article Inside the 7th Region (2-6-17)

News and Notes:

In the department of not much has changed Trinity is still the top team in the 7th Region. With Jacob King back in the fold Trinity is every bit as powerful now as they were at the beginning of the season when they were without him. With four players averaging double figures in points it will not be an easy feat for any team to knock Trinity out of the postseason.

Waggener has added Devin Cooper back onto their team and he is averaging around 23 points a game right now for Waggener. Waggener has gone 2-5 since Cooper has joined the team but they have lost those games to Ballard, Trinity, Fern Creek and Dunbar along with dropping a game to Crispus Attucks out of Indiana. They have defeated a strong CAL team during this stretch so do not let their record fool you. They are still a strong team.

Ballard is still Ballard and while they sit on a 21-5 record three of their losses have come at the hands of Fern Creek, the current #1 team in the BluegrassPreps.com Top 20 Rankings. Ballard has won their last four games and will finish the season against three teams from out of state which will no doubt have Ballard fully prepared to handle to rigors of postseason in the 7th Region.

St. Xavier, Eastern and Christian Academy-Louisville currently make up the middle of the top 10 of the 7th Region. In the last couple of weeks Eastern has beaten St. Xavier, St. Xavier has beaten CAL and CAL has beaten Eastern so it is officially muddy in the middle. All three will have their hands full trying to defeat the upper echelon of the 7th Region but I wouldn't put it past any of these three teams to pull out a victory or two this postseason.

Kentucky Country Day was the 7th Region representative in the All A Tournament this year. While their season hasn't gone as expected they did secure that 7th Region All A title and look to finish the season strong behind the play of Anthony Mathis.

7th Region Rankings:

1. Trinity

2. Ballard

3. Waggener

4. St. Xavier

5. Christian Academy-Louisville

6. Eastern

7. Central

8. Male

9. Kentucky Country Day

10. Manual

11. Seneca

12. Atherton

13. Louisville Collegiate

14. St. Francis

15. Brown

16. Shawnee

17. Portland Christian

Good Review.....

Good review......

I third the motion, good review.

Great Job:thumb:

Just added to give a little bit more detail on the middle of the region.

News and Notes:

1. Trinity, in the department of not much has changed Trinity is still the top team in the 7th Region. With Jacob King back in the fold Trinity is every bit as powerful now as they were at the beginning of the season when they were without him. With four players averaging double figures in points it will not be an easy feat for any team to knock Trinity out of the postseason.

2. Ballard is still Ballard and while they sit on a 21-5 record three of their losses have come at the hands of Fern Creek, the current #1 team in the BluegrassPreps.com Top 20 Rankings. Ballard has won their last four games and will finish the season against three teams from out of state which will no doubt have Ballard fully prepared to handle to rigors of postseason in the 7th Region.

Ballard beat Waggener on 1/20 61-59 with Cooper. They get the nod as the 2nd best team in the region until someone can beat them they have the most region wins at 9-0.

3. Waggener has added Devin Cooper back onto their team and he is averaging around 23 points a game right now for Waggener. Waggener has gone 2-5 since Cooper has joined the team but they have lost those games to Ballard, Trinity, Fern Creek and Dunbar along with dropping a game to Crispus Attucks out of Indiana. They have defeated a strong CAL team during this stretch so do not let their record fool you. They are still a strong team.

Waggener has to beat trinity or Ballard to win the Region they have never beat Ballard. It was coopers first game back last time they played and he seems to be in full flow now with his team.

The rest of the region is hard to rank and figure out the next 6 teams (St. X, Eastern, CAL, Central, Manual, Male) all beat each other and can on any given night. Your guess is as good as mine in ranking them. So I’m going by their record verse each other.

4. Central (2-2) 4-3 their last 7 games with wins over Butler, Male, Western and Doss. Losses coming to the hands of Manual, Fairdale and Valley. Central has the best wins of this group also a blowout loss at the hands of Fairdale. With Ballard and Waggener this week this will be a test to see if they are top of the region or still in the next group.

5. ST.X (3-2) Kiesler 16.9 ppg is going to score and have big nights the question for this team is can someone else step up. Taylor can no longer be considered a freshman and needs to play like it for this team to make a run at the top three. St.X is 3-4 the last 7 games with two of those losses coming at the hands of Fern Creek and Ballard, with the other two loses being Manual and Eastern. They are coming off a win at home against Male, two more wins should come this week against Lou. Holy Cross and district foe Brown.

6. CAL (2-1) CAL goes in ahead of Eastern at 5 because of their win Friday. They also are 3-4 in their last 7. With losses to Waggener, Bullitt East, Deslaes and St x. they do not play another 7th region opponent till district tournament. It looks like they will end up in the 2/3 game and play Eastern again to go to regional tournament.

7. Eastern (2-2) they have been up and down this season, they got Hot over Christmas and are 4-3 over their last 7. With Male and Ballard this week it is a chance to move up. The Ballard Eastern game is always intense with in this rivalry. Tonight verse male is a game they need or they could finish the season losing 7 out of 9. They have a nice group of seniors who I feel will come out ready to play this week.

8. Male (0-2) the reason I put Male this low is they have not beaten anyone with in the region in the top ten. (Collegiate, Brown, Seneca) they will get at least one more region win this week against Shawnee a big show down with Eastern tonight and Bowling Green Saturday. If they can win all three, they will fly up the rankings. So. Guard Hunter McCutcheon has been playing well this year avg 14.4 a game. Everything goes throw Sr. big Hogan browning.

9. Manual (2-3) no team struggled more to start the season but seem to be playing better. They are 3-4 in their last 7 game games. With not a single bad loss Bullitt East, Moore, North Hardin and Butler three of the games within 5 points or less. They have wins over St. X and Central during this stretch. This week might be their “easiest” week of the year with Atherton and Seneca. This is a team who is trending up at the right time.

10. KCD with the only 7th region wins coming against Seneca, Shawnee, and collegiate) they need a win to move up from the 10 spot. They will be the 4 seed with in the district and will get Ballard first round which they lost to 71-84 last week. Big game to see where they are at home against North Hardin tonight. They have a Boyle Co. team that I do not know anything about.

11. Seneca they get the ranking ahead of Atherton because they have played a tougher schedule and have the head to head win. They played Waggener tough on Friday and have Shawnee tonight. That will put them on a 2 game winning streak going into Friday’s game at manual.

12. Atherton beat Collegiate on Saturday, they play Manual tonight and then Brown Friday. If they can win these two it could give them some confidence going into the Eastern game next week. Unfortunately for them they have earned the 4 seed in district play and will face trinity who they just lost to 41-76.

13. Louisville Collegiate they have compiled wins against lower level teams but have not fair welled when they go against better teams. They are improved and lost a close one (2 points) to Atherton Saturday. They have Spencer co. and Beth Haven this week. It should be a 1-1 week continuing the trend.

14. St. Francis although they have 14-6 record they have not beat anyone. They have 2 wins this season over brown and thus why they are ranked higher than them

15. Brown with St. X and Atherton this week the losing will continue making it 10 out of 12 games.

16. Portland Christian even though they are in the same district as Shawnee they are not schedule to play. They get the node because they have more wins. Evangel and Fredrick Fraise this week.

17. Shawnee I’m glad they got a win. 1-19 Seneca Male this week. Will have a shot against Beth haven next week.