Strafford is 32-0...
- Thread starter Aboveitall
- Start date
A
anon_utvqikut1knht
Guest
This is a serious question meant for those who know a heckuva lot more about girls BB than yours truly: Is Strafford the best team regardless of class? Just reading their stats the past two seasons in particular is amazing stuff.............
Kirkwood and IWA would be challenging games but strafford has been incredibly consistent. They have run through a tough schedule and have tried to make it tougher only to be turned down by many teams. Their shooting percentage is astonishing, assists per game is great, superior defense and their bball IQ is off the charts. Plenty of teams have challenged them.... and lost. Friday was an example of that last element-“toughness”. Whitfield who runs no plays and just runs a freestyle offense thought they could just be overly physical and Strafford would break. What they didnt realize is Strafford kids consider that a challenge and dont get intimidated by unskilled, mouthy hacks...... or their innapropriate moron parents in the crowd. Strafford has passesd every test and always let their game do the talking. They are a CLASS ACT!!! A lot of other people could learn something by watching instead of hating and running their mouths. It was a priviledge to watch every other team over the weekend other than the fools from Whitfield who made their school look very bad with their pathetic behavior.
...I want to echo aboveitallswords...
Strafford has set the bar very high
for Missouri girls basketball. A real
pleasure to watch. Skilled players at
every position on both ends of the floor and everywhere in between... It would be difficult to pick a fav player on the squad but I will say imho #42 Hayley Frank 6-2
Jr possesses the skills that I would want on my All-State team...
Congrats... C =)~
I have to agree that this Strafford team is one heck of a team to play against. Mizzou bound Frank is a game changer. Can't wait to watch her at MU. How she isn't ranked higher than Blackwell on the top 100 list is beyond me. Blackwell is a great player but trying to be cool and fancy didn't work for Whitfield this past weekend. Strafford plays great team ball. Defense is on point and the offense isn't just 1 player. Whitfield seems to be more worried about being cool and fancy. If Whitfield was coached by Frank Whitfield wins state. He's got those kids believing in the system. I hope they can add some higher quality teams on the schedule next year to give them a bigger challenge.
Hopefully these 2 will meet next year in the final. What does Strafford have coming up and back to make this team better next year? Someone told me they have a freshman coming in next year that will be a major contributor for this team??
Hopefully these 2 will meet next year in the final. What does Strafford have coming up and back to make this team better next year? Someone told me they have a freshman coming in next year that will be a major contributor for this team??
All the girls that get time for Strafford are very good, but Hayley Frank could be put on most C3 teams and get them to the Final Four. In Strafford though you've got her and a collection of other very solid girls, so you get the ridiculous dominance they've had the last few years.
Wow. This is amazing. How unfortunate are you that you find the need to disrespect high school athletes who come from one of the finest academic institutions in the state by calling them "unskilled, mouthy hacks". Are you serious. What game were you watching? The Whitfield girls showed pride, emotion and excitement for plays the exact way that the Strattford players did. What's interesting is the fact you didn't mention that the girls face guarding Blackwell were yapping the entire game. But a true fan of the game knows that this is called "gamesmanship". Coach Frank even talked about in his post game comments. He didn't seem to have a problem with it because he is a competitor and so are his girls. I also assume you didn't hear the unfortunate chants coming from the student section at Strattford either. Needless the say, the lack of diversity in their community makes them feel that making certain comments is acceptable. Its a Shame. Really it is.
So Please justify how a team that makes it to the final four is "unskilled". For 3 and half quarters the game was very tight its a shame you can't give credit where it's due. Certainly Whitfield didn't capitalize on their opportunities early in the game, in particular the 1st quarter. Whitfield absolutely intimidated Strafford with suffocating defense, (not verbal tactics that Above it all would have you believe) that resulted in turnovers and highly contested shots. Whitfield committed multiple unforced turnovers. I believe they were called for 5 traveling violations in the 1st quarter. Strafford is a team you can't make many mistakes against or it will cost you. The game didn't get out of hand until 4 out of 5 starters fouled out for Whitfield (how does this happen). Please understand that officiating played a huge part in this game as well. The final foul count was: Whitfield 25 Strafford 17. There were at least 4 fouls on Hayley that were either not called, given to one of her teammates that were no where near the vicinity (refer to the article on Ozark sports zone). Kayley had 4 fouls by the end of the 1st half. With how aggressive she was playing there is no way she shouldn't have fouled out. Take it for what it is but the officials allowed Strafford to play very aggressive and penalized Whitfield for doing the same. Whitfield, much like Strafford only graduates one starter. So they'll be back stronger than ever and I believe these two teams will match up during the regular season next year as well.
I was at the game not a fan of either team just there to watch basketball. I was sitting relatively near the Strafford student section and never heard anything from them that could be construed as inappropriate. I would say there was some talking going on both ways in the game. I would also say that to suggest that the officiating was one-sided or somehow handed the game to Strafford is disrespectful to both teams, again was just there to watch basketball and thought that while there were a couple questionable calls each way definitely not a bias and they were pretty consistent with what they called. I thought Strafford maintained their composure more then Whitfield, which probably was helped by having a much larger contingent of fans.
