gymrat94

If you say so, I forgot about Gifford, when he is on there isn't a better point guard in the state when it comes to distributing and scoring

Anything could happen, I don't know if that team could make a run if they get a bad draw. Should be interesting though.

Heard Grimes has a broken hand and Chambless is out with a bad back. Going through rehab now. Shining Stars has a website with their roster (main players are Nic Simpson, Mike Sparks and Arrez Henderson), how did you pick either DS team to beat them without knowing who plays for them? You must be confident in your group.

It will be a good tournament b/c you can't count out the NKy Jazz who won it all last year. I still think Shining Stars and both DS teams will be the favorites, it will depend on the brackets after pool play. It will hurt the Stars not having Grimes or Chambless though. Sparks will carry the load. It is hard to vote against the toughness of Novosel. Portwood and Smart aren't afraid to shoot from anywhere, very streaky though.

As last year, these are not always the top juniors around but merely the group of kids tied into the Derek Smith program. Good for that group to get some experience against the senior allstars but they will be missing a handful of top 15 juniors who don't play with that organization.

Whether you think it is a threat or not, you have to admit that when a kid is playing at a facility with 6 courts and there are over 40 colleges represented it is beneficial to the athlete. A kid may get seen by more coaches in one weekend than he would his whole season at a highschool. Unless you have major potential or have established yourself as a "stud" you are going to have major div-1 coaches walking through your gym. There is so much talent now that coaches prefer to go to a tourny with 30 or 40 teams vs driving/flying a great distance to see one or two players.

No question, overall Szabo does a great job. Ask anyone "involved" in the program and they will tell you that he is a heck of a conditioning coach, defensive specialist and (even though it is methodical at times) runs decent sets. Does he do a great job adapting during a game or find the correct buttons on players to push? I am not going to comment, unless you go to every game and are around kids that play and have played for him you can formulate your own thoughts. But like it was said earlier, he has a proven record so he must be a great coach.

Thought I would get that response. You are correct about the record. It's always on the players though in the responses. If you are close to the program you might have caught on that it is normally the players fault when there is a close game or a loss. If the players would just do what the coaches tell them there would not be any losses, right? Never a result of a coach "freezing" up or just throwing his hands up and shaking his head in disgust while the players are "messing it up". Did you catch the Eastern game by chance? That's all I am saying, if the players AND coach are on the same page they will have a chance.

I believe the coaches (or coach) has to do a better job than what has been done lately to pull this one off, not just Jacobs and the guards.

Good point. What is hard to figure out is why no screens, picks or specific plays are ever ran for shooters. Chambless hits 4 3's all basically with cross-court passes from Jacobs who was being double teamed. Ballard finally put Twanny on Chambless and then in the second half put someone to faceguard even when the ball was 50 ft away. How do you get open yourself on a consistent basis. As I have said before, Doug Beaumont goes through 3 and 4 screens to get a shot. Trinity basically runs plays to isolate Jacobs, which is ok, but after that the guards are on their own. Which is when Ballard overplays and is able to get some steals. Don't get me wrong, Trinity is in every game but if they would run something for a shooter they may win some close ones. Just an opinion.

Trinity handled the tempo fine except for a 3 & 1/2 minute stretch in the third quarter which is usually when Jacobs and Chambless get zero touches. The point guard play usually folds during the third quarter and then shots get thrown up out of panic from everyone other than those who should be shooting. Jacobs loses his cool and trys to take on the load himself. By the time the team settles down it is a ten point game and then baskets are traded, doing no good.

Sounds like you have someone in mind, not someone close to you is it?

They are both Juniors along with Murry. You are right though, I am sure they will be ready in post season. I do think it is ironic how good their guards looked last yr when they had Crutcher to throw it in to and to handle the tough passes. A little different story when the post changes. Decker has been coming off an injury so I am sure that adds to it.

You are right in that Adam Delph would be a bigtime HS player if her were a freshman, but since he is a junior I don't know about that one

Couldn't get Tanner the ball? He had it on plenty of trips, instead of feeling the double, triple and sometimes quadruple teams and passing it to the perimeter he insists on shooting it. He is a beast on the boards, don't get me wrong but when Male's tallest player is 6'2" and Jacobs and Robey combine for 11 points there is something wrong. Both of them should own the boards and have all the put backs they want. What Trinity has to figure out is who are the shooters on the team. With a shoot first point guard who struggles shooting you are going to be in trouble. Going 4-19 against Henry Clay at the pt guard spot and losing in OT is crazy. You have a solid two guard who is avering 15-16 ppg and gets maybe 2 plays ran to him all game. Beaumont has 4,5 and sometimes 6 screens for him and our 2 guard gets 2 plays per game. When your pt guard averages double the shots of Chambless and Jacobs you are going to struggle. Not sure what is going on there.

