bobcatfan

I agree with bobcat4life. If you wouldve seen the OF crowd last night, you wouldve never known there was actually another playoff game going on for that school the same night, the crowd was great. I also agree about Jasper living and dying by the 3, they werent red hot like the previous 2 meeting, in which that was the best 2 shooting nights i'd seen from 2 players. I think Jaspers downfall in this game came down to things. First, they made no adjustments to Jeremy Granger, who killed them for the THIRD time in a row. I was shocked the coach for Jasper really didnt make an adjustment on him like play zone or double the post, but he made no changes... Secondly, they are way too reliant on their 2 best players Bailey and Spikes on offense. Thats just too much pressure on 2 guys to score that much. A lot of players had good nights for the bobcats. Zach Hayes had been struggling the last few games, and he really stepped it up last night, especially when Jeremy was on the bench. Derrick Evans came off the bench and provided some clutch shooting, and Sparks came in and gave good minutes. This was a good momentum builder also for tuesdays game against Coldsprings, the bobcats should be coming into the game with some confidence.

I've watched these 3 girls the last 2 years so i figured i'd give my opinion on the issue. First off, who i think will get it. I think KK will get the MVP, based on the fact that she is the best player on the team that won district. Thats traditionally how coaches do the MVP, unless there is a player on a team that made the playoffs that is just way better. In this case, they are all very close so i think KK will win it. I think between the other 2, Ang Green will get offensive MVP, and KB will get defensive MVP. I've been impressed with Ang Green and the way she can score, and i like the way KB plays defense, she is such a tough player who plays hard. From an Orangefield fan, bleedorange, the best compliment i can give KK is that she is the best pure scorer i've seen since i've watched Orangefield girls basketball (which goes back to maybe early 90's). If shes in the open court she can find her way to basket every time and score, she just has a nose for the basket. She also good at hitting shots on the run, which is not easy to do. She has a great touch also, i rarely saw her miss a free throw. By the way bleed, i saw you in KDans a week or 2 ago, meant to say hi to you but just saw you for a second, didnt catch you before you walked out.

13 kids? Thats not very many but you only need 10-12 kids to make an all star team. I cant believe a school of that size can only have 13 kids sign up for little dribblers. Orangefield has 200 less kids at the high school level and had around 25-27 kids sign up for little dribblers at the 13-14 yr old level. Hardin Jefferson and East Chambers have proved that a good little dribblers programs can be great building blocks for success at the jr high and high school level. As long as i've kept up with Bridge City, they've always been a baseball-football school. As long as they have small turnouts like this for little dribblers, it will be hard to get a program going for their school. I'm sure this has to be frustrating if you are the basketball coach there....

It looks like Orangefield and Gulf Coast got the bid to host tournaments this year. In one region is Orangefield, Bridge City, Buna, Twin County, and Kountze. The other region is Gulf Coast, Hamshire Fannett, Cleveland, and Van Vleck. It says on the website Bridge City isnt carrying a 13-14 yr old team this year, i find that kind of weird. [Hidden Content] I think Orangefield may be hosting a pretournament also, so check with them if you want to play in a tournament.

I was gonna post a prediction like this before the game but decided not to. Yes i've seen Lovelady play they are very good. They lost by 2 to Martins Mill in the regional finals last year and Martins Mill has won state. Lovelady played Orangefield very close last year if that gives you any indication how good they are.

2 of those 7 losses were to OF jv and OF 7th grade, 2 groups that along with the 8th and 9th grades had very good years. OF has some good groups coming up also that hopes to compete with HJ in the coming years.

While i agree mostly the players and coaches do effect the outcome of the game, you cant deny that referees can have a great outcome on the game also. If the refs wouldve called the game tighter last night and called more fouls, it wouldve had a great effect on the game. OF wouldve had more free throw attempts, thus giving them more chances to score. And also, the more fouls wouldve possibly put some players in foul trouble, causing the coach to substitute players out of the game that he would normally not take out of the game. And maybe if OF gets in the bonus early in both halves, HJ isnt quite as aggressive on defense or even wouldve changed up the defensive scheme. I agree that every fan is at least a little biased, i know even i have some bias. But i am not a fan who comes home from every game saying the referees screwed us, unlike a lot of fans will do. Honestly, i can say that i cant remember hardly any games where i thought OF got screwed by the officials. I think for the most part they have gotten a fair shake, except for last night. When you are playing in your home gym, you are supposed to get calls, or at least the benefit of the doubt on calls. Maybe its an unwritten rule or just expected, but i've always thought that was the way it is. That is part of the point of having home court advantage i think. Last night we were not given the benefit of many calls at all. If you couldnt see where we were playing at you would seriously think it was another road game, because last night was definitely not a home game...

