[J. R. VanHoose]

JR.............Who were some of the most challenging players you played against in the post when you were in high school? Both Nationally and in the state? Also, tell us the difference between the region today, versus the region you played in the 4 years you all went to state. Should be interesting.

In high school I played against some great post players but many were from across the nation. My senior year we went to St. Louis to play in a shootout against a team from Massachusetts (Governor Dummer Academy). They had a 6'11" post player - Dan Gadzuric that weighed about 250. He was supposedly the best post player in the country and he sure thought he was. But we beat his team and I out scored him 32-27. He now plays for the Bucks in the NBA.

I alos played against Chris Burgess (who went to Duke then Utah) and later played for the Suns (NBA) and Malik Allen (who went to Villanova) and later played for the Miami Heat.

The best players in Kentucky that I played against were .... honestly I can't remember any post players in Kentucky that I was really scared of playing against. Alot of them were good battles, good challenges, but nothing like the challenges of the ones I played against from across the country.

The difference in the region today vs. when I played is that many of the top teams in the region had good post players and good guards. There were good teams in the region. For example, Magoffin County was always very good. They had a 6'11" kid in the post that was very strong, and they had many good guards. I always hated playing them because it was a battle every night. Johnson Central had a 6'11" post player (Robinette) and good guards in Jason Shepherd, Derek Howard (who later played at Paintsville), Mike Jarrell and others. Sheldon Clark was always very physical. Prestonsburg had a good post player in Andy Jarvis and guards Wes Sammons and John Ortega. Pikeville had Doug Powers, Scott Justice, and Chase Gibson in the post at different times and had two great shooting guards (I forgot their names). Allen Central had Jeremy Hall and Thomas Jenkins.

What I am trying to say here is that there were alot of teams that were good and challenging in this region when I played. It was going to be a battle every night that you played. If you weren't ready you were going to get beat. The year we won the state tournament we beat Magoffin County in the region finals by 3, that was the hardest game that we had in the post season (even the state tournament). I think that that Magoffin County team could have made some noise at the state tournament that year too!! You just don't see teams like this in the region any more. Kids are too busy playing X-Box and Playstation, they are not working on their game in Open Gyms or playing pick up games aganist older guys who will make them better. I still play pick up sometimes (when I am not busy with the IBL) and I try to take some of Paintsville's high school kids with me to play against some of the guys I play with. It only makes them better!!!!