Milo

In games like this I have to give the nod to the home team. Too close to call! By all indications it should be a good one.

I have had a chance to see the Ball kid play on a few occasions, a naturally skilled athlete for sure. every time I watched him he did amazing things in football and basketball. I watched GW go man to man late in the forth quarter and was confused why the floor wasn't spread and let Ball play whoever was on him one on one and if double teamed kick it out to one of the three point shooters but that didn't happen. I think with his skills (at least the times I have watched them) he is under used. The kid can do it all , dunk, shoot the three, dribble etc....

GC 69 Union 57

Back earlier on this thread I made a prediction that Richlands would beat Graham by 30 I still hold that if this game would have happened in Richlands on the day it was previously scheduled it would have been a lopsided win by Richlands. With this game coming up next Thursday a lot has changed. Graham has improved a lot. I don't think Richlands will be ready for the defence Graham has built. I still give Richlands the edge but only because they are home. I think either team could win this game today.

Union by 15

Carlock-Graham......His father was a great coach at Graham for football and he seems to be following in his footsteps in how his father brought teams together and made them believe in themselves.

Looks like Graham is improving.

I think Richlands and Union both are having a rollercoaster season. Hard to tell what team is going to show up.

Question to any Richlands fans. I was able to watch Richlands play Abingdon and I may end up regretting my above prediction for the graham game , but that is beside the point. Back to my question, I noticed they did not jump at the beginning of the game for the jump ball. A long time fan told me that they have never jumped for a jump ball and always let the other team have the tip. Could anyone tell me the reason or benefit to not jumping for a jump ball? I have watched basketball all my life and have never seen a team do this at any level. The fan did not know why they never jumped for the tip off either. It was clear they had the highest jumper between the two teams. I usually listen by radio and never picked up on them not jumping for the tip off. I am a little concerned now about my prediction of them beating graham by 30 after watching them struggle at home with Abingdon and only scoring 60 points. last year they would put up 80 to a 100 at home.

At least your giving them a region win and that would be good for this program. This will be my last post about this topic and my last statement is this: I see a lot of jealousy spilling over from the success of Richlands football. Before putting this group of young men down give them a chance, they deserve some success in basketball.

Richlands will go deeper than Graham and your right , Graham is no where near a top tier team. That is why predict Richlands will beat Graham by 30. I think your missing the point. Richlands hasn't been beaten by more than 5 points. They are a top tier team. They had a bad tournament and learned a good lesson but like I said in an earlier post their chomping at the bits to prove some people wrong and have the athletes to do it with.

So are you saying now Grahams schedule is full of cupcakes?

We will see how well that loss to Bluefield prepared Graham to beat Richlands.

G-man did you just call Graham a cupcake?

Richlands wins by 30 or more against any Graham team they come up with barring any loss of Ball or Phillips from Richlands.

The UVA Wise tournament as a whole including JIB will turn out to be the best thing that happens to Richlands this season. I don't think you will see this group walk into a gym again thinking they CAN'T be beat. I hope this don't sound arrogant but this group can play basketball with any team. I don't see anyone blowing them out in any game this year, they may have a bad game (JIB) . The loss to GW could have went either way, just as the win to JIB could have went either way. It was just a bad tournament for Richlands. To justify the close game with JIB, I would submit the GW loss had a huge impact on them, it was a close loss and they were disappointed in themselves and it carried over to bad play with JIB. This group is very explosive they just have to stay humble.

Everyone has to remember Richlands beat the second place team in that UVA wise tournament rather easy at the Virginia High tournament a weak earlier, (Honaker) . I just think they got a little ahead of themselves and got put back in their place at UVA wise. Losing to GW was a good loss in my opinion, if there is such a thing. No one should take Richlands for granted and I think Richlands learned not to take anyone else granted.

Richlands can put up huge numbers at home. I think the UVA tournament woke a sleeping giant and got them back in check after winning a Virginia high tournament rather easily. They went to Grundy last night and beat them 93 to 52. Everyone talks about their "watered down schedule" I think it was a good move, If they can get their first regional game at home this year, it will be their first region win. This group is chomping at the bits to prove people wrong. Richlands controls the score here and the coach will control it by subbing.

This is a easy one. Whatever GC wants it to be.

UNION BEARS TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM MVP JAMES MITCHELL UNION BEARS RIDGEVIEW GABE COUNTS EASTSIDE SETH BOWLS CENTRAL DALTON MULLINS CENTRAL ISAIAH McCIMIS GW M. JOHNSON GW N. ATWOOD UNION WES SLAGLE UNION NOAH GARRISON HONAKER ALEC ANDERSON HONAKER H. HILTON 1st place Union 2nd place Honaker 3rd place GW 4th place Central 5th place Eastside 6th place Bell County Ky. 7th place Richland 8th place JI Burton 9th place Ridgeview 10th place Lebanon 11th place Mt. Mission 12th place Castlewood per WDIC Radio 92.1 Sorry for any misspelled names.

Eastside 58 Bell Co. Ky. 41 Final

Yes Union beat JI Burton 68 to 44 on the 23rd of December.

Technical Foul on the coaching staff of Richlands 1st Technical of the tournament.

Mt. Mission 59 Castlewood 54 Final

Union 60 Central 45 Final Tomorrows Line up 12:00 Noon Mt. Mission vs. Castlewood 1:30 PM Lebanon vs. Ridgeview 3:00 PM Richland vs. JI Burton 4:30 PM Eastside vs. Bell County Ky. 6:00 PM DUNK CONTEST 7:00 PM GW vs. Central 8:30 PM Tournament Championship game UNION BEARS VS. HONAKER TIGERS