americanman

After watching Williamsburg play their 2nd game of the season I think that they look very good this year. Senior pitcher, J.T. Shelley, is pitching great and frshman Jared Barton should contribute significantly on the mound. Senior catcher Mark Comparoni looked great behind the plate and has a solid bat. Jacob Teague is getting the job done on 1st. He can move well for a big guy and has a good glove. Hurst, Payne, and Perkins rounded out the infield and all looked good. The Jackets infield is solid and is much stronger than last year with the additions of Comparoni, Perkins, Payne, and Teague. The infield communicates with each other and works together. Barton has a strong bat and will help offensively and defensively. Shelley, Teague, Comparoni, and Conlin are all good solid hitters. Comparoni can also hit it out of the park. The Jackets have a lot of young talent that will continue to improve as the season goes on. Barton, Perkins, and Payne will make fine additions to the team. Coach Stricklin seems to be on his way to a great season.

Both of Williamsburg’s top rebounders played limited minutes due to recent illnesses. You could tell that neither of the boys was at 100% last night. That and the fact that Williamsburg’s guards made a lot of turnovers made a huge impact on the game. IMO the game was officiated horribly. Not that the referees cost Williamsburg the game but they were really bad. In a close game, say between Corbin & South, they could have made a big difference in the outcome.

Losing Teague will certainly be a disadvantage to the Jackets and would be an even greater loss if Coach Robinson would make his guards look inside more. I hate to see the season end on this note for both Teague and Pettit.

Williamsburg lost another close one last night to a team they should have beaten. Again, Williamsburg’s individual talent outweighed Monticello’s but Monticello’s ability to play as a team gave them enough of an edge to win. Selfish guard play reared its ugly head early in the game. Williamsburg had a substantial height advantage with Pettit and Teague underneath the goal but both players were denied the ball on more than one occasion when they were open for a shot and signaling for the ball. Williamsburg’s guard would try to drive to the goal between several Monticello players and turn the ball over or take a bad outside shot selection and turn the ball over. Like I said in a previous post, bad shot selection and selfish play allowed more points for the opposing team than it earned for Williamsburg. Until Coach Robinson gets control over his players it will be hard for Williamsburg to achieve any success on the court. He only went 2 deep from the bench last night and those substitutions were to rest the big men. The rest of the bench never entered the game. The guards were left in the game even though they did not run the plays that Coach Robinson called. Certain players do not understand that it is better to have 10-12 points and a win than to have 20-25 points and a loss. Until this point is made clear Coach Robinson needs to change his “Play As One” slogan to read “Play For Oneself”

I would like to find a good fast pitch camp around the Lexington area. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I didn't get to Pineville to see the game but I did listen to it on the radio. Sounded like it was a great game. Stan Lovitt makes the games with his "Wrap it up in orange" comments and "nothing but nylon". Congratulations to the Jackets and Coach Robinson for a well played game.

Watched the game last night. Williamsburg seemed a bit sluggish. Individually, Williamsburg had more talent than Jellico but Jellico played better as a team. Williamsburg’s defense was not good last night. Foul trouble hurt with both Teague and Pettit going to the bench early. Guards did take a little better shot selection but weren't much help otherwise. Once Williamsburg shoots the ball, instead of following the shot, they all run back down court assuming the shot went in leaving the other team with uncontested rebounds. At least 3 people should be under the goal fighting for the rebound with the other 2 waiting outside to either move down court if Williamsburg doesn't get the rebound or to receive the ball if they do. I didn't understand why at one point both post players were playing outside around the foul line instead of under the goal? Neither of those boys shoots well from the outside plus this left no one under the goal for rebounds. If this was a play, it was not executed well. Some plays do not work well with some teams. I know that the posts are going to fly because everyone will assume that I’m being critical or just an upset parent but that’s not the case. How can the team get better if everyone just pats them on the back and says “Good job, you tried” (which I heard more than once last night)? They need to be able to take some constructive criticism.

I heard that Jerry Perry was being seriously considered for the job. He previously coached at Garrard back in the 90's. He is more than capable to do the job and was well liked.

Everyone that has an opinion is not an upset parent. There are more than parents that watch the games. The player that I'm speaking of is a good player and probably the best shooter/player on the team which is why it's all the more importnt that he play as a member of the team and not just an individual playing for himself. He can use his ability to make the team as a whole better. You can't build a team on one player. What happens if this kid tears his ACL in the next game? Is Williamsburg's season over? I'm just offering some observations. Don't brush off every opinion that you do not agree with and chalk it up to an upset parent.

Could anyone recommend a good fast pitch camp for girls ages 12 and under? Preferably somewhere close to South Eastern Kentucky?

I wear a Williamsburg t-shirt underneath my work shirts, Mr. Fundamental.:lol: I am a real fan of all their athletic programs and their coaches. Cutting Lynn Camp’s margin of victory from 30 points to 9 shows a lot of improvement and beating Barbourville was a great accomplishment. The coaching staff seems to be on the right track. But, they can’t be satisfied with just improving. They have to take hold of these positives and build on them. Williamsburg should have won last nights game. They played well up until the last 3 minutes. The guard cost the team the game. He may have scored a lot of points but he also gave away a lot of points by taking bad shots. You also have to figure in the effect it has on the other team members when you have a player that plays for himself and not for the team. If a player can’t or won’t buy into the team concept, set him down until he gets it in his head that he must play team ball. I guarantee that he will respect you more in the long run and it will make him a better player. You do the kid an injustice when you let him play out of control like that

You do not have to be a coach to see where a team could stand some improvements. I did not mention in my post anything about Williamsburgs coaching staff being young. That has absolutely nothing to do with the point that I made. Every time a post is made on BGP that does not sugar coat the facts and sing Williamsburg’s praises everyone comes out of the woodwork and gets all defensive. Having a place to give and get some constructive criticism is one of the reasons sites like BGP’s exist. Even seasoned coaches can use some outside advice. What they choose to do with that advice is their business. And, just because a player scores a lot of points does not make him/her the teams best player especially when they give up just as many points to their opponent with bad shots and turnovers.

