The cream of the cream of the crop
The East-West games are always interesting to cover - a remarkable amount of talent playing with the right mix of intensity and light-heartedness.
They're also a reminder of just how competitive it is to advance athletically. Glenn's Kendall Smith, the Piedmont Triad 3-A player of the year, passed on the chance to play basketball at schools like VMI and UNC Asheville in favor of the Parks Scholarship (full academic) at N.C. State. (See audio slideshows of Smith and Grimsley's Trumae Lucas here.) Thomas Driver and David DuPont of Grimsley, both first-team all-area soccer selections for a team that advanced to the state finals, won't be on scholarship come fall. DuPont will attend UNC, and Driver will try to walk-on at UNC-Wilmington. Even the Alderin-Fleagle soccer twins from East Forsyth - Kristin and Ashley - said they said they still hope to play somewhere bigger than Limestone College, where they'll both be this fall.
The lesson: If you pin your hopes on the NBA, it helps to have a winning lottery ticket in your back pocket.
Other thoughts from the last two nights:
-Man, Lucas is fun to watch. She was really the only player in the East-West Game who could create her own shot off the dribble, and she did it unflinchingly with the game on the line. She's about as fearless a point guard as you'll see.
-Secily Ray of Thomasville will be a very good player at Wake Forest. A first-team all-area selection for us this season, she's got a long body and very good control of it. She's 5'11" and can operate inside and outside, so it'll be interesting to see what position she settles into in college.
-West guard Cameron Sealey, who's headed to Lenoir Rhyne via East Gaston, was the most impressive non-local player in the girls game. She was flying all over the place like her scholarship depended on it.
-I still can't figure out why the boys soccer game had to end in a draw last night. It seems these players, parents, coaches and fans invest too much for as anticlimactic a final score as nil-nil. Can't we arrange a sudden death shootout or a game of musical chairs? Give me some closure here!
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