bobcatfan

I still see them as the big 3, but my point earlier was that there is a big difference between #1 and #3. I see i am not alone in that opinion because Aggiesarewe, a respected poster on the board, along with with a few others agreed with me. I made the comment about Ricossa in the top 3 because most of the HJ games i've watched, i thought Ricossa was the more productive HJ player. Last night Burrell got in foul trouble and had to miss some significant time in the game. I think if that had been Benard instead Burrell having to miss that much time, HJ very well couldve and wouldve lost last night. HJ can survive without Burrell not on the court for long stretches of time but not Benard. As for the comment about the coaches by bballgod, what happened last night doesnt surprise me. The fact is Sutherland is one of the best coaches in the area and has that reputation. Because of that he is able to get away with stuff that most coaches cant, fairly or unfairly. I've witnessed this several times. I know HJ fans will dispute this but it is true.

If you want an outsiders opinion on the big 3, heres mine. Bernard is by far the best of the 3, by far the best shooter of the 3. He is a very good player. Turner is quick, very good defensively, can drive to the basket very well and hits some 3's. Burrell is the lowest of the 3. The 3 pointer you spoke of that he hit was because he was wide open and no one was covering him. I think thats the first field goal i've seen him hit in a game that wasnt a layup or dunk. Hayes guarded Burrell most of the night and played off of him and Burrell wouldnt shoot it. I dont think Burrell had more than 8 pts tonight and i dont remember much that he did in the game, so i agree that he was a bit of a nonfactor. I do remember Bernard coming through in clutch moments and Turner getting crucial steals for HJ. I think Burrell is a good slasher, and a pretty good defender, but below average on shooting and decision making with the ball. I've actually been impressed with Ricossa in some of the games i've seen him play. I think Bernard and Turner are deserving of the praise they get on this board, but i think your big 3 might actually be Bernard, Turner, and Ricossa.

Why is that just because OF played HJ close its because HJ had an "off" night. At least thats the impression i get from every comment on the board so far. I thought OF had a good defensive gameplan tonight. They stayed in Bernards face all night and played off the other guys a little bit and made the other guys try to beat them and it worked fairly well. OF made their share of mistakes too which costs them the game. OF was up 10 or 11 pts late in the 2nd and let HJ go on 4 or 6 point run to end the half, i thought that was a huge factor. In both meetings OF makes stupid turnovers making an outlet pass from a defensive rebound. That right there killed them i thought. But the reason HJ had an "off" night is because OF had a defensive gameplan and executed it well. This may come as a shock to everyone on the board, but there isnt a big gap in talent between these 2 teams, its a lot closer than yall think. So the fact that this was a close game comes as no surprise to me. If OF handles the pressure they can beat HJ on any given night. Good luck to HJ in the playoffs.

The answer to this question is Silsbee. If and when they get 1st place, they will have an easier road out of the region on the bottom half of the bracket because the top half is loaded. The 2nd place team in 21-3A will likely play easy game/1st round Navasota/2nd round, Cleveland/3rd round, then Crockett/Center/4th round to get to the regional finals. Silsbee gets bye in 1st round, Cameron Yoe in 2nd round, WOS/OF/Coldspring/ 3rd round, then Mexia/Tatum/Chapel Hill/Hudson/ 4th round. I'd much rather have Silsbee's road. The region isnt extremely tough for Big Sandy to get through, but there will be a few huge hurdles for them to get through. The main one on the bottom half is Cayuga. Cayuga from what i've heard and the scores i've seen is really really good. They've been #1 all season and have been blowing everyone out in their district, which isnt that bad of a district. If Big Sandy manages to somehow get through Cayuga, they will have to beat Avery possibly in the regional semis, then they will have another tough game with either Martins Mill or Tenaha. I think the 2A region is too loaded for Kountze or Anahuac to get through. The 1 seed would have to play San Augustine/New Waverly/Arp to get to the regional finals and the 2 seed would have to get through Newton and Sabine. I just dont think either team is good enough to pull that off this year. I actually think Newton has the best chance between Newton, Kountze and Anahuac. I dont anything about Ozens region at all but it seems like they're a little down this year by their standards and are playing competitive games in the district. So if i had to handicap it, i'd say Silsbee has the best shot, then a big dropoff, and then Big Sandy, Newton, Kountze/Anahuac, HJ are pretty close after that.

