article Inside the 6th Region (02/20/2017)

The regular season is completed and now the real fun starts. Teams are all 0-0 and elimination games can cause teams to fight like their season is on the line which it is except for District Championship games. This upcoming week is District week in the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, & 24th where host schools like Fairdale, DeSales, North Bullitt, & Bullitt East all are hoping they will be able to leverage their home courts to advance to the Regionals which are held at Valley High School for both the 6th & 7th Regions.

After an undefeated regular season Fern Creek is getting most of the attention as the likely favorite to advance on to Rupp, but first they must likely face Bullitt East in what should be a great 24th District Championship game. In the rankings this week the teams 1-4 will be my picks for winning their Districts and teams 5-8 will be my picks to also advance as their districts runner-ups.

This week rankings....

1) Fern Creek (28-2)- It has been a long time since Fern Creek entered the Post-Season with a favorite tag, but they do so in 2017. There are so many weapons and the way they share the ball when they are playing well is a simple but effective measure of utilizing the deep bench they possess. First they must get past Bullitt East in the 24th district championship and that is no easy task when BE is playing at home and playing well.

2-4) Other projected District Winners are Doss (18-10) in the 22nd, Valley (20-7) in the 21st, & Moore (19-10) in the 23rd. Let us not forget that Doss is the back to back champion in the 6th that whoever wins must go through. Doss will not go away quietly, they will be ready to compete and it starts by winning the 22nd. Valley went undefeated in district play but will need to get by PRP in the 21st and Fairdale as the host school may have something to say about it as well. Moore is listed here not because they are a Top 4 team, but they should win their district due to the 23rd simply not being very strong.

5-8) Bullitt East (20-8) in the 24th, PRP (15-10) in the 21st, & DeSales (17-11) in the 22nd, and Southern (15-12) in the 23rd. Bullitt East would be in the 2 or 3 spot in the rankings, but since they are in the 24th with Fern Creek they sit atop of the expected #2 seeds. PRP may be able to knock off the Vikings in the 21st District final, but first they have a tough game against a strong finishing Fairdale who is the host for the 21st district games. PRP gets the nod here, but don't be surprised if Fairdale pulls the upset. DeSales and Butler meet to see who gets to be play Doss in the 22nd championship game. Butler could win that game, but DeSales being the host school should win and then will try to do the same to Doss. Southern should meet Moore for the final game in the 23rd and could pull off the upset to be the 4th #1 seed based on Moore's final game where they lost badly to Fern Creek.

Best of the Rest capable of an upset

9) Butler (16-11)

10) Fairdale (13-16)

11) Iroquois (14-16)

Likely have a single game left

12) Western (9-14)

13) Jeffersontown (9-18)

14) Holy Cross (14-14)

15) Bullitt Central (9-17)

16) North Bullitt (7-22)

17) Beth Haven (12-15)

18) Whitefield Academy (6-19)

19) Evangel Christian (6-21)

Jason Frakes has tweeted out that Bullitt East Coach Jason Couch will have a kidney transplant March. 2. Robert Troutman will take over the team if they are still playing. Good luck to Coach Couch. Done a great job especially with the health issues.

The Bullitt East "next man up" mentality goes to another level.

Good perspective this week C Lee!

@HoopJunkie...Yes East has lived "NMU" all season, might as well ride it out till the end. Where has this season went?