Submitted by bulldogfan on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 15:29.
When they were here in the eastern panhandle they played the bench against Sherando. Maybe he was either sending a message or the fact that even though you are crushing a team you can still play the starters because they need to still play to get better. they may need to work on certain offensive or defensive sets that will prepare them for later in the season
on your #1 ranking. You will have a tough contest Friday at #7 University. This should be an exciting game. I am sure University is disappointed coming off of their loss to #5 Nitro.
Submitted by north-south on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 22:18.
After watching the North Marion girls play a couple times this season I really feel that they have a great chance to go un-beaten in the regular season. They have beat Morgantown and Nitro both by 10 points and after a lot of talk of Musselman would give them a game, North beat them easily. North should go through the regular season without losing. Granted they still have Morgantown and University again along with Park South twice, but I feel they will go into the state tournament undefeated. Then at states, of course anything can happen...North will have to be able to hit the outside shot since they lack size in the post.
Yes your right our game with University on Friday should be a good one. We should be able to run the break in that huge gym if we can rebound the basketball. Hopefully on Friday we will shoot the 3 ball like we are capable of doing, the girls have not shot the three very well so far this year.
I think it is good to be no.1, gives the girls a sense of where they are, and what is expected of them. We would not be in that situation if Morgantown had not beat South. I thought you all would match up well against them and cause them to have some turnovers as you did. What I can't believe is how Park South still got 3 first place votes and were rated ahead of Morgantown, amazing...
I have had a chance to see all the top teams play with the exception of Huntington and I think North, Morgantown and Park South are all solid top 5 teams and are the favorites along with Huntington to win it all. What separates North, Motown, and South is the fact that they all play good team basketball which I have not seen out of the other top teams I have watched. I have seen so many players force up bad shots when they had wide open teammates to pass to. Numerous good players with terrible attitudes. In my opinion this all goes back to coaching and discipline.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Fri, 01/09/2009 - 11:08.
"What separates North, Motown, and South is the fact that they all play good team basketball which I have not seen out of the other top teams I have watched. I have seen so many players force up bad shots when they had wide open teammates to pass to. Numerous good players with terrible attitudes. In my opinion this all goes back to coaching and discipline." This is so true. Too many teams rely on a couple players to do everything. Teams need to realize that when everyone gets better and contributes it makes the game easier for everyone. The stars don't have to work as heard on either end, they all gain confidence in each other and become very hard to stop. Teams that only have a couple stars might struggle when they have bad nights because the stars will force up shots or those that aren't using to scoring or being responsible won't handle the pressure. But everyone has to realize its still early. I do think those are the top teams right now but I think we'll know a little more further into the season.
Submitted by Big Apple on Fri, 01/09/2009 - 14:33.
From what I have heard all of the top in state teams have a team that plays together virtually year round. Whereas from what I know in the EP area these girls play on several different teams for AAU or travel ball.I think it is advantageous for players,once they reach high school to play on the same team year round. Girls learn their roles and compete to get playing time. I look at the Applemen roster and I see kids that play AAU ball ,but for 2 or 3 different teams. Then mix in with that the fact that some of the players in our top 6 or 7 rotation DONT EVEN PLAY AT ALL due to playing other sports in the summer or just lack of drive.So, what happens is like in our case last year the 2 star players Lacey and Nikki have to play well because the other girls are not as battle tested or cannot compete with NM,Ps etc. I look at Martinbusrg and Hedgesville and Jefferson,I see the same things in their box scores just like Musselman. The benches are not even dependable against weak teams,how can a coach put them in against upper echelon teams? When I coached,I went with my best. Its a no win for a coach if he has lack of bench. If the star players shoot and are cold,he gets blamed for not playing team ball. BUT if the star players are hot and they win easily or beat good teams,people say they need to share the ball. I go back to what Phil Jackson said when the Bulls were winning championships.He said he was gonna ride Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and depend on them to score most of the points and the role players have to play their role.He won how many titles? Now in the case of PS ,NM and the "top teams" I have not seen them but from what I can gather they have 9-10 girls that can play,with no real superstar. If thats the case,thats how they have to win,with depth. But up here in the EP teams don;t have depth and you cannot force them to have it within a few months of a high school season. That has to be developed over the offseason by PLAYING TOGETHER.Then maybe the star players will trust their teammates once they have success. I would venture to say that even the PS or NM coach would tell you that if he had a Star player that was a divsion 1 caliber player,he would probably let that girls shoot5-10 shots a game more than the other equally talented players. And teams with 2 really good players have won the state title before. Hornbuckle and Renee Montgomery played on the same team and won 3 titles,despite the fact no other girl on their team was a real threat to score. I coached against them one year,I saw it first hand.In the end,the team with the best chemistry, overall talent and a little luck with good coaching will win.But their are instances when 2-3 talented players have to and can carry a team to the title. Just my opinion.
yea they definetly r but they got to beat John Marshall first on wednesday No game is a given we all know that.....but they are practicing hard and will be ready.....=)
The game was over at the end of the 1st quarter. But my question is why does the coach use the bench more? I came early and seen some good talent that played on the JV but did not get into the Varsity game until the 3rd and 4th quarters.
I have seen Morgantown, Unversity and Parkersburg South play this season and they all use more of their bench at various times during the game then North Marion. During the summer and fall I seen North Marion play and the coach would use the bench more. From my understanding these are the same players that played then.
