TxHoops

And has nothing to do with the rise in popularity of basketball overseas and many countries allowing players to come over that never would 20 years ago?? Ok. Another reason Knick fans were probably upset with the Porzingis pick was watching the wunderkind No. 1 overall pick, Andreas Bargnani buried on their bench for the past few years. Good news is I saw 2 7 footers (Thon Maker and Deandre Ayton) and a 6-10 kid (Wendell Carter) who all had extremely high skill sets, especially for bigs. All were HS Class of '17, except Maker reclassified up to '16. Hopefully AAU hasn't screwed them up too bad. Marvin Bagley (6'11") in the class of '18 and Bol Bol (7'1") in class of '18 are two other young bigs who can play guard. I suppose the argument is they are the exception to the rule. I agree. As are any of the 360 select few in the world who can play in the league....

Now, if you want to talk about the digression of the game in general, it is the lost art of the mid-range jumper. Everything is shoot the 3 or take it all the way to the rack. Guys like Aldridge, Duncan, Westbrook, and a few others who still make their living on the 15-17 foot jump shot are rareities.

So having 80 percent of THE best league in the world being from the USA and the other 1/5th being from every other country in the world shows issues with US basketball? I can't decide if you guys are worse at math or logic... The reason the draft percentage is so high is because the second round, especially the second half of it has become let's take a flier on a Euro. The vast majority of those picks are busts. Which is why the New Yorkers were furious the Knicks used such a high pick on Porzingis. However, at least early on, it looks like NY found one of those rare gems.

And for every Dirk or Porzingis there are dozens of Darko Mikicics. FACT is, there are more skilled bigs in the league from the US than Europe. Next...

I'm certainly not a fan of trash talking or any of the extra-curricular stuff. But that seriously looked like much ado about nothing....

The premise was the bigs in today's game are not skilled. My point was we have as many of more 6'10" or bigger players with advanced skill sets as we've ever had, and certainly more dominant in general than the Euros. Forgot to mention Tim Duncan. He's not bad either.

He signed with Baylor after Christmas and will be in Waco this spring

Like Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins? Just to name a few off the top of my head Biggest hoax going in the sport...

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17 according to KOGT

I think Sterling has done a very good job with them. They are a fairly young team too which is encouraging for the Cardinals. I'm not going to get into who I think is the better coach. BUT I will say I think Sterling going to BC was a positive thing for both BC and Vidor. Sometimes a change of scenery is good for everyone. This was one of those situations where I think that was exactly the case.

Two pretty evenly matched teams. I would have said LCM was the favorite but not surprised by any means. BC is much improved this year.

I haven't given up hope yet...especially after tonight Gonna be tough to go 3-0 against Ozen though. They are a talented group.

Huge confidence booster for the Dogs, even in a loss. They will beat at least one of the Beaumont schools (Ozen or Central) this year.

I agree in principle with many of the complaints. But I have also seen the reverse. Kids who play summers having a much greater concept of team defense versus those who only play school ball. Again, depends on the program you are with and the coaching. I can tell you I have seen as much or more emphasis on defense as offense in my AAU experience. As far as the Europeans, it's funny to me how it keeps being argued that they are taking over the sport due to their fundamentals. I am a big fundamental guy and believe them to be absolutely crucial. But these Europeans are still almost always getting beat down by the US in international play and their players that make the leap to the NBA seem to flop (no pun intended) at an extremely high rate.

Colton was and is a special kind of player. Has plenty of talent but also a rare kid who gets every single bit of production he can with what he has. However, we all knew English could coach before he had Weisbrod and before he was even at Nederland. I saw them the Bulldogs the first game of the season and they have definitely improved a lot since then. Which you would expect from an English-coached team. Ozen is and should be a heavy favorite in this one. But I am long past being shocked any time Big Ned pulls off an upset in this district.

I care a lot more about what Big Shot Rob has to say than the Blackhole Mamba for sure. Point taken on the second paragraph. Although I'm not sure there is a better program for kids even that age, in terms of learning and playing the game. There is a reason you had 3 freshman step against a top 5 ranked 5A team earlier this season without flinching. And it ain't Little Dribblers

This. All depends on who you play for. And, for the record, his same arguments could be made against many school coaches. As for Kobe, he lost all credibility with me a long time ago. Namely when he had a top 5 all time center run off to feed his own ego. I am about as interested in his opinions on a given subject as I am Allen Iverson's. But I think he should petition to play for the Italian national team in the next Olympics so he can get his butt kicked by USA basketball.

Everyone knows the two teams. One has just been more vocal and out in the open about it. The other one is more of a lurker behind the scenes. I much prefer the former.

Ozen coach emptied the bench, some starters did not play at all in 4th and literally tried to play keep away the entire quarter. Of the three wins in reality, this one was the least competitive.

I predict Ozen will surprise a lot of folks and make it to state last year ;)

As good as they come. He will get many, many more.

I would have agreed pre-tournament. Based on the first two rounds, however, I would have seeded it Ozen - 1, PAM - 2, Kelly - 3, and WB - 4. We will see how the next game goes but based on their first two games, probably Marion - 5. You could alternate Memorial and Kelly. Obviously HJ would be 4, 5 or 6 so still shouldn't play the 1 seed but at that point, it gets a little too nit picky. I'm sure Saveat would rather play HJ than Fall Brook's JV.

Hmmm, based on the scores thus far, looks like the PA folks did a pretty good job seeding this tournament...

Ridley injury is a killer. Successful foot surgery with no timetable yet on return.