insider

They are a small, private school located in Shelby County. They are not members of the KHSAA.

I don't think a great deal of reassessing should be done. (And just so you know I don't spend a great deal of time traversing message boards about high school basketball just something I do if I happen to have some spare time around a computer; hence still less than a 100 posts in five years!). Anderson had a good win versus Shelby yet I don't think that makes them the clear front runners. I will stick with what I posted earlier about 8th and who is shaping up as contenders. The only thing I would change is dropping Oldham out of the top three and moving Gallatin in. Oldham, as I have said previously, doesn't have the talent to win the region and a 20 point loss to South just solidifies that point. Again the regional tournament is not a one day event which could hurt a team like Anderson that has to rely on a physical style game from big bodied kids. Shelby's athletes give them the advantage, albeit slight, if those two were to meet in the 8th finals. I really believe it comes down to those two teams. I am sure others like Gallatin will make a run but in the end they just don't have enough to win it.

Shelby was up on Grant 28-3 before the varsity was pulled in the first half and them played sporadically for the rest of the game. You could tell that Shelby was completely bored with that game. They have beaten Highlands (+18), Eastern (+5), Bullitt East (+29); all of whom were undefeated at the time. Using that game to judge Shelby isn't fair because that is going to happen to teams when they play other teams not in their class. Shelby has more athletes and basketball players than any other team in the region. If you look at the KHSAA they only give up 50 points a game and are averaging int he mid 60's. I just don't think any other team in the region would be 10-0 at this point in the season playing their same schedule.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS050401 Top 20 1.Elliott County (8-0) 105.0 2.Bryan Station (8-1) 100.1 3.Lexington Catholic (7-2) 99.8 4.Mason County (8-1) 99.6 5.Male (7-1) 94.6 6.Scott County (7-4) 94.2 7.Ballard (6-0) 92.1 8.June Buchanan (6-2) 91.1 9.Jeffersontown (11-0) 90.5 10.Paul Dunbar (7-2) 90.3 11.PRP (9-2) 87.6 12.Covington Catholic (7-1) 87.3 13.Shelby Valley (7-1) 87.0 14.Holmes (6-1) 85.8 15.Muhlenberg North (8-1) 85.5 16.Madison Central (5-3) 84.6 17.Boone County (8-1) 84.1 18.Lincoln County (6-2) 84.0 19.Hopkinsville (9-1) 83.9 20.University Heights (8-2) 83.6

I agree Gallatin is a good team. I know Wildcat fans are still referencing last year's win versus Shelby in the regional tournament but that was a very different Shelby team and not nearly as good as this year's. Anderson has a big bruising team with CJ Penny who has the ability to dominate. I think Oldham and Gallatin would have to be neck and neck right now. Oldham has a very nice player in Dunlap and an active body in Payne. Gallatin has their, "me against everyone" attitude to draw from which could help them to some good wins. 1. Shelby County (has all the tools and are playing some of the best team ball you will see this season) 2. Anderson County (CJ Penny is good enough to make an average cast around him a little better) 3. Gallatin/Oldham (OC: Gary Forrest and the best PG in region; GC: have a lot of heart and experience playing with one another) Teams to Watch: Simon Kenton (Pro:could be a tough out if Steiner can adjust to life without Hester; Con: Steiner hasn't been able to do much adjusting to the 8th) North Oldham (Pro: has some decent players; Con: still can't handle athletes or speed)

It was at 7 with three to go in the 3rd. Shelby led by 15 at half and Highlands cut the lead to 10 at the end of the 3rd. Shelby dominated the fourth as they did for much of the game.

Oldham does not have tremendous athletes. They have Dunlap and Payne and after that it falls off considerably. If you were to look at Anderson, Oldham and Shelby, Oldham would have the least athletic ability of the three. Shelby has the most athletic team, followed by Anderson and then Oldham.

Oldham will have to fix two issues: They have a hard time putting points on the scoreboard and they don't have much of a bench to pull from. Dunlap is good and Payne is good for the high school level but neither are D1 material. Oldham has a bad loss to Danville and Shelby just beat them in a game that, if not for poor free throw shooting, would have been a blow out. I also think the "coaching advantage" always given to Forrest can be thrown out this year. I watched Shelby play both Oldham and South Oldham and right now they are the best coached team I have seen in the 8th. They share the ball, play unselfish, rebound extremely well, defend relentlessly and are not afraid to get on the floor and dive for loose balls etc... Shelby is 7-0 with an early season schedule that none of these other teams can come close to matching. Right now I would have to say Shelby is the frontrunner. The Anderson - Shelby game coming up should be a good one.

Oldham will have to fix two issues: They have a hard time putting points on the scoreboard and they don't have much of a bench to pull from. Dunlap is good and Payne is good for the high school level but neither are D1 material. Oldham has a bad loss to Danville and Shelby just beat them in a game that, if not for poor free throw shooting, would have been a blow out. I also think the "coaching advantage" always given to Forrest can be thrown out this year. I watched Shelby play both Oldham and South Oldham and right now they are the best coached team I have seen in the 8th. They share the ball, play unselfish, rebound extremely well, defend relentlessly and are not afraid to get on the floor and dive for loose balls etc... Shelby is 7-0 with an early season schedule that none of these other teams can come close to matching. Right now I would have to say Shelby is the frontrunner. The Anderson - Shelby game coming up should be a good one.

Poor free throw shooting kept your prediction from happening Crestwood. I would have to agree with you Shelby is the better "team" which is something that they have seemed to lack in recent years. Also they play with four sophs and four seniors. Impressive to say the least.

Oldham played this game at their pace. It was a grind it out affair with very few fast break points. Shelby should have won this one going away but struggled from the free throw line all night. Oldham tied this one up with 2 second to go but Shelby ran a beautiful full court play and got a wide open lay up. Oldham fouled and the Shelby kid hit a free throw with no time remaining. Fortunately it wasn't a controversial call. The Shelby kid was about to dunk the ball for the win but was fouled hard. He hit the first free throw.

Shelby actually led this one 28-3 with about 2-3 minutes left in the first half. Shelby's coach put in his entire JV squad and Grant went on to outscore them 9-4 for the rest of quarter. Half time score was 32-12 and Shelby was listless for the entire second half. Hard to blame them this game was ugly from the jump. Shelby's student section did start a "We want the varsity" chant when it was obvious that these two teams were on different levels. Not very classy, but funny all the same.

Shelby must have it going early this season.

Scott County is a basketball team on a different level this year. They have a roster that is similar to some smaller colleges in the state and are probably better than more than a few. All that being said Oldham will be well prepared by Coach Forrest and may keep it closer than most people think but Scott will be to much. Cardinals 62 Colonels 43

That is what I meant Neerfan. I was just being sarcastic. The Pioneers had a great year but I think some will take away from that because they didn't "do what they were supposed to do". Simon Kenton has established itself as a player in the 8th with back to back regional championship game appearances. There is some very good young talent in the 8th and I look for the region to return to strength over the next couple of years.