There are alot of factors that you need to take into consideration when and how to sub. North's bench players played more against Sherando because there was no JV game and those kids traveled 3 hours. Now does that guarentee them playing time, no I dont think so but it should be a factor.
Against Musselman they played less but enough in my opinion. No travel and they did play a JV Game. You have to consider this, North will not play another game until next Friday at University so the top 7 or 8 players need that playing time.
As far as Morgantown using its bench more, I dont agree in whole with that. Collins has always played a 7 and 8 girl rotation(as I would do) and normally does not clear his bench until the final minutes/seconds, I have witnessed this several times. What you are seeing at Motown this year is a case where he is not sure of his 6,7,and 8th players, he is still searching and may not find a huge difference between the 7th to 10th player. I think University is struggling to find the right combination of players. Park South has always played 8-10 players, it is his coaching style, but you will see in tight games that becomes an 8 man rotation.
North has 12 fine basketball players, but the top 8 are ahead of the bottom 4 who split time on JV and do a good job for both the JV and the Varsity. As a Coach it is impossible to keep everyone happy, no matter what you do you are going to be criticized by someone.
I coach alot of the girls at North in the spring and summer, they play on our North Marion Slashers Team and I can tell you this, there is not a finer group of young ladies in the whole country. And its true late summer and fall we added more of the Huskies to our team and they also would fall into this catagory. But coaching in the off season is different. I would not invite a girl to be a part of our team and not play them. Summer ball is used to improve for the High School season and I think all the North girls improved over the summer.
Now with that said I can assure anyone reading this that if I was coaching the High School Team I would do very little different than Coach P. I would probably be taking more heat than him for playing time and lopsided scores. Because of North's mandated conference schedule there will be many more one sided games and a Coach can not prepare his players for a state tournament run while they are setting on the bench for 2 quarters. It is as simple as that.
I hope this was Musselman's JV Team that got beat by single A St. Marys. If not Musselman will be in for alot of sadness when they play North Marion and Nitro.
North defeated Morgantown tonight by 10. Neither team played that great but it was a competitive game. I think both North and Morgantown are top 5 teams. Park South looks good early on and Huntington will be very good. Nitro, University, Princeton and Martinsburg are the other teams I look for to compete for the title.
Musselman actually stepped up and played two games at the Hoops Classic. They filled in for another Panhandle team and played Summers County also. Because of the 5 quarters a day rule Musselman played short handed both games so that explains how they could lose to St. Marys, my bad.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 10:46.
It's ok cougars we all make mistakes. I learned something new about the 5 quarter rule when i read what happened to Musselman. And i'd have to agree with your choices for teams in contention. Huntington has a lot of good players several of which played on the WV Thunder a Div 1 AAU team. I hope to see North Marion play. If i don't go to Morgantown I'll check them out when they play Musselman.
North Marion did not cave at the States, they were an inexperienced group of girls who gave all they had in a game that they were not prepared to play. As far as North going undefeated this year they have all the talent in place to do so, returning every starter from last years 23-2 team. But the coaching staff at North is once again setting this team up to fail, making unnecessary changes in the players roles, for example running off three year letterman, attempting to fix things that are not broke, and I could go on and on. Why do they do this, well my guess would be to draw attention to themselves. This team could be coached by anybody and if the right combination of players are used they would win 20 games, and I mean anybody. There is a good reason why North only has one senior this year, lets hope that trend does not continue next year.
My prediction for North this year after witnessing and hearing what is going on with the team is a 17-5 year and a loss in the Regionals to University. Sorry North it looks like no state tournament this year, maybe 2011?
I WENT AND SEEN YOUR TOP TEAMS AND YOU
HAD NORTH MARION #1 AND NOW YOU SAY THEY
WILL LOSE 3 OR 4 GAMES. I THINK THAT YOU
DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT NORTH AND THEY WILL
NOT GET BEAT BY MUSS YOU WILL SEE HOW GOOD
THEY ARE THIS YEAR.
Submitted by The ville on Fri, 11/28/2008 - 23:00.
Musselman could win this game.North Marion will have the home court which means alot. I see Musselman winning 16-17 games this year. I see the Eagles winning 15-16 and Martinsburg in the 15-16 range as their schedule is very tough.Jefferson I see winning 12 games maybe.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 11:17.
I'd have to agree with those amounts I'm not sure how Musselman, Martinsburg and Hedgesville will split with each other and not sure what type of competition they will face at the various tournaments. But i'd say those win totals sound about right. I'm not sure Musselmans will be that high though because i'm not sure they can beat Martinsburg or Hedgesville so I'd put them down around the 13 range and martinsburg hedgesville around 16-17
Submitted by The ville on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 11:52.
As far as matchups,for what I know without seeing thus far I feel The Eagles definetly matchup better with Musselman. Musselman is very similar size and talent wise at the guard position. It will be very tough for us to matchup with Robinson and Brewer as last year we could not stop Robinson.Musselman will be tall like us with Boarman and Shirley while they have Erica Manor back with Marsh and Nikki.Its hard to get a read right now. Some teams get better as the season goes and some stay the same. Last year,it seemed we played our best at the middle of the season when we beat Jefferson.Then we laid an egg bigtime in the playoffs,nearly losing to a Martinsburg team we handled with ease in the season and then didnt show up at all and were dominated by Marshall in the playoffs.I think its all about who plays best at the end.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 12:41.
