Boys 1A Quarters: Grundy-49 PM-46
- Thread starter BigWinners
- Start date
I was on the 99-2001 teams. We had the talent then but never could get quite over the hump. The Council teams were amazing during that time frame too. A lot of talent to come out of the area.
Don’t forget those Haysi teams, as well.
So you played against the oldest Knuckles brother. You have my sympathy lol. They came to BSG and just SMASHED a pretty good PV team. It was extremely tough to make it out of the old Region D in D1 (now 1A). Had to beat teams like Haysi, Burton, Council, etc...
Yessir. Played against Brad from 4th grade all the way through high school. He shot up like 8 inches in one summer lol. Ryan Rasnake was a stud on that team too.
My first time seeing Nuckles and Rasnake was, Nuckles sophomore year. I was there to watch King William play New Kent in one state semifinal, and Council played Haysi in the other. I was so impressed with Council, that I stayed and watched them play New Kent in the championship game, the next night. That was a really special NK team who finished undefeated, but Council hung tough, ultimately losing by 12. The next year was the year that they won it, I believe. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I was talking to a gentleman from Grundy on Facebook last night and I told him that Cade Looney reminds me a lot of Brad Nuckles.
You are correct. They won it Brad’s “junior year.” He was a hold-back.
That team had played together since they could dribble a ball and Rick Goodman was a hell of a coach. My junior year, they beat us by 4 at Grundy but handled us pretty well on their floor.
Cade has some similarities to Brad, for sure. You could consider him a poor mans Nuckles. That’s not a knock on Cade...Nuckles was just that damn good. Hopefully, Cade can make that kind of leap next season.
Definitely isn't a knock on him. That's a compliment, because Brad Nuckles was one of the best players to ever play in the state of Virginia, at any level.
Little forgotten fact about that Council team that won state. Justin Deel that was at Haysi was originally at Council and part of that roster. Another great player that averaged 22-23 a game that year, I believe. Just an ungodly amount of talent in the BDD that year. Garden was serviceable and had a 1200 point scorer and Honaker had a young Heath Miller.
We were still 2A then.
Nuckles was before the current trend of bigs playing more on the perimeter but he had great touch. I think he could even be better now with more space and more shooting. He would still dominate back to the basket, you could guarantee two points or FTs by posting him up and a good entry pass, but if you had to guard him from the three line too? Good night Irene, no one could stop him.
Tyler Webb from Twin Springs in the mid 2000s was the only comparable player I saw from the area, huge kid with a smooth touch. But he wasn't surrounded with the talent Nuckles had around him. Brads younger brother was closer to my age but while he was huge, he was not the athletic, dominant force Brad was during his run. Went on to excel at ETSU, which is a great program, showing how great Brad was. Not many players in 2A (or old D2) could even sniff the floor at ETSU, maybe a handful excluding JM which I don't count lol.
Tyler Webb from Twin Springs in the mid 2000s was the only comparable player I saw from the area, huge kid with a smooth touch. But he wasn't surrounded with the talent Nuckles had around him. Brads younger brother was closer to my age but while he was huge, he was not the athletic, dominant force Brad was during his run. Went on to excel at ETSU, which is a great program, showing how great Brad was. Not many players in 2A (or old D2) could even sniff the floor at ETSU, maybe a handful excluding JM which I don't count lol.
When I was in school, in the mid 90s, Rappahannock had 6'11 Cal Bowdler. Back then, it was extremely rare to see a guy his height in our area. He would go on and have a good college career at Old Dominion and was even a 1st Round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks in the 1999 draft. He played 3 years in the NBA, and then went and played overseas. I remember when we played against him in high school, our tallest player was only 6'3, so needless to say, he scored 40 in both games, but we did win both of those games as well. Looking back, it's hard to believe that has been 25 years ago.
Brad was definitely ahead of his time. He was more than serviceable out to 22-25 feet and there was nobody with the length in the state to touch his height/wing span combination on the interior. Basically, he was not able to be guarded even though he wasn’t extremely athletic.
He also had excellent timing on the defensive end and blocked everything...including pinning my shit on the backboard off a fast break where I thought I had plenty of space. That long stride made up ground quickly and helped him become a solid player at ETSU.
If I remember correctly, Clemson had an offer out to him, as well. His lack of athleticism was a bugaboo at times at ETSU when faced with guys his size but he still averaged damn near a double double his senior year.
I never got to watch Tyler Webb play...I was in college but I remember reading about him. Grady Kring at Castlewood was another sneaky ass good player in region D at the time and don’t forget that Justin Hamilton was at Clintwood.
I remember my junior year, Washington College Academy came to Buchanan County and we played them in the preseason tourney. They were ranked like 12th in the country and had Tony Key, a 6’11” monster that went straight to the draft. He was drafted in the second round, I believe, out of high school. They beat us like 75-35. Folks that don’t watch ball have a hard time understanding just how freaking good D-1 caliber guys are until you’re on the floor with them. There is a reason those guys make it look easy.
time flies man. The older we get, the quicker it goes by. I never played against any D1 athletes unless you wanna count Brad Robbins, who started his baseball and football (mostly baseball) career at Western Carolina when we were all kids in little league and stuff. I will tell you this, it was MUCH better to have him on your side as opposed to the other lol.
Yeah for all his positives, athleticism wasn't his best. He wasn't a quick runner or a huge leaper so it was all timing based. You could tell he practiced since he was born practically because of his sense of the floor.
Webb wasn't as dominant physically or as skilled but he was a better athlete I believe. I seem to remember him also being Twin Springs' QB as well but I could be wrong. He ended up at App State and played some but not sure he ever was a starter. But even making the team and playing multiple years at that level is a huge accomplishment. His career at ASU overlapped with Steph Curry at Davidson and they played each other. I can't imagine trying to contain Curry, even at 18 lol. Webb recently came back to TS and coaches them now.
I'm from BSG so I remember Justin Hamilton enough lol, he was a good basketball player but damn he was an insanely good football player. Kinda like Thomas Jones, who scored 1000 points for PV but quit before his senior year to protect from injury. Guys like Zack Moore, Stacy Ervin, were killing people in the 90s. Then of course GC took off first with Jamie McMurray, the best HS shooter I've seen in person then McClung and them. Shoemaker was a dominant basketballer too but a little before my time.
