OH GOOD GRIEF: There are issues with elementary basketball

By Ed Greif / sports@crossville-chronicle.com

I have some issues with the Cumberland County elementary basketball program, both junior varsity and varsity.

The junior varsity basketball tournament was played in three days at South Cumberland. Eight games were played on Saturday, Nov. 14, with the semi-finals played on Monday, Nov. 16 and the finals on Thursday, Nov. 19.

Their regular season is five weeks — playing all games on three Mondays and four Thursday nights.

Two games a night during the week is enough for junior varsity players.

While the JV regular season is going on, the varsity season started on two back-to-back Tuesday nights. The varsity regular season ends the last week in January, with nothing scheduled in February, except for volleyball practice, which is another issue.

The elementary gyms are too small to hold the crowds for the JV tournament, especially for the championship games. I understand the parking was terrible the night of the championship games at South.

There is something wrong with the whole elementary basketball program, both varsity and junior varsity.

Why not rotate the junior varsity and varsity tournaments with the high schools? For example, if the JV tournament is at CCHS, then the varsity should be at SMHS and vice versa.

The main issue is money. The tournaments bring in money for all of the elementary schools.

The varsity season should not start until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Having two sessions before Thanksgiving is not going to hurt anything. If necessary, play games on Saturday. That would also allow time for those JV players who are going to dress varsity to have some time to prepare for the varsity season.

Another solution for elementary basketball is not very popular.

Taking seventh and eighth grade players from the feeder schools for CCHS (Brown, Pleasant Hill, South and Martin) and for SMHS (Crab Orchard, Pine View, Stone, North and Homestead) and making them into two teams and playing surrounding middle schools.

Several area middle schools — Avery Trace Middle, Bledsoe County, Cherokee Middle (Kingston), Coalfield Middle, Coffee County, Harriman, Jefferson Middle, Lenoir City Middle, Midway Middle, Oakdale Middle, Rhea Central, Robertsville Middle, Rockwood Middle, Sequatchie County Middle and Spring City Middle — would be ideal opponents for the two teams. All are members of the TMSSA.

Look at the money it would save by combining the varsity teams.

Based on 2005-'06 supplements, each head boys and girls basketball coach receives $2,000 each, while each B-team or JV coach receives $500 each for a grand total of $40,000! Take that figure and pay boys and girls elementary basketball coordinators for each feeder school team with one assistant each.

You can still play a junior varsity schedule.

The elementary coordinators would answer to their respective high school coaches.

This would also eliminate the need for "volunteer" coaches at the elementary schools, and would eliminate playing games on nights when both high schools are in action.

Going back to elementary volleyball, move girls volleyball to the fall, eliminate boys volleyball and move softball to the spring.

It is about time the elementary coaches teach their players fundamentals in football, basketball and volleyball, instead of worrying about winning the county championships.

••••

Home varsity coaches, win or lose, are asked to submit results from games in a timely manner. I would like to keep track of the standings and top scorers in the county, but cannot do so, because several scores are "missing in action."

Of the 24 total games — both girls and boys — 50 percent of the scores are "missing in action." That is not good, folks.

Coaches, please submit the scores from the following games: Nov. 17 — South at Pleasant Hill boys; Homestead at North; and Crab Orchard at Stone; and Nov. 23 — North at Crab Orchard girls, Stone at Homestead games and Martin at Pleasant Hill games.

The only score not reported from Monday was the South at Homestead boys game.

It is a shame that no one has reported the other scores.

Since the home school is responsible for reporting scores, win or lose, his or her book MUST agree with the visiting scorekeeper. There was a difference in the individual scoring in the South at Homestead girls game from Monday night.

Parents like to see their youngsters' names in the paper, and some even keep scrapbooks for them.

I am going to keep harping on this until all of the scores are turned in. I cannot post the standings until I receive them ALL.

••••

Chattanooga Coach Russ Huesman was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year for guiding the Mocs to their first winning season since 2005, and look for MTSU Coach Rick Stockstill to get a shot at Sunbelt Conference Coach of the Year. The Blue Raiders are 8-3.

Chattanooga leads the all-time series with MTSU 24-11-2, and have not played since 1997 when Chattanooga won 33-24.

Chattanooga also leads the all-times series with Tennessee Tech (28-10), winning 31-7 in 2006 in Cookeville.

I hope one of these days Chattanooga can renew those two rivalries.

••••

On Sunday, Dec. 5, we will know how the 2009-'10 bowl schedule will line up. There are 33 bowl games plus the Citi National Championship game on Thursday, Jan. 7, from the Rose Bowl in Pasedena, CA.

This means there are 68 BCS teams playing in the post-season, including Tennessee and MTSU. The Vols finished 7-5 after defeating Kentucky 30-24 in overtime on Saturday, while the Blue Raiders finished 9-3 after defeating Lousiana-Monroe 38-19 on Saturday.

The Alabama-Florida winner will go to the BCS championship game, while the loser will go to another BCS bowl. Georgia (7-5), Kentucky (7-5), South Carolina (7-5), LSU (9-3), Ole Miss (8-4), Auburn (7-5) and Arkansas (7-5) are also bowl eligible from the SEC, along with Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

This means eight of Vols' opponents are bowl eligible, including Ohio, which is playing Central Michigan for the MAC championship on Friday night. UCLA (6-6) is bowl eligible, while the Vols' other opponents — Vandy, Memphis and Western Kentrucky are not.

There are nine bowl spots for the SEC teams.

MTSU is eligible for the R&L; Carriers New Orleans Bowl or another bowl as an at-large team.

The SEC, Big 12, MAC, Conference USA and ACC championship games will go a long way determining some bowl slots.

One coach — Mark Mangino (Kansas) — is awaiting his fate. Maryland's Ralph Friedgen will be returning in 2010.

There are vacancies at Louisville, Virginia, Valparaiso and Marshall, as the coaching shuffle begins.

Memphis has already named LSU running backs coach Larry Porter as its next head coach.

Al Groh and Charlie Weis were fired at Virginia and Notre Dame, respectively, while Florida State's Bobby Bowden was expected to announce his retirement on Tuesday, after meeting with his team.

Where will former UT Coach Phillip Fulmer wind up? He'll go somewhere that is committed to having a winning program and one which is best for him and his family.

(Ed Greif is the Chronicle sports editor and his column appears regularly.)

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