Yea I understand and Martinsburg was terrible last year. Infighting, terrible offense. It was a shame to watch. But they got rid of a few bad apples and they seem to really be getting along this year. I hope an injury doesn't occur to any of the players on any of the teams. That way we can really know who the better teams are. And yea usually for most teams by the 10-13 game they should be playing their best ball because they would know the plays and each other. I forgot about Manor for Musselman.
Submitted by 3pointplay on Fri, 11/28/2008 - 17:55.
Yes I do believe that North is a very good team and I would rank them #1 (on talent) but.......
the coach is average at best and they do play a tough schedule. As for the Muss game, I have
watched this group of Muss girls since they were in 7th grade and it will be a game for about a half.
NM will drop a 10 point game on this one.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Wed, 12/03/2008 - 14:00.
I can't wait to see the results of the Musselman and Jefferson games depending on how those games go will let me know how good North Marion is since I don't know a lot about that area of the state. Musselman and jefferson are the 3rd and 4th best teams in the EP so if they are close or beat North Marion then that would bode well for Hedgesville and Martinsburg since many on the board say that North Marion is very good
North will pound Musselman and Jefferson, just like they beat Martinsburg by 35 to 40 each time they played last year. North will be playing in the Musselman Tournament but I dont think Musselman will beat Nitro so we will have to wait until they come to North before that beating takes place.
As far as Jefferson is concerned they are not nearly as good this year and I dont look for that game to be to competitive. I watched Jefferson and Hedgesville play last year and unless Hedgesville has brought in some new recruits they will not compete with the Lady Huskies.
Now to Martinsburg, North could have beat them by 60 last year, but I thought the Bulldogs really underachieved so I already expected them to be alot better this year and with the addition of the Brewer girl they should be one of the top teams, I would think. If a North v/s Martinsburg game would take place at states it should be a good one.
Just to let you know a little about the North Central part of the state, North Marion, Morgantown, and University all will have very strong teams this year.
I doubt that Musselman will beat Nitro which they will have to do to play North on Tuesday. My guess would be North will play Nitro in the Championship, but I could be wrong. I know Nitro loss to an average South Charleston team earlier. I would also prefer Nitro to win so we dont have to play Musselman in back to back games.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Thu, 12/04/2008 - 11:11.
Thanks for the info cougar. Hopefully I won't be too busy and I can get out to the Musselman tournament if i don't travel to morgantown for martinsburgs. And yea Martinsburg was abysmal last season but they have a couple new additions but mainly subtracted several of the problem players from last year and so far they are playing well together and with teams not able to load up on Robinson because of Brewer that should help as well. I can't wait to see North play with all the hype they get on the board. I enjoy seeing good teams play.
Submitted by The ville on Wed, 12/03/2008 - 22:41.
I would have to disagree with Hedgesville being better or so much better than Musselman and Jefferson.Hedgesville has an easier schedule than the other 3 so the record may get misleading. I just hope our seniors (Brittany,Bekah,etc) have a fun senior year.Losing can wear on a team.
As for Martinsburg, I think they will be very good and nobody will beat them by 30 this year.On the schedule it shows Martinsburg in the Morgantown Holiday tournament with Parkersburg South so that will give an early indication of if they are good enough to do anything outside of the panhandle.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 14:11.
Hmm after looking over the various teams in the EP I don't see any of them beating Martinsburg. Jefferson is trying to talk smack already about Marshall shutting down Brewer but they don't have anyone to match up with Robinson. So far I don't see any challenges to Martinsburg in the area which is sad because they will need to play tough competition before the states. I know many of the players have been playing AAU ball and have had tough games there but they were on different squads so they need to learn how to dig deep as a high school team. Most of the teams are too slow to keep up with Martinsburgs team speed or don't have enough offensive weapons.
Submitted by Big Apple on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 20:55.
After reading comments on this board,I would like to offer up some thoughts. I have seen all of the teams except Jefferson.But I know all or most of the kids on all of the Berkeley teams. First of all,I hope other teams continue to write off the Applemen.They will be shocked to see how good we are and will get.Henderson is a good young guard that will surprise along with Stambaughand Nikki Stephenson gets very little accolades,yet she is a 2x all state pick.We have the most senior laden club which means alot. I agree however that no team up here matches Martinsburgs 2 scorers. Robinson is even better this year with the running mate Brewer,who has already committed to VCU. They are a hard matchup.They have 2 wildcards besides the 2 "big dogs".They are Hill and Rodgers. If you man them up,it is hard to find 2 players good enough to stop the big dogs one on one AND stop Hill. If you zone them,they bring in Rodgers who has hit a ton of 3's already.Martinsburg and Musselman are equally deep on the bench.Hedgesville has some size and shooters,but lacks ballhandlers,which will kill them against the Musselman and Martinsburg pressure.Jefferson ,who knows for sure? They have Marshall and Clinton,but are young everywhere else.Seems to me if you stop Marshall,you pretty much will take away their punch and this year they have no player that can step up and score 15-20 like Danno or Diehl last year.Coaching edge goes to Merica at Hedgesvillewith Diehl a close second.Marsh and Mackey are a toss up.The jury us still out somewhat on Mackey because of what he inherited last year.He made big changes plus has alot more talent so give him a season.Marsh had the team to beat in my opinion last year,but whiffed in the playoffs,plus he has been coaching longer and has established his system.Perhaps after this year,we can revisit who is the better coach.In short,the season will be fun,don;t count us out!