I expect returning players Daniel Pettit and Tyler Rollins to have monster seasons. Both are big, strong players with talent. Returning QB, Ryan Moses, should also perform well this fall. Williamsburg has alot of young talent coming up with Jared Barton added to the team. The Jackets should be a force to contend with for the next couple of years.

Just some observations on the game: Great game for the most part. Selfish guard play cost the Jackets the game. With less than 2 minutes left in the game and a 4-point lead, Williamsburg’s guard basically shot them out of the game. Bad shot selection and not enough rebounding created opportunities for Lynn Camp to make a comeback. Guard drove to the basket with 3 Campers on him, made a bad shot; Lynn Camp got the rebound and scored. Coach needs to get control and force the guards to pass the ball and take better shot selection. This has happened in several other games that I have watched the Jackets play this year. Williamsburg will not win until they play as a team and stop playing selfishly

I don't have a problem with kids playing football. I'm not bad mouthing the kids or football. I only mentioned names to make a point. If you will go back and read my earlier post, I stated that if a kid wants to play football, he has every right to and should and I pointed out that Wburg is a small school and has to share the athletes. I don't like hearing people complain about the kids being in football either. My point is only that playing football does not make you a better basketball player. The skill sets are independent of each other. I just felt like you were trying to defend a kid playing football when you shouldn't have to. The reason Frazier and Petit (both are great kids) were more physical last year than other kids was not because they played football. Other kids played football and were not as physical on the court. Those two didn't get knocked around as much because they are big, strong kids that are naturally aggressive. Those two would have been more physical than others even if they had not played football.

Yes, I know injuries happen during basketball and I don't want to get into a debate about which sport causes more serious injuries (twisted ankle versus back injury). That was not my point. My point was that playing football does not help basketball. I mentioned exposure to injury as just one reason why. People keep arguing that football will make the kids more physical and that having success will only give them confidence. It is apples and oranges. Playing football does not make a kid more physical or confident on the basketball court. Except for Taylor, who has never lacked in confidence, several of the kids (Petit, Brock, Rains, etc. ) played football last year and I don't recall them being more physical or confident because of it. Thomas Frazier and Root were very good football players and had much success on the football field, but both struggled on the court last year. If Williamsburg is going to be a more physical team, it has to start with Coach Robinson in basketball practice. I heard Skip Prosser say that "It's not what you teach, but what you emphasize". If Coach Robinson wants the team to be more physical, he has to stress it at ever practice and build that mindset from there. It can't be built from the football field. If people are complaining about your kid playing football, tell them to get over it and be happy the football team is doing so well, but don't try and rationalize it by saying that it will make them better at basketball.

I agree with scatterbrain. Them playing football will not help them in basketball when all is said and done. The being physical or toughness was never to my knowledge a question with either of those boys. They are both good size, strong kids. Plus, the basketball team has been lifting weights. They expose themselves to the risk of injury (Think Lebanion from Whitley last year), their skills will be rusty, and they will not have the time to be in sinc with their teammates. To become better basketball players and build a better team, kids have to be in the gym practicing and playing together. The team was short during the summer games a few times due to football players being out and as things stand, the boys team will play their first game in about a week or so and they may not even have these kids back by then. Williamsburg is a much better team with both of these kids in the line up, but basketball is a different type of conditioning than football and it will take them some time to get their game back. I think we will see a lot of mistakes, busted plays, poor timing, etc for the first few weeks from all the players until all of the football players have had some time practicing with their teammates. Fans should be patient with the team. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of the football team for doing so well and I hope they continue to win and if these boys love playing football, then they have every right to play and should play. I'm not bad mouthing football or either of these boys. I know that this is part of being a small school and the different sports have to share the athletes. It's just my opinion that these boys playing football does not help basketball and hurts in many ways.

I heard that Teague from Williamsburg and Crawford from Corbin have both grew quite a bit since last season. Last I heard Crawford was 6'5", maybe 6'6 and the Teague kid was hitting 6"7" at about 195lbs. This should make for an interesting match up on the court. Crawford hasn't been released yet. He goes back to the doctor next month.

No offense intended. I though Taylor and Terry were a bit older.

Williamsburg is said to be a young team again this year but actually they are not all that young. From watching last year, the starting line-up should be made up of mostly juniors with a few sophomores that should be juniors. Plus, because of Williamsburg’s small school size, these juniors and sophomores have been playing varsity ball for awhile now. Technically they have more experience than most seniors who have only saw varsity time in limited quantities. I am a fan of the Williamsburg team and I wish them only the best this season. Good group of kids.

Did the Terry boy play last year? I didn't think Williamsburg had any juniors last season.

I dont think that they have any seniors this year. Will the youth of the team hurt?

Can the KHSAA refile the papers with the correct name?

I read the article in the Times Tribune. Can anyone explain what it meant and what recourse does the KHSAA have now?

Does anyone know the outcome of this case? Has the Judge ruled yet?