PBR Kentucky Power 25 ⚾ 

1. Trinity ☘️ (12-2)
2. Saint Xavier 🐯 (11-3)
3. Whitley County 🇾🇪 (11-1)
4. McCracken County 🐎 (9-4)
5. Sayre ⚔️ (7-4)
6. Bowling Green 👾 (11-1)
7. University Heights 🇨🇮 (11-2)
8. Boyle County 🌓 (11-2)
9. Lexington Catholic 🛡️ (8-3)
10. Owensboro Catholic ♠️ (8-4)
11. Madison Central 🏹 (10-3)
12. Male 🐶 (12-0)
13. Boyd County 🦁 (8-3)
14. Frederick Douglass 🐎 (9-3)
15. South Warren ⚔️ (8-4)
16. Taylor County 🇾🇪 (7-6)
17. Greenwood 🐊 (10-5)
18. LaRue County 🇳🇮 (9-3)
19. Beechwood 🐯 (10-4)
20. Meade County 🌊 (9-2)
21. North Oldham   🐎 (7-2)
22. South Oldham 🐉 (12-3)
23. Campbellsville 🦅 (11-1)
24. Apollo 🦅 (7-5)
25. Scott County 🔴⚫ (12-2)

The KHSAA is considering adding multipliers for football classification.  From the KHSAA's 1-15-26 release:

The Board also asked for additional data on the potential adoption of multipliers, including their enrollments prior to classification, and for consideration of a "success factor" to be included in the realignment considerations. The Board will continue to study this information and consider options, with implementation no earlier than the 2029 season, using data from the 2027 and 2028 seasons.

We don't know what it might look like in 2029 (using 2027 and 2028 data) but we can offer some informed opinions on what it could hypothetically look like in 2026 (using 2024 and 2025 data).

Class 1A
Kentucky Country Day and Sayre both move to 2A.  Both teams have a championship and performed well the other year.  Raceland moves up to 2A.  I know the Rams didn't win a championship but...

PBR Kentucky Power 25 ⚾ 

1. Trinity ☘️ (9-2)
2. Saint Xavier 🐯 (8-2)
3. Whitley County 🇾🇪 (8-1)
4. McCracken County 🐎 (5-4)
5. Sayre ⚔️ (5-2)
6. Bowling Green 👾 (7-0)
7. University Heights 🇨🇮 (8-1)
8. Boyle County 🌓 (8-2)
9. Lexington Catholic 🛡️ (6-3)
10. Owensboro Catholic ♠️ (7-2)
11. Frederick Douglass 🐎 (6-3)
12. Boyd County 🦁 (5-2)
13. Beechwood 🐯 (7-2)
14. Madison Central 🏹 (8-2)
15. Taylor County 🇾🇪 (5-3)
16. LaRue County 🇳🇮 (5-3)
17. South Warren ⚔️ (7-4)
18. Greenwood 🐊 (7-4)
19. Christian County 🐯 (3-4)
20. Breckinridge County 🐯 (5-3)
21. Meade County 🌊 (7-2)
22. North Oldham 🐎 (4-2)
23. South Oldham 🐉 (8-3)
24. Male 🐶 (9-0)
25. Henry Clay 🔱 (6-3)


🔗: Source

🏆KHSAA State Championship🏆

Saint Xavier 🟢🟡 (29-7)
vs.
George Rogers Clark 🔴⚫ (32-4)

🗞️ | The X-Men versus Win City for all the marbles…. Can Saint Xavier take advantage of having more recovery time and GRC’s semifinal dogfight to capture its first state basketball title in 64 years?

What do the Cardinals have left in the tank? This would be GRC’s second crown in the last four years.

Tip-off: Tonight at 7:30pm

Top 25 ⚾ 

1. Trinity ☘️
2. Saint Xavier 🐯 
3. McCracken County 🐎 
4. Sayre ⚔️ 
5. Pleasure Ridge Park 🐈‍⬛
6. Whitley County 🇾🇪
7. Lexington Catholic 🛡️
8. Taylor County 🇾🇪
9. Boyd County 🦁
10. Owensboro Catholic ♠️
11. Frederick Douglass 🐎
12. LaRue County 🇳🇮
13. Beechwood 🐯 
14. South Warren ⚔️ 
15. Madison Central 🏹 
16. University Heights 🇨🇮
17. Christian County 🐯
18. Breckinridge County 🐯
19. Greenwood 🐊
20. Bowling Green 👾
21. Boyle County 🌓
22. Highlands 🐦
23. North Oldham  🐎
24. South Oldham 🐉
25. Henry Clay 🔱

Covington Catholic 🇫🇮 (31-2, State #1)
vs. 
Saint Xavier 🐯 (27-7, State #3) 

🗞️ In a gathering worthy of the pomp, circumstance, and grandeur of a state final, the champions of Northern Kentucky and Louisville will convene on the hallowed hardwood of Rupp Arena.

