the true story was much different than the movie. Sure, Milan was an underdog purely based on school size, but......most people don't know that Milan High went to the state semifinals in 1953, the year before they shocked Muncie Central in the state title game and Milan returned ALL 5 starters from the 1953 team to prepare for the 1954 championship season. Milan also had 2 kids Plump (Chitwood in the movie) and Ray Craft both play major Div 1 basketball and not just play, they started. Milan also had a third player play what would be Div 1AA ball back in the day, so yes, small school, major underdog against Muncie, but also much better prepared than the movie let on for 1954. The difference in John Marshall versus a Gate City in 2024 compared to Muncie Central vs Milan in 1954 is FAR greater in talent disparity. Milan only had like 160 kids in the school in 1954 compared to Muncie's 2,000 plus, but....the 5 guys they had on the floor weren't chumps. They could play, including 40% of the starters playing major Div 1 basketball. It was actually Ray Craft who led Milan in scoring in the title game with 14 points. Of course Chitwood (Plump) his the job. Here is the actual real footage, real video clip of the final shot and actually audio recording of the Indiana High School Play by Play Guy that was broadcast that day not just across Indiana, but all across the Midwest nearly 70 years ago to the day. The real actual shot-video of Plump below https://www.thestarpress.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/02/21/ihsaa-basketball-1954-ihsaa-state-championship-milan-muncie-central-restored/4822153002/
  19. JM won't have anybody do that unless it's a team that plays them 2 times in a row (goes to two state title games) in a row and loses to them and then on year 3, that team is like, "enough is enough." As long as it's one team here or another team there from the West that makes it every year, it ain't happening. For example, if Gretna won the West, you can be assured they are playing for that title game. Their coach would rationalize it as, "this our is one time chance for our kids and win or lose, they made it to the title game and will remember it forever and our seniors." Martinsviille in Region C if they win the west? New Coach for them and Martinsville has been out of the picture for years and wants to get back to old form and has I think 4 or 5 seniors on the team. Do you think he's setting this out? Not hardly. Same for Union, Graham, Virginia High, and now GC doesn't have Scotty V anymore. GC ain't setting it out either. Only way to stop this is with luck. Martinsville or Radford, GC, Union, Graham somebody become dominant in the West and make the title game 2 years in a row and get beat, then if this same teams makes it again on year 3...........then there's a chance in year 3 for them to set it out, otherwise it's not happening.
  20. Dude, not trying to be rude, but I can put my finger on it and it happened from game one in my opinion. It's called strength of schedule.
  21. Aren't you the one that said on here a couple of days ago that Martinsville was terrible this year and you didn't know how they won 15 games this year? So, you sounded serious 2 days ago, but now are passing it off as a joke. Which is it?
  22. I think they were because Nobody Else was. Radford isn't very good, but neither is Martinsville and Glenvar ain't great. Floyd beat Radford and Glenvar twice and Blacksburg once. By default, there really isn't anybody left to pick other than Floyd in Region C. Nobody is that good. Unless you want to argue Chatham or Gretna? Martinsville fans have came on here and one states, "this team is terrible." Who else is left to pick?
  23. It's freakin unbelievable man. There is just know way in 50 years this will happen again. I know 50 years is long time and sounds like hyperbole and it probably is, but what's happening this year just hasn't happened in like.......ever. There is literally not one elite or stand out team. A couple seem "better" than others, but there's just nothing that jumps out AT ALL in the west. And Good Lord, for this once in a generation type year to happen in the John Marshall Era. We might be talking about a win in the vicinity of 60 points by John Marshall in the state title game. I would take 50 points and JM if someone offered it.
 
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