east texas bb

Not a bad way to start the season by dropping 39!!!  27 pretty dang good too.

Some others may know more, but I believe it is Pool play and that seeds you in the bracket. I like that form of tournament the best, you get more games like that.  I think we will see more and more tournaments in the future going to this format. JMO AAW, sorry, was talking about CH, I just didnt specify.

They struggled with their outside shooting last year.  They had a couple of good shooting guards that shot well their junior years and before, but they could never find their rythym last year.  I watched them early and thought they would finally find their stroke, and although they didnt shoot terrible, IMO they never shot as well as expected. But they were 10-12 deep, and had a JV that was pretty decent as well.  They should be good for a few years.  Very suprising they were not a top 25. 

I was suprised that CH was not in the top 25.  It does look to be a very good tournament.  I have never been to the HJ tournament but I may have to come down to the big thicket and flat country and watch some. 

I thought so.  My dad was friends with Sherriff Hennigen before they passed away.  Anyway, Colmesniel was good in baseball.  I am not sure about basketball but I would think they could be pretty good with a good pg and 7 footer, like some others have said. And they have Lake Tejas too, definetly cant forget about that.

Best: Michael Leblanc from Stake Jesuit was playing in AAU tournament in Lufkin on our team and he was on a fast break on the right side of court, defender was in middle and just a little ahead of him, Michael told him to not try and take a charge as we were running down court, but the defender did anyway and Michael jumped over him and dunked it.  Pretty sweet. Worst:  Kid missed a dunk at State tournament with few seconds remaining on wide open break, would have gave them lead with couple of seconds, if he lays it in they win without a doubt, but it went off back rim and they lost. 

The best shooter by percentages 2 point fg, 3 point fg, and free throws is steve nash.  Four players have shot a combined 180 (90%ft, 50%2fg, 40%3fg) for their career.  Nash (184.9), Steve Kerr (181.2), Reggie Miller (180.7), and Mark Price (180.7). Ray Allen and Bird narrowly missed the list.

Agree eagleswoodville1, they have been known for some good baseball, just like Woodville.  The coach was Sherriff Hennigens son, correct?  Sherriff Hennigen passed away a few years back if Im right, but I heard alot of good things about him. 

Nash, I think you finally got through to Dove, he has a Republican nominee as his avitar.  Just joking with you Dove.

Colmesneil has been good in baseball in the past.  They have a few state titles in baseball I believe. If they have a 6'10" kid in 1A, even if uncoordinated could play a big role.  He will have a 8-10 inch difference than anyone else (considering height and arm length).  He should be able to help on blocked shots, altered shots, rebounds, put back ins, he dosent have to be a post that has moves like Hakeem. But if they do not have the guard play and the ability to get the ball down the court, it will not make much difference.  I dont know what there guard situation looks like. IMO the district finishes like it did last year with WS, Broaddus, Zavalla.  I believe Broaddus wins district this though, WS gets 2nd, and Zavalla 3rd.

5 teams in district right and 3 teams make the playoffs.  Pretty good odds. 

Yes, it was the finals of the Huntington tournament.  I think Ken Loyd was running it then.  He usually had teams from Oklahoma and Arkansas in it. 

I got the VHS of that game. I think I was in the 4th or 5th grade and was at that game.  I couldnt tell if it really should have counted or not, it was close (I watched it over and over and never was definite).  The player banked it in from about half court.  I believe it was the year HJ and Troup won State in 3A and 2A.  Greg Austin was out with an injury for about 2 quarters and then came back like nothing had happened.  He is one player that could have really done some things (he was a soph that year) and he let other things get in the way.  About 6'6" and could play inside and out, he just couldnt get it together.  The funniest thing on the tape is the coaches reactions after the end of game shot.  The officials and coaches talked it over for about 10 mins before they finally stood by their ruling.

Winner, winner,,,chicken dinner!

How close is East Chambers to moving to 3A?  I dont know the enrollment numbers.  Just curious because Winnie always seemed like such as large town to be 2A (I know size of town dosent have anything to do with enrollment), the two just seem like they should correlate.  Maybe wrong. Palestine always confused me.  18,000 in town and they are 3a. I know they have Westwood but still. Or Crockett at 2A, they have 10,000 in their town.  I wonder if there is another 2A town that size in the state.  Just curious thoughts.  Now Im rambling.

