2007 Freedom Lady Patriot Super Saturday

Once again, excellent job done by the folks down at Freedom. It sure was a long but exciting day that has got my blood flowing as we head into the season. As someone suggested earlier, if you got pics by all means post them on here. I'll give some thoughts on what I saw here a little later.

 

This year's field of talent is probably the best so far in the short history of this event. I didn't get to see nearly as many teams as in years past due to the scheduling but I'll give my take on what I witnessed:

Weddington: I spoke with someone while watching Weddington play and they described their team as one who "plays with no fear" and I would agree. In the one session I got to see they held their own against McDowell. Weddington is likely not the most talented team in the world but they played with full intensity the whole time. I thought they did a good job at pushing the ball but then being patient and finding a good shot. This team likes to play out on the perimeter and on a given night could beat a fair number of teams in their conference (Southwestern 4A). If they can overcome the physical style of ball played in their conference I could see them in the playoffs as a Wild Card.


AC Reynolds: The Lady Rockets IMO today validated my claim that they can once again finish in the top 3 of the NW4A. This team is pretty much lead by a group that includes no seniors. The perimeter shooting may not be as strong as it has been in previous years but just the overall play as a team will win them some big games. They gave a very good Providence Day squad every thing they wanted and more. Karlee Taylor and Whitney Brinkley Brinkley, two sophmores, will carry them along with Taylor Loven.

Bishop McGuiness: A 1-A school that can play with just about any classification. They are well coached as always and just overall a good team to watch play the game. Being the classification they're in, the Villians have played their toughest competition of the season.

Grimsley: One of many teams who looked like they had only been going at it for two weeks. They'll use today and get better in time for the season. They'll be a definite regional participant in March.

Hickory:The Red Tornadoes are a team on a mission after losing last year in the regionals. They're talented at all five positions on the floor and they'll play the entire 94 feet. To see them and McDowell go at it for a half was fun to watch...Could you imagine if Hickory was still in the NW4A and played McDowell and Freedom twice in a season? I miss those days...

 

Did anyone see Forestview play? If so how did they look? I heard they had a very good post player.

 

Good Day

Thanks to all who showed up to watch some of the best girls basketball around. This was a success! We had close to 45 or so college coaches show up to watch. Some of those were University of Florida, Wake Forest, ECU, WCU, LR, UNC-P, Tusculum, Wingate, Anderson, Salem, UNC-A, Brevard, Mars Hill, UNC-G and many more.

Good day for the Lady Patriots, we defeated (if you're keeping score-which we did) The Patterson School, Fred T Foard, and then Oak Hill Academy. Some major talent on the floor and some huge post players. It's early, but we looked pretty decent.

Thanks again to all the players, coaches, and parents who participated today.

 

I thought Concord looked very strong, they are very deep in the post and at guard (8-10) players deep and lots of height. They lost to PD the first game, and then beat Forestview 66-48 and MT. Tabor 43-38. Forestview was a very good shooting team, #11 impressed me alot, they must have shot over 50 percent against Concord.

 

I thought Mcdowell looked pretty good Saturday. They blowed out Cannon,building a 48-2 lead playing their starters and 2 others. I think the final was 64-21 after Coach Franklin let the youngest players finish the final 12 minutes.

Then we went over to the little gymn and played a very good,well coached Weddington team. This was a very good game with McDowell pulling away in the end for a 14 point win.

Then come the last game again in the small gym,If there's one thing negative I could say about this event it would be what in the world were the hosts thinking when they scheduled these two powerhouses to play here. People were sitting and standing everywhere .

This game proved to be a surprise. McDowell built a 12 or 14 point lead before the half with their starters and a couple of other players,then just before the half Coach Franklin sit down his entire starting squad and played his youngest players the rest of the game. And although Hickory left all their starters in The young McDowell squad held them off for a long while. Hickory finally overcome the huge McDowell lead and pulled out a 10 point victory. I have to admire Coach Franklin for what he did. There isn't a doubt in my mind that he could have left his starters in and won this game but being it was a scrimmage he wanted to let his young players get some choice playing time against a great team. I'd love to see these two teams play in the regular season because I believe they were clearly the best two teams in the program Saturday.

Reynolds really impressed me. They may be young but they are very well coached and play with good chemistry. I believe they may finish 3rd in the conference and will pull off some big upsets this year.

Freedom looked pretty good also. Ali didn't have a great shooting day but she did dish off some good assists in the Oak Hill game. The first game I watched them play against Patterson they looked a little out of sync. However they were able to pull out a 2 point .

 

Just like to add that 5 of our players are freshmen...Well 6 but one was not there...

 

Weddington

Physical style of play in the Southwestern 4A. Bigdan - what does that mean?

Are they more physical in the SW4A? Compared to who? Are they not as athletic? Let us in on the scoop!

For what it is worth, I see Weddington finishing behind East Meck, Butler and Independence in the Southwestern 4A.

South Meck has a freshman that is being touted as one of the best, if not the best freshman in the country. The accolades are coming from all of the recruiting services, unofficially of course since she is a freshman. I saw her play in middle school and cannot wait to see her play at the high school level.

 

To save BigDan the trouble, the Charlotte-area (aka Streetball) teams have a much more physical style of play than the Mountain-area (aka Mountain Ball) teams. When a person takes the ball strong to the basket, they are met with ALOT of contact. Also, when out on the back court and the wings, the guards or forwards are met with heavy coverage and do have the tendacy to get hand checked alot. Also, its more of a one-on-one, individualized game concept. On the other hand, the Mountain teams play more of the team concept but arent as physical, pending which team you play for.

 

Warden, that's pretty good description...

The style of ball in Charlotte is so much different than that of up here on I-40. The officiating is also so much different than it is up here. McDowell, for a team up here plays pretty aggressive style of basketball. Weddington was setting some screens against us that usually the refs up here would blow the whistle on, and I was observing that fact. Well, a Weddington parent sitting next to me was telling me that our style of play wasn't nearly as physical or intimidating as the likes they'll see in conference play. That's why I said if Weddington could survive the intimidation factor that they would have a chance.