JGray

The difference in the game will be the depth of North Meck. Vaud, Jae, and Tristan are not the only players that North has. GC has guards that can play too. The issue will be on the block and not letting Tristan get going. Vaud doesn't want to score but Tristan and Jae will score in bunches. They will run about 9-10 deep with not much of a let off.

Please elaborate on this statement.

Lol.. Sory for adding the g. I was referring to Stacy Ervin.

Is McClung the best player in SWVA since Erving or Talford?

Good day to everybody. Sunday April 30th @ 2:00 at Tazewell Middle School, we will be hosting a charity basketball game to raise money for various charities. Of those charities will be my newly founded non profit, The T.E.A.M. Gray Foundation. The game is called the "Warhawk Classic" to pay homage to our family members that attended Tazewell County High School. Team Cross Tha Trax will consist of former G-Men and G-Girls and we will be playing against Team Shake Rag which will consists of former Tazewell Bulldogs. Tony Palmer and Billy Banks will lead our team as the coaches. Our roster will consist of the following G-Men and G-Girls. Taymon Cooke, Ty Gray, Paris Ballard, Ajai Oakes, Reed Oakes, Omi Oakes, Tammy Oakes, Robert Henry, Mike Henry, Maegan Henry, Ryan French, Jay Gray, Ahmad Bradshaw, Ht Matthews, Dwight Braxton, Fred Adams, and TJ Carper. Please come out and have fun and help support a good cause.

OK. Our games can end in the first half if the score difference becomes 9. That would relieve anyone from getting bigger leads and having to prolong the game well into the second half.

Is there no mercy rule? Here in Charlotte the game stops when another team is up by 9 goals.

From what I see via the net, McClung is legit. He currently holds 9 DI mid major offers. That should change with another solid summer on the AAU circuit. Ervin also has 2 offers as of now. Any kid that has these types of offers can play. D1's aren't knocking if you can't play.

From my understanding, he has transferred.

Yes. The "IF POSSIBLE" refers to coaching as well as players. Look at Graham '01. They had the athletes to run their spread very effectively and they did so. They ran it and threw is very well out of that formation. HT Matthews threw for 2000 yards and rushed for 1000 yards at QB and was 1st team All Sate with that group. (Belcher, Oakes, French, Bradhsaw, Jones, etc..) They also ran the bone effectively. After that year, "WE" started going back to the bone and a 2 back set at times with Rob and AB more than the spread because of the make up of the team. Our '93 team had enough speed to run a spread offense with myself, Mike Gregory, Jacob Dews, Brandon Banks and Shannon Hoops at wide out but we rarely ran anything other than the bone. The 4 of us, if I'm not mistaken still hold the 4 x 100 meter school record by the way. I say this because I still think that we were collectively faster than many groups before and after us but we rarely used it to our advantage in the passing game. Our coaches at that time hadn't learned the concept of the spread so we didn't run it and Graham football was still very successful during those "WISHBONE' years. Schemes should be adjusted each year based on the personnel that you have on the field. This can only happen though if the coaches are knowledgeable of different approaches. I think that coaches should attend as many coaching clinics as they can afford to learn more from other coaches.

Times have changed and the evolution of the spread offense has taken over if you have the athletes to do it. I know that I'm aging myself but from the time we played with the Chargers, all the way through high school we had a 3 back set and ran the ball to no end. In middle school we ran the wishbone just as the high school did and when we transitioned into high school everything was easier for all of us. The kids at Graham right now, ran a spread offense in pee wee and midget football with the Chargers, so I agree that the system needs to correlate somehow all the way through. "IF POSSIBLE"

That is my identity. lol.. and I appreciate the compliment.

Your area little league coaches should be knowledgeable about the game and they should be able to set the ground work to teach them the needed fundamentals of the game. Hopefully this continues until they leave them and join the middle school programs. If the middle school coaches are worth anything, they continue to build on what should have been taught in little league. As a middle school coach if you're not preparing your kids for high school then you are failing them. They should be preparing them mentally as well because lots of kids stop playing as they transition from MS to HS due to not being able to handle the discipline part as a 9th grader.

How did my G-Men perform this afternoon? I heard they were flying around and getting to the ball on defense. Any truth to that.

Here in Charlotte, it costs middle school kids $50 to play each sport and high school kids $100 unless they qualify for free or reduced lunch. They don't charge anything to attend middle school games down here either. I think that even charging $1 can help with certain costs. Some of these games be packed.

Those were our gray pants with the cardinal and gold stripes.

If we can get guys to the ball on defense we'll be pretty damn good.

Phenom Hoop Report is supposedly the top source for basketball exposure in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. It's run by Rick Lewis. A lot of the names you'll see from the Virginia list will be from private schools or prep schools throughout the state. They get the rankings from watching kids play at their camps as well as AAU tournaments and who they see play during the school year. They spend more time during the actual season watching holiday tournaments so that they may be able to critique more players at one time.

I'll add 3 more to Graham's list. The '91 and '92 losses to Bluefield 6-4 and 20-14 in OT. Also the 7-6 loss at Salem in '93. That '91 loss at Radford was difficult because of the 5 interceptions that were thrown. Chris Hairston absolutely killed us on those slant routes.

I'm looking into having an annual hoop tournament for ages 13-18 beginning in July in Bluefield and I was wondering if you guys could help with getting contacts for all of the local high school coaches. I want to invite high school JV and varsity teams as well as AAU teams. This could be good for the kids and all involved if I can work this out and make it happen. Thanks in advance for your help.

Congrats to North Meck and my former players for winning the championship game of the Arby's Classic!! Good job fellas. Proud of you all.

I applied for the Boy's Basketball position but they filled it real quick.

Never happen for me!!!

I figured some of you Bluefield guys wold appreciate this. Maybe they can start a series instead of playing the private schools down here. • At North Mecklenburg, Brad Baker replaces retiring Mike Bradley. It’s the first head coaching job for Baker, who has been an assistant coach for 12 seasons. He wants to build a huge family atmosphere. Baker once played fullback at Division II Concord (W.Va.). “I want to know what’s going on in (the players’) lives,†he said. “I want to know that their grandma is sick or that they’re doing well in algebra. Obviously, wins are important. They have a scoreboard in the stadium for a reason – but telling these kids that you truly care about them is just as important.†Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/29/3415566/5-new-mecklenburg-coaches-build.html#storylink=cpy

Times have really changed. There is no way that tranferring to Bluefield, Tazewell, or Richlands would have been an option in my household. We played to represent our town, school, neighborhood, and our parents name. The rule was an unspoken one. If you don't want to work you don't play. This whole sense of entitlement from people these days makes me sick. We had to EARN the right to wear the uniform and the G-Star on the helmets. If they don't want to be there let them leave!!! Not all players like or love their coaches but they should respect them.