#4 THOMASVILLE AT #1 HAYESVILLE 7 PM
#6 BESSEMER CITY AT #2 WS PREP 6 PM
#6 BESSEMER CITY AT #2 WS PREP 6 PM
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ROUND 4 1A WEST BOYS
- Thread starter Hon Dines
- Start date
Big congrats to Ann Ferguson at Tville! I’m assuming she’s the first female coach to take a men’s team to the Elite 8.
Good for BC. I know their coach was really high on this team coming into the season. Good luck to them the rest of the way.
No seniors either, should be very very good next year if they can hold on to their kids.
And there is the problem in 2022. The last two rounds they’ve beaten teams (North Rowan and Mount Airy) that got hurt by losing a star player to the basketball factories.
The crazy thing is how little it seems to matter. You can’t tell me the kid that left Starmount a few years couldn’t still have gone to Erskine or the kid that left Pine Lake couldn’t still have gone to Emory and Henry if they’d stayed home, meanwhile kids from small rural schools were signing with UNC, State, and Kansas last year.
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Hayesville is locked in right now, going to be hard to beat even for the charters and basketball mills. Ashe is so composed, unbelievable hoops IQ. McTaggart? He is virtually unguardable at this level down low and so fluid athletically for a 6'6 235 lb kid.
McTaggart is the only SMC player I've seen in my time (not old enough to have watched Pickens but those that did say he was D1 level had he chose hoops) that I'm certain could've made it as a D1 player. McTaggart chose football but make no mistake he could've played D1 in hoops had he went that route.
McTaggart is the only SMC player I've seen in my time (not old enough to have watched Pickens but those that did say he was D1 level had he chose hoops) that I'm certain could've made it as a D1 player. McTaggart chose football but make no mistake he could've played D1 in hoops had he went that route.
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WS Prep 58 Bessemer City 54 Final
I mean I can think of guys from Cherokee, Hayesville, Rosman and Andrews (and Cullowhee when they existed and were in the SMC) who’ve all played D1, but I think it is fair to say he would’ve had the chance to be the biggest impact D1 player if he had pursued basketball as his primary focus.
Jackets will need to take care of the ball more like they did in the second half instead of the first half, because Prep will be a level up from Thomasville, but should be a great game.
I guess I should've clarified, when I said "made it" I'm talking true D1 starter or rotation material, not kids who walk on and earn scholarships, kids who start out at a D1 and end up transferring to lower levels because they couldn't cut it, etc.
I mean no disrespect to some of the guys you are referencing by saying that, some really good players in that crop and I know a few of them got some legitimate minutes for a D1 program but none that I can think of off the top of my head besides McTaggart, that I believe was legit D1 quality during my time of watching.
As far as Cullowhee, I know they had a rich tradition in hoops and some players, but again that's before my time. I know Andrews had a baller or two in the 80's too.
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Agreed, Hayesville was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball in the 1st Q especially, but I thought they mostly righted the ship after that.
Took some time to adjust to thomasville speed
I think he would still be a little undersized for the position he would play, but he's similar sized to Jackson Simmons when he was coming out of Smoky Mountain, and Jake is a more explosive athlete and has more range (although Simmons' motor was pretty much in a league of its own). It can be almost impossible to define what a D1 player is when you consider walk-ons, PWOs, people who later transferred down for whatever reason, the huge gap between a UNC and a UNCA...I'll just say he's the most dominant player I've ever seen in the SMC. And that he made a smart choice because every coach wants a 6-6 tight end but not every coach wants a 6-6 PF--but that if he could have found a coach that didn't mind undersized posts and was a good fit, I think he could have been a D1 scholarship rotation guy.
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Jake is definitely a better athlete than Simmons was and like you said a better shooter too. Simmons was a workhorse and completely maximized his ability. I think Jake would've been more than just a rotation guy had he completely devoted himself to hoops, I'm convinced he could've been one of the top few guys on a Big South, SoCon level team as an upperclassmen.
I'm not saying Jake would've been as good as him at all but a guy playing college ball right now that Jake reminds me of little is David Roddy of Colorado State, Jake is a little taller even honestly. Jake isnt the passer Roddy is nor do I do think he has Roddy's hoops IQ (which is incredible) but Jake has a better stroke. Both have a velvet touch around the basket, are tenacious rebounders and are great athletes for big bodied undersized 4 men.
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