Elder statesman

I remember watching him play basketball in high school. He was a good player, athletic, and tough to guard with his left-hand game. The impression I got from him even back then was arrogance and attitude. Doubt he's changed much given his baseball success after high school. With that being said, I am somewhat torn on this situation. I feel like I was a tough parent with my kids concerning how they acted and represented themselves regardless of the situation. My philosophy was always "win well, lose well". I believe in respecting your teammates and your opponents. I was not at this game but by reading all the comments it is my understanding that his youngest son was throwing a tantrum after getting out by throwing his helmet and cursing towards the opposing team. When it is just one of your players, you reprimand them, set a severe punishment, and address the team that attitude/reaction such as that will not be tolerated. When it is also your son, the parent side of you tends to react a little harsher. From the video, I see him grab the jersey, confront his kid harshly, and shove him by the shoulder toward the handshake line. I do not see any strike to the face and some mentioned. Anyone who says that you shouldn't hold your child to a higher standard than the rest of the team has probably not been a parent/coach at the same time. It's a very tough thing to do. It's human nature to react different to things your children do as oppose to things other children do. I do believe that it should be handled outside of the public/camera eye and away from the teammates simply because of the embarrassment factor. I also believe that this situation cannot be fully judged by watching a video online. One would need to have been present to witness everything leading up to that situation to truly get a feel for what happened.

I am pretty sure the old rules (pre-LCA and John Marshall throwing all rules out the window) allow transfers to be eligible with a physical residence change without limit. Extenuating circumstances such as those with Hammons at Eastside to transfer to JI Burton require a special approval.

If anyone has access to all the local all district and/or all region teams for girls and boys please post them. Haven’t had any luck finding full teams yet.

I forgot to list the 1A boys but I agree with sixcat. Honaker and Chilhowie should be no problem for GW and Auburn. GW was impressive in the Arbys to kick off the season and the 4 OT game with Auburn tells me they are both locked in and ready for a rematch.

On the girls side of things, I see potential for many local teams to move on to the semifinals. In 1A, Eastside is on a roll right now and I think they will handle Fort Chiswell by 10+ and Honaker should be able to snap back from the loss to Eastside to get past a scrappy George Wythe team. As for 2A, Central should have no problem with Liberty Bedford. Ridgeview may have their hands full with Floyd County. Floyd has played well all season but I think this game will come down to how well they handle the defensive pressure that Ridgeview brings every game. In the 3A bracket, Abingdon pulled off back-to-back upsets over Lord Botetourt and Carroll County in order to host Turner Ashby. If they continue with that type of play, they should be able to advance to the semifinals where they will likely have a rematch with Carroll County who should handle LCA. Once again, girls basketball in SWVA, especially region D, is loaded.

I have watched VA High multiple times this season and they are inconsistent to say the least. When they can get out and run for transition baskets, they are tough to beat. When a team can prevent that like Graham and I am guessing Martinsville, they are forced to become halfcourt players and shooters which is not their strength. Losing Carpenter mid season took away one of their best shooters and that's where the current inconsistency comes in to play. I am thinking this may be the end of the road for them.

This should be a very good lineup for any basketball fan. Eastside/Honaker girls should be a great game. Eastside has played well, possibly better after losing Hammons, and should match up well with Honaker. Carter and Clay are a tough duo. I think this one comes down to Clay/Nolley. Whichever of these ladies has the better game should push their team to the win. Honaker boys have had some really good victories this season and appear to be playing well at the right time. Chilhowie may have surprised some people but they are a solid program and should be able to make this a close game. Wise and Ridgeview may be a dogfight. Ridgeview is deeper but they haven't been able to slow down McCamis/Looney this season. Everyone is expecting a Wise victory but Ridgeview has nothing to lose. If they come out on fire, it could come down to the Wise defense to win this one.

