I am planning to be up following intently on BGP. You are the man, Getslow!!!

Agree, and I will be following the updates too.

Despite my limited experience with both teams, my thoughts are that Ballard's top three players are better than Trinity's top three, but Trinity's next 4 or 5 are better than the next 4 or 5 for the Bruins. Ballard has a better offense than Trinity but the Shamrocks' defense is superior to Ballard's. T will have to limit Snider, Martin and Holland to a reasonable numer of points and Craig Owens will have to do good work in the post for T to win. B will have to stay cool under T's pressure and don't let any one player for T go off. I'd say the coaching is about equal. Each team has true winners among its players, with big, competitive hearts. Should be a barnburner----very close.

Snider is the real deal.. I hope the Bruins get this W so I can watch him at RUPP!!

I might try to make this one.

CLEARLY, the two best basketball programs in the 7th region. This is the way it should be.

 

Toss up game... if they played (10) times it would likely be 5 and 5.

 

If the game is in the 40's/50's, Trinity wins.

 

If the game is in the 60's/70's, Ballard wins.

 

The winner will be in the state championship game on Sunday at Rupp.

Can someone estimate capacity for Valley's gym?

^ Getslow said 3,500 in the tourney preview thread.

T plays very well defensively when they press, and quick is an excellent defender and always does his best to get in the head of the player he is defending. Yesterday he told the T coach to not take him out so he obviously has a tremendous amount of confidence. I see Ballard's big man causing problems for T, as central's Jackson was able to do so. All in all I see Ballard by maybe 4 due to late game fouling. Good luck to both teams though.

^ Getslow said 3,500 in the tourney preview thread.

 

More like 3,200 is what I've been told since. I have no idea how much the simultaneously-played Louisville-Syracuse game will hold down attendance, but it'll thin things out at least slightly. I know I'm frustrated as heck that the game is scheduled for that time.

Ballard 64 Trinity 60

This could be a state championship game. A shame one won't make it to Rupp.

 

I feel the pain of the losing team already. Been there, done that several years in a row.

Tickets go on sale at 12:45.

Only the 3rd time these two will meet in the championship game. (Ballard 2-0)

 

 

What say you?

I've seen some of the best teams in the state play here this week and they all seem to be shooting in the 20-30% range. Very low scoring games. Something 'ain't' right with the rims...it's like shooting at the carnival. Ball doesn't bounce off it jumps off, like a super ball. Really tight...at this point if I were playing I'd have to get my ladder, level, and wrench, go up there to make sure the rims were level, then with my wrench I'd loosen those things up!

Just for fun, here are the last 21 Trinity/Ballard results, representing the time since Mike Szabo took over as coach of the Shamrocks:

 

1/19/13 - Trinity 53 Ballard 52 - LIT Championship

3/1/12 - Trinity 58 Ballard 55 - 7th Region Semifinal

2/23/11 - Ballard 73 Trinity 62 - 27th District Semifinal

1/15/11 - Ballard 69 Trinity 48 - LIT Semifinal

12/15/10 - Ballard 74 Trinity 63

2/26/10 - Ballard 72 Trinity 65 - 27th District Championship

1/16/10 - Trinity 69 Ballard 63 - LIT Semifinal

12/15/09 - Ballard 56 Trinity 53

2/27/09 - Ballard 84 Trinity 49 - 27th District Championship

1/9/09 - Ballard 76 Trinity 49

1/11/08 - Trinity 63 Ballard 60

3/2/07 - Ballard 65 Trinity 51 - 27th District Championship

1/30/07 - Ballard 84 Trinity 70

3/3/06 - Ballard 46 Trinity 34 - 27th District Championship

1/31/06 - Ballard 53 Trinity 35

3/10/05 - Ballard 55 Trinity 54 - 7th Region Semifinal

2/11/05 - Ballard 53 Trinity 44

2/13/04 - Ballard 68 Trinity 62

3/11/03 - Ballard 75 Trinity 69 - 7th Region Quarterfinal

2/14/03 - Ballard 70 Trinity 59

2/8/02 - Ballard 60 Trinity 48

 

Even in Trinity's Sweet 16 year of 2004, the Rocks still took a regular season loss to Ballard. That one-point loss the following year in the regional semifinals was a tough one. To win the school's first ever state championship last year was amazing. To do it by beating Ballard along the way was outstanding.

 

Ballard is still 17-4 against Trinity since Mike Szabo began coaching the Shamrocks, but it's been nice to see Trinity pull back into this thing lately. There was always a good crowd, but until recently it was VERY sparingly that Trinity could pull out a victory against East Louisville's basketball powerhouse. When I was at Trinity (Szabo's first year was my last as a student), we had a nice system going: Trinity would handily win the football game then Ballard would handily win the basketball game, then the baseball game was always an absolute MONSTER. Some great baseball between Ballard and Trinity over the years. As a Trinity alumnus and supporter, I like this new system much better.

 

This is a rivalry, no doubt about it. It stretches across all sports. Lots of us grew up in the same neighborhoods of the far East End. When I was going off to Trinity after 8th grade, I had several friends go to Ballard. My brother swears to this day that beating Ballard brought him more joy than beating St. X ever did. My college roommate, a Ballard graduate, has a shirt that he wears to this day that reads "Friends Don't Let Friends Go To Trinity."

 

Go Shamrocks.

 

Beat Ballard.

Guy on the radio of the Madison Central/Henry Clay game just said officials are expecting to turn away 2,000 people. Is that true?