#BBN

OT at the Prior center

Scrimmage between Central and Floyd Co. was a long and cold one. But Coach Salyers used it to see what talent he has and where he can play kids. He moved kids around all day playing them at different positions.
As far as the Pitchers for Central they came out and threw the ball well.
Collins seen a inning of work and had a couple of strikeouts. Brickey also seen a inning of work and 1-2 strikeouts but showed good control
Bishop pitched 2 innings and had good control and velocity and ended up with 4 strikeouts. 
Now for Central at the plate they put the ball in play at times but also looked at a lot of pitches too, but it’s early though. When Central had runners on base they were moving and it looks like they will have a ton of speed and will look to use that as a way to produce runs this year.
 
Now as for Floyd County, Va. They looked like they are a young team this year. But they  have  a couple of guys that can swing the bat very well and they play solid defense as well.  Like to wish them well on their Season.

Thomas Francisco HR #2

It should the way the past games have been for them this year!! I would expect it to be another great game!!!

It's understandable for a high school kid to get irritated and throw an elbow. Have you ever played basketball on any level, even just with friends? I used to play with friends in BSG and even though we were all friends, emotions sometimes got the better of people and stuff happened. I've seen grown men threaten each other,  hell ask @#BBN he saw me get hit during a pick up game one time (without him helping calm me down and get me away, I would've went to jail for being an ass, I didn't start the physical behavior but my mouth and not being in the right mind caused it) and it was just a friendly game with no stakes. Ramp up the intensity, mix in emotional teenagers and have them playing for something, and you get a recipe for sometimes emotions getting the best of the kids and physical incidents happen. It is completely understandable but also totally wrong. 
Wise has chosen to play a very physical style of basketball (sometimes to their detriment, some of their teams would have been much better playing a wide open system) and will push boundaries and prod and pry to see what they can get away with, it's nothing new for M7 fans or basketball in general. When physical play happens, kids sometimes react in wrong ways. Dean did, but acting as if he was trying to seriously injure someone is disingenuous. 

Not all of it was second hand. I’m not sure if that was you that made the statment but it read, and I quote “there was some talk prior to this game being played that the coaches were talking in the locker room” the point I was trying to make was nobody from gate city has hard evidence that it was said or where the statement came from. the opposing team couldn’t have been in the same locker room to hear the statement. I’m just saying if the person who actually heard it would come forward that would hopefully ease everyone’s mind and move on. Until then it’s a complete fabrication. Well I didn’t see the need to post anything about other coaches. All that was ever said about other coaches was that they coach very dramatic and they argue with refs on calls that don’t go their way and there are a lot of post about that but nothing about gate cities coach, which was from first hand people that were at those games. I do with they would put it in the past and let bygones be bygones. A player from gate city got fouled intentionally and a player from wise got fouled “not called” and went to the hospital. Hate it for both teams that that happened. Just put it in the past. Good luck to both teams and be safe they are calling for a lot of rain down that way. 

This thread has gotten a little ridiculous in my opinion.  Hopefully, some people can put aside this drama and enjoy what I believe has the potential to be a great basketball game tonight.  Depending on which Central team shows up tonight, GC better play better then they did against Lebanon or they very well could be done.  Central hasn't been very consistent this season but they have been as of late.  I believe GC will come out on top but I don't think it will be a blowout. 

I hope Gate City posters realize what they have accomplished. I am officially calling it: in the previous six months of material posted on SWVASports, they have officially surpassed Abingdon as the "most disliked fan base by their neighbors" in SWVA.

Not from either school so here is my take on the issue.  I watched both Vermillion and McCamis play in high school and college.  They are older now but still act the way they did at 17/18 years old.  They are both hot tempered and throw fits when things don't go their way.  In my opinion, McCamis is worse at this than Vermillion.  That being said, I honestly don't know if there is any truth to the allegations for either telling their player to take someone out or elbow someone intentionally.
I am old school so I do understand statements like "if you are gonna foul, make it count" or "if you foul on a break, make sure they don't get the shot off".  Most coaches will use those phrases because you hate to see a cheap foul from behind and the player still hits the shot.  SWVA games over the last few years have gotten very physical.  I think this comes from teams trying to mimic the bigger and more athletic schools on the eastern side of the state.  There seems to be more man 2 man defense and the offense is being pushed to play faster and faster.  When the game was slower, teams played more zone and the offense was more of a half court style. 
While I can't deny that the coaches and schools have some responsibility in this matter, I think there is also another huge factor at play, the officials.  Current officiating is the worst I have witnessed and I have been around basketball since the late 1980's.  With the move of girls basketball to the winter along with implementing a third official for varsity games, the officiating pool is terribly watered down.  Now, when everyone is having a quad on a Tuesday, you need 5 refs (2 JV/3 Varsity) at each site.  Officials main goal now is to get through the night as quick as possible, take their check, and laugh at the bitching fans as they sprint off the floor.  Officials do not want to call a lot of fouls so they let hand checks and bumps go.  Next, you don't call over the back and illegal screens.  Then, players begin to get chippy and start shoving and throwing elbows.  That's when the fans and coaches start raising hell and people start making accusations on here. 
Kids have shoved players in the back on a fast break for as long as I have been watching, it's not new because someone did it to McClung.  Kid's have been throwing elbows for as long as the other players have been hacking or reaching around from behind, not just Dean.  Players will talk trash, they will taunt, and they will make mistakes.  These players are still kids and they react to situations with emotion.  I am not a big fan of either of these fan bases because I am also a part of another fan base, but I understand why they get so fired up about their players. 
If you really want to fix these issues then start with the officials.  They believe that you can't call everything or you will be there all night.  What they aren't willing to do is test that theory.  Maybe if you call the hand checks and bumps on defense early the kids back off a little and play with their feet and not their bodies.  Maybe if you call every over the back and moving screen, the kids will learn better fundamentals.  Maybe if you started giving technicals quick for any chatter from a team's 8-9 assistant coaches they will either sit in the stands or shut up. 
Just my thoughts.