Submitted by bulldogfan on Thu, 12/04/2008 - 11:46.
What other teams are in the Morgantown Holiday tournament other than Martinsburg and Parkersburg South? And no I don't see anyone beating them by 30. Yes they are beatable but most of their losses will probably be within 10 pts
I guess that question must be addressed towards me since I am the only one who commented on it. I simply stated that I did not like the fact that a team could go to the State Tournament with a loss. Then could very likely face the team that beat them in the section at the states, that does not make sense to me. The two teams could end up 1 and 1 against each other in the post season with the team getting the second chance crowned as Champion, not a good set up. Takes away from the importance of the sectional championship. And I can assure you I am not afraid for North to play the other sections number 2 or 1 whoever it may be.
In the new tournament alignment the Champion of one section plays the runner up of the other section within the region. The winner of these two games goes to the states. So for instance North wins its section with Fairmont West Runner up. Morgantown wins it section with University runnerup. North would play University and Morgantown would play West with the winners of these two games going on to the state tournament. It would be possible for all the teams at the state tournament to have a loss in the post season. Thats what I do not like about the new alignment.
Submitted by ehsportsfreak on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 20:25.
y are some of you against it! it makes it fair.. without that setup it is possiblefor the 2nd best team in the conference to be setting at home.. it makes things more fair.. apparently those people don't believe enough in their school and are afraid the other sides number 2 will beat them
Submitted by bulldogfan on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 11:21.
I'd have to agree with ehsports say for instance you have the top 2-3 teams in the state in one area is it really fair for only 1 of them to get to go to state while teams in a weaker area get to go?
Yeh, WVU329 you are right about the new regional setup. It will definitely make Norths path to the state alot harder no doubt. This may be the toughest region in the state with North, Morgantown and University. I see these three teams all in the top Eight if not higher.
I liked the old set up better, dont like the idea of being able to lose a tournament game and still make it to Charleston, just my opinion. Whoever wins your section this year will should make it to states, the other regional game will be a battle thats for sure. Bottom line though is every team has a chance, what more could you ask for....
North has a tough schedule which includes these teams which I think could all be top ten:
Parkersburg South 2 games home/away
Morgantown 2 games home/away
University 2 games home/away
MUSSLEMAN at Home
Jefferson at Home
Plus the Park South Holiday Tourney: North, WW, Park South and Nitro.
I wish we played Huntington during the season, but we dont. We dropped Martinsburg this year so we could strengthen our schedule and now with the transfer they could be one of the elite teams in AAA, but who knew.
We were young last year, and will be again this year with only 2 seniors but I think last years experience will mean alot. So to answer your question I dont think we will cave come tournament time. Some of our girls have played over 120 games since March with more than half of these games against very good competition. North will be ready and prepared to make that state title run.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 13:24.
Well so far seems like North Marion is putting the pedal to the metal and blowing teams out early. Averaging 95 a game is very good so far. Even against inferior competition thats impressive. So far Martinsburg is scoring 90 not sure if the competition level is similar though. The teams we've played may not be as good as those played by North but those two games thus far send a statement to the rest of the state that North will be one to reckon with. Well that and the #2 ranking
The two teams North has played so far were not very good. Buchannon has a long way to go and GW is a little short handed early in the season and should get better as players come back, but they were not very good the day they played the Huskies. North's first test will be Wednesday at home against Morgantown. It will also be Morgantowns first tough game. This game should set the stage for an entertaining season in the NCAC.
Submitted by bulldogfan on Wed, 12/31/2008 - 09:42.
After watching North Marion in the Musselman tournament against a very inferior Sherando team I was still very impressed. It seems like all of the girls are very talented and I was greatly impressed by their willingness to pass and find the open man. Their defense isn't the greatest but once they get the board and start the break they are very good. They are good shooters and athletic. they are probably about 9 deep I definitely wouldn't say they could have 2 squads but their bench is good and could have beat Sherando without the starters. they will drop a couple games but I don't see them being ranked lower than 3 all season. Byard is a good passer and is athletic and gifted offensively she still needs to work harder on defense but she is a D-1 talent. If north doesn't win it this year I think they can definitely do it next year since they are mostly made up of 10th graders
Submitted by 3pointplay on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 06:47.
North Marion will be a very solid team , but they will take an L against Motown, Muss. and W.W. this year. Might be the best team in the state with 3 or 4 L's.
When they were here in the
When they were here in the eastern panhandle they played the bench against Sherando. Maybe he was either sending a message or the fact that even though you are crushing a team you can still play the starters because they need to still play to get better. they may need to work on certain offensive or defensive sets that will prepare them for later in the season
Congrats NM
on your #1 ranking. You will have a tough contest Friday at #7 University. This should be an exciting game. I am sure University is disappointed coming off of their loss to #5 Nitro.
