navy and old gold

I would imagine you are speaking of the all-star game. There are 40 boys invited to play (20 underclassmen and 20 seniors). The same with the girls. So there are 80 total kids invited to play. The coaches association select the players to be invited.

Here are the girls awards (probably need to be on girls' forum): All-Region: Collette Cole (Breathitt), Kristin Madden (PCC), Heather Martin (LCC), Stephanie Whitaker (LCC), Heather Sturdivant (PCC), Megan Mosley (KCC), Ciara Stidham (Leslie), Beth Branham (Jenkins), Beth Lewis (Leslie), Chrissy Reynolds (Wolfe), Kendra Combs (Owsley), Grace Phillips (KCC) Player of the Year: Collette Cole (Breathitt) Coach of the Year: Peggy Moore (Breathitt)

The 14th Region Basketball Coaches Association had their annual post-season awards banquet yesterday and following is a list of awards presented on the boys side: All-Region Team: Cody Gilbert (Wolfe Co), Zack Gay (Buckhorn), Daniel Day (Leslie Co), Quentin Morgan (Leslie Co), Clark Stepp (JBS), Eli Warren (LCC), Justin Hicks (Hazard), Tyler Rich (Lee Co), Kyle Howard (Jackson City), James Taylor (Cordia) Player of the Year: Justin Hicks (Hazard) Coach of the Year: Kyle Lively (Jackson City) Court of Honor (Class of 2006): Pearl Combs (Hindman), Doran Hostetler (Riverside), Heber Dunaway (Lee Co), and Wendell Wilson (Leslie Co) The 14th Region All-Star showcase will be this Sunday, May 7th, at Perry Central (there have been 80 kids invited...40 boys and 40 girls): 2:00 Girls underclassmen 3:30 Boys underclassmen 5:00 Girls Seniiors 6:30 Boys Seniors

The coaches knew he was the best senior. That is what this award is. This doesn't mean that all the coaches think he is the best player. That will come out when the coaches association votes later in the spring. I would imagine that Stepp (JBS), Hicks (Hazard), and Bailey (PCC) will garner some votes on the overall voting. But Gilbert is a very good player and I wish him the best.

Hazard will travel to Lexington Catholic this Tuesday, the 31st, to take on the Knights. Game time is 7:30 for the varsity with a 6:00 JV start. This is a newly scheduled game.

You may beat the Dawgs by 15 but after your performance tonight vs. PCC you may want to worry about Betsy Layne. The funny thing about the 14th Region is that when all others play Hazard or PCC, in the region, it is the biggest game of the year for them while these two teams usually have to work really hard to get up for these opponents. I think you should actually have to beat one of these two teams before you can even consider making yourself the favorite over one and the last we all checked Leslie hasn't beaten either one in a few years. We all know they have talent this year and that Coach Sizemore works hard with them but until you beat SOMEBODY you probably just need to sit back and relax and soften your expectations for your team.

For what my opinion is, I would say that if you were to seed the tournament, based on pre-season ratings (which is all one has to go on at this time), you would have to put 1-4 seeds, in no particular order, (Leslie, North, Paintsville, and Harlan)......with 5 being Hazard, 6 and 7 going to Knott and BL in no specific order, with Phelps bringing up the rear....With this being said it would make sense to place 4 vs. 5 and 1-3 vs. 6-8.....If you weren't going to seed then a blind draw would make sense....That didn't happen....

You would think that the folks at WYMT would have wanted the best 4 teams in the tournament to be in the semifinals barring an upset. But looking at the brackets it shows that good ol' politics are alive and still going strong in the mountains. Not putting down any teams, but from the looks of things, SOME teams were given a gift and somebody didn't want Hazard to win it again because if they do, and they might, the Dawgs would have to beat the 3 other best teams in the tournament. Not much love for the 2-time defending champs. Surely these brackets weren't put in place for the fans but to make certain people happy. Just an opinion.