It's a premature battle to survive and advance for the tournaments perceived two best teams, brought about by the luck of the draw, or more appropriately, lack thereof.

CovCath set fire to the 9th Region, winning all fifteen games against local competition by at least eighteen points. The flames spread throughout the schedule, as the Colonels led the state with a whopping 31 point average margin of victory. Both losses came against teams ranked #1 in the state at the time - Male and Madison Central.

St. Xavier's path to Rupp involved a little more resilience in a loaded 7th Region. The state's preseason #1 stepped on a few landmines along the way, falling to Male, Ballard, and CAL before ultimately outpacing them all in the end. 

The Tigers can hit you from all angles, with ball handlers and capable shooters all over the floor. Josh Lindsay’s (14.3 ppg) above the rim antics can steal the show, but the inside-out versatility of Mr. Basketball candidate Jeremiah Jackson (16.5 ppg/7 rpg) has been a bedrock of X’s success this season.

Their skill set and competitive edge will be challenged by CovCath’s backcourt tandem of fellow Mr. Basketball hopeful Athens McGillis (22.8 ppg) and Braeden Myrick (17 ppg). McGillis can score from anywhere on the floor, as evidenced by his 2,000+ career points and Myrick can fill it up from behind the arc with 102 threes this season, connecting at a 46% clip.

Additional valuable contributors include Chief Cameron, a vital component for the Tigers at both ends of the floor as a point guard and disruptive defender, and Donovan Bradshaw, CovCath's interior muscle who may be tasked with denying Jackson and Lindsay at the rim.

The ultimate goal for both teams is a state championship - CovCath's third in twelve years, X's first since 1962 - but it all starts with one of the biggest opening round matchups in recent memory.

Tip-off: Wednesday, March 18th at 11:00am

🚀 🇵🇪 | The inevitable has indeed happened. The two teams considered to be at the top of their games at the tourney draw have earned a trip to tonight's 7:30 game at Rupp Arena. 

The Lady Cardinals' lone loss to a Bluegrass team was on the Rockets' home court in January, a 61-56 triple overtime thriller.

Both teams have star power and a strong supporting cast.

What does each team need to do to win tonight?

Who is your pick to become the first new champion in six years?

● Please join in on updates and commentary tonight. This game promises to be a classic!

The 2026 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Girls’ Basketball Sweet 16® will tip off its 65th installment this week inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, beginning with the first of back-to-back days of first-round matchups on Wednesday.

Here are your first round matchups starting Wednesday, March 11
*11:00 am - Henderson County (24-9) vs. Frederick Douglass (24-7)
*1:30 pm - Calloway County (33-2) vs. Assumption (24-5)
*6:00 pm - Pikeville (22-8) vs. Notre Dame (24-7)
*8:30 pm - West Jessamine (22-12) vs. Taylor County (27-6)

First round matchups on Thursday, March 12
*11:00 am - Franklin-Simpson (24-7) vs. Bullitt East (19-12)
*1:30 pm - Simon Kenton (31-2) vs. Ashland Blazer (26-5)
*6:00 pm - Letcher Co. Central (23-10) vs. Owensboro Catholic (26-9)
*8:30 pm - North Laurel (25-6) vs. George Rogers Clark (29-2)

-Only 15 teams were consensus ranked this week:

Covington Catholic
Daviess County
Madison Central
George Rogers Clark
St. X
North Oldham
Ballard
Jeffersontown
Frederick Douglass
Warren Central
McCracken County
Butler
North Laurel
Male
Boyd County

-The top ten by consensus among these rankings was the exact same ten teams that are at the top of the Massey Ratings (albeit in a different order there) - Covington Catholic, Daviess County, Madison Central, George Rogers Clark, St. X, North Oldham, Ballard, Jeffersontown, Frederick Douglass, Warren Central. In fact, 14 of the top 15 in the consensus media rankings matches the top 15 teams in the Massey. Only Manual in the Massey and Boyd County in the consensus don't match, with Boyd County being 15th in the consensus, but 16th in the Massey, and Manual being 11th in the Massey and 16th in the consensus (and absent from one rank entirely). The two are pretty much in lockstep.

