BigWinners

Union was strongly favored to win at Wise? By who? If so, that speaks to Wise being shitty, but I can promise you Union wasn't strongly favored by anyone in either game. And out of sorts? You're the one who tried to prove a point only to be proven silly.

"In sports, a choke is the failure of a sportsperson or team in a game in a situation where maintaining their performance is highly important.[1] This can occur in a game or tournament that they are strongly favored to win, or in an instance where they have a large lead that they squander in the late stages of the event. It can also refer to repeated failures in the same event, or simply infer an unexpected failure when the event is more important than usual." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_(sports)

Um, no. You have it ass backwards. You have the definition that 99.9% of the world doesn't share. Choking isn't simply losing a lead, if that was true then 75% of games in every sport would be choke jobs. A choke is giving away a game late thru mistakes, basically allowing a team to win. And hooray for Wise? They finally beat Union after losing almost 20 games in a row, managing to do it by a gigantic three points at home against one of the weakest teams in Union history. Really a signature win :/ Worst Union team in years finishes third in the M7 after losing their All-Region player in the second game, I'd say that's a success. You aren't very good at this, are you?

Certainly possible, the crowds at GC will likely cheer for Union over Central bc of the antics. But Union seems to be fading now, it may not matter either way.

Do you understand what a choke truly is, in a sport context? It's not simply losing a game in which you had the lead, it's finding a way to lose at the end when the opposing team has no chance at winning without you doing everything possible to help them beat you. Wasn't the case during this game, you got butthurt when I posted about Wise's epic choke in BSG earlier this year and are now trying to make a point, facts be damned.

Cry me a river. Did Union lead the entire game and have to practically give the game away with late, under a minute turnovers? No? Then it's not even remotely the same.

Top 20 players in the nation? Lol no he isn't close to that level. There's a reason he's a 3* kid and not a 5* kid.

Union led at end of first three quarters too, loses another game in the fourth. Bears sure picked a helluva time to play their worst basketball of the season.

No, you was just so right I couldnt help myself! Maybe I was a tad over the top, but you perfectly encapsulated my thoughts on the matter 100%! I'm sick and tired of all these GLORY BOYS who value athleticism and talent over grit, hard work and being white.

You were so spot on I accidentally double posted.

I was agreeing with you 1,000%. I dunno why you got an attitude when I was in total agreement about that GLORY BOY.

Oh for sure. He gave that LAME, WEAK excuse that he didn't want to risk injury and potentially lose a D1 scholarship to a Big East school by playing for a team with no chance of success but the truth is obviously he is scared of contact and having to be PHYSICAL and just wants to skip around and shoot baskets. What a pussy. He wouldn't even HAVE an offer from Georgetown if the head coach there now wasn't some weak, chickenshit guy who never liked contact or physical basketball. Such a sham. Fake!

Yeah! Back in my day, basketball players took gunshot wounds on the court and never missed a minute. If he can't handle a few wimpy HS fouls, he will never handle being punched in the face by Ron Artest, because that always happens in D1 basketball. Getting clotheslined by Dikembe Mutumbo is part of the game, better get used to it, little punks.

If he makes it 8-9 more games, it's def possible. And I feel comfortable saying he will break AIs record lol

This dunk was just featured on in a segment on ESPNs Highly Questionable w Dan LeBatard. Pretty cool.

So how many games left max? Seven? I can't see him breaking record if it's seven or less games.

Some of that is UVAW I believe. For whatever reason, GC just does not shoot well up there. Union had the perfect game plan and kept the game as close as they could possibly keep it without Slagle, but GC seems to struggle some in that gym. But Union only losing by 15 without their best player is a moral victory I guess lol.

I think that's what kind of sticks in my crawl. A basketball team with no state titles is getting all this excitement, all this hype, and good for them. But this area has produced some very, very good football teams that never received this kind of attention. I think the era has some to do with it, the internet age, with all the GIFs and tweets, has built up a palpable excitement for basketball in SWVA like it's never seen but that same kind of excitement is not there for the great football teams of the past 10-15 years. I feel like we've been spoiled to an extent by the great football and we've come to expect it and maybe we don't treat it with enough respect. Because a team gets tested more locally in the regular season, they aren't viewed as dominant despite having just as much total success. But that phrase 'special to the area' just hit me wrong I guess. I'm not stupid, JFC, I realize a team bringing such a crowd at every game is not the norm. A local kid getting views from NBA players is great and new and special for him and the program. I also feel like some are not giving enough credit to some local basketball teams that were very, very good. Those Council teams, Pound has some great teams, Twin Springs, Haysi, Norton, etc.. have all produced some high level basketball teams. And PV did win a state title as a Div. II team, the precursor for modern 2A. So it's not exactly unheard of.

That's hype. Deserved or not, that means nothing to most of SWVA. It's very special for GC, but I still don't see how a GC team is special to any other school. Its great for a local kid to shine like this, but a big part of that is basketball culture and the internet. You guys can keep saying special and I think we have different definitions. It's a circus for sure and it's brought in a lot of revenue at the gate, but I don't see how any particular team can be special to an entire area. Some of those dominant PV teams in football had two NFL players on the same team and a handful of D1 athletes and won four titles in six years, but I didn't view them as transcendent for the entire area. I feel same for this GC team and they don't have the hardware yet anyway.

GC hasn't won anything yet. If they do, you may have a point but if they don't? Other far SWVA teams have won state basketball titles, maybe not with the media attention but they won.

So an eight point loss in the second game of the season is Martinsvilles worst loss, despite playing teams as big as 4A? Hmm... You claim I'm being unreasonable and yet you claim Graham has just as good a shot of winning it all as Radford, undefeated and without argue no worse than the second ranked #A team. Aren't we both being a little silly then?

How is this a special group? I don't see that. It's great for GC sure, but I don't see how it's any more special than Union football this year or Richlands in 2015. GC has played starters deep in every single game. Letting the bench kids who have worked hard and done what they've needed to do get some run on the court in one game up 50 isn't gonna throw off anyone's conditioning, if anything it will help by letting these three who have played serious minutes going back to the summer rest their legs.

Talent was something else I mentioned, musta missed that. My point is, winning by 50 doesn't look bad when every kid plays and you aren't trying to embarrass an overmatched teenager. Winning by 50 with your three best players on the court late in the 4th looks bad. What possible reason is there for playing your starters an entire game like this and not rotating the bench players into the game except for chasing the scoring record? That whole game shape reason is ridiculous, it's not like GC has rested their kids at all, ergo letting them rest a bit late in the season probably isn't the worst thing anyway. If GC chooses to do that for MM, okay, but don't pretend you aren't.

Correct. Even tho we all know the transitive property is infallible in sports, Martinsville is a proven winner late in the year and seems to be clicking. A win in early December is not gonna change my opinion. Graham also hasn't played a tight game aside from Bluefield all year. If Martinsville wins C and faces Graham as D-runner up in tourney opener, I'd still favor Martinsville. Maybe they lose, I'm far from psychic, but that's how I think. Instead of a snarky answer, do you truly believe Graham could win a state title this year?

GC walks thru Region D IMO, but Region C is REALLY good. If GC doesn't win it, a team in Region C will IMO. Dan River, Martinsville and Radford could all do it. Lee is really only other team with a shot and they'll have a much easier path in Region B (I believe they're in B, if they're in A it's even easier). With a quick guard and no defensive rim protector, you have to play a little off on defense to stay in front of a offensive player. So Radford, a team with shooters, can for sure give GC problems because GC cant afford to play close and allow players to blow by and get layups.