District 17, 18, and 20 are on Eastexsports, here is a link to those standings. [Hidden Content] Here is district 19 1. Mexia 4-1 1. Lorena 4-1 3. Waco La Vega 3-2 4. Groesbeck 2-3 4. Waco Connally 2-3 6. Robinson 0-5 Here is district 24 1. Navasota 8-0 2. Yoe 5-2 3. Madisonville 4-4 4. Rockdale 4-4 5. Taylor 4-4 6. Rudder 2-6 7. Caldwell 0-7 That only leaves district 22 and 23. District 23 is a bye. In district 22, Cleveland will win that district and Coldspring will come in 2nd. The 2nd place team in 21-3A plays the 3rd place team in 22-3A(which is a big tossup right now), and whoever that is will get destroyed by HJ or Silsbee in the first round of the playoffs. I hope this was helpful.

I dont have all the records, but i believe #1 Diboll, #3 Bullard, and #4 Robinson are undefeated in district. Diboll has beaten Bullard by 8 and Robinson has beaten Diboll. I think these are the elite teams in the region. I think Crockett, Brownsboro, and Navasota are a step below. After going undefeated for most of the season, Crockett now has 2 district losses to Athens and Brownsboro. Brownsboro beat Crockett, but lost to Bullard by 12 and lost to Palestine in district, who lost to Bullard by almost 50. Navasota has 1 loss in district also. I dont know where Hardin Jefferson and Orangefield fits into whole picture, my guess is they are somewhere between the first group of teams i listed and the 2nd group.

[Hidden Content] Here is Big Sandy's district, 23-1A. 24-1A-II is also on that link. That district has Neches, Oakwood, and Slocum, which are the 2, 3, and 7th ranked teams in state in one district, wow. 1. Lovelady 4-1 1. Grapeland 4-1 3. Big Sandy 2-3 3. Alto 2-3 5. Latexo 0-4 1-09 Big Sandy 66 Alto 45 Grapeland 47 Lovelady 46 1-13 Lovelady 72 Big Sandy 23 Grapeland def Latexo 1-16 Lovelady 69 Alto 33 Big Sandy def Latexo 1-20 Grapeland 66 Big Sandy 42 Alto def Latexo 1-23 Lovelady 75 Latexo 12 Grapeland def Alto 1-27 Lovelady 57 Grapeland 30 Alto 61 Big Sandy 60

WOS played HJ fairly close at home last night, closer than OF played them at HJ. Both teams lost to Silsbee by around 20. Both teams were given a close game by BC at BC. Last year, OF beat WOS in a close game at home then squeaked out a victory in OT at WOS. This is a huge game for both teams and its a shame that it will be played the same night as HJ/Silsbee, because it likely wont get the attention it deserves. This should be a great game in a battle for the 3rd playoff spot. Who do yall think will win?

Mr Hoopinsider, i dont know if you noticed but TABC didnt update or change any of the 1A-II rankings this week. #3 Bloomburg also lost to previously ranked Avinger on friday and they didnt move down either. This isnt the first time TABC hasnt done the 1A-II rankings for the week. A couple weeks ago, they did the same thing and didnt make any updates from the previous weeks rankings. I guess they dont care about 1A. I know that you are Mr. Small School so i'm sure this angers you. You need to send them an email and tell them to get with the program, that 1A matters too.

I'm sure yall can tell from reading my posts im a big basketball fan just like yall are. I watch a lot of high school football too, i usually go to a game every week during the season and attend playoff games. But for the past several years my favorite sport has been basketball. I'm sure everyone knows that in Texas, football is generally considered the most popular sport in the state. My question to yall is, does it bother you when basketball is brought up on sports forums and there are people that usually say, but everyone knows "football is king". I see it a lot on the smoaky.com forums, when basketball and football are brought up on a thread, someone has to throw in "yeah basketball is great and all but everyone knows football is king", as if thats gonna make us like basketball less. I generally think most people that say this stuff online dont like basketball and get tired of seeing it online. I just wanted to know what yall think of the phrase and what it means to you(and does it annoy you lol).

I think there should be a separate thread for universal offseason, because thats a good topic you just brought up. OF has gotten a lot better in basketball in recent years, and unfortunately they still have the dreaded universal offseason. The bottom line is, despite how much the school supports your program, you have to do the work outside of school. You need a talented group of kids that are willing to put in some work outside school. You need to play basketball almost year around, playing in summer and fall leagues and tournaments, so you can continually get better throughout the year.

I totally agree with your post Lazeek, you just want the game to be called consistently. I know we've talked a lot about officials on this thread and some think its stupid to bring up the officials affecting the game but the bottom line is they do. A perfect example is last season, OF played Silsbee at Silsbee and it was very tightly called game and OF lost by 2 and nearly got an upset victory. The next matchup OF played Silsbee at home and the game was called very loosely and OF lost by 30 and was ran out of the gym. Silsbee was playing very well at the time, so that had something to do with it also. But how officials call the game makes a big difference with the players and what they feel like they can do and get away with. By the way, Lazeek, I prefer a game they dont let them play, that usually helps OF. I dont mind a lot of foul calls if they are calling it consistently. Good luck to HJ the rest of the season and hopefully we see a better game next time!