Final

6'4" tops, very long arms with an impressive body. Can be fierce on the boards when he wants to, has some offensive skills but scores mostly on "bulling" his way to the basket and offensive putbacks. That works in this are for highschool ball but on the national this level struggles b/c it is tough to be a 6'4" power forward/center against strong 6'10" kids. Very tough competitor though. If I remember he only had 4 points, or so, against a smaller Desales team, then he puts up 20 & 14 against J'town, he is a yo-yo right now.

He started all but 4 games last yr for Trinity as a soph, will be a major player this yr for them. Had some serious injuries this summer that he has finally recovered from and has devoted his time to improving his game. Will have a big year this year. Always a top 10 player in his class, ranking only behind Arez Henderson for players less than 6'3" in his class (which has some major players).

DS 16's lost to Indiana Sharks by 10 (due to fouling at the end) who eventually took 2nd. We picked up 3 new kids and had 2 who did not play with us in July, which really hurt the team's chemistry. Tons of talent present in Vegas though. Did not go on to LA this yr. We just couldn't seem to get it going as a unit. Mullaney (Desales) and Chambless (Trinity) had a good tourny. Chambless having 25 (5 3's) against the sharks. Referees very inconsistant, normally one ref calling everything and the other two letting you kill each other. The way it goes though. DS 17's west looked great. Losing to Pump & Run (coached by Jim Herrick) in the semi's by 2 points. Pettigrew's stock through the roof. Johonne, Justin Benadetti and Beaumont looked good. Shooter can tell you more about the East, faired well though. Ty Proffitt chipped a bone in his foot early on and left them with only 7 players. They move the ball well and shoot it nicely. Overachievers for sure, being matched up against teams with large post players. :thumb:

Sounds like it should work that way doesn't it?? Why do you think the kid transferred to Cov Cath? Why do you think there was always a racial issue brought up this yr? Why do you think Niemi was suspended for quoting a few Bible verses? Because Little Johnny is better than Little Freddy (so they think), the kid buys into it and like wild fire it spreads. When you have a team with a lot of equal talent, like Ryle has had over the past few yrs, you have a hard time w/ parents and kids as far as who are the "studs" on the team. Other than Robbie Lykes, and maybe one or two others, there was not a big difference in talent level in that program.

The problem at Ryle is that too many parents have always had an input. Whenever you have an open practice for parents to attend you are asking for trouble b/c little Johnny runs faster than little Freddy in sprints so why isn't he getting more playing time. Niemi has always been a nice family man but unfortunately if you don't let the team and the parents know who is in charge you end the same way he ended up, watching the last game from the stands while your assistant coaches and parents fuss.

Matt Roberts is at Cinc Moeller. I believe he was expecting to have a promising Soph yr and he got a severe ankle sprain coming into the season. I believe he ended up starting a few varsity games at the end of his Soph season. He was not able to play any summer ball (we inquired with his family about doing so) due to, I believe, knee issues. He was going to rehab through the summer and try and get ready for his Jr yr. He has always been a great kid and has a super family. Hope he does well.:thumb:

Simons is a nice player, probably better at football though. The real strength in that team are the new players picked up. The two kids from the N.Ky Royals helped tremendously and the black from Cincy, who plays bigger than what he is, are the true reasons for their accomplishments. Don't get me wrong, the other kids are nice players but until they added the new additions they were not even close to a state AAU contender, except when they had Matt Roberts several yrs ago.

Trinity Jr and DS West 16 & under member, Matt Chambless took a hard fall over the weekend when undercut on a drive. Not being able to catch his fall he landed on his chin and his 2 front teeth hit into the floor, breaking both front teeth off. Luckily his roots weren't damaged and the oral surgeon is confident Matt will be as good as new in time. Devastating for the young man but his spirits are good.

Stripes3, are you able to post the rankings for 2008 players also? If so, thanks.