2006 - 2007 Region D Boys Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals predictions

**PVVikings2006** · February 18th, 2007, 04:43 AM

Predictions from up here in the Tornado Alley of Bristol, Tennessee:

I am going to travel up to Castlewood, Virginia and get there very early to watch these games. These should make for some very intense competition, great atmosphere and enthusiasm and an electricity in the building that could be unmatched in a few years.

Game #1-
Gate City vs. Rye Cove
Overview:
Gate City - The Blue Devils are led by pg Tylee Andersen and Tyler Parks in the guard positions. They make up a very nice backcourt for the Blue Devils heading into the postseason. Tyler Parks is a strong voice for the Blue Devils, along with fellow junior Jamie Hackney, as they are the only two holdovers from the last Gate City team to visit Richmond and the Final Four. Andersen is a great creator and penetrator on offense with great athletic ability....but his ability to use his teammates effectively has been seen as questionable by may onlookers who watch him in the stands. Where Andersen has the unique ability to penetrate a defense, Hackney is one of two players with a great shooting stroke; the other person being Cody Salyer. Jamie Hackney is a very quiet leader who is from the old school in that he plays well and does his job but unlike those who are seen as "stars" on their team, he leads without drawing attention to himself. He is the calming factor on a team full of underclassmen who will lose only one player next year.

Rye Cove -
Two words...... Adam Hood. Just as Stacy Ervin became a household name in the Cumberland District nearly 10 years ago to the day, the time has arrived for Adam Hood to step into the limelight and take the role that have propelled many past Cumberland District players into tournament history. Names such as Jason Bishop, Trazel Silvers, the above mentioned Stacy Ervin, Landon Bays and Calvin Talford. Now it is Adam Hood. Along with his sidekick John Franklin, the two are taking Rye Cove to a long awaited Region D playoff berth to face their Scott County rivals, the Gate City Blue Devils. In a match that will almost certainly seem to be a David vs. Goliath matchup... let it also be known that in the past couple of meetings that Gate City has faced a Cumberland District opponent in the Region D Tournament.... they have lost.... that one team being Twin Springs. Now the Titans have cycled out and the Eagles are cycling in to take their place. Rye Cove is a team who understands where their leadership resides. They are a team that plays hard to the final buzzer and they know and execute their roles very well. They are a team who does not care who gets the credit for their success and long as they are successful together.

For these reasons... I am going to have to give the advantage to the Rye Cove War Eagles.

Advantages - Rebounding and the interior game will be controlled by the War Eagles. The Blue Devils interior big men may thnk they will intimidate the War Eagles interior simply because they are Gate City... but by halftime it will be the Blue Devils who will have been intimidated by the ferocious and aggressive play of the War Eagles inside game.

Adam Hood - Has the ability to do things to the Blue Devil guards that they havent seen all season. The Blue Devils have not faced a guard of this caliber all season in the LPD and maybe in their non-district schedule. Andersen will see that while he is a decent creator and penetrator... when it comes to making people around you better... Adam Hood will be the teacher and Andersen will be his student... and you better pay attention early... because Hood and the Eagles will come ready to play.

Final Score: Rye Cove 67 - Gate City 63

Norton vs. Honaker
Very easy game summary here can be described in two words.
"Speed kills." Goodbye Honaker... all you are going to see are the white flashes of headbands running by you nearly every possession. Don't worry though... you havent been the only team to fall victim to this. Just ask Gate City.

**NotSoSilentBob** · February 18th, 2007, 08:04 AM

Talford didn't play in the Cumberland.

**imported_Coach** · February 18th, 2007, 12:26 PM

wasn't he in the hogo bob?

**1inStripes** · February 18th, 2007, 12:53 PM

Yes he was Coach.

I hope your prediction is right Tornado, but who knows. It is definitely an interesting matchup. I don't think RC will be intimidated, and I don't think GC will take RC lightly. I expect it to be close through out with one team capitalizing on free throws down the stretch to take the game.

**PVVikings2006** · February 18th, 2007, 02:31 PM

True... I forgot that they were Hogoheegee for awhile...my fault.

**PVVikings2006** · February 18th, 2007, 02:40 PM

Well.... I'm not concerned about whether I am right or not about my prediction... it is just my opinion that some of the Blue Devil players may take Rye Cove lightly. In basketball circles.... to some GC people.. RC basketball doesnt even register on the map. But this isnt your daddy and mommy's Rye Cove though. While being somewhat outmatched athletically and ability wise... these same War Eagles took the Group A #1 team in the state, Castlewood, to the final buzzer. If Gate City shows up with a very hard focus in mind, I believe they can pull it out. If they show up with the focus of playing their county cousins with the mindset of playing a Pound or a Clintwood, they will most certainly go down.

You heard it here Blue Devils... this isnt your grandpappy's Rye Cove... these boys know their roles and they will get after you. You better show up with a game face or you will be spending the Regional Semifinals at your mommy's place. True dat.

**1inStripes** · February 18th, 2007, 02:42 PM

I am just afraid your doing this as a GC motivational tool. If so.....

STOP IT!!! [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

**PVVikings2006** · February 18th, 2007, 02:52 PM

It isnt no motivational tool if you can play.....hahaha and baby Rye Cove can. All year long George Thwaites and the Kingsport Times News has written about how good the Cumberland District Boys Basketball District is... and I for one believe it. Until teams from the LPD beat the Cumberland... you guys will always be seen as the best district in Region D and rightly so. Its hard to deny the fact that Rye Cove took the state's #1 team to the wire. I mean.... with that... I have to pick Rye Cove to win. I don't know if Gate City has the nads to battle with the interior players of Rye Cove... because they may not be the best athletically or ability wise.. they are the hardest working and scrappiest bunch of players in the Cumberland that I have seen. It is gonna be a close one... I hate to say it but I still have to give the edge to Rye Cove.

The truth is the truth. This isnt your grandpappy's Rye Cove.

**runnin_man** · February 18th, 2007, 11:42 PM

when does the tournament start. and it's at castlewood?

**imported_Coach** · February 19th, 2007, 01:32 AM

fill me in please. as a coach in the district (not basketball or maybe i'd know the answer to my own question), what makes the cumberland better in basketball than the lpd? in the other 2 major sports, the lpd usually has it's way with the other 2 districts in the region. someone enlighten me please.