article BluegrassPreps.com 4th Region Review (Pre-Region)

A quick snapshot of the matchups in the 4th Region tournament:

Game 1: February 28th - Bowling Green (14th District Champions) vs. Clinton County (16th District Runners-Up)

-Series at Region: Bowling Green leads 3-0

-Last Region Meeting: Bowling Green 58 Clinton County 47 - 2015 4th Region Quarterfinals

Bowling Green is fresh off its fifth straight 14th District title, likely confident as ever entering an event that they have been dominant at in the last decade. The Purples have made the region final in every region tournament they've reached since falling in the first round in 2004. And it's not for a lack of appearances, as this is the 11th region tournament appearance they've had since then. They have won 15 consecutive games in the region tournament. In addition to being 3-0 against Clinton County in the region tournament, they're 11-1 against the Bulldogs overall in the last 50 years, with the lone loss coming in 2006, their last losing season. They're 19-8 all-time against the 16th District in the region tournament, winning their last seven against their members. Their last loss was to Monroe County in 2004. The Purples are just 5-3 since the start of February, but all three losses were to teams that were considered among the best in their respective regions. The 21-10 record may not be as pretty as recent times, but they have played a challenging schedule. They overcame a 15 point deficit in the third quarter against Warren Central, taking the lead for the first (and only needed) time with 6 seconds left in their 67-65 victory in the finals. They enter with the mantle of favorite as a result.

Clinton County was stunned in the 16th District finals by Russell County, denying the Bulldogs back to back district titles. Clinton County had won 15 in a row in district play before the loss. They have had historically bad luck in their draws this decade. They have drawn the region favorite and/or a team that advanced to the finals 5 of the last 7 years. One of those two years they didn't, they drew Barren County, the year that Barren County got to host the region tournament. The Bulldogs did get a first round win last year, taking advantage of Greenwood's plight when two of their top players were suspended. While they have not advanced out of the first round much recently, they have usually given competitive efforts, and do have great experience playing at Diddle. They have tournament experience as well, competing in the All A Classic state tournament. Their momentum is poor coming in, entering just 3-5 in their last eight games. Head coach Todd Messer is the longest tenured in the region, guiding the Bulldogs since the start of the 2006/07 season.

Game 2: February 28th - Todd County Central (13th District Champions) vs. Monroe County (15th District Runners-Up)

-Series at Region: Todd County Central leads 1-0

-Last Region Meeting: Todd County Central 84 Monroe County 70 - 2002 4th Region Quarterfinals

Todd County Central has waited a long time for this game, reaching the region tournament for the first time since 2003. Since that region tournament was at Barren County High School, this is actually their first trip to Diddle Arena since the 2002 4th Region finals, where they fell to Warren Central. Even their lone meeting in the region tourney against Monroe County was not at Diddle - the 2002 quarterfinals were played at the district champion schools, so that game was at Monroe County. Their long wandering is over. The Rebels carry a 7-12 all-time record in the 4th Region tournament, and a 5-7 record in the first round. They have posted their first winning record in 14 years, gaining an unexpected district title after Logan County was upset in the first round. They've won 6 of their last 7 against Kentucky competition. They did not play Monroe County this year, but met them in December of 2016, falling 67-60. Nolan Barrow leads them with 17.4 PPG while big man John Calvery adds 13.3 PPG.

Monroe County, like Clinton County, did not expect to find themselves in a district runner-up spot. They fell at Glasgow in the finals 60-54, just over three weeks from defeating the Scotties by 13 on the same floor. That denied them back to back titles, which they have not achieved since winning the 16th District three straight times from 2002-2004. They are just 5-5 in their last 10 games this season, and will be looking to advance to the region semifinals for the fourth time in their last five appearances (they have never made the finals). They carry a 4-20 all-time record in region tournament play, and are 2-7 against 13th District opponents, including last year's loss to Russellville. Steve Kirkpatrick has been head coach since the start of the 09/10 season, making him the second longest tenured in the region. The Falcons have one of the better scoring teams in the region, shooting 34.2% from three and featuring Billy Michael Dyer (18.4 PPG) and Chandler Clements (17.7 PPG).

Game 3: March 1st - Russell County (16th District Champions) vs. Franklin-Simpson (13th District Runners-Up)

-Series at Region: Franklin-Simpson leads 2-0

-Last Region Meeting: Franklin-Simpson 56 Russell County 33 - 2017 4th Region Quarterfinals

There haven't been a pair of 20+ loss teams in the region tournament since 1992, when there were FOUR. This is the first meeting of 20-loss teams in the tournament since that same year, when two quarterfinal games featured those matchups. That was owed to spectacularly bad years by the 15th & 16th districts, and those districts drew each other in the first round.

Russell County is into their 13th consecutive 4th Region tournament. They have never missed one in their time in the 4th Region. While they were expected to continue that streak this year, they had to survive an overtime session against Cumberland County to do so, and then very surprisingly dominated Clinton County in a 76-66 finals victory. The Lakers have now won three of the last four district titles in the 16th. Fortune continued to favor them in the form of probably the only region participant they could hope to beat, avoiding Warren Central and Monroe County - the latter beat them by 27 earlier this year and the former is, well, Warren Central. The Lakers are on a three game winning streak, which followed six losses in a row. They've won in spurts, but have yet to have a four game win streak this season, and haven't even done better than three wins in four games. The Lakers can score - both Scales and Richardson average over 15 PPG and the team averages over 66 PPG. It's been defense that ails them - they're allowing nearly 70 PPG, worst in the region tournament.