I agree with some of the comments about Ofield not being more aggressive on offense and taking the ball to the basket more. And i'm willing to concede the fact that that had a little to do with why OF didnt get that many calls at all last night. But the no calls i'm referring to were about when they were breaking the press and in half court offense being pressured. Several times an OF player dribbled down the sideline to break the press he had an HJ player with an arm or elbow in his side. Several passes were altered because of their hands and arms being hit or slapped by an HJ player which was never called. Zach Hayes dribbles through a lot of presses and pushes the ball a lot and he didnt get any calls last night when he did that against the press. With the aggressive nature of HJ playing OF at OF, the fouls shouldve easily been favoring OF, but HJ had the foul advantage the whole game. bobcat4life made a valid point i believe is true, which is Sutherland has an effect on the refs. They are afraid to call against him. I've been to a lot of OF boys games and that was hands down the worst officiated home game against them this year, not even close.

I'm glad someone else said it before me, because Orangefield got robbed by the officials tonight. OF played sagging man and 2-3 zone the whole game. HJ pressed the entire game and pressured the ball at half court and still, before OF had to foul at the end, HJ had the foul advantage. You can go back and read my posts, i do not get on here and complain about officiating much at all. I think i'm pretty objective when it comes to officiating. This was another home game for HJ for officiating. Ozen is right, the white official killed us tonight, he rarely gave us a call. He let them put their hands on OF all the way down the court, lots of handchecking going on not called. He made one of the worst no calls i've ever seen in a game. An HJ player was standing 2-3 feet out of bounds and the ball bounced to him, he jumped up and "saved" it and passed to an HJ player and the official let the play go on. This was a game OF badly needed and they are already playing a really tough opponent, you hate to see them have to battle the officials. Dont get me wrong, OF had their chance at the end, and didnt score. But they may not have been in that spot if they wouldve called the game right. I know i'll get ripped by several HJ fans by this post, but if there's a rational HJ fan out there, he will agree with me at least a little bit....

I see a lot of threads on here for games coming up and all of that is nice but whats really important is the tournament after the season, the playoffs... If you look through districts 17-24 which makes up region 3, who are all the contenders for our region? Obviously our district will be represented well but after that who else. With the info i gathered here is who i think will be the top contenders in region 3: Orangefield HJ Silsbee Fairfield- ranked 10th in tabc with one district loss Navasota- ranked 5th in tabc, got upset early in playoffs last year which makes me think they could be overrated again.. Diboll- has Nikki Green still, so they will be very tough and i consider them one of the favorites Huntington- I've seen them play, they have a good point guard, good posts, a solid ballclub, but anyone in 21-3A is capable of beating them. anyone else?? bleedorange, you said in an earlier post that the 2 seed will have an easier road...Here i imagine is your reasoning on that. The winner of 21 will have Navasota, 3rd place of 21-3A, Fairfield and likely Huntington on their side of the bracket. You are looking at 2nd round possibly Navasota/3rd place 21-3A, the regional semis would be maybe Fairfield/Huntington, then the regional finals against Diboll/ 2nd place 21-3A or a darkhorse. What do yall think? Is there anyone else out there we should be worried about? I know this..region 3 should be wide open this year!

I posted this on eastexsports.com and no one has really specifically mentioned this on here so i'll say it again. Big Sandy got screwed on travel in their new district. All of their district games are between 65 to 95 miles away! 4 of the 6 teams in their old district were within 50 miles from them. District 22-1A has 7 teams and there are 2-3 teams in that district that are much closer distance to the district 23 teams than Big Sandy is. So what i'm saying is they shouldve pulled a team from district 22 (Cushing, New Summerfield) and put them in that district instead of making Big Sandy drive over an hour to every district game.. Doesnt that make more sense to yall?

