surry

So what I appreciate the opinions that you threw out. However, my opinion is totally different when discussing guards. Bell and Greer are probably the 2nd and third best offensive guards in the conference behind Ashley for Starmount. However, they do not deserve to be mentioned as the best guards in the league because of there lack of defense. Greer in particular puts no emphasis at all on the defensive end of the court. Watch him play sometime. I personally think that either Sprinkle from Alleghany or Ashley from Starmount are the two most complete guards in the conference. Ashley might be a tad bit better offensively, but there is not a better defensive guard in the conference than Austin Sprinkle. In regards to Santos for Alleghany, he changes the game in ways that no other player in this conference can. He is not just a scorer, he also averages over 13 rebounds, right at 3 blocks, and 4 assists per game. Among the teams that post statistics, he leads the league in all 3 of those categories and is in the top 5 in points and steals. The coaches of the conference thought enough of him that he was voted the conference player of the year last year.

Not arguing that my opinion is any better than yours, but it is different.

AAU coach. breaking it down to numbers since you asked. Alleghany won by 10. The player in question scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds. You do the math. If he wasn't in the game someone else would have been. This players major contributions to his team are defensively, and I can assure you that he did not learn that playing for the Whirlies. I happen to know his defensive coach at Alleghany. Don't get me wrong, I think any time you are playing is better than not playing, so I am not totally opposed to the AAU. I think AAU basketball can be very helpful to a players offensive prowess, but typically there is no focus on the defensive end, and can even create some very bad habits that can take their high school coach significant time to correct.

Dean Smith and John Wooden have both been known to make the statement that AAU basketball has did more harm to the fundamentals of players at the college level than anything else that has happened to the game. But heck what do they know.

Old, if West lost by 20 then yea it was a team effort. If West lost less than 5 then this big guy did make the difference and the AAU practice and games are what cost you at West. That's a fact.

Thehymie, you are off your rocker. Let me be clear. I used to coach AAU and yep I know a lot about it. It is a guarantee that if you play these travel tournaments week after week, it will make a h e l l of a difference. So yes if West did pick up a better player from another school and practiced him and played him and set their own district kids then they screwed up royally. Even if their players were weaker than the picked up other district kids they failed to develop their on in district talent. They royally F'ed up to say the least.

Guys if you are upset because Avery Hash played in front of little Billy when they were in 5th grade then okay. If you believe that you lost last night because of that, I am sorry to tell you that was not the problem. First of All he is only a part, a very integral part, but only a part of the team that beat West last night. His skills have been developed and implemented into the team that he is now a part of by Coach McKnight at Alleghany. And based on the skills of the players around him that did not play for the Whirlies, evidently Coach McKnight is pretty good at that. Maybe playing for the Whirlies when he was 12 helped his development a little, but he also spent several years playing for a team out of Virginia, and his father spent a lot of time with him when he was young.

Again if you did not like him playing in front of your son I understand that, but you lost because Alleghany as a team was just better last night.

Then your grandson has no class. Enjoy your losing season.

It was a joke when he played with them. I heard his friends as well joke about them playing and setting west kids on the bench. Those west dingalings are the ones they were laughing at. It did happen, I was there. Enjoy your loss.

West has the two best guards in Bell and Greer in the conference. Despite the fact they have no true big man inside they still managed to give Starmount and Alleghany a run for their money. Both games could have went the other way. Santos is a good player. Probably the best big man in the conference. Give him credit. Eastcards I guess in the long run the joke is on your grandson. West is far better than East. The Whirlies are an AAU team They don't have to play with school players. I doubt the Alleghany player played very much for them either.

So is it everyone's thought that West lost because tommy doe had to play behind a better player way back then. I believe that if he wasn't on the floor then, he most likely doesn't spend much time there now? West is simply a one horse team. I simply refuse to believe that playing tommy doe back then would of have made him taller! West just got beat by a more talented team. PLEASE NO EXCUSES......!

My grandson played on one of those whirly teams. It was always a joke to him and his friends that he got to play while someone from west set on the bench. They laughed about it at school. Yea wasn't a good idea on their part but heck if there ok with it then I didn't have a problem with him playing. Just better for our school.

Rose I said the same thing a 1,000 times over the past years. Why in the lords name would you bring in players from other schools to your OWN GYM in fact and practice them knowing you would have to play against him and KNOWING some of your West kids would have to sit on the bench so the other schools players could play. All I can say West is theres your sign. Stupid at best. You got what you deserved.

It was a great game but the results were not what I would have liked to have seen. Really thought our kids were going to make a big comeback. I just have to say this it's eating me alive. The big kid from Alleghany (I will not name him) played really well as he always does. He has a lot of talent. But I hope that the whirlies coach B.E. is happy. This coach recruited the sparta kid to play on the travel team for a couple of years which would have been fine but guess what happens when you bring in a kid to play on your whirlies team? Yep, some west kids had to sit. So I got to say good job in bringing in the competition and grooming them and getting them some good travel experience......at the expense of our own kids. Now it's paying off.

Big game tonight in Millers Creek as Alleghany ( 10-1 and 4-0) visits the West Wilkes Blackhawks (7-6 and 3-1). I think everyone sees the mountain valley conference race as a 3 team race with both these teams being contenders. Two different looking teams and two different styles. Making it even more interesting is that Alleghany is coached by Tommy McKnight and Scottie Greene ( Mcknights former assistant) is the coach for the blackhawks.