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Tonight the Devils and the Raiders will tip off. Gate City is playing good and are hard to beat. But then again u go the Raiders who have beat the Devils once. Norton playing good and are going to be ready.
Its going to be a good game but im going to have to pick the Devils by 8
What do u guys think <font color="blue"> </font>
There is no way that the devils are going to beat Burton by 8. They are playing really good basketball right now. Jacob Coleman may be the best defender in the league. He held Hackney to 8 points the first time that they played. <font color="orange"> </font>
Gate City is a very tough team to beat, but I commented before that I think they've dropped their game a bit recently. They're going to have to pick it back up to beat the Raiders.
I agree I still think that Burton will win though. <font color="orange"> </font>
Gate city by 10 They'll be ready for this Norton crew this time.
The Devils quality of play has decreased as the season has gone on and the Raiders game play has increased all season long. <font color="orange"> </font>
First meeting, GC played well, Norton didn't the second half and GC won by what 20 or so? Second meeting was in Norton, GC played horrible and Norton played well, winning by 1. If GC plays well, the Devils will win by several, if they don't, it will be close and could go either way. I give the knod to the Devils though.
I don't think Norton really started playing good basketball until mid-January. In the last few weeks, they've really picked it up. If nothing else, JIB has the momentum factor going into this game.
On most nights, Gate City is the best team in the district. But, the way they struggled with Pound early in the week makes me wonder if they're ready to play to their full potential. To beat JIB, I think both Tihlee and Jamie are going to have to be playing their best game. There's not going to be any room for either team to slack off for a quarter or two. They're going to have to play full-throttle for 4 quarters... and possibly OT.
I wasn't able to attend the games up in Coeburn the other night because of a night class I have up here at King. I called a good friend of mine from UVA-Wise who went to watch a cousin of his play for Pound and he said that the team the Blue Devils put out on the floor would be lucky to win their first round game against whoever they play.
In his words, he said that, "this is the first Blue Devil team that I have seen play that actually looked soft as teddy bears. They strut and dunk and do all this stuff in warmups and then they play and you wonder for what reason the struts and stuff were for. If you had told me that Pound was the district champion and Gate City was the lower seeded team I would have believed you because Pound played like they were the champions of the Lonesome Pine."
When he said that I was shocked. Since I have talked to him, I have heard nothing else but negative things. The most telling thing I heard was from a reporter who was speaking of Gate City up at Honaker last night when I went the Black Diamond District semifinals with a buddy of mine from King. I knew those games probably were going to be good because we went to the JV Championship game at 4:30pm and the gym was packed out just for that game. Back to the reporter, a fan on the Twin Valley side asked him if he thought the Panthers could hang with Gate City if they met in the Region D Semifinals. And what he replied with told me all about the respect that people view the Blue Devils with now. His reply was, "Twin Valley looks pretty good and they do not get rattled very easily. If you want to know the truth, Twin Valley would beat Gate City by 20 because as talented as they are, the Blue Devils have a bunch of cupcakes for players. They do not play with any emotion and they look as if they could care less if they win or not. They are team that could very well win the Region D Tournament next week, but, and I never thought I would ever say this of a Gate City team..... but they are heartless. They dont play for each other and they just dont care about anyone but themselves. My prediction is that you will not have to worry about seeing Gate City because they won't be there. Their girls will not make the Region D Finals either because they are playing the same way. Its sad. They have athletes playing as if they have already won the entire thing. They are the most arrogant Gate City teams I have ever seen play in my life. That is really sad... they used to be respected for their heart and how hard they play. The heart with which Blue Devil teams are known to play with in the past... its gone. That is what set them apart from everyone else around. Now they are everyone else. Case closed."
Region D Tournament prediction
Gate City vs. Rye Cove --- winner Rye Cove
Norton vs. Honaker ------- winner Norton
Rye Cove vs. Twin Valley - winner Twin Valley
Norton vs. Castlewood ---- winner Norton
Norton vs. Twin Valley ---- Region D Champion Norton
Norton is THE BEST TEAM IN LPD AND REGION D!!!!!!!!
"Sorry" friend I haven't seen those Gate City teams playing!
It truly is hard to get pumped about playing the lower seeds and being super agressive. If they pick up their game and press and beat the other teams by 30-40 points the other team cries foul! I believe the heart will show when it's needed.