-Great Crossing solos as the outlier this week, as they're the only top 25 Massey team not ranked by any media outlet, which remains the case since mid-December. Ironically, Trinity, who was an outlier last week, exits the Massey top 25 (falling to 26) right as they finally get ranked by a media outlet.

-We'll see how many ranks we get next week! This is either the last or the penultimate thread of the year on this!

📊 📰 | For the final week of the regular season in the Bluegrass.

🤔 In this edition, a side-by-side comparison of rankings: Professor Massey (algorithm) vs. Elite 16 (media poll).

Massey Ratings ● Kentucky Top 25

MR. Team (Elite 16)

1. Covington Catholic (1)

2. St. Xavier (3)

3. Madison Central (4)

4. George Rogers Clark (5)

5. North Oldham (9)

6. Ballard (11)

7. Warren Central (6)

8. Frederick Douglass (7)

9. Daviess County (2)

10. Jeffersontown (8)

Welcome to the last week of the regular season, at least for me, it feels like this season has flown by!  Some of our area teams have as many as 4 games jammed into this final week, others as few as one as they prepare for the post-season.    With that said, as you'll see below in the list of upcoming games this week, we have some GREAT ones to end the regular season.  Campbell County hosting Notre Dame (2/18) will be terrific, Cooper hosting Assumption (Sweet 16 Semi-final potential preview) (2/20) is high-level, Holy Cros at Brossart (2/18) is the game we all wanted at the All A State Championship, Ryle hosts Frederick Douglass (2/17), and Notre Dame hosting Sacred Heart (2/20), just to name several of the best ones this week.  If you haven't ventured out to many games this year because Mother Nature has been challenging, this is a great week to get out, support the local teams, and enjoy some high-level girls' basketball!

Last week had a slew of great games, and with the exception of one, every intra-area game went according to our rankings.  It was almost uncanny.  Cooper beat HC, HC beat Ryle, and Ryle beat Bishop Brossart, who beat NewCath.  The one very notable exception was the upset of the year in NKY Girls' Hoops, with Conner knocking off The Birds.  Beyond those games, maybe the two biggest wins in the entire state last week belonged to our top team, SKLP, who went on the road and knocked off Frederick Douglass and then Sacred Heart.  Wow!!!  I can't tell you how much I hope we get to see SKLP and GRC in the Sweet 16 Semi-finals, assuming GRC knocks off the Camels in the 10th.

-A bit lighter this week as we only have five outlets that released ranks.  Tried to wait on them!

Starting with the Elite 16 rankings as always:

1. Covington Catholic [12 First Place Votes]
2. St. X [2]
3. Madison Central
4. Daviess County [2]
5. George Rogers Clark
6. Warren Central
7. Jeffersontown
8. North Laurel
9. Frederick Douglass
10. Male
11. North Oldham
12. Ballard
13. McCracken County
14. Highlands
15. Bryan Station
16. Butler
17. Boyd County
18. Caverna
19. Lexington Catholic
20. Eastern
21. Grayson County
T-22. Covington Holy Cross
T-22. Manual
24. Ashland
T-25. Pikeville
T-25. South Oldham

📊🏆 | Massey Ratings: Regional pairings for Round 1 of the 2026 KHSAA Sweet 16©️.

❓️Likely State tournament matchups? The Region v Region bracket pairings below feature the top rated District teams for each Region. A third team in the Top 50 within a District is included as a "Plus One."

Top and bottom halves of the bracket are split into quarters in subsequent posts.

🔵 Top 25: Week 10

1. Covington Catholic, 2. St. Xavier, 3. Madison Central. 4. Warren Central, 5. George Rogers Clark 

6. North Oldham, 7. Daviess County, 8. Ballard, 9. Frederick Douglass, 10. Jeffersontown 

11. duPont Manual,  12. Male, 13. North Laurel, 14. Highlands, 15. McCracken County 

16. Butler, 17. Bryan Station, 18. Boyd County, 19. Ashland, 20. Great Crossing 

21. Trinity, 22. Christian Academy of Louisville, 23. South Oldham, 24. Lexington Catholic, 25. Woodford County

We have reached the penultimate week in the regular season, which in and of itself, is hard to believe. Mother Nature has been a challenge for us on a couple of different occasions, but that doesn't look like it will be the case this week.

We have UNREAL games this week for our top teams, and again next week, so these teams will certainly be battle-tested before heading into the post-season. While all of this week's games are listed below, I wanted to throw out some great ones you can get out and see this week. Simon Kenton travels to Freddy D tonight, as well as Holy Cross visiting Ryle. On the 11th, Cooper hosts Holy Cross. On the 12th you get Ryle at Brossart. On the 13th you can get Simon Kenton at Sacred Heart. Then, on Valentine's Day, Notre Dame travels to GRC. I love that our area coaches are willing to test themselves, especially heading into the post-season.

