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Did I hear correctly that the Nederland freshman team had their first loss last night against PA Memorial?  Just curious because it surprises me.  Is PA Memorial's freshman group really good?  Nederland have an off night?  Or what?

Solid is a good word for the Nederland freshman crew.  Fundamentally sound, well-coached, play as a team, good players who have obviously worked hard to get better.  They don't do anything flashy, but they do everything well. 

Nice job so far with this group.  Hats off to the players and coaches.  And especially to Coach English for getting it all going.

The program has my respect...

So is it an all Nederland final in the JV bracket?  If so, that will be very interesting. 

PNG freshman group looked pretty good.

Also, when I left the Nederland "Sophmore team" (really their best freshmen) was drumming the West Brook JV something like 18-7.

HJ freshman beat WestBrook freshman "B" team by 31 (game was only 3 qtrs because WB showed up late).

WB JV beat HJ JV by about 15 I think; don't remember final score.

Don't want to call out any kids specifically, but the list of freshman is comical, and at least one of them isn't a freshman.

There are a couple that don't belong at all, and there's a WB freshman that would be in the top 3 of this area easily, and he's not even listed.

It is interesting though.

Wow. The kid is a nice player, but there are very few area teams 3A and above where he would start.  In fact, other than Lumberton, I can't think of any 4A where he would make the varsity.

And again, he can play and has potential, but tap the brakes a little.

I keep hearing that WB will be better than in recent years.  Couple of insiders told me that they expect to be pretty good.  It has been a while since WB did anything worth mentioning.  Would be much more interesting for area basketball if they would be good enough to make some noise.

There is some young talent coming up at WB, but you never know if it will all get funnelled to football, or will continue to play basketball.

This is going way back, but one of my best friends in high school ('85 Houston area) had enough letters from college footbal coaches to wallpaper his room, literally.  You name a big school at the time, and he had a letter or letters from them.  He was a decent starting running back on a big 5A team, and was an all greater Houston linebacker. 

Problem was he was a classic tweener.  Absolutely great HS player, but a little too small to be a linebacker at a big program and a little too slow to be a safety.  No offers from big D1's.  Plenty of offers from Southland-type programs and the like.  Kid was a Morman, so he went to Brigham Young and did not even try to walk on.  Just moved on with his life.

And his story is very common. 

Dobbins is that guy that most really good teams have.  You know the guy who doesn't look all that great, so you underestimate him, but he can really play.  Always seems to be in the right spot, come up with loose balls, etc.  Think:  Kurt Rambis, Chucky Brown, Shane Battier, etc.

He's a glue guy

Weisbrod is one of the better players in the area, but I'm not sold on him having much of a college future.  He may be a classic tweener.  Very good HS player, but where to you play him in college?

Also, there is another kid at Kountze coming from Beaumont who will be a freshman.  Name is Jaydon Cunigan, and I think he is coach Harper's stepson.  Very good athlete and a great kid.  From what I heard he will be varsity football as a freshman, and probably JV basketball. 

Kendrick King of H-F

OK, thanks.  We should have time to get by there some time this weekend.  What are your hours Fri/Sat/Sun?

My son is 14 and just made the freshman golf team for next year at HJ.  Has basically outgrown his junior set.  Do you have some choices the right size for a kid this age, about 5'4" or so?

Not sure who Silsbee may have been missing, but I know HJ was missing at least 2 players who will be in the rotation next year. 

Central has some good young talent coming back.  What about Ozen and WestBrook?

Playoff runs in any of these teams?  Isn't it about time for the Brook to do something in hoops? 

Anybody?

Do you think the Little Dribblers National Division champ would beat the American or Continental Division champs in any given year?

Yep, so do I. 

Would it be particularly fun for any of the participants or for anybody to watch?  Not really.

So tell me again who will enjoy this? 

Probably the starting 5 from Yates, and then their first 5 off the bench.

Wait, is Houston southeast Texas?!?

If Jimmy Chitwood gets hot, those Hickory Huskers just might take Yates down!

For what it's worth, athletic does not = dumb, nor does non-athletic = smart. 

Having said that, Vermont played a very "smart" game in that they followed their game plan to near perfection.  Slowed the game down, used clock, set screens well and hit open shots.  Made their free throws; very few turnovers.  Took advantage of nearly every Lamar mistake.

Lamar did not play well or "smart".  They stood around a lot on offense, especially in the first half.  Their offense is supposed to be "motion", which should mean lots of screening, cutting, and movement to get open shots.  They mostly stood around until somebody went one-on-one.  Had quite a few mental lapses on defense where a Vermont player ended up wide open for a layup of short jumper.  Also had some inexplicable stupid fouls with less than 5 on the shot clock to bail out Vermont.

Lamar is capable of playing a very "smart" ball game, but did not do so yesterday.  Vermont played very "smart" and a nearly perfect game.

How would we classify Lamar?  Mid D-1?  Low D-1?  It's a matter of opinion, but they did make the tournament.

Their point guard is 6'1"", 2-guard is 6'1", and believe it or not their best rebounder was 6'2" and played a forward.

Another example, though they were not good this year.  LSU's point guard was 5'11" and a sometimes starter at 2 was 5'9".

A typical Southland conference off guard is about 6'2".  I'm sure that they would love to have bigger kids, but at that level a 6'3" kid playing the 2 or 3 position will fit right in. Doubt you'll find many point guards his size at schools like that.

One correction to an earlier point; it is true that most of the major D-1's already have signed who they want by this time.  Consequently the mid-majors and low D-1's often have to wait and see who is left after the big boys sign their kids.  It is not uncommon at all for a kid to get a full ride scholarship this time of year, it will just probably be from a mid or low D-1 school. 

And on the juco comments earlier, absolutely there is nothing wrong with [b]ANY[/b] college scholarship or opportunity.  However, Prudhomme will have several D-1 choices from what I understand.  Stallworth was a great player, but he was a tweener.  He basically played post in HS at 6'4".  Prudhomme is a little over 6'3" and plays guard.  To borrow one of DV's favorite phrases, it's "apples & oranges".

  [quote name="BLUEDOVE3" post="1194424" timestamp="1331245631"]
Kinda how Yates played down to KP! Fully understand that comment.
[/quote]

Dang Dove, you're on Yates jock so hard they are going to be sore.

Anybody remember Marian Christian in Houston back in the 80's?  Literally had the top recruit in the nation in Tito Horford, as well as many other D-1 players.  All at a private school with around 200 kids.  The school does not exist any more.

I know of no other purpose it had other than to be a basketball factory.  Recruited heavily in the Houston area (and apparently in Africa as well).

It can happen, and it has happened. 

Bates in Beaumont it is!