North Undefeated
After watching the North Marion girls play a couple times this season I really feel that they have a great chance to go un-beaten in the regular season. They have beat Morgantown and Nitro both by 10 points and after a lot of talk of Musselman would give them a game, North beat them easily. North should go through the regular season without losing. Granted they still have Morgantown and University again along with Park South twice, but I feel they will go into the state tournament undefeated. Then at states, of course anything can happen...North will have to be able to hit the outside shot since they lack size in the post.
Huskies
Yes your right our game with University on Friday should be a good one. We should be able to run the break in that huge gym if we can rebound the basketball. Hopefully on Friday we will shoot the 3 ball like we are capable of doing, the girls have not shot the three very well so far this year.
I think it is good to be no.1, gives the girls a sense of where they are, and what is expected of them. We would not be in that situation if Morgantown had not beat South. I thought you all would match up well against them and cause them to have some turnovers as you did. What I can't believe is how Park South still got 3 first place votes and were rated ahead of Morgantown, amazing...
I have had a chance to see all the top teams play with the exception of Huntington and I think North, Morgantown and Park South are all solid top 5 teams and are the favorites along with Huntington to win it all. What separates North, Motown, and South is the fact that they all play good team basketball which I have not seen out of the other top teams I have watched. I have seen so many players force up bad shots when they had wide open teammates to pass to. Numerous good players with terrible attitudes. In my opinion this all goes back to coaching and discipline.
"What separates North,
"What separates North, Motown, and South is the fact that they all play good team basketball which I have not seen out of the other top teams I have watched. I have seen so many players force up bad shots when they had wide open teammates to pass to. Numerous good players with terrible attitudes. In my opinion this all goes back to coaching and discipline." This is so true. Too many teams rely on a couple players to do everything. Teams need to realize that when everyone gets better and contributes it makes the game easier for everyone. The stars don't have to work as heard on either end, they all gain confidence in each other and become very hard to stop. Teams that only have a couple stars might struggle when they have bad nights because the stars will force up shots or those that aren't using to scoring or being responsible won't handle the pressure. But everyone has to realize its still early. I do think those are the top teams right now but I think we'll know a little more further into the season.
North,South ,Morgantown
From what I have heard all of the top in state teams have a team that plays together virtually year round. Whereas from what I know in the EP area these girls play on several different teams for AAU or travel ball.I think it is advantageous for players,once they reach high school to play on the same team year round. Girls learn their roles and compete to get playing time. I look at the Applemen roster and I see kids that play AAU ball ,but for 2 or 3 different teams. Then mix in with that the fact that some of the players in our top 6 or 7 rotation DONT EVEN PLAY AT ALL due to playing other sports in the summer or just lack of drive.So, what happens is like in our case last year the 2 star players Lacey and Nikki have to play well because the other girls are not as battle tested or cannot compete with NM,Ps etc. I look at Martinbusrg and Hedgesville and Jefferson,I see the same things in their box scores just like Musselman. The benches are not even dependable against weak teams,how can a coach put them in against upper echelon teams? When I coached,I went with my best. Its a no win for a coach if he has lack of bench. If the star players shoot and are cold,he gets blamed for not playing team ball. BUT if the star players are hot and they win easily or beat good teams,people say they need to share the ball. I go back to what Phil Jackson said when the Bulls were winning championships.He said he was gonna ride Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and depend on them to score most of the points and the role players have to play their role.He won how many titles? Now in the case of PS ,NM and the "top teams" I have not seen them but from what I can gather they have 9-10 girls that can play,with no real superstar. If thats the case,thats how they have to win,with depth. But up here in the EP teams don;t have depth and you cannot force them to have it within a few months of a high school season. That has to be developed over the offseason by PLAYING TOGETHER.Then maybe the star players will trust their teammates once they have success. I would venture to say that even the PS or NM coach would tell you that if he had a Star player that was a divsion 1 caliber player,he would probably let that girls shoot5-10 shots a game more than the other equally talented players. And teams with 2 really good players have won the state title before. Hornbuckle and Renee Montgomery played on the same team and won 3 titles,despite the fact no other girl on their team was a real threat to score. I coached against them one year,I saw it first hand.In the end,the team with the best chemistry, overall talent and a little luck with good coaching will win.But their are instances when 2-3 talented players have to and can carry a team to the title. Just my opinion.
So far I think North Marion
So far I think North Marion is well deserving of their #1 status they are a very talented and disciplined team
yea they definetly r but they
yea they definetly r but they got to beat John Marshall first on wednesday No game is a given we all know that.....but they are practicing hard and will be ready.....=)
tyrone12
Huskies 84 Musselman 29
And this score does not indicate how bad it really was!!!!
Your Correct
The game was over at the end of the 1st quarter. But my question is why does the coach use the bench more? I came early and seen some good talent that played on the JV but did not get into the Varsity game until the 3rd and 4th quarters.
I have seen Morgantown, Unversity and Parkersburg South play this season and they all use more of their bench at various times during the game then North Marion. During the summer and fall I seen North Marion play and the coach would use the bench more. From my understanding these are the same players that played then.
Huskies
There are alot of factors that you need to take into consideration when and how to sub. North's bench players played more against Sherando because there was no JV game and those kids traveled 3 hours. Now does that guarentee them playing time, no I dont think so but it should be a factor.