Our Top 10 is actually pretty clear as teams have sorted themselves out on the court to this point. We have movement near the top, a little in the middle of the top 10, and then a fair amount in the others to watch. I'm looking forward to seeing how our top teams do this week in some huge tests -- hope they get the support they deserve! Thanks for following along this year, not sure I'll do this again next year, but I've enjoyed the conversations and thoughts from many of you throughout the year.

1. Simon Kenton (21-1 / 1-0 last week): Winners of 10 straight. at #7 Bishop Brossart (2/3), and vs Spire Institute (OH) at Campbell County.

2. Cooper (15-4 / 0-1): 9-1 in their last 10. vs #3 Campbell Co. (2/3), and vs Taylor County at Mercy Academy.

3. Campbell Co. (15-3 / 2-0): 13-1 in their last 14. at #2 Cooper (2/3), vs Boyd Co., and either Purcell Marian (OH) or #5 Notre Dame at Campbell Co. (both games currently listed at nearly the same tip-time).

4. Holy Cross (19-2 / 3-0): Winners of 12 straight! at Scott, and vs Huntington Prep (WV) at Campbell County.

5. Notre Dame (13-5 / 1-0): 6-4 in last 10. at Scott County, vs #6 Ryle at CovCath, and at #3 Campbell Co. (maybe, I guess).

17 teams were consensus ranked this week:

Madison Central
Daviess County
St. X
Covington Catholic
George Rogers Clark
Male
Jeffersontown
Warren Central
North Laurel
North Oldham
Ballard
McCracken County
Boyd County
Butler
Frederick Douglass
Bell County
Bryan Station

Well, most importantly, I hope this finds everyone safe and warm after the intense snowfall that fell throughout the state yesterday.  The bone-chilling cold won't make cleaning off the roads easy, but hopefully we only see minor disruptions this week to what is one of the best schedules of the year.  We have the NKY Game of the Year on Tuesday, Mother Nature willing, as #1 Simon Kenton travels to Union to play #2 Cooper!  That will be amazing and worth the drive out Camp Ernst or Longbranch Roads.  

Highlands has a particularly interesting week playing 4 of the other top 10 in one week, which may be the first time that has happened since I've been doing this several years ago.  Then, barring a massive Sunrise Upset in Owensboro on Sunday, we'll see Holy Cross and Brossart battle for the All A Classic State Championship (their first of two scheduled meetings).  So much good basketball this week, let's hope we can safely get it all in!

Martin Media no-showed this week, but Big Things Kentucky stepped into the void this week, so we still have 7!

Starting with the media rankings as always:

1. St. X [15 First Place Votes]
2. Madison Central
3. Male [1]
4. Covington Catholic
5. Daviess County
6. Warren Central
7. George Rogers Clark
8. Frederick Douglass
9. North Laurel
10. Jeffersontown
11. Boyd County
12. McCracken County
13. Ballard
14. North Oldham
15. Eastern
16. Lexington Catholic
17. Highlands
T-18. Bryan Station
T-18. Butler
20. Caverna
21. Bell County
22. Seneca
23. Pikeville
24. Covington Holy Cross
25. Marshall County

1. Simon Kenton (19-1 / 2-0 last week): vs Williamstown and vs North Hardin at Mercy Academy

2. Cooper (13-3 / 2-0): vs #8 Highlands, vs Boone County, and vs Taylor County at Mercy Academy

3. Campbell County (11-2 / 2-0): at Franklin County, at Ashland Blazer, and vs Russell at Ashland Blazer.

4. Notre Dame (10-5 / 0-2): at West Jessamine, at Manual, and at Assumption.

5. Holy Cross (14-2 / 2-0): vs Ky Country Day at the All A Classic in Owensboro

Profesor Massey's Top 25 rankings for the Bluegrass this week.

