What has happen to the Duel State Tournament?

[xtremewildcat]

I got to work this morning and looked at my ED paper and almost spit my Old English out on the table. I saw only a hand full of teams participating in the tournament. Is it because of money? Why is Norphlet, Hampton, Smackover, PC, the Camden schools, and the LA schools not participating?

[bleudog]

It would be interesting to hear from some of the schools who aren't participating in this year's Dual State.

Yeah, '08 was a setback but hopefully '09 will put the tradition back on track.


http://www.fearlessfriday.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=89132.msg1897705#msg1897705

[Missco]

Sounds like the end of good thing. It seems somebody dropped the ball on this thing big time.

[RAD]

You spell it DUEL on purpose?    that is what is has become.....

[Bearden_Bear72]

Wow kind of a let down

[bleudog]

CLICK HERE for the bracket of the 78th version of the tournament.

[rheddhoss]

What a shame that this tournament has gone downhill.  I attended during the 2004 tournament when there were 40 plus teams in the tournament in both boys and girls.  I got to watch a team from LA hold the Lady Bulldogs from Strong to 0  points until  just a couple of minutes left in the third quarter. (This was when Canser and Rogers were in 8th grade However, Strong was still very competitive) 
The hospitality room was out of this world!!!  Best I have ever seen.

[Wilson]

It used to run from 12 noon untill almost midnight Monday through Saturday......back when the AAA would let you play before school ended.......

Whats not going to seem right is no saturday morning semi's this year.......I hope that the folks running it do a better job next year of getting teams involved.

[footballfan]

combination of sore feelings from various local teams and those from Hamburg and other locations. Many of the former teams don't exist anymore (Union, e.g.) I was surprised Homer and Bernice weren't there from Louisiana. Smackover and other teams told officials last year they wouldn't be coming back because of organizational problems. Hope they get it straightened out. Maybe they'll have to break down one year and have Ruston, West Monroe, Magnolia, etc., and a few other bigger schools.

[IBM]

Sad day for Dual State; esp from someone who remembers the days of 20 or more teams in both boys and girls brackets......JC should be ashamed and done more to invite more teams in......

[RAD]

maybe the tournament will recover in time but it may take a while.  might need time for coaches who were burnt to move to different schools before schools come back.  maybe bad memories will fade over time.

i think a lot of things have gone into the decline of the tournament.  most obviously the lack of crowd control and a thug mentality of certain teams playing, especially last year.  poor officiating at times has hurt (i remember 2 years ago the team james anderson's dragons were playing against got totally hosed at the end of the game, resulting in technical fouls on the coach and a gift win for the host team). 

the cramped conditions in the stands is an issue but yet one of the things that makes the tournament unique.  there has always been a feeling outside of jc that the host team set the tournament up in their favor and being awarded 1st place last year without finishing the game seemed to bolster that feeling.

maybe in time it will recover but honestly this year i won't miss it.  of course i don't believe it will ever get back to what it once was.  i mean do you ever think there will be another bobby joe douglas/karl malone battle on the floor?

[bleudog]

........there has always been a feeling outside of jc that the host team set the tournament up in their favor and being awarded 1st place last year without finishing the game seemed to bolster that feeling..........

Last 16 Boys winners prior to this year's tournament:

1993 Stephens
1994 Norphlet
1995 Bernice, LA 
1996 Stamps
1997 Farmerville, LA 
1998 Stephens
1999 Stephens
2000 Stephens
2001 Minden, LA 
2002 Emerson
2003 Waldo
2004 Waldo
2005 Warren 
2006 Warren
2007 Junction City (eventual 2A state champion)
2008 Junction City (eventual 2A state semi finalist)

The cook should have been fired in 14 of the last 16 years because that home cooking tasted horrible.  In the other two years, JC did prove they had strong teams in those years.  If Stephens would have been ahead at the time last year's game was called, they would have been awarded the championship.  Stephens was also a very strong team that year as they were a 2A state finalist.

Junction City boys are currently ranked as the #1 2A team in the state by the ADG.

CLASS 2A
1. Junction City ......................................13-1
2. Abundant Life .....................................21-7
3. Melbourne ..........................................21-4
4. County Line ........................................21-1
5. Hackett .............................................21-1
6. Conway St. Joseph ..............................20-3


Don't hold it against the Dragons if they win the 2009 Dual State crown, especially in its abbreviated form.

Good luck to all teams and +1 to the teams that are helping reestablish the tournament after last year's disaster.

[RAD]

never said they always won it.  i said there is a feeling that they set the tournament up in their favor, ie brackets.  i would do the same thing if it were my tournament.

[bleudog]

never said they always won it.  i said there is a feeling that they set the tournament up in their favor, ie brackets.  i would do the same thing if it were my tournament.

Does help the gate if the home team makes the last day.  

Of course that works with baseball tournaments also.

I just hope the folks who do show up buy a lot of popcorn and cokes.

[bleudog]

CLICK HERE for El Dorado News Times write up on the Thursday games.

[bleudog]

CLICK HERE for El Dorado News Times write up on the Friday boys' games.

[bleudog]

Guess it was too late for the paper, but JC did get the win over Strong to win the '09 Dual State title.

Haynesville took the consolation game over Fordyce.  Fordyce kids showed a lot of heart.  They only had 6 players.  Game went to one OT period.

No extra activity in the stands this year.  Other than the fact the JC girls got trounced, a really good night of small high school basketball.

[Missco]

Its my understanding that most of the teams got out for two reasons. The crowd control by the Admin. at JC has been lacking and the officials have been terrible.

[bleudog]

Guess it was too late for the paper, but JC did get the win over Strong to win the '09 Dual State title.

Haynesville took the consolation game over Fordyce.  Fordyce kids showed a lot of heart.  They only had 6 players.  Game went to one OT period.

No extra activity in the stands this year.  Other than the fact the JC girls got trounced, a really good night of small high school basketball.

El Dorado News Times write up ended up in Monday's paper:  CLICK HERE

[bleudog]

I got to work this morning and looked at my ED paper and almost spit my Old English out on the table. I saw only a hand full of teams participating in the tournament. Is it because of money? Why is Norphlet, Hampton, Smackover, PC, the Camden schools, and the LA schools not participating?

CLICK HERE