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SMC predictions

Oct 16, 2013
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Basketball in the SMC is right around the corner. Curious to what others around the SMC think and are looking forward to this season.

On the boys side I think the top 3 will remain among the top, with hayesville pushing those teams. I think it is evident that cherokee will be considered the front runner with rosman, hayesville, and swain fighting for 2-4. Robbinsville still returns all smc reece adams. Murphy has a new coach but returns their main core and habe some great athletes. Andrews return a couple good players and now have a very experienced coach in maennle that already has several smc titles.

Cherokee looks to be front runner with returning everyone. Mintz and straughn are two really good players and look for them to have a great year. Evans and santa maria are good complements of them. I think lossiah will really break put this year into a nice player. He is a good game controller that passes well and is a solid on ball defender. Plus they will have good depth and look for them to be tough to beat this year.

Rosman returns smc poy Deland Thomas. One of the best players ive seen in the smc for sometime now. His little brother looks to be coming along nice and was a solod scorer for the tigers last year as a freshman. Losing harper reese will be a big blow for them as he has been the engine for their uptempo offense for the past 4 years. Chappel kid is a good athlete and good defender for them as well.

Hayesville will be in good hands with josh cottrell. Look for him and thomas from rosman to battle for poy this year. He is also one of the best players ive seen in tbis conference for awhile as well. His supporting are all mainly back. I look for dwain cook to break out as a nice secondary guy to cottrell.

Swain returns arguably the best big man in the conference in zeke bradley. Very tough matchup for any other big man with his versatility. Brier younce should be a great guard for the devils this year. If they were not so deep last year i think he would have been talked about a lor more. Seth parker is an athletic forward that can rebound the ball well. Although i heard he got hurt in football. Dont know the severity? A lot of talent on jv coming up and look for them to male a difference later on in the season.

Look forward to it!
 
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Don't forget justice day is back for Cherokee avg 20 something a game as a soph two years ago
 
Cherokee was already the favorites in my book, but Justus Day coming back really cements that. This is somebody who scored 32 points in the 5A state finals in Mississippi last year.

Last year the SMC had a lot of parity, but a lot of the teams were young so the overall strength of the league was down. Only Swain and Andrews were really senior-laden teams last year, so I expect that, as everybody has matured another year, there will be a lot of the same type of parity, but with better quality of ball this year. Looking forward to it.
 
Robbinsville seems to have fallen off the map. Did that just happen to coincide with Tommy Johnson leaving?
 
They have never really been a basketball power--at least in boys. They had better success than normal under Johnson, but that was also a really good group of athletes that won a football state title.
 
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I think Rosman will struggle a little. Stewart kid not playing, he was 2 year starter, great Defense guy. Chappell out shoulder surgery until Jan. We have no true point guard. But D. Thomas is a great basketball player. Hopefully we can pull it together. I think it's Cherokee's year in basketball.
 
I will give 1-7 a shot, just to see how wrong I am when February comes:

1. Cherokee--everybody back from conference tourney champs, plus a 20 ppg scorer from 2 years ago came back after a year leading a Mississippi high school to a 5A state runner up finish. Should have very good guard play, should have good quickness and several guys who can hurt you from deep. Lots of experience. Not a lot of height, but Mintz plays a few inches taller than he is.

2. Swain--while Swain was hit hard losing a couple of star players to graduation, they do return a 6-6 center who can play and a few other key role players, and have the conference champion JVs moving up. I don't think they repeat, but they will be very competitive.

3. Hayesville--Yellow Jackets struggled with a very young team early--as you'd expect for a group that lost all but 2 or 3 players from the year before-- but were much improved late in the year last year, pulling a playoff upset and putting a scare into Avery in the second round. They are young again this year--with several freshmen from last year's middle school championship team--but a D1-bound senior point guard and a good frontcourt scoring option in 6-3 JR Cook give them a solid foundation and I expect this year's team to look more like the team people faced late last season.

4. Rosman--Tigers will have a great front court, with the 6-4 reigning conference POY and his 6-2 younger brother bringing back about 40 points a game between them. But good forwards don't matter as much if there aren't the right pieces to take care of the ball and get it to them. Rosman was already going to hurt from losing a PG who was all-conference 2 or 3 times, and now it sounds like they've lost another good guard, so even though the Thomas brothers are very good I'm putting them middle of the pack to see if they have a backcourt step up to match the front court.

5. Murphy--Pretty much everybody back, including a soph PG who is going to be very good. But everybody back from a below-.500 team is hard to predict (did they lose because of youth? Or talent?), plus you throw in a new coach and I am going to be cautious and say they wind up with about the same record as last year.

6. Robbinsville--They will be hard-nosed, and the Adams kid is a load down low--this is the pick I may be the most wrong about, but I think it will be hard to replace Long and Hemphill, who both nearly averaged a double double last year.

