That was my point HDE. That is what I am saying, Jones and Harlan Co. will have to develop a go to point guard. I do agree that Simmons has the skills or maybe even Green with his strength. Coach Jones teams in the past have put the ball in his PG hands towards the end of games.

 

I have to agree with you wideopen and HDE. The point guard in Jones' system needs to not only be able to run the team but also get down in the lane and score. Simmons has the potential to be that guy but the Hamlin kid from Cawood could fit this role also. If both of these kids come in with a good attitude and work ethic, then you could possibly see both of them in the starting line-up.

I have been away from Harlan for a while, so I can't really speak of the recent teams. I did hear some good things about Cumberland this year, but I didn't get to see them play.

2003

Eddie Creech

Shawn Ely

Blake Hubbs

Chris Wilson

Matt Haynes

1994

Keith Slone

Eric Hicks

Quincy Jackson

Chris Shackleford

Boots Smallwood

 

1987

Sam Metcalfe

Tommy Hensley

John Lewis

Jeff Osborne

Garry Henson

 

Jim Bob Hicks

Freddie Maggard

Otis Lewis

Phillip McNabb

Rodney Bolin

I have to agree with you wideopen and HDE. The point guard in Jones' system needs to not only be able to run the team but also get down in the lane and score. Simmons has the potential to be that guy but the Hamlin kid from Cawood could fit this role also. If both of these kids come in with a good attitude and work ethic, then you could possibly see both of them in the starting line-up.

 

I've heard that Hamlin has been running through some workouts with a Baltimore man. I hear he is improving.

 

Personally, I thought Simmons should have seen more playing time at Cumberland. He is a pretty athletic kid, and with some hard work, I could see him developing into a penetrator.

May have won the District and 1st Round Regional Game if he would have been put in sooner.

HDE in 93 if you had all of those players it still would have been hard to beat Harlan, Clay, and Corbin that season. In the early to mid 90's the 13th region was loaded with good teams. I think one season the 13th had (3) teams in the top 25 and (2) of those teams in the top 10 in the state.

Cumberland made it to the regional semifinals in 1993 and beat Harlan along the way, but Harlan won the region that year. Cawood made it to the semifinals in 1994. Both Cumberland and Cawood had some pretty good talent those years and could have been real tough combined, especially if you added Shackleford from Evarts, who was one of the best to ever play for the Wildcats.

 

I don't know if they would have defeated any of those top teams, but they would have been pretty solid.

 

I haven't put together the 1985 team yet, but I'd probably put that year No. 1 over the last 30 years, which was the original question.

 

I'd go with:

1985

1983

1978

1986

1980

May have won the District and 1st Round Regional Game if he would have been put in sooner.

 

 

 

That sounds like you're second guessing the coach. Didn't you bash me earlier for not ranking the Skins' coaching in the top 5 in the region?

If Harlan County had been consolidated in the early 1990s, who knows ... Thomas and Cox might not have ended up playing with the Dragons.

If Harlan County had been consolidated in the early 1990s, who knows ... Thomas and Cox might not have ended up playing with the Dragons.

 

 

 

That's possible. To take that another step, Jones probably wouldn't have left Cawood in 1987 and would have been the coach, which means Michael Jones would have been there. Casey Lester played grade school basketball at Loyall (a Cawood feeder school) and may have also stayed. The team could have looked like this in 1994:

 

PG - Michael Jones

W - Charles Thomas

W - Keith Slone or Casey Lester

F - Todd Cox

C - Boots Smallwood

 

You would have had Quincy Jackson, Paul Mark Spurlock, Joey Swanner and Chris Shackleford, among others, on the bench.

That's possible. To take that another step, Jones probably wouldn't have left Cawood in 1987 and would have been the coach, which means Michael Jones would have been there. Casey Lester played grade school basketball at Loyall (a Cawood feeder school) and may have also stayed. The team could have looked like this in 1994:

 

PG - Michael Jones

W - Charles Thomas

W - Keith Slone or Casey Lester

F - Todd Cox

C - Boots Smallwood

 

You would have had Quincy Jackson, Paul Mark Spurlock, Joey Swanner and Chris Shackleford, among others, on the bench.

I was going to mention Jones, too, but I didn't know all the details. I knew you could take it and run with it ... :lol:

That sounds like you're second guessing the coach. Didn't you bash me earlier for not ranking the Skins' coaching in the top 5 in the region?

 

That was the only time I have ever disagreed with the coaching decisions at Cumberland for the most part.

That's possible. To take that another step, Jones probably wouldn't have left Cawood in 1987 and would have been the coach, which means Michael Jones would have been there. Casey Lester played grade school basketball at Loyall (a Cawood feeder school) and may have also stayed. The team could have looked like this in 1994:

 

PG - Michael Jones

W - Charles Thomas

W - Keith Slone or Casey Lester

F - Todd Cox

C - Boots Smallwood

 

You would have had Quincy Jackson, Paul Mark Spurlock, Joey Swanner and Chris Shackleford, among others, on the bench.

 

That would've been a great team. I watched a lot of Cawood basketball from the early 80's until the mid 90s and he ranks as one of my favorites. The kid played as hard as anyone i've watched.

That's possible. To take that another step, Jones probably wouldn't have left Cawood in 1987 and would have been the coach, which means Michael Jones would have been there. Casey Lester played grade school basketball at Loyall (a Cawood feeder school) and may have also stayed. The team could have looked like this in 1994:

 

PG - Michael Jones

W - Charles Thomas

W - Keith Slone or Casey Lester

F - Todd Cox

C - Boots Smallwood

 

You would have had Quincy Jackson, Paul Mark Spurlock, Joey Swanner and Chris Shackleford, among others, on the bench.

 

Would Eric Hicks have been on that team also?