That could be an issue(I was not considering that), I have heard from many that recruiting is out of control in bigger cities, especially in the larger schools (4A and 5A), predominatly because that is the size school in large cities.  Will this be the first 3A district in the State located in a large city? IDK I was thinking that as far as AAU, that southeast texas being fairly close to Houston and able to play AAU pretty easily that it would not make much of a difference.  AAU is becoming more rural, stretching out to almost all areas, although the further you get from a Big City the more difficult it is for players to play AAU. Example, where we are at, it is 2 hour drive for us to play a game. This is why I am considering moving closer to a metroplex.  The recruiting factors are something that needs to be addressed.  I dont know for sure, but I would assume that as much as I am hearing about teams in the larger cities (Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, others) recruiting or players all moving to one school to play (this is a big buzz right now and has been for a while)that the UIL will have to step in at some point.  Otherwise you are left with the destruction of high school basketball.  Enrollment becomes obsolete in these cases, even if school A (5A numbers) has 2500 average kids just going to school vs. school B with enrollment 950 that are the majority basketball players, then school B has 5A talent with 3A enrollment numbers, and vice versa.  I dont know, I think changes will come though it will be slow, or there will not be much of a point in rural schools playing or coaches trying for a state championship if they constantly have to compete against 5A competio. Rural 3A or others have maybe 1-2 5A players and the others just contributors to the team, where these 5A schools could be 10 deep with 5A talent and be "considered" a 3AAA school.  It looks like a mess.

I bet it will not be as big change as people think.  Teams from far off and teams with a big name attached (Houston) or tradition in the past, or a coach from way off seem to always make people seem to think they are better.  I used to think the same. An older friend of mine that played professional ball with the Pistons told me many times that you always hear how someone from far off or some team from far off like New York or Los Angeles appear to many people to be much better, but he said when you get right down to it that they are not.  It wasnt until I played in college with 2 kids from New York City did I understand.  They wasnt any different, they put their "pants on one leg at a time".  He also told me that the difference in a college player and a pro player was very narrow.  I know Ganon Baker said the same thing and I have heard from others the same example.  I honestly do not think it will be much different than what it is now.  So many things are in the mind.  Just because a team has Houston in front does not make them better. IMO

That is close Nash, but no look is a 5'11" Kevin McHale look alike.  No look does have a pretty good shot though.

It helps in some ways I agree and hurts in others that they play year round.  Year round basketball started in the late 80's/early 90's and has grown even more, almost to the point where it reaches all places, where it used to be just in the Big Cities.  I think it takes away from skill time, alone time in the gym, 1 on 1 play, and alot of players are focused more on their AAU team then their school team, which is a shame.  It is becoming tougher and tougher to get players to buy into the school system at most places because of AAU.  It is just like most things in life, a fine line seperates what is good and what is bad.  I believe that the focus should be on the High School and AAU second, but that is JMO.

Well said.

The athletes are not so different at the HS level than the 80's athletes.  Subtle changes.  I do believe in the pro ranks that players from the 80's (yesteryear) and now are different.  The athletes of today are less skilled but they are bigger, faster, stronger.  Players of "yesteryear" (not sure when yesteryear's cutoff is) but we can say 80's to mid 90's,.  The priority in todays athletics is physical attributes, then skill work.  Yesteryear the priority was skills.  Not saying that either group could not have some of both attributes.  IMO, to be the best you need both.  But if you have to sacrifice, you sacrifice physical ability for skills. 

Oh, I know. Yall do a lot of joking back and forth.  Some tongue in cheek though?  :)

I was just saying you can schedule different ways and be successful.  I think Coach Sutherland and Coach Davis know how to schedule best for their team.  The proof is in the pudding. 

Each coach will schedule as they think is best for their team.  Different philosophies work at different schools.  When you discuss the culture of HJ basketball, you are discussing a very unique subject.  There are not many places like HJ.  They have community support, tradition, very good coaches, a good youth program, administrative support, and basketball is the sport at HJ.  The community support (culture) helps a program win, and winning gains community support or helps build the culture and from there you start obtaining a tradition.  I do not live in HJ, but I hope to one day build a program or continue one that is highly successful, so I have did quite alot of research about HJ trying to firgure out why they are successful year after year. And I believe it is the reasons mentioned above and I am sure there are tons of other details that I do not know of. I do believe you can be successful scheduling strong, average, or weak.  And I understand the philosophies behind each.  I do think you can schedule strong and be successful even if you lose some in pre-district.  I went to Troup 2AA, which was pretty good in the late 80's-90's, and our pre-district schedule was always brutal.  We were 10-11 going into district one year, but we had lost to (6) 5A's, (4) 4A's, and (1) 3A.  Our 10 wins were against 5A, 4A, and one game against a 1A. We won all 14 district games and won the next 18 losing in the regional final game.  We had a 148 district game winning streak over a 10 year period, and regional appearances, and state titles. Coaches know the heartbeat of their program, and schedule how they believe will be the most successful over the course of the season.  To argue against a team or a coach's scheduling that wins year after year is pissing in the win (pun intended).

I like to employ both defenses, man2man and zone and even a matchup.  A good man will look and act like a zone, and a good zone will look and act like a man.  You have to have pressure on the ball out front, at the same time you must have great helpside defense, and beyond that the great defensive teams are the ones that can rotate the best.  I think most of the time a coach dosent want to see a zone on a day to day basis, as someone pointed out, but at the same time I believe that you cant rely on zone defense alone all the time.  There is nothing wrong with being able to play man, zone, and a matchup as long as your players know how to play each of them correctly and you are not just playing them half##@ correctly.