JimThorpe

Rideaux isn't as bad as his successor. Mitchell was ridiculous in the Silsbee game.

Don't forget, we used to have Travis! I didn't mind him at all. I appreciate teh passion. What I do mind is the refs permitting coaches on the court during play. If it was me they would be so gone so fast it would make their heads spin. Not blaming the coaches because they are passionate guys. It's such a simple fix, "You're outta here and don't ever let me catch you on the court during play again, got it?" And if every ref did it, as they all should, the problem would be nonexistent.

He wasn't big. He was open. He could have been stopped, he never got close to the rim and he never overpowered anybody. We had an early lead, never needed to play recklessly. The Tigers weren't trying to win, they were trying to biow HJ out. They weren't playing smart and they weren't disciplined.

It's nice to be in control of your destiny, like we were before last night. Of course the destiny is the same, losing to Yates, but I'd much rather lose to Yates at Huntsville. I hope the Longhorns can be as inspired when they face the Hawks. I doubt it though because for all intents and purposes they have their championship for this year. This may have been the biggest district win ever for HF.

It was going to happen sooner or later and I'm glad it was Hampshire-Fannett. . For the last four years HF has been the team that perhaps the Tigers have mauled the worst. I seem to recall a 118 to 19 game if memory serves. It was impossible not to feel good for them. They looked like they had just won the championship. It was a well deserved win by an enormously improved program.

Another fabulous game in 22 4A with playoff meaning.

Wow. A barn burner. Lumberton had to win this game and they did. Great effort by both teams.

Lumberton made it in. Glad to see it. They made a believer out of me too. After the Silsbee game I posted, okay fine but if you can’t give HJ a good game then it doesn’t mean much. Well, they did give HJ all they wanted.

Now we see. The Silsbee game was no fluke. This is a good team. They are a close third to Silsbee and HJ.

To make much noise in the playoffs you’ve got to win the district. The runner up faces Yates in the second round. Honestly it would be better this year to come in 4th than 2nd. 1st and 4th are in the other sub bracket and wouldn’t face Yates till Region.

I guess if you’re going to have a game like this this was the time. I think Bray wasn’t feeling well.

Nope. No blowout. Weird clumsy game.

The Red Bird’s tongues are hanging out.

Tigers are ice cold. If it’s got to happen better tonight.

Cards are a pretty good team. No district wins but scrappy.

Wow! 36? Almost like the old days. They don't have a single district win but the margins haven't been bad, except for the home loss to HJ by 23.

You pity the fool?

The likeliest scenario is that the winner of 21 will meet the winner of 22 in the third round. That will be a very good game. I'm going to miss the first two rounds travelling but I'll be back for that one. La Marque has gone all the way up to No. 4. That's very interesting. By that standard the best game in our Region playoffs will be La Marque vs. Yates in the third round. Wouldn't it be something if Yates got knocked off? Everybody in Region 3 will be looking at that match up. Silsbee lost to Marque by only two early in the season when the Tigers were very very short handed. La Marque was shorthanded also because of football but not as much as the Tigers. That's the game where Bush scored 64.

If you factor in the Silsbee 22 point win at Hamshire Fannett it really muddies the water.

They were tonight. My impression was that Mitchell got just about everything you can get out of his team. He doesn't have a deep bench but the substitutions were timely and appropriate. Timeouts the same. I do have a gripe though. Not so much about him but about the officials. They should have kept him off the court and they didn't. He would be a foot or two on the court when the action was right in front of him. To wander out when the play is at the other end of the gym is one thing. A couple of times he was dodging the play. It was helping the Raiders and hurting the Tigers and the refs shouldn't have allowed it. But again it's not his problem, you're nuts not to push a thing as far as it will go.

Silsbee may not have been totally on cue but they were playing with all the intensity they have. The officiating was what it was. Folks see what they want to see. I don't think it affected the outcome. Lumberton has their moral victory. I'm glad, I like those guys. Now what about Hardin Jefferson?

I certainly enjoyed watching him. Isn't he a junior? He's certainly one of the best in the district and a contender for MVP behind Bush and Wirth. I may be nuts but I have pretty high expectations for this Raider team. But they need every bit of the intensity they showed tonight in the remaining district games.

Silsbee got it up to a 10 point lead in the 4th. At that point it could have gone either way, a close win or a comfortable win. When it reached that point the issue was no longer really in doubt. It was a 50/50 shot that it could have been a 20 point win depending on the bounce of the ball. I was wrong too. But why? How good is Lumberton after all? They are 2 - 4 in district. HJ handled Lumberton without too much trouble, a 22 point win. LCM and WOS beat them. And their two wins against Bridge City and HF were close affairs. Silsbee has beaten all those teams. Our predicts were perfectly reasonable. There are only two possibilities. 1. This team was playing a good bit over their heads tonight. 2. This is an under achieving team. Based on what I saw on the court tonight I can't help thinking it's No. 2. I think nobody in district has seen the real Lumberton team until tonight. This is a good team. A really good team, better than anybody except Hardin Jefferson and really they should challenge them in the next meeting. They can and should win out against BC, HJ, LCM and WOS. I think they should place third in district losing again only to HJ and to Silsbee. In my opinion Brock Mcclure is clearly one of the best players in the district, maybe third behind Bush and Wirth. And the supporting cast is competent. And by the way, the Raiders showed no signs of wearing out. They had legs the whole game despite the fact that Silsbee pushed them pretty hard. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Silsbee is the only team they really really care about challenging and they really were playing over their heads.

Yep. And it doesn't bode well for the Tigers in the playoffs. Match up problems - we're just too short. It's as simple as that. Your scorer is fairly tall. The scorer at LCM, Doucette is not quite as tall and we held him to about 20. If your scorer was a couple of inches shorter we'd have been able to put our stopper NO 30 on him and that would have been that.

Hey Raiders, how about saving a little of that for the upcoming home game against HJ? What's going to happen then? They are just about as good as the Tigers.