7. Andrews--Wildcats graduated the most out of anybody (I believe all but 4 players were seniors last year) and their JV was below .500. All-conference SG Phillips can score, but won't have much experience around him...especially early on if true that only other returning starter (good rebounding center) broke his hand in the last football game. Wildcats have an outstanding freshman class, and will have a few of them on varsity, but might be a year away still.
 
Good job observe. I think your spot on. My Tiger's can go high or low. Depending on point guard situation.
 
Why is the stewart kid not playing this year?
Ok, asked my grandson and he said it was several reasons. 1. He wanted to be more prepared for baseball. I won't say on the msg board the other reasons. But boy was I enlightened. Hate he isn't playing, best defensive player Tigers had returning. All the other kids were offensive minded. But sounds like he had great reasons. Good luck to the rest of the Tiger's.
 
Man this could be special year for the braves . Returning the whole team and adding day will be hard to handle this year. Mintz and Straughn are 20 pt scorers and soph Santa Maria who I’m guessing had to avg double digits as a freshman and lossiah leading the Pack will be fun fun to watch
 
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Ok, asked my grandson and he said it was several reasons. 1. He wanted to be more prepared for baseball. I won't say on the msg board the other reasons. But boy was I enlightened. Hate he isn't playing, best defensive player Tigers had returning. All the other kids were offensive minded. But sounds like he had great reasons. Good luck to the rest of the Tiger's.

I would love to know why he's not playing....
 
Well just heard Stewart kid came out for practice Friday. That's great. At small schools like Rosman we can't afford for kids not to come out.
 
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Don’t over look Andrews. We gift wrapped the game to Hayesville last night. The Wildcats led by double digits all night as much as by 20 points. Shot ourself in the foot late in the 3rd Qtr when we started turning the ball over but still led by 11 going into the 4th. Can’t really explain why or what happened but just started throwing the ball away. Maybe it’s the fact that the starting lineup is 3 Freshman, 1 Junior & 1 amazing senior who was in The Zone last night. Andrews falls to Hayesville by 7 but only because we gave it to them and they know they got a early Christmas present last night
 
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Tigers played Blue Ridge last night. Won big. But I wasn't impressed. We looked good at times and very bad at times. No point guard really hurts. Also need to put your best 5 on the court. I think the coach needs to ask himself are we playing to win? With that said if we make necessary changes could be big year for Tiger's. Time will tale.
 
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Tigers played Blue Ridge last night. Won big. But I wasn't impressed. We looked good at times and very bad at times. No point guard really hurts. Also need to put your best 5 on the court. I think the coach needs to ask himself are we playing to win? With that said if we make necessary changes could be big year for Tiger's. Time will tale.
That seems to be a trend in coaching. Trying to please all the players so that mommy & daddy won’t jump the coach. I’m sorry. You put your best on the court and substitute as needed and with the best available from the bench. You play to win not to have participation awards. We have a excellent coach and a very good youthful team. We will grow as the season goes on but when you have Hayesville down by 18 for 3qtrs you have to close out. Hayesville has a team with everything going through the coaches son. Close him down or just slow him down and they are very beatable. They are not the 3rd best in the conference. If they are we have a weak conference this year. I think it’s going to be a tight conference battle for 2nd on down with Cherokee dominating after they get over football. Just my opinion. Good luck to the Tigers
 
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Totally agree Wildcat. It's hard to watch games, when you see kids on bench that play 100 % better than kids that started. I was so disgusted, don't know if I will go back and watch, but I know I will still have to support. I was in shock one kid started that has never touched a basketball, and it showed. He took first 6 shots of game. I think our best player did not get ball until end of 1st quarter. I mean when the offense doesn't run thru your conference player of the year, something is wrong. I know just about everyone in that gym sat there with jaws hanging open.
 
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We will grow as the season goes on but when you have Hayesville down by 18 for 3qtrs you have to close out. Hayesville has a team with everything going through the coaches son. Close him down or just slow him down and they are very beatable. They are not the 3rd best in the conference. If they are we have a weak conference this year. I think it’s going to be a tight conference battle for 2nd on down with Cherokee dominating after they get over football. Just my opinion. Good luck to the Tigers

I agree that it will be Cherokee then everyone else. Andrews looked good when they could turn over their half court offense, but have a long way to go dealing with pressure. But they are an extremely young team and that comes with experience--the game will slow down as the season goes along. Hayesville was kind of the opposite. Looked very stagnant when it was a half court game but better and more balanced when they were able to turn up the tempo in the 2nd half. One stray observation is that I counted 8 freshmen playing quality minutes in that game (4 for each team) which makes me think both teams are going to improve a lot from what was seen last night.
 
