Irving07

I don't think it's ever appropriate for the visitors to rush the home team's field. Ever.

Well, I'll say there is no excuse for the program to be in the condition that it is in. They have the students, parents, and support to be much better. The problem is that when you're struggling, the players don't want to come, and when the players don't come, you struggle more. Then the cycle continues. The traditional program is both a blessing and a curse for Male. You have three great middle schools to get kids from, BUT... AND THIS IS A BIG "BUT"...the kids in those three middle schools don't have to come to Male. They can go to Butler, Manual, or their "resides" school. If those kids decide not to come, then Male is stuck because they can't take kids from other middle schools. To me, therein lies the problem...making those kids WANT to come to Male. If you are a serious Girls player, why would you go to Male if you could get into Manual or Butler? I can think of at least 5 girls that went to traditional middle schools that now attend Mnual or Butler. Any of those 5 would start at Male. To me, one thing Male could do to attract those girls is to win more games. lol. Ok that sounds simple enough..but here is what I mean: Stop scheduling unneccesary losses. Last year they played (and lost) to North Hardin, Etown, Nelson County, and Central Hardin. If you replaced those losses with wins over PRP, Southern, Atherton, and Shawnee (just as examples) Your record goes from 11-13 to 15-9. Thats a big difference. Now, I realize you cant simply schedule yourself to being a better team...but when you are building (or rebuilding) a program, sometimes you have to start at square one. Finally for Scully... She (or someone at Male) has to realize that this sport is now a year-round job. I know it might suck, but thats the reality. If you aren't willing to work weekends and summers, then you don't need to coach. You have to embrace summer ball, aau teams, middle school tournaments, rub elbows with parents, weightlifting, conditioning, etc. For example, you always see coaches or staff from Manual, Butler, Eastern, Ballard, Mercy, SHA, etc at all the events at Hoops or Mid America or KBA. I don't know that Scully even knows where those places are. Wow, sorry this turned out to be soo long..

I liked Ballard's no huddle offense. They got to the line and caused the PRP defense not to be able to sub effectively. That being said, they only put together a couple of "drives" in the game. (I left at the start of the fourth) That #1 WR for Ballard is a matchup nightmare for most teams. The Ballard qb has a nice arm. Ballard has some nice size. Long, athletic players. PRP, on the other hand, couldn't get out of it's own way. They repeatedly gave Ballard points with bad snaps, turnovers, penalties, and poor decisions. QB Marcus Brown was probably the best athlete on the field for either team. The OL seemed overmatched. Brown was running for his life most of the night. The long-snapper situation was terrible. Multiple bad snaps hurt a lot. Overall, Ballard was the better team, but not 27 points better. In a more cleanly played game, maybe 7-10 pts better. JMHO

Male went from having 6 seniors last season to only one this year. They only have 2 players with significant varsity experience. So although they may play a lot of jr's and soph's they'll be young in experience. Jr G Ashley Spratt led the team last year @ 17 ppg. Top vote-getter on the 2nd team All 7th region. So G Andrea Owen started almost all yr as a Fr. Ave about 10 ppg. Good outside shooter. So G Jossie Gomez was hurt a lot last season, but has had a very good summer playing travel ball. Jr G Monique White played limited minutes last season, but will be counted on a lot this yr. Getting everyone on the same page could be a challenge. Also the lack of a true post player will hurt. Playing in the 7th region is always a killer, and being in the same district with Mercy and Manual means even making the 7th reg tournament is doubtful.

China is a beast. She can get out of control at times but as she develops and matures, hopefully that will take care of itself. On the positive side, she's probably in the 90 percentile athletic-wise for girls. She actually plays more like a boy, like maybe a Cierra Ricketts. I don't know about pushing them over the top, but she should be a great one.

The 7th region is crazy, Manual, Mercy, Sacred Heart, Assumption, CAL are going to be strong year in and year out. Then the second-tier teams are at least respectable (Male, Ballard, Eastern, Fern Creek, etc) This season will be a war as usual. BTW, does anyone else think Manual should be in the 6th region? Aren't they the only 7th reg school west of I-65?

Did anyone see the State AAU tounament this weekend? Any comments or observations?

Some other teams that were in Atlanta over the weekend: Louisville Lady Legends 2 teams Blue Chip 4 teams Central Ky Angels Kentucky Saints Several girls from the class 0f 2013 were there playing up. China Dow, Kayla Styles, Epps, Goodin. That class looks very strong. (including Greenwell of course)

Wow, I'm surprised. Nice job, Rockets.

I was at Male-Ballard this season. It was a B/G double, on a friday night, and it was homecoming. Maybe ONE couple in The homecoming court was dressed up. I asked what was going on, and was told that the dance, etc was cancelled because they only sold 20 tix. It was opening night for Friday the 13th, and all the kids were going to the movies after the game! lol. This was at Ballard. They did have a decent crowd for the game, however. PS. Their video board is awesome.

North Hardin started off slowly, falling behind by as much as 21-9. They couldn't buy a basket at the beginning of the game, while Male started off strong. After pulling even at about 23, the rest of the game was back and forth. I don't think either team led by more than 4 after that. Male probably led the majority of the game including into the last minute, but made some key mistakes that North took advantage of. Overall a much better game than anyone was expecting. Bramblett was the major force for NH in the second half, while soph G Ashley Spratt had 27pts to lead Male.

I saw South against Male. I was expecting a much better game but Male handled them rather easily. Granted that was about a month ago. I didn't realize they were depending on so many young players. In that light, it's not surprising they are continuing to improve.

Wouldn't this be considered an upset? I think I've seen both these teams play once each, and I wouldn't have seen this coming.

It doesn't say her dad made her shoot free throws. Just that he had keys to the gym. She sounds like the kind of player that would put in the extra work on her own. Amazing story.

Colonel, were you at the Male game? I thought Male came out really fired up. It seemed they overwhelmed OC early and OC was never able to get things going. They were angry about that loss at Shelby Co earlier in the season. Is the Pehlke (sp) girl related to Kim Pehlke? If so do you know how?