You are right that programs must have parents involved to build success. But, in my experience, the successful programs (boys and girls) are built because the varsity level coaches orchestrate the youth leagues and provide them with gym space and resources. The parents must be involved because there is a need for team coaches. Being that it’s an unpaid position, non parents aren’t knocking down the doors to coach. The most successful programs also have varsity coaches who provide guidance to these youth coaches as they get older so they can instill knowledge of how the varsity teams offense and defense works. If you take a look at the most successful programs in the area, you can give thanks to those varsity coaches for putting in that time to make it happen. Current names like Robin Dotson at Wise, Scotty Vermillion at Gate City, Misty Miller at Honaker as well as older names like Stan Wilson at Burton, Lee Clark at Twin Springs, and Rick Goodman at Council in the 80’s-2000’s. All of these coaches made multiple trips to state and they would all give credit to their youth programs. And they all had parents at some point coaching youth teams but under the guidance of their respective varsity coaches. The “daddy ball” that gets negative feedback usually comes from the parents who go against their programs youth leagues because they don’t agree with how they are run. I have witnessed it more in baseball/softball with parents who want to make sure their kid is pitching or playing shortstop and batting cleanup. In those sports it’s common place to see a family team jump every year or just start their own team so they can get the situation they want.

I know quite well what goes on in swva. FYI, the GC trio did play together some in summer ball. There was a GC team that played some locally during those years and McClung and Ervin (and possibly Dean) played travel ball with the Heat early on. All three of these boys worked out with McClungs dad every offseason on strength, fundamentals, and shooting. They are the epitome of what work outside of just playing games does for you. Bunch, Cusano, Honeycutt, Jordan and Anderson played together until Cusanos dad put together his team to get exposure for his son and then the Cusanos left Union for more exposure at Hilton Head Prep. Ramsey and Osborne had good individual careers but their team wasn’t a dominant team by any means. Abingdon went to state finals when Ramsey was a sophomore but graduated a great group of seniors that year. Osborne was still on JV. This year to me is a very down year for the area. There are 6-8 teams that are very competitive with each other but nobody stands out other than George Wythe for possible state championship. They were very impressive at the Arby’s. as for us old heads, my point wasn’t entirely about playing for the team chemistry aspect. I just think the fundamentals of the game are getting lost. One of the biggest problems is the rule changes and what officials will not call. This isn’t the NBA, everybody these days have to carry the ball to control their dribble, they travel on a lot of their moves, and the defense just goes for steals rather than play straight up defense and deny passing lanes. I see very few players significantly improve their individual game after 10th grade.

I agree that a travel team with studs from all over will beat a typical high school team. That’s called an all star team. At some point those travel kids go back to their school team and then they become mediocre as a team again because the “team” did not work together in the offseason. Gate City had 3 studs who played travel “together” and that’s why they were so good. The best teams in the area are developed because their kids play together in the offseason. They don’t have the majority of the team sit home while 1 or 2 go play on their own team for highlights and exposure. That doesn’t build chemistry or team unity and that shows during season. Plenty of kids when I played could dribble with the off hand. They could also play defense without constant hacking at the ball trying to get steals and fast breaks. The only thing I see better now is overall athleticism. Euros and step backs mean nothing to me in comparison because the rules or the interpretations changed. That was traveling in the past. Can’t compare eras because of that. While we see more threes shot, we see 3-4x more missed layups and easy buckets. Rebound stats go up because they get their own misses. Overall, I would guess shooting percentages are way lower across swva. Turnovers are also much higher in todays game because of the reckless style.

I think the term “daddy ball” has been glamorized because of the explosion of travel ball. In the past, AAU ball was an awesome tool to take advanced players and compete against the best. Now, travel ball is a watered down version of that. All you need is 7-8 kids, a little money for entry fees, and somebody to coach. That coach is usually a “daddy” who builds the team so his kid can play. These parents think playing games is better than practice and that’s just not true. You learn ball handling fundamentals in practice, you learn shooting form in practice, you learn post moves in practice, you learn how to make the right passes in practice, etc. Kids who just play games only learn how to play up tempo street ball. That’s why you don’t see a true point guard or true post player anymore. Just a lot of shooters and slashers.

As long as they let campaigns waste millions in donor money why would anyone stop. Look at the number of people who benefit from a campaign with no chance.

I didn’t see the play but if you scrap for the ball on the floor or dive for a loose ball, you can slide as far as you want without traveling because you didn’t have possession until you were on the floor. Once you roll over, then it becomes a travel. If you are standing when you establish possession and then go to the floor, that is an obvious travel. Been that way for as long as I remember and I played in the 80s/90s.

How are the tournaments being handled this year? My assumption is first game at higher seed locations and then host location will be #1 seed for each respective district. Also, who are the current #1 seeds for each district? I think Honaker has both boys and girls locked up, Gate City boys, Central girls, Eastside girls. Not sure after these

Va high without Carpenter brings a couple more teams into contention.