1. Covington Catholic, 2. St. Xavier, 3. Madison Central, 4. Warren Central, 5. George Rogers Clark

6. Male, 7. Daviess County, 8. Jeffersontown, 9. Frederick Douglass, 10. Ballard

11. North Oldham, 12. duPont Manual, 13. Boyd County, 14. North Laurel, 15. McCracken County

16. Ashland Blazer, 17. Highlands, 18. Bryan Station, 19. Butler, 20. Great Crossing

21. Christian Academy of Louisville, 22. Covington Holy Cross, 23. Eastern, 24. Lloyd Memorial, 25. South Oldham

Statewide Rankings - Week 6

-Despite having two new polls, we bounced back to 15 teams that were ranked by all outlets, up by two from last week. Those teams are (ordered by average rank):

1. St. Xavier
2. Madison Central
3. Male
4. Daviess County
5. Covington Catholic
6. Warren Central
7. George Rogers Clark
8. Frederick Douglass
9. North Laurel
10. Boyd County
11. North Oldham
12. Ballard
13. Butler
14. Bell County
15. Lexington Catholic

-Nations Elite finally got rid of the Preseason Top 25 from their image. Good for them!

-The photos of their players should have made it pretty apparent, but Male is the headliner, a consensus #1 in all five polls. OK, technically not FULL consensus since they only got 14 FPV of 16 in the media poll, but essentially to what we define as consensus here, they were universally the top team.

-I'm a proud Dragon, but I found it extremely surprising that two voters in the media poll took the Dragons at the top. They ended up mostly where all the other rankings had them - 7th - but those first place votes probably pushed them over George Rogers Clark for that placement at 7th, which in and of itself is surprising since they're ahead of GRC in every other poll. Guess it all works out.

-In addition to a consensus #1, St. X is a consensus #2, and Madison Central and Daviess County are consensus top five teams in every poll. Covington Catholic narrowly misses out again, as KSR has them just outside the top 5 at #6.

-In all, eight teams are top ten in every poll, those being Male, St. X, Madison Central, Covington catholic, Daviess County, Frederick Douglass, Warren Central, and George Rogers Clark. Butler appeared in three of the five top tens, as did Boyd County. Other teams rated in at least one top ten were North Laurel (Media and KHYSZ), North Oldham (Media), and Bell County (Nations Elite).

📊🏀 | This season's thread measuring the Best of the Bluegrass' 16 Regions.

❓️ Who is playing the best basketball, and where?

✅️ How it works. As in past years, the Massey Ratings are sorted for:

● Power - Regional quality. Tally the rankings of the "First Fives."

● Plus - Regional depth. Though not scored, teams beyond the "First Fives" will push the totals of other Regions higher.

🏅 Bonus - An opportunity to see, side-by-side, the teams most likely to advance to the Sweet 16.

🗓 January 1, 2026 edition.

Not a ton of games played last week with Christmas on Thursday, no one played more than 3, and most 1 or 2, so we don't have a ton of movement in our Top.  However, with Campbell County's win over Holy Cross, and Brossart's amazing 11-0 start, the middle of our Top 10 does have a shake-up.  One thing that has been the case and appears to be again this year, is once you get past the middle of our Top 10, the bottom of our ranking and the best of the others are several notches below our top 6 or 7.  Holy Cross' wins over St. Henry and NewCath by wide margins are great examples of that.

This week has a more full schedule for most, with some tourneys wrapping up today, and then the much ballyhooed Lady Flyer day of hoops at Franklin County on Saturday. Our local game of the week is Campbell County at Brossart -- should be a great one!

I hope everyone has a very safe and Happy New Year, and that 2026 brings good health to all of our NKY Girls Basketball student athletes.  The injury bug has bitten far too many this year; it is truly the worst part of this great game.

Statewide Rankings: Week 3

-No unanimous #1 this week, and it's apparent which rankings were released before and after Monday's games, as St. X is still the #1 on average with Male behind them. That'll flip next week, and it would be surprising if Male wasn't a consensus #1 next week.

-We still have four consensus top 5 teams, but Male joins the group with Covington Catholic not part of the consensus (more on that in a second). St. X, Male, Frederick Douglass, and Madison Central are in every top five. Covington Catholic is in three of the four, but drops to #10 in Nations Elite rankings, from #2 last week, which frankly, is inexplicable. Their only loss was to Male by eight during the KOB. They beat North Laurel, who Nations Eilte ranks 15th in the same week. An eight spot makes no sense, and it did Nations Elite no favors that Covington Catholic absolutely dragged North Oldham, who they had freshly elevated to sixth in those rankings. Expect a course correction next week for a team that probably deserves to be in every top 5. Daviess County (NE #4) was the only other team rated in a top 5.

-All six of those teams were consensus top 10 teams, joined by Butler and Warren Central who were in the top of every poll. Butler was rated ahead of Warren Central in half of the polls, something that will also probably flip after the Dragons knocked off Butler on Monday. North Oldham, George Rogers Clark, Lexington Catholic, North Laurel, and Seneca were teams that appeared in at least one top ten.