I've watched a lot of 21-3A this year and a lot of people on the board have also. So i'd like to hear who yall think are some of the top 10 players in 21-3A. I dont know all the names so i might need a little help, and theres probably someone i'm probably leaving off, but heres what i could come up with in no particular order... HJ- Burrell HJ- Bernard Silsbee- Robinson Silsbee- Howard Jasper- Bailey Jasper- Spikes OF- Hayes OF- Granger Kville- Rhodes WOS- Dennis Maybe you disagree with someone i put on here or think i left someone off, lets hear your top 10 list...

Wow, nobody on this thread gives Orangefield a chance, everyone picked Jasper...But hey, i understand, Jasper beat OF at OF and now OF has to win at Jasper to force a tie which will be tough. Lets not forget though that OF has 2 home games against HJ and Silsbee (and Jasper plays Silsbee too). If OF can pull an upset, (which they have a great shot against Silsbee) then they could be playing for outright 3rd place next week. I was one of the only posters who talked about the first Jasper-OF game after it happened. I wanted to bring up some valid points and observations made about that game. First off, OF had 2 players out sick, one of them plays good minutes and helps out a lot. Jeremy Granger had strep throat and played through it and looked gassed during the game. I said it then and i still say it, Jasper had the best shooting night that night i'd seen all season from any team in a game. Everything they shot went in. I talked to a coach that had watched film on a couple of games of them and he said the same thing, that he had never seen them shoot the ball like that before. Despite all those things going against them, OF was only down like 4 pts in the last couple minutes of the game and made it close. Jasper likes to get up and down the court and they scored a lot on fast break opportunities in that game. Jasper has good team quickness and Bailey and Spikes are tough matchups for Orangefield to guard. On Orangefield's side, Jasper isnt that big so they really didnt have someone that could matchup with Jeremy Granger in the post. I look for OF to try to exploit that matchup again next week. If Jasper can push the ball up the court and score on fast breaks, they will be tough to beat. If OF can slow the game down and play their game, its a very winnable game for them. All i do know is that this will be a great game with a playoff atmosphere. Aggiesarewe should be at that game next week to broadcast it, i'm already putting in an early bid.

I dont disagree with OLGabe about the pick, because i think it will be a very close game. If i could rank the most important games OF plays, i would say the Silsbee @ OF game and the OF @ Jasper game are bigger than this one (if OF beats WOS). So i'd pick either EC-Hardin or OF-WOS, but i really think you should do the Silsbee-OF and Jasper-OF games later definitely. My point is, if you decide to do the OF-WOS game, dont let that factor in whether or not you do future OF games that are possibly more important.

This is a very good topic, and one i'd like to see you post on eastexsports.com. To answer some of your questions, yes, i do think some of those districts you mentioned would compete in 21-3A. Although let it be noted that not all the districts you mentioned in east texas are in region 3. Only districts 17-24 are in region 3, so districts 13 and 15 woudnt be a factor in the region 3 discussion. But i will include them in the east texas discussion. Being a moderator on eastexsports.com has allowed me to keep up with a lot of region 3 basketball. I would say 21-3A is one of the best districts in the region but probably not the best. If i had to pick one, i'd say top to bottom 20-3A is probably the toughest. Out of 20-3A, Diboll beat Silsbee and Hudson beat HJ, and Diboll and Hudson mostly likely wont make the playoffs. 19-3A is really good too, with Madisonville, Mexia, Westwood, Palestine, and Fairfield all solid teams. I dont think 22-3A is as good as 21-3A, but from the scores i've seen, Cleveland and Coldsprings appears to be pretty good teams. Chapel Hill is in another region, but i know they lost a player for the season, and it might have hurt their team. Ferris in district 13 is the leader in that district, but i dont know how good they really are. Pittsburg is gonna win district 16, they supposedly are really good, easily one of the best teams in east texas. Heres the teams i'd say are the best in region 3 (thats not knowing anything about districts 17, 18, 23, 24 and including them though) and east texas: region 3 Hardin Jefferson Madisonville Crockett Center Central Carthage Mexia Westwood Silsbee Cleveland east texas (outside region 3) Pittsburg Chapel Hill Van Ferris there are probably others i just dont know outside region 3 as well in east texas

It was Woden on jan 5. The score was Woden 57 Woodville 45. Thats a tough district with Newton, Corrigan, Woden and Shelbyville. Eastexsports.com covers all the teams in this district. You should bring up this topic on the eastexsports.com bball forum and you might get some answers.