Marion with big upset against graham last night. I bet nobody had that on their bracket.

Saw this game last night. It was a tight battle all game long. Abingdon went ahead early in the 4th quarter but just can't get over the hurdle to beat Robin Dotson. To beat Wise, you have to get the lead and hold it at the end. If you let them go ahead, they are practically unbeatable. McCamis is going to get the ball every time down the stretch and she hit all her free throws. The team matchups are pretty even. Both teams have 3 starters very comparable to each other. After that, I think If Abingdon could get 1-2 more players to step up and be a factor then they could break the cycle. Central definitely has the coaching edge. Dotson is the best coach in SWVA and he knows how to work the officials to get the officiating edge when needed. That's 3-0 against Abingdon for Central this season. It's a good bet that they see each other again in a few weeks.

I would say the biggest threats to these two teams in 2A will be Union and Va High. In a 10 game series, GC and Graham are probably winning more than losing but on any given night, Union/VA High could pull the upset.

I am not sure that we have a problem with lack of officials. I played many years ago when girls played in the fall and boys in winter. We always played with 2 officials in the game. I am not sure what prompted the move to 3 officials but IMO it has not helped anything. Each crew still only works 2 games because you have a JV crew and Varsity crew. The shortage of officials is exacerbated by using up to 6 officials per quad on peak game days. This causes some JV quality officials to be grouped up with Varsity crews and hurts the overall quality. I would attest that the lack of proper training along with any kind of accountability are a big issue. We now have many methods of viewing these games remotely so why not randomly review these guys to see how they work and use that to teach. And please stop putting 70 and 80 year old men doing fast paced games.

you may be right with Abindgon. From what I have seen, the team is at most 6 or 7 deep but the coach subs too many at a time especially before they can get a comfortable lead. That and he's always been owned by Robin Dotson. I watched Lee at the Wise tournament and watched them play Abingdon on NFHS. Their girls were relentless and had no fear. They shot numerous perimeter shots with a defender reasonably close and knocked them down. If those shots are falling, they will cruise past Battle and possibly pull an upset with Gate City or Union along the way. I think the top 3 teams just have too much for Lee to overcome.

my mistake, that slipped my mind

On the boys side, Union and Ridgeview have started off better than I would have anticipated. Gate City is pretty much what I expected. Abingdon is still unpredictable, just don't know what you will get. Central and Battle are looking to be mid pack teams. Lee is scrappy but not enough talent to contend. Outside the M7, Va High is up and down depending on shots falling. They will run you to death but they must hit three's to win. Marion seems to be doing pretty good so far. Haven't seen much from Tazewell and Graham to compare. Patrick Henry, Honaker, and Lebanon look to be starting in the right direction for 1A. As predicted, the M7 girls will be a 3 team race with Wise holding the edge until beaten and Ridgeview/Abingdon aiming for the bullseye. Gate City will depend on big numbers from Carico to succeed. Union may be better than I thought and may give Gate City a go. With Lee and Battle, I give the edge to Lee. After a weak start in the Wise tournament, they shot well against Abingdon and made the game closer than most expected. Hammonds at Lee and Kelley at Battle are very similar players but the difference will be depth and I think Lee has more in that regard. Outside the M7 I only see VA High then Marion as the top teams but they won't beat out Wise and Ridgeview in the post season. 1A is gonna be a dogfight between Honaker and Eastside. I think Honaker has the edge this season. They played a tight game against Carroll County already and Eastside is still looking to get back to last season's form.

It's the first time I saw Mcamis look like she didn't know what to do with the ball. I would guess he was trying to keep Looney from killing us on the boards without Seymore in the game. Proved to be the wrong decision.

The sad thing is you had the previous 2 head of officials in the championship game in Poole and Christian. The third guy should be a JV ref. You are correct jwgarrett, Dotson told Christian almost every call to make in the second half. Gotta take care of the tournament host I guess. It was good strategy. Everyone knew McCamis and Trivette would be the top for each team. It came down to second tier players and Abingdon had their senior post player and point guard both in foul trouble along with a third starter. That opened it up for Looney to be the deciding factor. I was actually surprised with officiating in the previous day's games with Ben Campbell and Junior Salyers. They were actually better than expected.

It may have been the announcers making excuses too, lol.