I was close to the fan section and no innapropriate chants were used- good try though. Yes, it was physical but to say the refs were “unfair”? Please, a foul is a foul. Since you brought up Blackwell, I will contend she is a great athlete and good player. How many times did she throw the ball at the rim only to run over someone to get a rebound annnnnd it wasnt called. The Strafford kids did no “yapping” either. I was there. I was close. Credit Whitfield for getting there and players foul out because they foul!!They foul!!!! Try playing d without constantly trying to steal the ball - it might help. Please justify the man in the white shirt who stood up and flipped the Strafford kids off!!! Please!! Same people from a fine educational institution right????deplorable behavior. Bball is a game of skill, not pushing, fouling or intimidation. Thats why there are refs. Yes, both teams return a lot......again.
Last edited:
And there was no article saying Hay should have had more fouls and Kay had 3 at the half........... what game were you watching. The diversity comment is funny. From the language used on the court towards the Strafford kids, Id say your institution truly does teach a lot of “public speaking”.
Last edited:
96grayhound did you watch the game? If so you missed a good one. Whitfield fouled, and then fouled some more. Maybe they do not get called for that in St. Louis, but everywhere else it is a foul. Strafford pep section said nothing inappropriate, please stop it.
Above it all you're hilarious. What was said and who said it? Again how dare you not pay attention to the girls face guarding Blackwell. Funny thing is, several of the Whitfield girls and several of the Strafford girls have played against each other in middle school/AAU ball and have mutual respect for one another (follow each other on social media, etc) so you can try to spin this narrative that there was "deplorable behavior" but those who were at the game will know better .First off, that gentleman didn't "flip off" the girls. Who does that? This is still kids playing a game. More to the point, you're trying to create a narrative that implies that because of one person's "perceived" actions, the entire Whitfield community including the players behave in the same manner. Funny, the one team that you know made you almost soil your pants because they played your team so close, you speak poorly of their student athletes as if they are common hoodlums from the ghetto. Nice try, It won't work.
Back to the original question....yes Strafford is likely the best team in the state regardless of classification.
IWA isn’t as good as yrs past. Missing a D1 commit due to injury all yr.
Kirkwood is skilled with 2 D1 guards. Strafford has more talent top to bottom. Not to mention the coaching edge.
IWA isn’t as good as yrs past. Missing a D1 commit due to injury all yr.
Kirkwood is skilled with 2 D1 guards. Strafford has more talent top to bottom. Not to mention the coaching edge.
Yes I was at the game. And from what I was told about the streaming broadcast of the game the commentators felt that a lot of the Whitfield calls were questionable as well. Like I said. Strafford was allowed to play aggressive and Whitfield wasn't.
Faceguarding is legal....... its a technique... you get that right???? You act as though it is illegal. The man in the white did in fact flip them off and thousands of people saw it. You are either blind or just a liar. Trust me,Skyline played Strafford much closer than Whitfield as well as Rogersville. But, of course,those teams are coached well and play ball the way the rules dictate. I was specific on who the offenders were, not the whole community but,again, nice try. I never used any words like “hoodlum”. Those are your words. Its clear the only one “spinning” anything is you.
I guess everyone who was sitting within eye shot all imagined the same thing then....He didn’t flip them off??? I’m not sure it could be called anything but that..... it was also not just that one individual who was old enough to know better and act in a more appropriate manner, there were plenty of Whitfield fans in that same section that shouldn’t be embarrassed by their behavior.
Whitfield was outplayed, outcoached...plain and simple. Don’t make excuses! Respect the game, respect the kids on the court and respect the outcome.
No excuses are being made. Strafford was the better team on that day in a highly competitive game. My initial comments were directed to Above it All to justify his comments. (which he still hasn't done) Why was there a need to be disrespectful to the young ladies of Whitfield by referring to them as "unskilled hacks" Much like the Strafford players, they spend a lot of time working on the sport that they love and quite frankly don't deserve such comments. Every starter on the Whitfield team will play college basketball at some level as they are all being actively recruited. No one said anything about face guarding not being legal. . I did say they were talking while they were face guarding and the fact of the matter is nothing is wrong with that either. But Above it all, you implied that Whitfield was trying to intimidate when Strafford was doing the same thing. How do you know that the Strafford girls didn't say anything? you can't definitively say that nor can I, neither one of us was on the court. It was a well played game. Strafford took advantage of the fact that Whitfield didn't adjust to the officiating and there you have it. Game over.
A
anon_utvqikut1knht
Guest
Maybe the final four teams should be re-seeded? That way a Whitfiled/Strafford game would have been for the championship. Obviously Whitfield was a much better opponent than Clark Co. or California. ( I really thought California would have made it a closer game but their 3 pointers were not falling).
From what I have been told, Most all of the Strafford players have always gone to Strafford. Of the starters, Chittenden is new this year (her father teaches at the school) the rest have either always gone there or have been there some middles school or before.
Strafford just out played and out coached Whitfield hands down. Can't compare the personnel of these 2 teams. I watched Whitfield twice this year and was impressed with the players. Stafford plays in a great system and the kids follow that system. Whitfield seem to have a couple players that didn't buy into TEAM as much as Strafford. I would love to see Frank and Blackwell suit up for MU in 2 years. I know that won't happen but I wish it would. Frank is one heck of a player and the best girls player I've seen play this year. Very skilled 6'2 forward. Would love to hear what these teams will add for next year.
