GAME OF THE WEEK: Forest Hill - Murrah Tuesday, January 15th
As Terrell would say, "Getcha popcorn ready"! Although I hope both teams will perform better than he did last Sunday. The much anticipated matchup between sophomore sensations Andre Stringer from Forest Hill and Dundrecous Nelson from Murrah will happen Tuesday night. As a bonus, those lucky enough to get in will see the nationally ranked Murrah Lady Mustangs, ranked 5th by USA Today, go up against the Lady Rebels of Forest Hill. This will be a barn burner of a night, as Clinton and Provine hook up that night as well. I will have video of both boys and girls games available for the CCB Network TV site.
DOW JONES TEAMS OF THE WEEK:
STOCK UP:
Vicksburg - Since losing to Callaway High on 12/11, has reeled off 6 victories in a row, including defeats of 5th ranked Lanier and a very good Clinton team. The chemistry seems to be peaking as highly talented Michael Phelps and Fab Freshman Michael Ammons is a lethal 1-2 punch.
Callaway - Has won 6 out of 8 games including a six point loss to Lanier High. Young team, 2 Freshmen, 2 sophomores, and a junior that will definitely a top three team the next couple of years.
Provine - Won 3 out of the last 4 with the loss being a two pointer to Lanier two weeks ago, winning without their 6'8 center Jalen Courtney, who's out with a injury. You do not want to play this team in the months of February and March, when they will be clicking on all cylinders.
Oxford - on a 15 game winning streak with no true threat on the rest of the regular season schedule. They have always played fundamentally sound basketball and they have a beast in 6'5 Dan Hicks.
STOCK DOWN:
Northeast Lauderdale - Lost 3 out of the last 6 games, with a 13-8 overall record. With the top player in the state, Romero Osby, playing for them and a not too tough schedule, I expected a better record.
New Hope - Ranked in the top ten preseason, they are now sitting on a 10-5 record with two Dandy Dozen players, Rashanti Harris and Dale Hughes. You would think that with the talent they have, even one or two losses would have been unthinkable.
Gulfport - Win 3 in a row, Lose the next 4, Win 4, then lose the next 3. Hell, they TRULY are a Dow Jones team! A traditional powerhouse in the 5A division, they look lost. We here in Mississippi never used the word "rebuilding" and the Gulfport Admirals in the same sentence. Guess now is as good as time as any.
Holding Steady:
Lanier: Has lost only 1 game (to Vicksburg) out of the last 13, pretty solid. 6'3 Senior Terry Church has put crazy numbers since the JPS Tournament held during Christmas week. SOMETHING woke him up and if he can maintain this pace, look for a 3rd consecutive 'chip for Lanier.
Thoughts and Comments:
I read on the message board recently this highly debatable subject about freshmen in the 901 area. It had 25 responses as of yesterday and it got me to thinking, do 901 think they have better '11 talent than 601? I'm not going to say yes or no, except our airport has had a lot of frequent flier milers heading to the 'SIP! We have 2 top 100 (according to Rivals.com and Dave Telep) in LaQuinton Ross and Deville Smith, and we have the 14 Under Jackson Tigers place within the top ten teams in the National AAU tournament last summer. SEVEN of my top nine Freshmen start for their varsity schools, with the other two playing as the sixth man on their teams! I don't know if 901 can match that. This is not including several class of '11 players who are playing a 9th grade schedule simply because their team is loaded at their positions. This class may be considered to be the best since the Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul Rauf) era in the late 80s. Somebody told me the other day that Jackson Mississippi is catching up with Memphis Tennessee, and that's not true. We're there already.
Peace
As Terrell would say, "Getcha popcorn ready"! Although I hope both teams will perform better than he did last Sunday. The much anticipated matchup between sophomore sensations Andre Stringer from Forest Hill and Dundrecous Nelson from Murrah will happen Tuesday night. As a bonus, those lucky enough to get in will see the nationally ranked Murrah Lady Mustangs, ranked 5th by USA Today, go up against the Lady Rebels of Forest Hill. This will be a barn burner of a night, as Clinton and Provine hook up that night as well. I will have video of both boys and girls games available for the CCB Network TV site.
DOW JONES TEAMS OF THE WEEK:
STOCK UP:
Vicksburg - Since losing to Callaway High on 12/11, has reeled off 6 victories in a row, including defeats of 5th ranked Lanier and a very good Clinton team. The chemistry seems to be peaking as highly talented Michael Phelps and Fab Freshman Michael Ammons is a lethal 1-2 punch.
Callaway - Has won 6 out of 8 games including a six point loss to Lanier High. Young team, 2 Freshmen, 2 sophomores, and a junior that will definitely a top three team the next couple of years.
Provine - Won 3 out of the last 4 with the loss being a two pointer to Lanier two weeks ago, winning without their 6'8 center Jalen Courtney, who's out with a injury. You do not want to play this team in the months of February and March, when they will be clicking on all cylinders.
Oxford - on a 15 game winning streak with no true threat on the rest of the regular season schedule. They have always played fundamentally sound basketball and they have a beast in 6'5 Dan Hicks.
STOCK DOWN:
Northeast Lauderdale - Lost 3 out of the last 6 games, with a 13-8 overall record. With the top player in the state, Romero Osby, playing for them and a not too tough schedule, I expected a better record.
New Hope - Ranked in the top ten preseason, they are now sitting on a 10-5 record with two Dandy Dozen players, Rashanti Harris and Dale Hughes. You would think that with the talent they have, even one or two losses would have been unthinkable.
Gulfport - Win 3 in a row, Lose the next 4, Win 4, then lose the next 3. Hell, they TRULY are a Dow Jones team! A traditional powerhouse in the 5A division, they look lost. We here in Mississippi never used the word "rebuilding" and the Gulfport Admirals in the same sentence. Guess now is as good as time as any.
Holding Steady:
Lanier: Has lost only 1 game (to Vicksburg) out of the last 13, pretty solid. 6'3 Senior Terry Church has put crazy numbers since the JPS Tournament held during Christmas week. SOMETHING woke him up and if he can maintain this pace, look for a 3rd consecutive 'chip for Lanier.
Thoughts and Comments:
I read on the message board recently this highly debatable subject about freshmen in the 901 area. It had 25 responses as of yesterday and it got me to thinking, do 901 think they have better '11 talent than 601? I'm not going to say yes or no, except our airport has had a lot of frequent flier milers heading to the 'SIP! We have 2 top 100 (according to Rivals.com and Dave Telep) in LaQuinton Ross and Deville Smith, and we have the 14 Under Jackson Tigers place within the top ten teams in the National AAU tournament last summer. SEVEN of my top nine Freshmen start for their varsity schools, with the other two playing as the sixth man on their teams! I don't know if 901 can match that. This is not including several class of '11 players who are playing a 9th grade schedule simply because their team is loaded at their positions. This class may be considered to be the best since the Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul Rauf) era in the late 80s. Somebody told me the other day that Jackson Mississippi is catching up with Memphis Tennessee, and that's not true. We're there already.
Peace
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