Coach Baker should have just let them play. Holding the ball for over a minute isn't going to help his team at all. He did it because he was mad and didn't want the other kids to accomplish their goal. Even on the possession that McCreary scored their 100th point, Baker called a timeout when the ball was about to be inbounded and set up a pressing trap. Baker wasn't worried about "sportsmanship," he was trying to save face for himself for giving up 100 points. You can't tell me that if they were in opposite situations, that every Whitley player, fan, and coach wouldn't want them to score 100 points. If that was the case, why didn't he call off the players when they beat 'poor, little' Jellico by 40?

A coach who lets the crowd dictate how he runs his team is not in control of his program. I guess it won't be long before they are making his starting lineups, and If I remember correctly just a couple of years ago he won one game and they wanted him gone but since they found out they can control him and run the team they decided to keep him, looks like the crowd does a good job of running the team.

 

A loss is a loss whether by 1 or 100 and it does not matter if the other team scores 100 and you score 99 or you score 120 if they score 130. Saving face was not an issue.

A coach who lets the crowd dictate how he runs his team is not in control of his program. I guess it won't be long before they are making his starting lineups, and If I remember correctly just a couple of years ago he won one game and they wanted him gone but since they found out they can control him and run the team they decided to keep him, looks like the crowd does a good job of running the team.

 

A loss is a loss whether by 1 or 100 and it does not matter if the other team scores 100 and you score 99 or you score 120 if they score 130. Saving face was not an issue.

 

That's completely off basis. The crowd didn't dictate how he ran the team. The players have been working their butts off all season and instead of holding the ball with a big lead like usual, he let me do what they wanted because they deserved it. No, a couple of years ago he didn't win one game. He is 59-22 in the last three years. He finally has the player(s) that can win and who can following the game plan. I'm sure he didn't think to himself, "well that fans want 100, that's what I'm going to give them."

 

If losing by 1 or 100 doesn't matter, why do you hold the ball for a minute and a half and try to keep the other team from scoring 100 - that is saving face, which IS the issue.

The whole story? The score tells you the whole story. And whitley plays 10 or 11 players on any given night so they actually couldn't have subbed out. There isn't any subbing out for the colonels. Simple fact is, when a team comes out in a full court press late in the third, ealry in the fourth they are trying to embarass you. That shows absolutely no class. Maybe Robert will let his fans start making better decisions for him down the road.

The whole story? The score tells you the whole story. And whitley plays 10 or 11 players on any given night so they actually couldn't have subbed out. There isn't any subbing out for the colonels. Simple fact is, when a team comes out in a full court press late in the third, ealry in the fourth they are trying to embarass you. That shows absolutely no class. Maybe Robert will let his fans start making better decisions for him down the road.

 

If Robert was trying to embarrass anyone on the court, it wouldn't be Whitley County - it would be a team that has tried to embarrass McCreary or a rival, something Whitley County is not. Now, if McCreary already had 100 points or only had 70 or 80, then the decision to press wouldn't have even been thought of. By the way, the Raiders didn't press at all last night after 4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter until the final minute to get that extra couple of points. I like how a couple of the posters like to mention the fans "running the team" because of my quote of saying the fans (along with the players, which are the most important, first and foremost) wanted the 100 points. I think it's to the point of not having a point in this discussion anymore and an attempt to "embarrass" the Raider's coaching staff. Every player played for McCreary last night, and only 3 didn't score. Outside of Watts, Swiger, and maybe Phillips, each player scored about the same amount of points. McCreary didn't keep their main rotation in after the game was well decided in the second half. I think it's the fact that the talent on McCreary is much higher than that of Whitley and many people think thats an attempt to embarrass another team.

With a large lead, why would you take a chance on getting one of your starters injured. Is scoring 100 points worth risking this close to tournament time?

With a large lead, why would you take a chance on getting one of your starters injured. Is scoring 100 points worth risking this close to tournament time?

 

Only one starter played the entire 4th quarter (minus Watts for one play, which was to shoot a couple of free-throws) and that was Roark and he only played for 2:30 minutes. Wright, Lay, Musgrove, Dixon, and Tucker played the rest of the quarter with Waters, Chitwood, and another kid playing for the final minute and a half.

Only one starter played the entire 4th quarter (minus Watts for one play, which was to shoot a couple of free-throws) and that was Roark and he only played for 2:30 minutes. Wright, Lay, Musgrove, Dixon, and Tucker played the rest of the quarter with Waters, Chitwood, and another kid playing for the final minute and a half.

 

 

You are right, but those kids played as subs in the meat of the game, and to be honest it is not entirley accurate, but hey the game is over and I don't think McCreary will have to worry about a return trip to Whitley as I don't see them playing in the future.

 

If Rob was not letting the crowd run the team how come he spent so much time looking up at them. Oh yeah and High fiving a kid who just got a technical foul for a head but, real class.

 

Kudos to Coach Baker and company for acting like sportsmen and not reataliating.

In hindsight I guess Whitley should have just handed the ball the Rob's Raiders and let them score about 120 then they could have really felt good about themselves. I mean that was their goal to score 100 so they could feel good about themselves.

 

To be honest Whitley should have slowed the tempo earlier in the game, but with the youth of the team the players on the floor did not recognize that, they keep playing hard and trying to score. Regardless of the score in the second half the kids kept playing hard and fighting for every basket and they will be better for having been through it.

Whitley County really misses LeBanion's inside presence.

SSF are you saying McCreary didn't press at all in the third quarter and only the last minute of the fourth? So they, playing reserves much of the second half, scored 50 points without pressing in the second half?

Hasn't Musgrove started some games this year and if he is no longer starting I would assume that he still gets a significant amount of playing time

Actually I did have it wrong. Musgrove did start, Roark didn't. Correct on the pressing in the second half. If that's hard to believe, Whitley didn't start pressing until the final minute as well and scored 41.

 

Musgrove isn't a scorer. He averages right under 5 points a game. No one can say we had a scoring starter on the floor and ran the score up.

In hindsight I guess Whitley should have just handed the ball the Rob's Raiders and let them score about 120 then they could have really felt good about themselves. I mean that was their goal to score 100 so they could feel good about themselves.

 

To be honest Whitley should have slowed the tempo earlier in the game, but with the youth of the team the players on the floor did not recognize that, they keep playing hard and trying to score. Regardless of the score in the second half the kids kept playing hard and fighting for every basket and they will be better for having been through it.

 

The Raiders didn't need any help from Whitley coaching staff with turnovers, they had no answer for the press in the first half.

 

Whitley looked better in the 2nd because the RAIDERS let up.

Thats just stupid to put Watts back in with 53 seconds left...Thats asking for trouble

It's not like he played for the final 53 minutes. He came in to shoot two free-throws and came out right after making it.