What does West Jessamine need to do to improve in 2009/2010? What do they need to keep doing to be successful? Remember, please be constructive.

They just need to keep building. The girls continue to get better each year. It takes time and effort to change a culture.

They have the coach in place to get them headed in the right direction.

They have been headed in the right direction. The girls that chose to put in the time have gotten better at every level, they were just very young. You have to understand where they came from. You have had classes the last years that never experienced any success until high school. You can't say that anymore though. The girls are competing at the ms now and have for 3 years. My neice had not won a game in middle school for 3 years. They barely even competed. Her class won their first game her freshman year now she is a senior. They have worked hard over the summers and preseasons every year.

They have the coach in place to get them headed in the right direction.

 

Agree 100%

They have been headed in the right direction. The girls that chose to put in the time have gotten better at every level, they were just very young. You have to understand where they came from. You have had classes the last years that never experienced any success until high school. You can't say that anymore though. The girls are competing at the ms now and have for 3 years. My neice had not won a game in middle school for 3 years. They barely even competed. Her class won their first game her freshman year now she is a senior. They have worked hard over the summers and preseasons every year.

 

Weren't they 3-22 last year?

Yes we lost six seniors the previous year, that were the winningest class in school history with 24 or so wins in four years. The program from 6 -12 grades have won over 60 games in three years where they had only won 20 something in the years before that. Understand that grades 6 - 8 never experienced winning until recently. The bottom line is this program was neglected since it split from East Jessamine in the mid 90's and it will take a while to build. I like the progress that my neice has made and I'm sure the new coach will continue the process, he now has a good nucleus to build around.

Yes we lost six seniors the previous year, that were the winningest class in school history with 24 or so wins in four years. The program from 6 -12 grades have won over 60 games in three years where they had only won 20 something in the years before that. Understand that grades 6 - 8 never experienced winning until recently. The bottom line is this program was neglected since it split from East Jessamine in the mid 90's and it will take a while to build. I like the progress that my neice has made and I'm sure the new coach will continue the process, he now has a good nucleus to build around.

 

The hiring of Coach Thomas was a move in the right direction. I hope that West Jess fans give him time though. That program is not in a very good place right now. The program has been neglected. Also understand that success at the middle school level does not translate to wins at the varsity level and vice versa a losing team in middle school can have success at the JV and varsity levels.

How long do you honestly think Coach Thomas will stay there? You would have to think it would be for a short time....

I would strongly disagree with the program being recently neglected. While I agree it was in the past. I know the staff from middle school up put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to start building a program. They were always in the gym, weight-lifting and conditioning in the spring, playing and practicing in the summer. There are no more girls that lack an understanding of fundementals. You will see a change with the seniors on down this year. Coach Thomas is a very good coach and he has been given girls that now understand the game. As far as wins at the middle school leading to success at the HS levels. I too disagree when losses were from players not being taught to handle the ball, pass, play defense, much less run any plays, press breaks,etc.. They are winning now as a result of practicing those fundementals. Pick any HS program and give them a feeder supplying players that can't dribble, pass, or shoot very well, coupled with expecting to lose, and see how much success they achieve. How long would it take a coach to turn that around? The good thing is that Coach Thomas doesn't have to deal with that, my neice and her teammates are no longer those girls.

Edited November 13, 200916 yr by ColyCrazy

I would strongly disagree with the program being recently neglected. While I agree it was in the past. I know the staff from middle school up put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to start building a program. They were always in the gym, weight-lifting and conditioning in the spring, playing and practicing in the summer. There are no more girls that lack an understanding of fundementals. You will see a change with the seniors on down this year. Coach Thomas is a very good coach and he has been given girls that now understand the game. As far as wins at the middle school leading to success at the HS levels. I too disagree when losses were from players not being taught to handle the ball, pass, play defense, much less run any plays, press breaks,etc.. They are winning now as a result of practicing those fundementals. Pick any HS program and give them a feeder supplying players that can't dribble, pass, or shoot very well, coupled with expecting to lose, and see how much success they achieve. How long would it take a coach to turn that around? The good thing is that Coach Thomas doesn't have to deal with that, my neice and her teammates are no longer those girls.

 

Coly -- Last season West Jessamine went 3-22. Over the last five seasons they are 28-99!!!! Just curious what your definition of neglect is??? The good news is that Coach Thomas is a very good coach, has a proven track record, and will come in and do what needs to be done. I just hope he sticks around long enough to make a difference. The 12th region and the 46th district are better off if west is competitive.

 

As for MS basketball, I agree that if NO fundamentals are being taught at the middle school level, then the losing will continue at the high school level. However winning DOES NOT always transfer up! The reason it doesnt is because neither girls or boys are fully developed physically in middle school. The best basketball team doesn't win in middle school, the tallest or most physically developed does. If you want examples I could provide you with several successful middle school teams that never panned out at the varsity level and vice versa groups that never won in middle school, but turned around and had very successful varsity careers.

My definition of neglect would be that they weren't being taught properly or given the resources to succeed. The problem is unless you were standing at the gym window with me watching what they were doing day in and day out, you are just speculating about a record. And since I didnt see you I should assume that I am correct. My issue is that you are demeaning the efforts of coaches and players that you know nothing about. This program has worked hard the last few years and because of that Coach Thomas is getting a "different" Lady Colt.

My definition of neglect would be that they weren't being taught properly or given the resources to succeed. The problem is unless you were standing at the gym window with me watching what they were doing day in and day out, you are just speculating about a record. And since I didnt see you I should assume that I am correct. My issue is that you are demeaning the efforts of coaches and players that you know nothing about. This program has worked hard the last few years and because of that Coach Thomas is getting a "different" Lady Colt.

 

There is no speculation about the record. 3-22 last season. 28-99 combined record over the last 5 seasons. Now I'm sorry if I have offended you, but when I see a program that has a winning percentage of 22% over a five year period I think its being neglected. Its not like West Jessamine is a small 1A school like Sayre or Burgin, where the athletes are few and far between. Over that 5 year span, every team in the 46th district made it to the regional tournament at least once. Even tiny little Burgin made it a few years ago. Even if they were working, what they were doing didnt help and needed to be changed.

 

Again I hope you are right about Coach Thomas getting a different Lady Colt this season, but I'm quite confident that that program is at least 2-3 years away from being competitive in the 46th district or the 12th region.

No problem Bulldog Chem, I respect your opinion but its one with no foundation. I really wish you new what shape the progam was in 5 years ago. We barely had enough girls come out and few of them focused on becoming good basketball players. We did expect to have good years the last couple but have had some bad luck. 3 years ago 50% of our scoring blew her knee out playing AAU. 2 years ago we again lost our best scorer and pg a year before graduation. Last year with we lost 3 starters to injury on top of 5 seniors. While we are a bigger school that doesn't mean that we have a lot of basketball players, reloading the ranks. We do however have a lot of soccer, volleyball, and softball players playing their hearts out. In recent years the culture has changed and I can see a great difference. Lets not talk about little ol Burgin, they had two of the best players in the region and both at the college level. Try not to demean so much the efforts of others.