Against Musselman they played less but enough in my opinion. No travel and they did play a JV Game. You have to consider this, North will not play another game until next Friday at University so the top 7 or 8 players need that playing time.
As far as Morgantown using its bench more, I dont agree in whole with that. Collins has always played a 7 and 8 girl rotation(as I would do) and normally does not clear his bench until the final minutes/seconds, I have witnessed this several times. What you are seeing at Motown this year is a case where he is not sure of his 6,7,and 8th players, he is still searching and may not find a huge difference between the 7th to 10th player. I think University is struggling to find the right combination of players. Park South has always played 8-10 players, it is his coaching style, but you will see in tight games that becomes an 8 man rotation.
North has 12 fine basketball players, but the top 8 are ahead of the bottom 4 who split time on JV and do a good job for both the JV and the Varsity. As a Coach it is impossible to keep everyone happy, no matter what you do you are going to be criticized by someone.
I coach alot of the girls at North in the spring and summer, they play on our North Marion Slashers Team and I can tell you this, there is not a finer group of young ladies in the whole country. And its true late summer and fall we added more of the Huskies to our team and they also would fall into this catagory. But coaching in the off season is different. I would not invite a girl to be a part of our team and not play them. Summer ball is used to improve for the High School season and I think all the North girls improved over the summer.
Now with that said I can assure anyone reading this that if I was coaching the High School Team I would do very little different than Coach P. I would probably be taking more heat than him for playing time and lopsided scores. Because of North's mandated conference schedule there will be many more one sided games and a Coach can not prepare his players for a state tournament run while they are setting on the bench for 2 quarters. It is as simple as that.
Huskies
Thank you well put.
guru15
the jv plays jv and the varsity plays varsity.and playing 2quarters a game is not good for the varsity.so whatever you think is right.
melo15
That's cool.
St. Marys 51 Musselman 42
I hope this was Musselman's JV Team that got beat by single A St. Marys. If not Musselman will be in for alot of sadness when they play North Marion and Nitro.
North defeated Morgantown tonight by 10. Neither team played that great but it was a competitive game. I think both North and Morgantown are top 5 teams. Park South looks good early on and Huntington will be very good. Nitro, University, Princeton and Martinsburg are the other teams I look for to compete for the title.
Musselman plays 2 games at Hoops Classic
Musselman actually stepped up and played two games at the Hoops Classic. They filled in for another Panhandle team and played Summers County also. Because of the 5 quarters a day rule Musselman played short handed both games so that explains how they could lose to St. Marys, my bad.
It's ok cougars we all make
It's ok cougars we all make mistakes. I learned something new about the 5 quarter rule when i read what happened to Musselman. And i'd have to agree with your choices for teams in contention. Huntington has a lot of good players several of which played on the WV Thunder a Div 1 AAU team. I hope to see North Marion play. If i don't go to Morgantown I'll check them out when they play Musselman.
North did not cave at States
North Marion did not cave at the States, they were an inexperienced group of girls who gave all they had in a game that they were not prepared to play. As far as North going undefeated this year they have all the talent in place to do so, returning every starter from last years 23-2 team. But the coaching staff at North is once again setting this team up to fail, making unnecessary changes in the players roles, for example running off three year letterman, attempting to fix things that are not broke, and I could go on and on. Why do they do this, well my guess would be to draw attention to themselves. This team could be coached by anybody and if the right combination of players are used they would win 20 games, and I mean anybody. There is a good reason why North only has one senior this year, lets hope that trend does not continue next year.
My prediction for North this year after witnessing and hearing what is going on with the team is a 17-5 year and a loss in the Regionals to University. Sorry North it looks like no state tournament this year, maybe 2011?
wow
i hate predictions, hope the players dont read this information.....
tyrone12
3pointplay
I WENT AND SEEN YOUR TOP TEAMS AND YOU
HAD NORTH MARION #1 AND NOW YOU SAY THEY
WILL LOSE 3 OR 4 GAMES. I THINK THAT YOU
DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT NORTH AND THEY WILL
NOT GET BEAT BY MUSS YOU WILL SEE HOW GOOD
THEY ARE THIS YEAR.
Musselman will give North Marion all they want
Musselman could win this game.North Marion will have the home court which means alot. I see Musselman winning 16-17 games this year. I see the Eagles winning 15-16 and Martinsburg in the 15-16 range as their schedule is very tough.Jefferson I see winning 12 games maybe.
GO EAGLES!!!
I'd have to agree with those
I'd have to agree with those amounts I'm not sure how Musselman, Martinsburg and Hedgesville will split with each other and not sure what type of competition they will face at the various tournaments. But i'd say those win totals sound about right. I'm not sure Musselmans will be that high though because i'm not sure they can beat Martinsburg or Hedgesville so I'd put them down around the 13 range and martinsburg hedgesville around 16-17
Musselman and Martinsburg vs HHS
As far as matchups,for what I know without seeing thus far I feel The Eagles definetly matchup better with Musselman. Musselman is very similar size and talent wise at the guard position. It will be very tough for us to matchup with Robinson and Brewer as last year we could not stop Robinson.Musselman will be tall like us with Boarman and Shirley while they have Erica Manor back with Marsh and Nikki.Its hard to get a read right now. Some teams get better as the season goes and some stay the same. Last year,it seemed we played our best at the middle of the season when we beat Jefferson.Then we laid an egg bigtime in the playoffs,nearly losing to a Martinsburg team we handled with ease in the season and then didnt show up at all and were dominated by Marshall in the playoffs.I think its all about who plays best at the end.
