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At 5:55 p.m. Thursday, I took a call from sports correspondent Lloyd Combs, who’s in Castlewood tonight working the Region D, Division 1 girls semifinals.
“There’s not 100 people here,” he said of the scene 35 minutes before tipoff.
Used to be that for a Region D Tournament, you’d have to get there early—as in an hour or so before tipoff—or risk not finding a parking space or seat.
Not these days, which is yet another example of why basketball fans in southwest Virginia aren’t fooled by the Virginia High School League’s new divisional format for Group A basketball playoffs.
Since postseason started almost two weeks ago, I’ve covered three district tournament (Clinch Mountain girls, Lonesome Pine boys, Southwest boys) and regional quarterfinals in Abingdon and Gate City.
At only two of those events—the LPD boys, in part because of Pound’s small gym—and Gate City was the attendance and atmosphere worthy of a postseason event. At the others, particularly the Clinch Mountain girls semifinals at spacious Virginia High, it was like watching a game in a library at times.
The apologists will take the VHSL’s side and say it creates more state champions and gives schools with a smaller enrollment (like Ervinton and Twin Valley) a chance to better compete at this level. In theory, yes, in reality, not automatically.
Do you think the powerful Council teams of the mid-90s or the early 2000s needed divisional play to make their stamp on the state? Considering the 142-student school won a Group A title and reached the state semifinals three other times in seven years, I think you know the answer.
And if the Ervinton girls (and perhaps the Twin Valley boys and girls) reach the Division 1 semifinals in two weeks, it’s possible they could play schools with two or three times the enrollment. So that argument about playing schools your size is already a falsehood.
Look, the cat’s ran out of this bag permanently. Divisional playoffs are coming to Group AA as soon as next year and they’ll be in every sport within five years.
But if the last couple of weeks is any indication, prep basketball fans—at least the ones in southwest Virginia—have cast their vote for divisional playoffs.
By staying away from the gyms. 

Posted by Bucky Dent
High School Sports Basketball

After a successful start to the Sprint Cup season in Daytona, the NASCAR train went off the tracks last night during an endless rain delay at Auto Club Speedway in California

It was fun to be a NASCAR fan last week.
After two years of declining fan interest, everything went right for the Sprint Cup season opener at Daytona.
The 50th Daytona 500 was a sellout, television ratings were up, and a genuine good guy in Ryan Newman posted a storyboook win.
Turn the page to Sunday at Fontana, Calif. This story was anything but fun.
Whatever speed the NASCAR train gained at Daytona was lost during a miserable weekend that featured a leaky track, childish commentary, endless rain and a mindless five-hour vigil into early morning.
The trouble began on Friday when water began to seep through the track surface. That water created a wreck involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the opening laps of Sunday’s Auto Club 500, and was never really solved.
NASCAR officials decided to wait until nearly 2 a.m. before deciding to move the race until Monday afternoon.
While California fans (many of whom arrived at the track at 7 a.m.) shivered in the cold and damp conditions, viewers on the East Coast were kept waiting...and waiting.
As race officials kept hoping for a miracle, NASCAR families in the Mountain Empire were treated to an especially provocative episode of ``Sex and the City.’’ Viewers in stock car country of North Carolina were offered some tasty infomercials.
Of course, the underlying issue here is Auto Club Speedway. Weather extremes aside, the track is flat, wide and boring, plus few folks in Southern California care about the sport.  How funny was the crude Kyle Busch joke during prerace ceremonies by the Hollywood comedian. Can you say crickets?
Attendance was listed at 37,000 for Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race. According to media types who covered the event, that number was inflated by more than 20,000. Credibility gap?
And while the network talking heads would never dare admit it, there were many empty seats for Sunday’s Sprint Cup event. There were very few crowd shots on Monday.
Instead of actual commentary or journalism during the rain delays, Fox network viewers were treated to an insightful exploration of the new Gopher-Cam or pandering to actor Tom Cruise. Shameless.
The stock car faithful, who pay dearly to follow their favorite sport, deserve so much more in terms of respect and honesty.
With more start times for Sprint Cup events being pushed back to accommodate West Coast fans, a repeat of Sunday’s nightmare is a real possibility.
So much for the ballyhooed “Back to Basics’’ approach.

Posted by Allen Gregory

The Virginia High School League’s PC Era begins tonight with newly-expanded playoff formats in boys and girls basketball.
Congratulations, VHSL. Now you can crown twice as many state champions in Group A. And while you’re at it, you can also give us a Region C, Division 1 girls field in which the bottom four seeds (as colleague Tim Hayes pointed out) combined for a 1-85 record.
One and 85! Again, I repeat, 1 and 85!
This is postseason basketball, where only the best teams are supposed to survive? Or at least teams which are playing their best now? Something tells me the Holston girls aren’t peaking. Nor for that matter is 5-19 Gate City, which somehow drew the No. 8 seed in Region D, Division 2.
Blame the good old VHSL for this new format, which is worse than Zima. What’s next—certificates of participation for everyone like in Little League?
Here’s a novel concept for executive director Ken Tilley and the folks up in Charlottesville: How about going with the regular season champ and tournament champ (or tournament runner-up if the regular season champ takes the tournament)? You know, like the format you used to have—the one which made some sense?
Instead, the PC Era is only going to grow like kudzu. Group AA will probably go to it as early as next year. Group A might expand it to all other sports besides football. Do we really need to see a Region D, Division 1 baseball tournament in two years?
There will be 16 regional games Tuesday, including eight in Region IV. Of those 16, probably 4 or 5—tops—will be competitive. The rest won’t be watchable.
But in the world of the VHSL, where money talks and common sense takes a back seat, they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. Even if the average basketball fan won’t find much about which to smile. 

