By Kyle Dean/Sports Editor
TIFTON — The Region 1-AAAAA champion Tift County boys’ team went 24-5 this season under a first-year head coach, but yet had no player named to the first-team All-Region squad. The coach, Eric Holland, who guided the Devils to a regular-season runner-up and region tournament championship, doesn’t even win Coach of the Year honors.
What’s wrong with this picture?
The All-Region team, selected by the coaches from Region 1-AAAAA, was released this week and Tift girls head coach Julie Conner and boys coach Holland were not too happy with the way the selections went.
Amber McKenzie, despite averaging 17.1 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game, was named to the second team.
“I was very disappointed,” Conner said. “I felt like Amber should have been named to the first team.”
You have a point, coach.
Take a look at what McKenzie did this year. She was a one-woman offensive show most nights for the Lady Devils, who struggled this season to a 12-13 record.
McKenzie had a career-high 33 points in a 68-63 loss to Valdosta High on Feb. 9 and scored 26 and 25 against Turner County and Coffee High, respectfully.
Certainly, Lowndes’ Kiera Peak Colquitt’s Umeika Henry and Northside’s Tai Brown deserve the first-team recognition, as all three were named to the All-Region team in 2009.
But McKenzie, who is talking with Georgia Southwestern, deserved the high honor as well. She also lettered in softball, and could earn a track scholarship according to Conner.
Take a look at the case for Holland and junior center Breon Dixon.
Dixon, a transfer from Turner County, averaged 13.3 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks per game according to his head coach.
“I know Breon is a first-team player — He scored the first 14 points in the region championship game. He almost finished the game with a triple-double,” Holland said.
“Breon is a top-5 player in the region. Only two or three of those (first-team) players will get an D-1 offer; Breon has six offers right now including Georgia State, Tennessee State, Mercer, Georgia Southern, South Carolina-Upstate.”
As for Holland, he took a team that returned only one starter, and won the Region Tournament in his very first season. The Blue Devils advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, falling at home to Stephenson High.
“The GACA (Georgia Athletic Coaches Association) also has a region Coach of the Year. That's the most important one, because that means your team won the region. This will be my fifth in a row, so not being voted by coaches in the region as Coach of the Year really doesn't matter,” Holland said.
“But what upsets me is when coaches won’t vote for kids because of an issue they have with coaches or Tift County. That is not doing what’s best for the region. That’s terrible.”
The coach continued, “The way we (Tift) look, the way we dress, the way we warm up — it looks like we are cocky. We aren’t cocky, but we are confident.”
“We are just like Kobe, people hate Kobe but can’t tell you why they hate him. Other schools hate Tift basketball and can’t tell you why.”
“I can. They hate Kobe because he is great at what he does. They hate Tift because of the great tradition that was built by coach Blackshear and carried on by coach Spurlin. I’m just trying to continue the tradition.”
When I looked at the All-Region list, I could not believe what I was reading.
So, to that end, I have decided to name The Tifton Gazette Region 1-AAAAA All-Region team.
Region Coach of the Year for the girls is Casaundra Wilson. I can’t argue with this selection; the Lady Eagles went unbeaten in region play.
Peak from Lowndes is my Region Player of the Year. Tai Brown of Northside got the nod over Peak, but I think this is due to Brown’s higher stature in the recruiting services.
Brown is slated to sign a Division 1 scholarship, while Peak is talking with Clayton State, Middle Georgia and Chattahoochie Valley Community College among others. McKenzie, Henry, Brown and Vaneeshia Paulk from Coffee High are my first team athletes.
Holland is the boys’ Coach of the Year after leading the Blue Devils to the Region tournament championship in his first season at the helm in Tifton.
Valdosta’s Jay Rome and Coffee’s Trevis Simpson share the Tifton Gazette’s Region Player of the Year award.
Dixon, Rome, Simpson, Nate Hill from Colquitt County and Justin Sanders from Coffee make the boys’ first-team All-Region team.
