PrairieMan

First off, if I’ve offended you in any way, I apologize. I like your commentary and picks. I was mostly having fun with you because for the last three years when these picks have come in, I’ve commented on here about us loving to be the underdog and every year that I have, we’ve made the playoffs. Was just trying to keep status quo. The comment regarding the vindicator was because they have done many articles on the Horns and I feel like he’s always done a great job of covering them. Regarding the picks I will be glad to give you mine. I will say the top 4 could easily be swapped in my opinion. I think the winner of the district will have 2 losses, that’s how close I think it will be. But here’s my opinion. 1. Huffman (coaching staff just finds ways to get the most out of their kids, guard play will be their weakness) 2. Livingston (return two solid players along with some size, their downfall will be their lack of coaching) 3. Tarkington (can’t break the norm here, they do return the best player, problem is he lost some help by graduating 4 senior starters.) 4. Hardin Jefferson (nice addition by adding talent through the “portal”, just returners from last year I don’t think will be enough) 5. Hamshire-Fannett (lost some talent and size and head coach. Heard they didn’t play well in spring and summer but honestly don’t know much about them) 6. Shepherd (best big man in the district but not enough shooters and talent around him) 7. Liberty (return a couple young talented players but lost their best two players and some size)

I mean both of you have missed it for three years in a row so I guess so. Maybe it’s just time to give Tarkington basketball a little bit of respect. While you and the rest of area reporters except the Vindicator have been giving other schools their props, you’ve missed that the Horns and Coach Wynn have put 3 nice seasons together and continue to build in house. They don’t get the transfers that your friends over at HJ get. They just keep working hard and getting better. Oh by the way they went 2-0 vs HJ last year and handed them a loss at their house that kept them from going to playoffs for the first time in however many years. 🤘🏼🤘🏼

Love it AAW! Thank you for not picking Tarkington, again!!! Three years in a row we’ve watched you not pick them and three years in a row, we’ve finished third and made the playoffs. Then you picked Shepherd for the surprise team. I guess you aren’t aware that we return the best player in the district.

Honestly, I’m shocked it’s that high. I think we’ve seen three teams that shot less than 50% for the game, is that right?

Birdville shooting less than 50% from the line was a huge factor. This weekend as a whole has been the worst collective free throw shooting I’ve ever seen in my life.

For those that have forgotten what I originally said before I got called out about how bad my opinion was by a guy that was using "we" and "us" when talking about Silsbee. Since he did so, I was seriously just wanting to know what the Silsbee faithful opinion on the Rice kid was. I wasn't personally attacking him. The games I've watched, I was really expecting more because of what I had read on here. I don't know him at all and certainly would never mean to personally attack him. I know how historic Silsbee basketball is and there's been a ton of good players come through. I personally enjoyed watching Harris and Miller play many games during the playoffs and state the last 4 years. Which means I've been watching Rice this entire time too. Overall I haven't found him to be as dominant in the games I watched as I was expecting him to be. Kid is big with good athleticism and I hope he has 30 and 30 on Friday night. I have a high school kid that plays and I wouldn't want someone to personally attack him either. But if somebody wants to come on to a Tarkington thread and doubt his impact to his team or a game, no problem, I'm ready to have that conversation as long as we can keep it civil and I honestly never thought I went too far. He's like every other kid, he has his ups and downs. Man making things this personal on a sports message board is CRAZY. Sometimes you got to take a step back and breathe before you go all cowboy keyboard on it. I guess I should have worded my inquiry better. For those that have watched both play, how do you think Rice will do against #20 from Wheatley. They both have good size and I wonder if you think their matchup could be the difference in the game? #20 had 7 points vs Tarkington when they played and whoever noted it was spot on. He did not play in the paint much on offense which shocked me. Defensively though he covered the paint well and certainly changed shots for kids trying to score in it.

No worries. All the questions that need to be answered will be done Friday night. I will be there to watch. I couldn't care less who wins, I just like good basketball and I hope it comes down to the wire no matter who wins. I was in attendance a few years back when BU and Goose Creek played a triple overtime game there and it was one of the most exciting games I've ever been to. I'd love to see another one there.

I didn't assume, I asked. I literally said I don't know the district other than Lumberton and I know they don't have a true big. Again I just wanted to know what the Silsbee faithful thought but I'm learning fast there are certain no no programs to question on here.

Absolutely!!! But that was when #21 sat out because of foul trouble.

"Fire off"...... My exact statement was...."From the outside looking in, I find myself questioning Rice’s ability every time I watch Silsbee. For a kid with that size, I always feel like he should be doing more. What did his stat line look like for district? Just wondering because I didn’t see one district game just followed the scores." That's a bit of a stretch isn't it? I merely wanted to find out what the Silsbee faithful felt about his game. I stated that the games I've watched and from what I've seen on this message board I didn't find him to be as dominant as I'd thought he would be. But that's why I asked the question because I have a fairly small sample size. It was way more of a question than an attack. This dude just attacked a program with reference to a game that didn't even happen. Sounds quite a bit different to me.

We broke it fairly easy when #21 was in the game. When he got into foul trouble, they stretched it out a bit. Again, couldn't agree more, same thing I said, too many unforced turnovers with lazy passes and bad court awareness at times.

100% agree with you. I found it odd he wasn't in the paint more on offense. When I came in during warmups he worked on post moves for 10 mins straight then not one time in the game did he post up vs a team where the tallest kid is 6'3 maybe 6'4. I did find he was decent presence in the paint defensively though. I just wonder will he keep Silsbee's big man at bay on the offensive side? They are certainly not looking at him to help offensively.

haha. Wow, so because I gave an opinion on a thread about about an upcoming game, one team, that I've watched play in person multiple times (Silsbee) and the other team (Wheatley) I've watched play Tarkington you decide to rip a school program? Great job buddy! Way to get emotional about something and lose focus on the conversation. I won't get petty with you, but Tarkington got moved up from 3A which they went 3 rounds deep last year and finished in 3rd place in their district this year as the smallest 4a program. They have a kid that avg 20+ ppg on the season. If you'd like to actually do a little homework and have a constructive conversation, I'm more than willing to discuss the ups and downs of Tarkington basketball. If you just want to fire off criticism without any knowledge because you can't control your emotions, then there will no longer be a need to respond to you. Have a good one!

That’s a bit extreme comparison isn’t it? I mean the kid is what 6’7” in 4a basketball. That’s kind of my point, how many nights does he even see another guy his size, my guess is rarely. Especially in that district. So bragging about double digit rebound avg begins to mean less and less. us for me means Tarkington

I know this is not a message board to question Silsbee because of the number of fans on here and I promise I’m not trying to entice an argument. I’m just enjoying the conversation. So I will continue to discuss playing devil’s advocate with no ill regard towards the Tigers only because I don’t know them like y’all do. These big games that he’s had, was there an opponent with even close to his size with any skill on the court? I know the kid from Wheatley can match him size and athleticism is why I’m asking. That being said I wasn’t overly impressed with him either. He was a nonfactor vs us.