GO EAGLES!!!
Erica Manor
Erica Manor is not playing this year and did not play last year.
Yea I understand and
Yea I understand and Martinsburg was terrible last year. Infighting, terrible offense. It was a shame to watch. But they got rid of a few bad apples and they seem to really be getting along this year. I hope an injury doesn't occur to any of the players on any of the teams. That way we can really know who the better teams are. And yea usually for most teams by the 10-13 game they should be playing their best ball because they would know the plays and each other. I forgot about Manor for Musselman.
melo15
Yes I do believe that North is a very good team and I would rank them #1 (on talent) but.......
the coach is average at best and they do play a tough schedule. As for the Muss game, I have
watched this group of Muss girls since they were in 7th grade and it will be a game for about a half.
NM will drop a 10 point game on this one.
I can't wait to see the
I can't wait to see the results of the Musselman and Jefferson games depending on how those games go will let me know how good North Marion is since I don't know a lot about that area of the state. Musselman and jefferson are the 3rd and 4th best teams in the EP so if they are close or beat North Marion then that would bode well for Hedgesville and Martinsburg since many on the board say that North Marion is very good
North Plays in Musselman's Holiday Tournament
North will pound Musselman and Jefferson, just like they beat Martinsburg by 35 to 40 each time they played last year. North will be playing in the Musselman Tournament but I dont think Musselman will beat Nitro so we will have to wait until they come to North before that beating takes place.
As far as Jefferson is concerned they are not nearly as good this year and I dont look for that game to be to competitive. I watched Jefferson and Hedgesville play last year and unless Hedgesville has brought in some new recruits they will not compete with the Lady Huskies.
Now to Martinsburg, North could have beat them by 60 last year, but I thought the Bulldogs really underachieved so I already expected them to be alot better this year and with the addition of the Brewer girl they should be one of the top teams, I would think. If a North v/s Martinsburg game would take place at states it should be a good one.
Just to let you know a little about the North Central part of the state, North Marion, Morgantown, and University all will have very strong teams this year.
After the Nitro pounding.....
We shall see who wins the Musselman/North Marion game( tuesday night).
Friday Maybe
I doubt that Musselman will beat Nitro which they will have to do to play North on Tuesday. My guess would be North will play Nitro in the Championship, but I could be wrong. I know Nitro loss to an average South Charleston team earlier. I would also prefer Nitro to win so we dont have to play Musselman in back to back games.
Thanks for the info cougar.
Thanks for the info cougar. Hopefully I won't be too busy and I can get out to the Musselman tournament if i don't travel to morgantown for martinsburgs. And yea Martinsburg was abysmal last season but they have a couple new additions but mainly subtracted several of the problem players from last year and so far they are playing well together and with teams not able to load up on Robinson because of Brewer that should help as well. I can't wait to see North play with all the hype they get on the board. I enjoy seeing good teams play.
After hearing what I have been hearing
I would have to disagree with Hedgesville being better or so much better than Musselman and Jefferson.Hedgesville has an easier schedule than the other 3 so the record may get misleading. I just hope our seniors (Brittany,Bekah,etc) have a fun senior year.Losing can wear on a team.
As for Martinsburg, I think they will be very good and nobody will beat them by 30 this year.On the schedule it shows Martinsburg in the Morgantown Holiday tournament with Parkersburg South so that will give an early indication of if they are good enough to do anything outside of the panhandle.
GO EAGLES!!!
Hmm after looking over the
Hmm after looking over the various teams in the EP I don't see any of them beating Martinsburg. Jefferson is trying to talk smack already about Marshall shutting down Brewer but they don't have anyone to match up with Robinson. So far I don't see any challenges to Martinsburg in the area which is sad because they will need to play tough competition before the states. I know many of the players have been playing AAU ball and have had tough games there but they were on different squads so they need to learn how to dig deep as a high school team. Most of the teams are too slow to keep up with Martinsburgs team speed or don't have enough offensive weapons.
After reading some of this stuff about the EPanhandle teams
After reading comments on this board,I would like to offer up some thoughts. I have seen all of the teams except Jefferson.But I know all or most of the kids on all of the Berkeley teams. First of all,I hope other teams continue to write off the Applemen.They will be shocked to see how good we are and will get.Henderson is a good young guard that will surprise along with Stambaughand Nikki Stephenson gets very little accolades,yet she is a 2x all state pick.We have the most senior laden club which means alot. I agree however that no team up here matches Martinsburgs 2 scorers. Robinson is even better this year with the running mate Brewer,who has already committed to VCU. They are a hard matchup.They have 2 wildcards besides the 2 "big dogs".They are Hill and Rodgers. If you man them up,it is hard to find 2 players good enough to stop the big dogs one on one AND stop Hill. If you zone them,they bring in Rodgers who has hit a ton of 3's already.Martinsburg and Musselman are equally deep on the bench.Hedgesville has some size and shooters,but lacks ballhandlers,which will kill them against the Musselman and Martinsburg pressure.Jefferson ,who knows for sure? They have Marshall and Clinton,but are young everywhere else.Seems to me if you stop Marshall,you pretty much will take away their punch and this year they have no player that can step up and score 15-20 like Danno or Diehl last year.Coaching edge goes to Merica at Hedgesvillewith Diehl a close second.Marsh and Mackey are a toss up.The jury us still out somewhat on Mackey because of what he inherited last year.He made big changes plus has alot more talent so give him a season.Marsh had the team to beat in my opinion last year,but whiffed in the playoffs,plus he has been coaching longer and has established his system.Perhaps after this year,we can revisit who is the better coach.In short,the season will be fun,don;t count us out!