Franklin-Simpson is even less likely to be here. The Wildcats have won two games since the start of the new year. One of those just happened to be a 65-61 upset of #1 Logan County in the district semifinals. The 65 points they scored there are the fifth highest output of the year for them, and two of those five had overtime involved. The team shot 50% from the field - they average under 40% on the year. But hey, they got the job done and got a dream first round draw. Like Russell County, this is likely the only opponent they could have drawn and hoped for a win. Franklin did advance to the region semifinals a year ago with a senior-laden team, the first time they had done so since 2009. Those are the only two times they've won a region quarterfinal since 2003. The Wildcats are there often, but don't advance often of late. It is not a positive for them to face a team in the Lakers that can score so well. They'll have to hope their defense can lock it down a bit, and that Russell County's inability to defend can lead to a higher score than normal.

Game 4: March 1st - Glasgow (15th District Champions) vs. Warren Central (14th District Runners-Up)

-Series at Region: Warren Central leads 4-1

-Last Region Meeting: Warren Central 72 Glasgow 66 OT - 2012 4th Region Semifinals

While Glasgow has endured a bit of a torturous existence in the 4th Region tournament for the last two decades, surprisingly little of it has come at the hands of Warren Central. The Scotties are 5-11 in region tournament play since the mid-1990s, with only four meetings with Warren Central. It must be noted that one of those - their last meeting - came in a year when Glasgow was widely looked upon as the region tournament favorite, denying the Scotties a chance to end what is now a 40 year drought without a region title. This is just Glasgow's second region tournament appearance since then, the last ending with a 71-26 blowout by Bowling Green in 2016. Glasgow enters with the second highest win total in the region, a resurgent 22-8 record. With a team that has only two seniors, this run was perhaps expected next year. Four players average between 10 and 15 PPG, giving the Scotties multiple scoring options and making it difficult to lock down any single player. Glasgow has won 4 in a row since a stretch that saw them go 2-5. Their triple overtime victory over Barren County in the district tournament may be the best game in the region this year. Glasgow is 11-17 all-time against the 14th District in the region tournament, and has lost four in a row to district members, going back to 2002. (They've also lost 10 of 12 against District 14.) In their lone region tournament win over Warren Central, they advanced to the region finals, their only appearance in the championship since 1985. Though this isn't the semifinals, you can be confident that a win over Warren Central here will see Glasgow reach the finals.

Warren Central is probably a mix of emotions to be in this spot. Upset because of their loss to Bowling Green which featured a school-record 48 points from guard Jordan Cousin. Upset to not have a trophy in tow. Upset to be the winningest team in the region going against the second-winningest. But.... they (along with Glasgow) have a cherry semifinal matchup if they were to advance, giving them an extremely clear path to the region finals. Given that basically every team that was expected to win district failed to do so, there are worse years to have finished as a runner-up. Warren Central is 54-12 all-time in the region tournament, and are 22-3 in the opening round, winning their last 7 and 16 of their last 17 opening matchups. They did fall in their last matchup with a 15th District opponent at region, losing to Barren County 58-53 two years ago. Their 26-5 record is top in the region, as is their 14-2 record against region opponents. They have lost 2 of 3 after the loss to Bowling Green, which followed a seven game win streak and a stretch where they won 17 of 18. Their 68.35 PPG average is just barely behind Bowling Green for tops in the region, and their 55.19 PPG allowed is #2 behind Allen County-Scottsville. Region POY Skyelar Potter averages 23.5 PPG while Jordan Cousin gives them another bona fide scorer with 15.2 PPG. They knocked off Glasgow 72-49 at Central back on December 11th. They are likely to be the most favored team to make the region finals by virtue of their potential semifinal matchup, but unless Bowling Green is gone before then, they are not the overall favorite.

Did BG do anything different defensively to Potter in the last match up? Just kinda surprised that he only scored 10 points in that game.

Did BG do anything different defensively to Potter in the last match up? Just kinda surprised that he only scored 10 points in that game.

Not that I saw. His 9 shots tied for his lowest of the year (with his game against Hopkinsville in early January), which can be mostly attributed to the fact that Cousin had the hot hand, and so was taking the lion's share of the shots. Cousin has attempted more than 16 shots twice on the year (Potter has attempted more than 16 shots in 13 games). The first was against E-Town. He shot 68% or better in each. Unsurprisingly, those are the two best games of his career in terms of scoring.

Potter only took three shots in the second half. Barely anyone else took shots in the second half. The ones he took outside of the paint just weren't falling. The ones inside - BG does a good job at defending the interior. He missed at least two that he really should have had, but the others were deflected or contended very well. But overall, nothing that they didn't do the last game.

Bowling Green did change up their defense on Potter. They put so to be Georgia Tech middle linebacker on Potter to help keep his offensive rebounding and scoring down. They switched on Potter when he went to the wing. Cousins shooting 19-25 and scoring 48 points was another reason for Potters low scoring