Yes I agree, like I stated it's hard for kids to understand the difference between a good clean foul, and a cheap intentional foul. The pushing of McClung was not a good foul and it looks awful, the foul on Lester was awful and in my opinion was just an all out cheap shot, no matter if Dean had been pestered all night long, that's not how you react, and this was early in the game. 
I've also seen a video of a kid from Central during the regular season game be shoved into the mat under the goal, and no foul was called and nothing said......
 

I saw the video of Dean today and his cheap shot. Should have been ejected from the game in my opinion. 

Yes I agree, like I stated it's hard for kids to understand the difference between a good clean foul, and a cheap intentional foul. The pushing of McClung was not a good foul and it looks awful, the foul on Lester was awful and in my opinion was just an all out cheap shot, no matter if Dean had been pestered all night long, that's not how you react, and this was early in the game. 
I've also seen a video of a kid from Central during the regular season game be shoved into the mat under the goal, and no foul was called and nothing said......
 

The video you are referring to of Mac getting fouled. The first push didn’t look that bad but the second push was uncalled for by the player. 

I find it very hard to believe that any coach has instructed a player or players to take a kid out or try and hurt him. From an inside source McCamis has never told his players to take a kid out or hurt anyone, but has told them if they are going to commit a foul on a layup, make a good foul and not let them convert in a 3 point play, which to me is common sense in basketball. Although some kids do not understand the difference in a good clean foul and an intentional foul! 
Great City said it best, the referees need to take control of the game from the start. It never seems to happen in a high intense ball game. Central is 0-18, but from the past games it is always a big game, with emotions running high. 
I think if the Referees that ref this game would grow a set of #$@!!, and not put up with the coaches jawing back and forth and give them a technical and sit them both down, it could calm it down some. Referees now let the assistants come on the court and talk to them, and question calls and the truth is the Referees do not even have to answer to the assistants, and should tell them to sit down and if they have a question the head coach should come talk to the Referees. Just my opinion......

So multiple people are saying that is what happened, but nobody knows for sure? And isn’t every teams plan to be more physical than their opponents? You say not a chance Scotty “assuming he is the coach” didn’t ask the player to do something? Is where I get confused, and where I see one it being one sided. It’s like “the pot calling the kettle black”. If gate city says he would never do that and the other coach would. Where is the evidence that backs up both claims? All I see is people getting on here like parents,children,coaches,news media etc....stating opinions not facts on any of the topics that are on this site. You said it correctly when you said that players lose their cool. happens on both sides but seems more from parents, coaches, players, students that like to start rumors,which is the case that I’m trying wrap my head around with the locker room, halftime aledged statement. Not one person has came forward and said I heard/not heard the gate city coach say get him off you, whatever it takes. And not one person has came forward and said/not said I heard central coach say undercut him or something in that nature. I would say let the 2 teams play without the fans and there would be a really good game, and the winning team would say both teams played hard and congrats to them. But I have talked to different people over the years from abingdon, John battle, east side, graham, and so on. They don’t like going to gate city to play and They said it’s not that they are playing them because, who didnt want to see the Mac and Irvin show. It’s the disrespect that was shown to them not from the team but fans and a couple of the coaches, but that is their opinion and they have that right. But when someone says they heard something from this person and this person heard from another source, next thing you know by the time you heard it the story has changed 184858583726263300 times and it boils down to they don’t really know. Not on either side of their conflict just outside looking in. Thoughts?

You can't convince me that the referee standing there with a plain view of it didn't see it happen and just swallowed his whistle. Could of cost a kid to be seriously injured....

That’s a fine and a suspension in any league but the Mountain 7. 
 

I am nominating this post for post of the year!  VHSL has basically decided to hand out participation trophies by letting these teams make the playoffs, just so they can make a few extra dollars! I am not knocking any teams, but no way should a team under .500 be in the playoffs competing for a Region D championship or a chance at a State championship.

I am nominating this post for post of the year!  VHSL has basically decided to hand out participation trophies by letting these teams make the playoffs, just so they can make a few extra dollars! I am not knocking any teams, but no way should a team under .500 be in the playoffs competing for a Region D championship or a chance at a State championship.

Graham’s girls had 1 regular season win, but won 2 tournament games (opening round and 3rd place game), and are now in regional playoffs.  I’m happy for them to have finished their season so strong, and they play very hard, but it’s hard to justify a regional format that allows a team to win 2 random games and advance.

I agree...Giles is a pathetic 3-18 and have no business in playoffs...total joke of a system but it's all about money like every other playoff system the dumbass VHSL has

Opinions may differ but I like the old system when the regular season winner and tournament winner advanced. I'm not downing any teams in particular but some have no business being in regionals. 

The kids on the Central basketball team all are pretty good kids, I know most of them pretty good and have been watching them play since they were in elementary school, so don't let the actions of a COACH ruin it for the kids!

The kids on the Central basketball team all are pretty good kids, I know most of them pretty good and have been watching them play since they were in elementary school, so don't let the actions of a COACH ruin it for the kids!