PoppaBear, I thought in all the HJ-OF games i've seen in recent years, home or away, that was the best officiated game i've ever seen. I thought they did a good job last night. If anyone thinks they did a bad job last night, go back and watch the tape of the game and tell me what fouls were bad calls, i didnt see many. HJ is an in your face full court pressing defense that causes a lot of turnovers. The upside to that style is you get a lot of turnovers and easy baskets. The downside is sometimes you can pick up a lot of fouls. OF was in the bonus before HJ in both halves last night, and i'm guessing thats why the HJ fans are on here are complaining. A lot of the fouls called were reach in fouls and were legit calls. OF lost by 2 pts to HJ last year at home and this years OF team is just as talented as last years team, so i know they can compete with HJ. This year they played #18 Liberty Hill to overtime who plays a similar style to HJ. Make no mistake though, OF has a lot of work to do if they want to come close to beating HJ when they play at OF this year. HJ has a great basketball program and a great coach and are hard to beat any year. OF's program has come a long way in recent years, but i think they need to beat a team like HJ in district to take the next step.

I agree with this post and what i put in bold. I've always thought OF gets screwed at HJ or at home, and this was by far the best officiated game OF has had @ HJ. And as far as sportsmanship, OF is not a dirty team and i didnt see anything that was flagrant out there tonight. Its a shame OF take advantage and play better, but they just turned the ball over too much and gave up too many offensive rebounds on defense. The turnovers were killer tonight though, a lot of them were dumb passes that shouldnt have been thrown. Credit HJ though, the pressure they applied had a lot to do with those turnovers. I agree with Wildcatter, Ricossa was a difference maker for HJ and OF couldnt stop him all night on the boards. Congrats to HJ on the win, and I want to add Sutherland has done a good job with that team this year. OF needs to get over this loss because it doesnt get any easier when Silsbee comes to town friday.

Excuses, excuses, excuses!!!!!! Benard is far more important to his team than Hayes!!!! Hayes and Angelle have a decent supporting cast. Benard, Turner and Burrell have a good supporting cast as well. I could understand if Hayes was the only good player on the team.......HE IS NOT!!!!!! I agree with you that Hayes has a good supporting cast, but his team definitely depends on him more than HJ does with Bernard. Hayes does a lot of things for his team that doesnt show up on stats, like breaking the press and also setting up his players. If you want further evidence of why OF depends on Hayes more, look at the OF-HJ game at the EC tournament. That game was like a 6-8 point game with 6 min left in the 2nd quarter when Hayes picked up a foul and was taken out for the rest of the quarter. HJ went on a run the rest of the quarter in which OF scored like 3-4 pts the rest of the half and it was a 20 pt game at half and the game was pretty much over at that point. I'll tell you this, if it were possible and i had the option to trade players, i would not trade Hayes for Bernard straight up, and i dont think me or anyone in Orangefield would do that trade. Do you think OF would be better off if they had Bernard on their team instead of Hayes, i certainly dont...

I'm not going to hide from this thread, i was the one who posted about this. I'll give Benard his props, he totally outplayed Hayes tonight and he definitely was the better player tonight. The team didnt play well, made dumb turnovers and was terrible on the boards, credit HJ though being the cause of both of those things. My friend at the game took stats and Bernard went 8-21 from the field which is 38% from the floor. I've seen other games where he shot even more than that and scored in the 20's. Hayes only took around 10 shots, which is not near enough for him, he should be shooting more. Hayes has probably averages 5-7 less pts a game compared to Benard but with far less shots. I've never seen Hayes take as many shots in any game this year than i've seen Benard take in any of his games. Aside from points, Hayes has a lot more rebounds than Benard and his team depends on him a lot to rebound more. I still think Hayes is in the conversation with SR and JB. I would guess most people that have seen Hayes, have seen him play maybe 2-3 times this year, which isnt many times to get a fair barometer on his game.

Lazeek, i dont know how you can say that. I know we all have our biases on this board but i find it hard to believe that you or anyone can say its not even close. An UNBIASED observer, Hoopinsider Cooper, ranked Hayes ahead of Benard. So apparently, he thinks Hayes is either better or close to better for a reason.

