2013 Louisville Invitational Tournament at Valley

[LongTimeReader]

Thought on the upcoming Louisville Invitational Tournament....

 

Ballard has to be the favorite and I think they will end up victorious, but defending LIT champion Trinity will have something to say about that. PRP will also be a tough out. Bullitt East I believe will not be participating in the tournament.

 

 

What other teams will push Ballard in this tournament?

[All Tell]

From what I'm hearing parking has been another problem at the new facility at Valley. Many people I know have said that the powers that be in the JCPS did an extremely poor job planning this facility. The gym itself is supposed to be awesome but other then that not much is good about it. I would suggest getting there early.

[PurplePride92]

Will these games be broadcast live on iHigh or any other website or archived anywhere to view?

[Getslow]

I'm working on a preview of what I hope will be at least some detail. I'll have it up later tonight.

[Getslow]

From what I'm hearing parking has been another problem at the new facility at Valley. Many people I know have said that the powers that be in the JCPS did an extremely poor job planning this facility. The gym itself is supposed to be awesome but other then that not much is good about it. I would suggest getting there early.

 

You mean other than putting the big, shiny new gym to host all the big basketball events in the most remote corner of Jefferson County?

[All Tell]

 

You mean other than putting the big, shiny new gym to host all the big basketball events in the most remote corner of Jefferson County?

 

That too.

 

Sent from my Samsung Stratosphere using Forum Runner

[Getslow]

This year’s Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament at Valley High School has the decided feel of a true city championship. Bullitt East -- the top team in the Sixth Region and one of the top statewide -- was invited but declined in order to play in a tournament in Missouri this week. That leaves the entire 20-team field of this year’s tournament coming from Jefferson County. Ten teams from the Seventh Region (mostly East Louisville) and 10 teams from the Sixth (mostly West and South Louisville) will vie for the unofficial title of “City Champion”.

 

As you can imagine, a field featuring the best teams from across regions as deep as the Sixth and Seventh is quite outstanding. One look at the schedule below backs that up. Fairdale – which is currently 11-4 and boasts an outstanding resume – is the No. 10 seed. Any team among the top seven seeds has the potential to make a run to the championship and any team in the tournament has the potential to at least win a game on any given night.

 

That said, this is unquestionably Ballard’s to lose. They’re the top team in Kentucky, have yet to lose to another team from Kentucky, and have a roster absolutely choked with talent. Guards Quentin Snider and Lavonne Holland are among the premier prep talents in the Commonwealth. Forward Kelan Martin is only beginning to demonstrate the kind of dominance of which he might ultimately be capable. Pair those with the seeded format giving them a leg-up to get to the semifinal round and we’re looking at an even ripe for the Bruins’ picking.

 

But there are several other teams looking to knock them off that perch.

 

Defending LIT and Kentucky state champion Trinity has revealed a few kinks in the armor lately – notably in Friday’s loss to rival St. Xavier – but still has the talent and defensive prowess to make a run into the final day.

 

Butler is looking to regroup after back-to-back losses to Sixth Region foes Doss and Fairdale over the past week. Earlier in the season they showed real promise of contending in the Sixth with a win over archrival PRP. This tournament may be just the jumpstart they need to get back on track.

 

Fourth-seeded Central already owns wins over fellow participants St. Xavier, Male, Eastern, Seneca, and Moore and came within a point of knocking off Ballard just this week, losing on Kelan Martin’s buzzer-beater.

 

The best game of the first two days might well be a rematch of a game that took place just over a month ago on Dec. 4, a game which the St. Xavier Tigers won over the visiting Fairdale Bulldogs by 14. St. Xavier might be playing its best basketball in years. They already own wins against four of the participants in this tournament. The Bulldogs have played a tough schedule since that game but are riding high after beating Sixth region rivals Butler last week.

 

Team Playing Monday Who Could Make Noise

Eastern

The Eagles have been extremely puzzling. They have solid talent and if they manage to figure things out, they could very conceivably beat Collegiate then cause huge problems for Butler on Wednesday. At the same time, if they don’t play their best game, they could also quite easily find out how talented the newly-minted All “A” champions are.

 

Schedule

All Games at Valley High School

*Seeds in parentheses

 

Monday, Jan. 14 – Seneca (14) vs. Western (19), 3:30; Manual (13) vs. Iroquois (20), 5; DeSales (16) vs. Southern (17), 6:30; Eastern (15) vs. Collegiate (18), 8:15

 

Tuesday, Jan. 15 – Doss (8) vs. Jeffersontown (9), 3:30; Moore (5) vs. Christian Academy (12), 5; St. Xavier (7) vs. Fairdale (10), 6:30; Pleasure Ridge Park (6) vs. Male (11), 8:15

 

Wednesday, Jan. 16 – Central (4) vs. Manual-Iroquois winner, 3:30; Trinity (3) vs. Seneca-Western winner, 5; Butler (2) vs. Eastern-Collegiate winner, 6:30; Ballard (1) vs. DeSales-Southern winner, 8:15

 

Friday, Jan. 18 – Moore-Christian Academy winner vs. Central-Manual-Iroquois survivor, 4; Doss-Jeffersontown winner vs. Ballard-DeSales-Southern survivor, 5:30; St. Xavier-Fairdale winner vs. Butler-Eastern-Collegiate survivor, 7; Pleasure Ridge Park-Male winner vs. Trinity-Seneca-Western survivor, 8:30

 

Saturday, Jan. 19 – Semifinals, 10 and 11:30 a.m.; championship, 7:45

[Getslow]

I know there's a discussion thread going around. If a moderator would like to merge them for discussion, that'd be fine... or not. Whatever.

[PurplePride92]

Merged.