Posted by Bucky Dent
High School Sports Basketball

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Johnson City, Tenn. – You’re surprised when Travis Strong misses. And you nod your head and smile assuredly every time Strong drains a 3-pointer and the ball swishes through the net like there was no other possible option.
Strong is a shooter’s shooter.
His quick release, soft touch and high, arcing shot are textbook.
He can stop, plant and pull up on a dime.
And he regularly knocks down NBA-range 3s from both sides of the court like it’s a simple part of a complex collegiate game.
Strong recorded 20 points and set a career-high with six made 3-pointers as he helped guide East Tennessee State to an 88-80 victory over Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon.
The outing marked the final time Strong, a senior guard, will play a game inside Memorial Center while wearing a Buccaneer uniform.
“It was my birthday, too,” Strong said smiling. “It was my birthday and my last senior game here on the same day. And we got a win.”
ETSU will miss Travis Strong.
Strong, who played his high school ball at Memphis’ White Station High School, has often been ETSU’s only consistent outside scoring threat this season.
He’s also the only remaining Buc who played on ETSU’s 2003-04 squad that finished 27-6 (15-1 Southern Conference) and nearly knocked off Cincinnati in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
And Strong, who rebounded from a major knee injury that kept him off the court all last season, is currently averaging 10.3 points per contest while shooting 40.3 percent (52 of 154) from beyond the arc.
“If Travis is open, I’m going to get it to him,” said ETSU senior forward Kenyona Swader. “And if he ain’t open, I’m still going to give it to him. He’s one of the best.”
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Posted by Brian T. Smith

Strong sets career-high with six made 3-pointers

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Johnson City, Tenn. – Kevin Tiggs leapt, jumped and sliced through crowds like the circus was in town.
Courtney Pigram played with smooth confidence.
And East Tennessee State’s three departing seniors – Travis Strong, Andrew Reed and Kenyona Swader – could at times do no wrong.
The Buccaneers held on to defeat Tennessee Tech 88-80 on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Center before an announced crowd of 3,118 as part of ESPN’s BracketBuster promotion.
And for one game, ETSU’s chaotic, unpredictable season made perfect sense.
“We’re getting it going at the right time,” said Strong, who tied for a team-high 20 points, hit 6 of his 12 3-point attempts and picked up three steals. “We made extra passes and found the open shooter and we just hit our shots.”
The Bucs’ 1-3 record in their previous four games and Thursday’s disappointing 96-70 blowout loss to Gardner-Webb appeared to be in the rearview mirror for ETSU.
The Bucs’ offense ran smooth, streamlined sets, and ETSU’s defense recorded 11 steals, four blocks and forced 21 turnovers.
Yes, the Bucs watched a 20-point lead disappear and Murry Bartow’s squad looked lethargic during a 22-9 Tennessee Tech run in the second half.
But ETSU (16-12, 9-5 Atlantic Sun) played tight, focused, team-first basketball for the majority of the contest – something that’s been sorely lacking in the squad’s most-recent efforts.
“Coach showed us a highlight tape of our best moments this season,” said Swader, who scored 13 points and collected a team-high 11 rebounds. “I think that reminded us of what we can do when our offense is working right.”
Tiggs added 20 points (8-of-15 shooting), three rebounds and three steals for the Bucs, while Pigram scored 15 points and had six rebounds.
Daniel Northern scored a game-high 22 points for the Golden Eagles (12-18, 9-10 Ohio Valley Conference).
Tennessee Tech battled back to take a 65-63 lead when Amadi McKenzie (17 points, game-high 13 rebounds) converted a short-range 2 with 10 minutes, 55 seconds to go.
But ETSU held strong and rallied, and consecutive emphatic dunks by Pigram and Swader made it 79-69 Bucs with 7:09 left in the second half.
“We got back in it and we tied it up in the second half, and we had some opportunities to make some plays,” said Tennessee Tech coach Mike Sutton. “But they were very intense early and I thought, in the second half, we just ran out of gas.”
The Bucs took a 17-12 lead when Strong drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with 14:11 remaining in the first half.
Six consecutive points from Pigram, courtesy of a swished 3 from the right baseline and a three-point play, allowed the Bucs to stretch their lead to 27-12.
Meanwhile, ETSU’s 2-3 zone defense plagued the Golden Eagles’ quick-set offense.
Tennessee Tech committed 13 first-half turnovers and was held to 33-percent shooting (4 of 12) from the field in the game’s first 10 minutes.
“We know when we play good defense that it helps our offense in transition,” said ETSU senior forward Andrew Reed. “We definitely had some extra effort with our defense today.”
And while the Golden Eagles struggled mightily in the early going, ETSU shot the ball like it had a magnet attached to the rim.
The Bucs hit 51.4 percent (18 of 35) of their field goals in the first half and knocked down 50 percent (9 of 18) of their 3-point attempts.
Tiggs, Strong and Pigram all hit the 8-point mark for ETSU before halftime, and the Bucs took a commanding 51-39 lead into the break.
The Bucs’ bench added to the barrage.
ETSU outscored Tennessee Tech 30-23 in bench points, while Buc reserves Jocolby Davis (five points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal), Mike Smith (four points), Greg Hamlin (four points, two blocks) and Micah Williams (seven points) all made significant contributions.
“The A-Sun tournament is coming up, so we have to be ready,” Strong said. “We all tried to do our part out there.”
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Posted by Brian T. Smith