Allaboutthewood

Way to go BW! Good to see these pigskin powers takin' it to the hardwood. Draud is not playing 8th, right? A parent told me he thought BW 8th would be a legit threat to win state even without him. What do you think, Raiderbird?

Interesting...I bet that means Jefferson and Bieger never play MS this year (can anyone confirm?) Regardless, I like their chances to still be the best 8th grade team in either division; coaching will be better than other school teams get and that 7th trio are good players...Draud is as good a scorer for the grade as you'll find and I bet will become a better defender this year, Rolf is as athletic as any 7th grader and can fill it up too, and Mattingly may have the highest ceiling of any kid in the area - he has better ball handling and shooting skills than most bigs I've seen and looks like he could be a legit 6'9" or more when he is done growing (his Dad said that too). Boy that makes their 7th grade less dominant, though with Downton (please confirm he is still 7th), Decker and company Beechwood should still dominate small school division. While Beechwood is very strong by their standards in 7-9th grades, I think their 6th grade will be much more like some of their upper classes that are more bball challenged. By my reckoning, those BW moves make Highlands the clear top-ranked 7th grade team coming in (they already would have been based on past performance, but I thought BW size would have passed them this year) and I expect without Rolf and Mattingly IHM may pass Beechwood to be second best second grade (Vieth and Bessler are the best 4/5 combo in that grade). Speaking of 7th and 6th graders. Who will have the top teams and who are the best players outside of the 8th grade discussions above?

Thanks. I didn't know that site existed.

Can anyone illuminate who is on the Committee or Board that makes decisions aroun basketball divisions (upper and lower) for NKY public school leagues? I've asked several, usually knowledgeable people, and no one seems to know how that body is made up...

AAU rule change and Bulls taking the year off changed this evaluation some, but having watched this grade level pretty closely for years this is what I would say: Gametime is mostly, but not all Highlands kids (I think Beiting kid plays for CCMS). Force is mostly IHM kids. Thunder, I am less sure of, but I think mostly Summit View kids. Bulls, as someone noted, didn't play this year, but that was mostly Beechwood kids with a Blessed Sacrament kid or two, I think. In terms of success at state aau tourneys, this group has been extremely successful - more so than the other grades in NKY have been. Gametime has made D1 semis at least twice. Bulls won state D2 and finished 2nd twice. Force finished 2nd in D2 last two years. Unlike many AAU teams, the schools have not consolidated to form one or two really good AAU teams in this grade. Look out if they do...would look a lot like the 7th grade Legends, with less height, but better shooting. However, because of that Raiderbird is right. The best 7-8 from Beechwood or Gametime would be competitive to play in state with anyone except GHITP black - basically an all-star team from Jefferson Co.

I completely agree with what you're saying and getting deeper post position may not even have been an option against the zone, but when the ball gets to the free throw line against any zone the players should be looking weakside for the open man IMO. I don't think any of their players outside of #15 even had that thought creep into their minds. Just from what I saw, if the ball hit the paint it was going up no matter what was in front of them. I will start by saying, I attended the game and had a mild rooting interest for Holmes. I would say that its amusing you would fault the Holmes bigs when the all-american candidate guard shot 1/8 from three and McClendon only hit one shot the whole game. Who were the "selfish" bigs supposed to feed? Besides without Avery erasing 4 or 5 shots (one was the best block I've ever seen in person in a HS game - reminiscent of Anthony Davis stepping across the lane to block VonHandorf) and threatening dozens more CovCath would have salted this away much earlier. Instead, I blame poor shooting by the Holmes team (with the exception of Moore) for the most part caused by the active feet and hands of a very intense CCH defense. More than last year, I have to compliment the CCH team and coaches for winning this one - last year I think Holmes gave it away in the third quarter. CCH played a hungry, athletic and very good opponent, took their best shot, and played with more poise down the stretch to win a very competitive game. Neither team should be ashamed, and CCH is justified in its pride. I also think Ruthsatz coached an even better game than last year's regional final. He pushed his team at just the right times and in a very low scoring game, CCH scored out of timeouts. Good luck at state Colonels...bring another title to NKY.

The answer is clear. St Agnes didn't want Beechwood 6th in the tourney. They did not try to accommodate Beechwood in any meaningful way. Raiderbird is right on that point. I made sure this was fact-checked before posted. St. A only offered Beechwood times that conflicted with the small school snow-burdened schedule. I'm told (not fact checked) one Beechwood parent offered to pay for gym time and referees for a match against the St. A tourney champ in 6th grade; I don't think that game was ever played, was it?

"Two best for certain" is strong. Both those kids are excellent, but I've seen both be guarded in games as well. Would agree they're two of the best...not sure how that will translate to HS, but have enjoyed watching them play so far.

They are going to have to play the big girls in HS...the division is silly while KY has a "one champion" basketball system. That said, if one insists on it, play the small school regional the week before the bigs (instead of after) and give the small school champion (or champion and runner up) in each grade an invitation to the big school regional tourney. Not hard to be sensible...just hasn't been in the first year of the division.

Nice comments on 6th and 7th grade games...to add on the 8th grade game: I hate when refs take over games; but BW 8th graders and coach have to learn to "take it" from refs when getting rough calls. 3 Ts are unacceptable.

Agreed...Salter kid is a real talent...

The Highlands team is excellent. Would have liked to have seen BW get another crack at them...hopefully next year BW will be playing upper division in MS.

Wow, and Beechwood beat them in the Turkeyfoot tourney?

Catleman kid at Beechwood is playing JV and 9 th grade. Good point guard. Would be interesting to see him play w grade mates. Might be on this list if he did.

I heard Ryle had an outstanding BIG in this grade. Anyone have a name?