Other teams in the Morgantown Tournament
What other teams are in the Morgantown Holiday tournament other than Martinsburg and Parkersburg South? And no I don't see anyone beating them by 30. Yes they are beatable but most of their losses will probably be within 10 pts
Morgantown Holiday Tournament
Winfield is the other team. It is my understanding that Woodrow and Hntington backed out of there commitment.
ehsportsfreak
I guess that question must be addressed towards me since I am the only one who commented on it. I simply stated that I did not like the fact that a team could go to the State Tournament with a loss. Then could very likely face the team that beat them in the section at the states, that does not make sense to me. The two teams could end up 1 and 1 against each other in the post season with the team getting the second chance crowned as Champion, not a good set up. Takes away from the importance of the sectional championship. And I can assure you I am not afraid for North to play the other sections number 2 or 1 whoever it may be.
Two Teams from each region
In the new tournament alignment the Champion of one section plays the runner up of the other section within the region. The winner of these two games goes to the states. So for instance North wins its section with Fairmont West Runner up. Morgantown wins it section with University runnerup. North would play University and Morgantown would play West with the winners of these two games going on to the state tournament. It would be possible for all the teams at the state tournament to have a loss in the post season. Thats what I do not like about the new alignment.
y??
y are some of you against it! it makes it fair.. without that setup it is possiblefor the 2nd best team in the conference to be setting at home.. it makes things more fair.. apparently those people don't believe enough in their school and are afraid the other sides number 2 will beat them
I'd have to agree with
I'd have to agree with ehsports say for instance you have the top 2-3 teams in the state in one area is it really fair for only 1 of them to get to go to state while teams in a weaker area get to go?
New Regional
Yeh, WVU329 you are right about the new regional setup. It will definitely make Norths path to the state alot harder no doubt. This may be the toughest region in the state with North, Morgantown and University. I see these three teams all in the top Eight if not higher.
I liked the old set up better, dont like the idea of being able to lose a tournament game and still make it to Charleston, just my opinion. Whoever wins your section this year will should make it to states, the other regional game will be a battle thats for sure. Bottom line though is every team has a chance, what more could you ask for....
Regional Setup
Cougar36, enlighten me a little bit on this new regional setup. Is it one team or two teams from the regions to advance to the states?
I have heard conflicting information.
North has a tough schedule
North has a tough schedule which includes these teams which I think could all be top ten:
Parkersburg South 2 games home/away
Morgantown 2 games home/away
University 2 games home/away
MUSSLEMAN at Home
Jefferson at Home
Plus the Park South Holiday Tourney: North, WW, Park South and Nitro.
I wish we played Huntington during the season, but we dont. We dropped Martinsburg this year so we could strengthen our schedule and now with the transfer they could be one of the elite teams in AAA, but who knew.
We were young last year, and will be again this year with only 2 seniors but I think last years experience will mean alot. So to answer your question I dont think we will cave come tournament time. Some of our girls have played over 120 games since March with more than half of these games against very good competition. North will be ready and prepared to make that state title run.
Well so far seems like North
Well so far seems like North Marion is putting the pedal to the metal and blowing teams out early. Averaging 95 a game is very good so far. Even against inferior competition thats impressive. So far Martinsburg is scoring 90 not sure if the competition level is similar though. The teams we've played may not be as good as those played by North but those two games thus far send a statement to the rest of the state that North will be one to reckon with. Well that and the #2 ranking
Huskies
The two teams North has played so far were not very good. Buchannon has a long way to go and GW is a little short handed early in the season and should get better as players come back, but they were not very good the day they played the Huskies. North's first test will be Wednesday at home against Morgantown. It will also be Morgantowns first tough game. This game should set the stage for an entertaining season in the NCAC.
North Marion Undefeated?
I don't think that NM will go undefeated. They are talented, but too many factors have to go just right to go undefeated.
State Title run may be a little more difficult this year considering the sectional and regional realignments.
After watching North Marion
After watching North Marion in the Musselman tournament against a very inferior Sherando team I was still very impressed. It seems like all of the girls are very talented and I was greatly impressed by their willingness to pass and find the open man. Their defense isn't the greatest but once they get the board and start the break they are very good. They are good shooters and athletic. they are probably about 9 deep I definitely wouldn't say they could have 2 squads but their bench is good and could have beat Sherando without the starters. they will drop a couple games but I don't see them being ranked lower than 3 all season. Byard is a good passer and is athletic and gifted offensively she still needs to work harder on defense but she is a D-1 talent. If north doesn't win it this year I think they can definitely do it next year since they are mostly made up of 10th graders
North Marion Undefeated--NOT
North Marion will be a very solid team , but they will take an L against Motown, Muss. and W.W. this year. Might be the best team in the state with 3 or 4 L's.