There is not anyone as good in the district as SR or JB, so why mention them!!!!! Come on Lazeek, i hope youre joking. I agree with Booker T, there is FOUR pages of this thread and only 2 guards have been talked about. I know Zach Hayes definitely deserves to be in the conversation and i cant believe he hasnt been brought up by someone. The Watson kid from WOS seems to be doing good for them, he always seems to be their high scorer. I've only seen WOS play a couple times though.

I know Old Timer your response was to the statement i made that 4 teams would make the playoffs in 22-3A. I made that statement based on a lot of info. I watch a lot of games, just ask the Hoopinsider. I've talked to a coach in the district and plus from what i've read online has said that its Cleveland 1st, Coldspring 2nd, then between Liberty, Huffman, Splendora and Shepherd for 3rd place. I've seen Liberty and Huffman play a couple times and seen a lot of Shepherd, Splendora scores. OF and WOS are close and will battle it out for 3rd place likely. Coldspring has already beaten Huffman by 21, Shepherd by 9, Tarkington by 14, and Splendora by 21. So if you can see why i would say 4 teams would make the playoffs in that district when the 3rd or 4th place team in district 21 takes the 2nd place team in district 22 down to the wire at their gym. I cant say it would happen for sure that 4 teams would make the playoffs in that district, but based on what i've seen and heard, i think it is very likely it could happen.

Most of these lists i can live with but i would put Zach Hayes in the top 3. I realize in doing that it would put him above Burrell, but he's well above Burrell in the Hoopinsider rankings which says something. Burrell is a great player but Hayes is a much better shooter from anywhere on the floor. Someone mentioned earlier how OF lost to Legacy earlier and thats terrible but everyone fails to mention that Legacy took WOS to OT on a neutral court. Coldspring isnt a great team either, but they are likely gonna win 2nd in their district and OF almost beat them in their gym. OF hasnt played a home game in almost a month which is also worth noting.

Well, i wasnt trying to say anything bad about district 22 when i was talking about the game. But when you consider they've been struggling the past few weeks and played CS on the road, in front of like 10 of their fans, lol, and still had a chance to win the game late. Hayes got a no call on the final possession that was very questionable, i think on a neutral court he'd be shooting 2 free throws down 2 with 5 seconds left. Thats just one the things about playing on the road though. Thats why i said i'm confident next time they play they would have a good chance to win. They'd be playing them on a neutral site in front of a big crowd behind them. But i think 4 teams in 21-3A would make the playoffs if they played with 22-3A, thats just my opinion.

[Hidden Content] Dont forget to check here for scores, its been posted there for over an hour. The score was Coldspring 54 Orangefield 51. In the first half Orangefield was limited to one shot on offense while giving CS a second chance shot on almost every possession. They picked it up and played better in the 2nd half, erasing a 9 point lead in the 3rd quarter. They didnt rebound very well for the game despite the fact that Coldsprings didnt have much size. They had the ball down 2 on their last possession and gave it to Hayes in the post and he missed and there appeared to be contact but no call. The coaches and fans were all over the official on that one. Orangefield got the rebound on the 2nd missed free throw and Hayes missed a shot just inside half court to end the game. All in all they didnt play that well and only played good in spurts in the 2nd half. Theyre gonna have to pick it up and play well for 4 quarters if they expect to make the playoffs. Coldsprings wasnt as good as last years team and although i heard they were missing a good player. I feel confident if Orangefield gets them again on a neutral court in the playoffs they can win. If they dont start playing more consistent though, there will be on playoffs.

Not a bad list, Lazeek, although i think you left out a few teams. Center should definitely be on there because they are the favorite to win 18-3A and have a 6-7 post that is going to SFA. Crockett should be mentioned also, they took Silsbee to 2OT last year, they've beaten 5A Lufkin this year, and they have most of their players back. Coach Bartlett has done a great job at Huntington to have them in the conversation, but i wouldnt put them up there ahead either of the teams i just mentioned, or teams like Mexia or Bullard.

Before you jump to conclusions, dont forget Legacy took WOS to overtime at a neutral site. Legacy won their game vs OF at Legacy. OF hasnt been playing well lately so they better get their act together by district. They play at Coldspring on tuesday, which is another good warmup for district since Coldspring will likely get 2nd in that district. If they can win that game, it will give them some good momentum going into district.

This list i can make only goes back about 15-20 years, because thats all i know but i dont know if anyone past 15-20 years is even deserving. I would have to defer to bleedorange on that one. lol. In no particular order, i'd say these guys should be mentioned. Chris Ford- 4 yr starter, 3 yrs all district and made all state, would be #1 on my list. Kirby Dorman- 3 yrs all district i believe and he made all state Austin Farias- already mentioned earlier There is a current player who could make this list but he still has some work to do.