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I agree that it will be Cherokee then everyone else. Andrews looked good when they could turn over their half court offense, but have a long way to go dealing with pressure. But they are an extremely young team and that comes with experience--the game will slow down as the season goes along. Hayesville was kind of the opposite. Looked very stagnant when it was a half court game but better and more balanced when they were able to turn up the tempo in the 2nd half. One stray observation is that I counted 8 freshmen playing quality minutes in that game (4 for each team) which makes me think both teams are going to improve a lot from what was seen last night.
Your absolutely right. A lot of young players for both and the game will slow down for them as the season goes on. Coach Maennle will have this all worked out by the next game. I see a lot of close games throughout the conference this year. It was also nice to see the Andrews fans back in full force like the old days. The future looks bright but Andrews will make a lot of noise this season
 
Well maybe you can catch us early our whole team plays football but one player. Gonna be some rust early for sure but I think we are gonna be loaded
 
Tigers beat Swain tonight. What a game. I think total fouls in boys game was 50 plus. No joke. They called anything and everything. I felt bad for both teams, really couldn't play ball. We traded free throws the whole time. But on a side note Thomas brothers looking good, Stewart kid playing great D , Whitmire did better at point guard, Coach did much better job about subs. I still don't agree with starting 5 thou.
 
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Heard the Swain Robbinsville game had over 70 fouls were called . What is wrong why does an official think anyone wants a game like that. Big win for rosman . That’s a huge start for conf
 
Heard the Swain Robbinsville game had over 70 fouls were called . What is wrong why does an official think anyone wants a game like that. Big win for rosman . That’s a huge start for conf
Thanks Braves. Good way to start conference. We were told same thing about Swain/Robbinsville game. Swain coach told me same refs. I will say they were consistent. Both teams had tons of fouls. Has Cherokee got to play yet, I know most of there team is playing football?
 
Don’t over look Andrews. We gift wrapped the game to Hayesville last night. The Wildcats led by double digits all night as much as by 20 points. Shot ourself in the foot late in the 3rd Qtr when we started turning the ball over but still led by 11 going into the 4th. Can’t really explain why or what happened but just started throwing the ball away. Maybe it’s the fact that the starting lineup is 3 Freshman, 1 Junior & 1 amazing senior who was in The Zone last night. Andrews falls to Hayesville by 7 but only because we gave it to them and they know they got a early Christmas present last night

I guess your observation is based on the side of the gym you sit on. Hayesville might say they came out like a deer in the headlights(7 players in their first ever SMC varsity game, on the road no less) and they settled down found their composure and made plays when they had to. But the future is bright for both. Both have lots of freshmen. While HHS is losing the best guard in school history(IMO) they will add a smooth point guard and a talented 5 man (6’5”, dunks in traffic) from their middle school next year.
 
I guess your observation is based on the side of the gym you sit on. Hayesville might say they came out like a deer in the headlights(7 players in their first ever SMC varsity game, on the road no less) and they settled down found their composure and made plays when they had to. But the future is bright for both. Both have lots of freshmen. While HHS is losing the best guard in school history(IMO) they will add a smooth point guard and a talented 5 man (6’5”, dunks in traffic) from their middle school next year.
True, true, I guess we see it in on own way. Lol. Hopefully we will get better as the season goes on. Your two middle school players are very talented. Are they two of the ones that were held back a year ? I didn’t know the one was 6’5. Dang he must have had a growth spurt from last year. I see a lot of close battles in the SMC this season
 
I guess your observation is based on the side of the gym you sit on. Hayesville might say they came out like a deer in the headlights(7 players in their first ever SMC varsity game, on the road no less) and they settled down found their composure and made plays when they had to. But the future is bright for both. Both have lots of freshmen. While HHS is losing the best guard in school history(IMO) they will add a smooth point guard and a talented 5 man (6’5”, dunks in traffic) from their middle school next year.
Dunks in traffic. That's awesome, but I was thinking the same as wildcat. That kid had a growth spurt.
 
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I believe it is the JV quarterback, who looked about that height this fall. Andrews v. Hayesville should be quite the rivalry for a few years. I think Andrews' 9th grade class is better--but Hayesville has a lot more in the classes behind them.
 
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I believe it is the JV quarterback, who looked about that height this fall. Andrews v. Hayesville should be quite the rivalry for a few years. I think Andrews' 9th grade class is better--but Hayesville has a lot more in the classes behind them.

Correct about Hayesville. This kid is the real deal in the 8th grade. You give Coach Cottrell one or two super athletes and you got your hands full. He will outcoach everyone in the SMC!
 
Andrews will exceed everyone's expectations for this year... wouldn't be surprised if they don't give a lot of teams a run
 
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I believe it is the JV quarterback, who looked about that height this fall. Andrews v. Hayesville should be quite the rivalry for a few years. I think Andrews' 9th grade class is better--but Hayesville has a lot more in the classes behind them.
McTaggart (the JV quarterback) was a 8th grader this year? for some reason I thought he was a freshman. If the McTaggart kid is the basketball player being referenced here, I would guess he's 6'3 or 6'4. I don't think he is 6'5 simply because #72 for Murphy's JV is about 6'5 and he did not look quite as tall as him, but he's close.
 
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Sam how can you can he will out coach anyone . He had a division 1 player in the smc last year and almost finished last. Cherokee beat them by 50+ both times
 
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