I agree with a few of those things a disagree with others. I agree HJ is pretty close to a lock for 1st, although with the injury i think they'll be playing closer games in the 2nd half. I think HJ is a notch above Silsbee, i consider Silsbee much closer to Jasper and OF than HJ. I dont think Silsbee getting 2nd place is a foregone conclusion. They have to play @ OF and @ Jasper, and OF has lost to them twice by only 2 pts so i could see either one of those teams or both beating Silsbee in the 2nd half. I think WOS is a long shot for the 3rd place, they would probably need to go 6-1 to get 3rd in the 2nd half. 3rd place will likely come down to 2 things: who can upset Silsbee and who wins the OF @ Jasper game on the last game of the season. It should be an interesting 2nd half...

Orangefield had Kellen Free and Derrick Evans out, they didnt even suit up, and Jeremy Granger had bronchitis i was told. You could tell something was wrong with him throughout the game, he just didnt have his normal energy. He still had around 12-14 pts, it was a good effort from him being under the weather. Evans was missed, he was kind of the 6th man on the team who plays a decent amount of minutes. Free doesnt play that much though. On to the game...I've seen a lot of Orangefield games this year and i can tell you that was by far the best shooting night any team has had against them all season, not even close. Jasper made every single open shot in the first half, it was uncanny how many shots they made, it was just their night. Their post man even banked in a 3, which got some chuckles from the Jasper crowd. They had 6 3-pointers at half if that gives you any idea just hot they were(Bailey made a 3 pter to end the half also). They were up 12 at half and Orangefield tried to make a few runs in the 2nd half on them but every time they'd answer right back. That lead Jasper built in the first half i thought was the difference in the game, besides the hot shooting. Give full credit to Jasper, they played a great game, i was impressed with their team. Bailey is a very good player, maybe the best i've seen this year. He has to be one of the top 2-3 players in the district, he made so many shots with a guy in his face and had a quick release. And he just seems like he knows how to play the game, and he seems like hes always in total control. As impressed with Jasper being the first time to see them play, i gotta think thats one of the better games theyve played this year, especially shooting wise. As a fan, I'm still confident OF can beat them at their place. Dont count OF out, they still get Silsbee at home, who they lost by 2 at their place, and can win that game at Jasper. It will definitely be an interesting 2nd half of district...

I agree, neither team played very well, but the game was very interesting based on the fact that the score was close.  The last 4 minutes were very entertaining though.  Shannon Robinson hit some clutch 3's in the 4th and came up big for Silsbee while Zach Hayes made a couple unbelievable layups in traffic in the lane.  It was Robinson and Hayes trading points at the end.  Silsbee had the ball with 40 seconds left, they scored with about 10-15 seconds on a putback. OF had the ball at half court with 8 seconds left. they ran a play to Hayes but silsbee had 2 players smothering him and Hayes tried to pass the ball but it was deflected... good defense by silsbee at the end.  Hayes ended up with 19 of OF's 46 pts.  Orangefield hung around the whole game around a single digits deficit and tightened the score at the end.  OF really blew an opportunity to steal this game at Silsbee.  But they better gear up, because their most important game of the season to date is friday at home against Jasper, should be a good one.

Eastexsports.com is proud to announce they will be broadcasting the Cayuga vs Martins Mill (boys and girls) game live tomorrow night at Martins Mill!!! These teams are ranked #1 and #5 in 1A and are district rivals, having already played in the finals of the Martins Mill tournament.  I watched that game, it was easily one of the best games i've seen this year, Cayuga came out on top in a great game.  This is a game 22-1A fans need to keep an eye on, these might be the 2 best teams in region 3 fighting it out!!!  If you are interested in this great 1A battle and are home tomorrow night, just go to eastexsports.com to listen to the game.  Thanks

