Meigs Vs Athens 2/13

[fasteach]

will barcus not willie barens trust me on this one.

[nemo]

Matt Witten lead all scorers with 23 points.

Clay Bolin had 24 for Meigs

[Tyler_Durden]

15 players from athens last year are not playing this year.

I have heard from some athletes at Athens that in no certain terms it is being "encouraged" for the basketball players to become one-sport athletes. Let me just say that if that happens, Athens' success in athletics will never develop. Additionally, if you pressure athletes at a small school to focus on only one sport, then don't be surprised when they choose not to play for you at all.

I know this is an old and tired discussion, but small schools need their athletes to be three, and at the least, two-sport athletes. Specializing is overrated in our day and it is ruining the competitive edge that athletes once had. I would rather have a basketball player at the free throw line with .1 second on the clock in a one-point game late in the season who was also on the football field in the fall during a close contest and had to mentally focus in order to succeed. To me, that kid has more of a chance to succeed than the one who was shooting and running drills during the off-season. Competition is at least 50% mental. You don't get that mental toughness by only playing 20 or so games a year.

The best athletes play more than one sport.

[Spartan]

TD,

I have heard the same thing, and even though Athens is a pretty big school, they still have to share the athletes which is a huge minority in that school.

Kids can specialize if they want to, but not because they are "persuaded" to. I think about the present roster and the kids coming, they are all multi sport athletes, and need to remain that way.

[freethrow]

it happens every where. Athens isn't really a small school being a DII. Trimble and Eastern are smaill school. I'm not against doing one sport. Just hope they pick the best sport for them. If the Coach doesn't do well next year in the TVC will people start calling for a change?

[Spartan]

maybe they already are....

[Brutus8907]

0 and 21 is the only way they get worse. they are a young team.

I did notice during the line-up announcement allot of underclassmen.

Maybe I just answered my own question

athens only had 2 contributing seniors on the basketball team this year (Eberts and Strickmaker). witten is a junior this year. pfaff, valentour, rider and herpy are all sophomores. i think athens will be alright in their first year in the TVC in basketball (football may be a different story for a while though), probably about right in the middle of the pack as these youngsters mature and this new coach enters his second season with the bulldogs. i really like this coach, he seems to really know his stuff so far.

[fasteach]

no disrespect. i just meant that since they where 1-20 only 0-21 would be worse. good luck in the future. hope you win all but 2. believe me when i say that watching a team lose alot wears on parents and fans. true fans will stay. when i was in high school, athens was a much feared school to play.

[Spartan]

Athens gave up over 80 points a game, and about 25 turnovers per game, never ran any offense, and gave up layup after layup. The kids busted their butts, but the only identity i could see after watching them a few times was no offense, no defense, quick shots, bad shots, and turnovers. Sorry, but just an observation. Usually when you watch a team play a few times you can see what is important to the coach, I already listed what I saw. Hopefully things will get much better.