I think you should be able to sit where you want for the most part.  I think though if you decide to sit on the opposing teams bleachers, that is your choice.    Just remember you are sitting on the side that doesnt support your team.  And if you are offended by objectionable or offensive comments possibly coming from the opposing teams fans, dont be surprised.  Every school has a section or group of crazy fans or idiots who say stupid things and if you happen to sit in that section prepare yourself to hear anything and everything.  I think in gyms where the player benches are actually in the bleachers or close by, opposing teams fans should not be allowed to sit near the bench area.  I saw an incident a couple weeks ago at an intense basketball game where an opposing teams fan (a lady) stood right behind where the players and coaches were sitting and she yelled, screamed and clapped in their ear the entire game.  It was quite annoying and a disturbance to the coach and players.  The fans around voiced their displeasure toward her and eventually harassed her during the game for it. She never stopped, and her husband wanted to fight the fans after the game.  I think that was classless from the opposing fans part and they shouldnt have allowed her and her husband to sit there and it wouldve been avoided.

Hey basketball fanatic08, We would love to hear some Brookeland talk on eastexsports.com.  I've seen Brookeland play twice, once against Zwolle and  #11 ranked Slocum, and they are very good.  I agree they should be ranked in the top 20 in 1A div 2.  I am a moderator of the site eastexsports.com and i will tell you i like to discuss 1A basketball on there so check it out, register, and feel free to discuss some Brookeland bball.....

I disagree with you about the game of the week. I agree Ofield vs Silsbee should be a great game, but you really gotta think the game of the week has got to be Jasper @ Orangefield friday. HJ will win the district and i think Silsbee will end up in 2nd place, so that OF/Jasper game will be huge friday. The winner friday will have a huge advantage on that 3rd place spot, especially for Jasper if they can steal that game at OF friday, since OF still has to go to Jasper the last game of the season, which i believe could be another huge game. I think if Jasper beats OF at OF friday, it will be real tough for OF to go to Jasper and win. I dont know how you can pick Silsbee over HJ, Silsbee lost to HJ once already by 18 and is a game behind undefeated HJ. 1. HJ 2. Silsbee 3. Ofield/Jasper

Ok. i've been reading this whole thread and i've got several thoughts on what has been said to this point. First off, about the fans sitting on the visitors side and vice versa...It happens at a lot of gyms. It happens everywhere and really you cant do anything about it at times because you dont know where everyone is from. It happens at Orangefield all the time, the home side is always full and theres hardly anyone on the visitors side and you can always see people from the visitors sitting on the home section. If the visitors are ok with hearing comments during the game from the opposing teams fans then thats their choice, you cant really do much about it. If you are from the home side though, dont go sit on the visitors side and complain about the visiting teams fans comments if you dont like what you hear from the opposing teams fans. Thats why they separate the fans. Secondly, dont characterize a school or town by the actions and comments of a few people. I am from Orangefield and am proud to say it. It is a great school with a lot of good people. They have a great community and are passionate about their school and their kids. HJ is the same way, i love how they support their basketball team, i wish Orangefield did on that same level. But every game you hear fans yell stupid things in the heat of the moment and just stupid fans in general, every school has them. I dont think its fair to label a school or town as not "classy" based what you heard at a game. Dont let the comments or actions of a few people influence your opinion on that town or school. Thirdly about the game.... I was glad to see Orangefield play Hardin Jefferson to a fairly respectable game, especially in the first half. HJ made a few big runs in the 2nd half and that was difference in the game. HJ was as good as advertised. They are very good and i know they will represent our district well in the playoffs again. I hear a lot of fans talking about HJ was without a few players, well Orangefield played without their best player Jeremy Granger for pretty much most of the game due to foul trouble. Everyone got to see our sophomore talent Zach Hayes put up 16 pts in a pretty good game for the most part (without the support of his teammate Jeremy Granger most of the game). HJ has a tremendous homecourt advantage in HJ, so i expect this game to be at least a little closer at Orangefield. Good luck to HJ the rest of the way.

Thats a pretty good list. West Rusk lost to Arp in OT last night so you could probably put West Rusk, who is in Tatum and Arps district, on that list. I've seen Arp play once and i was pretty impressed with them. They are a very athletic team. Same with Newton, i've only heard good things about them from everyone that has seen them. I've heard they could make a deep run in the playoffs. Jefferson has been putting up some big scores lately, i'm just not real sure about the quality of their opponents they've been playing. This is a pretty good topic, one you could further discuss on eastexsports.com, since 4 of the 6 teams you mentioned are covered in that region....