Just a guess, but I'd say with Holmes going to Rupp, young Mr. Bolden will earn his first scholarship offer very soon...playing in that type of setting definetly won't hurt his cause.

One area where I take Bolden over Beal ... handling the ball. Bolden is magical handling the ball.

Two additional comments that have thus far escaped mention....

 

1. Dicky was good enough that DePaul made him their number 1 recruit in January of 1980. Taking recruitment by UK out of the picture for a moment, at that moment DePaul was perhaps the top program in the country... we'll see if Bolden is getting looks from Duke, North Carolina, etc. in 2 years.

 

2. As a "sophomore", Dicky was not nearly as important to his team or as good a shooter as Bolden. Not even close. However, a few things to consider... (a) as said before, Dicky was a sophomore on a loaded team with the only Mr. Basketball ever to hail from these parts in the 20th century as a senior, so pretty good company, and (b) for the truly observant of this thread, the Cottage AC team with Blasingame, Volpenhein, Shumate, etc. were all guys that graduated in 81.... I"m getting to the point ..... Dicky was an extremely young sophomore, only turned 17 in September of his senior year..... I don't know if any kids start that early now. And I hear that Bolden is an "old" sophomore... maybe someone can elaborate. Bottom line... the "who was better as a sophomore" comparisons probably need some qualification.

 

One more... I have not seen Bolden dunk. Not that it makes him a better player, but I saw Dicky dunk about 30 times in high school, and a lot of those were reverses. Pretty spectacular sight for a guy who was then about 5'10".

 

I'll take Dicky.

About 10 of those dunks were on me in one game lol.

 

I've said this earlier that I think Dickie is the best between the two, but I will also add that Bolden is only a sophomore so he could very well end up being betterby the time he graduates. One thing that is for sure, I never seen a faster/quicker player than Beal. Beal's defense has been overlooked in this thread and no player had quicker hands than Dickie. He was a tenacious defender.

One area where I take Bolden over Beal ... handling the ball. Bolden is magical handling the ball.

Back in the day, players did not handle the ball as they do now. Different style of game. From the womb, hoopsters are now taught to Cross over, go behind the back, through the legs, etc. I remember getting yelled at during grade school practice for 'trying' to dribble behind my back. That was considered hot dogging it!

I thought I heard Bolden is only 15. Is that not true?

I thought I heard Bolden is only 15. Is that not true?

I don't know, I heard he was 17 but that was from a student I was talking to the other day.

I don't know, I heard he was 17 but that was from a student I was talking to the other day.

 

Wow. That's a really big difference.

I saw on Twitter that Mack made an offer last night. Is that his first official offer?

Yeah, I know...When I first read, and didnt notice other responses on this my bad.....Anyhow, speaking of watching Dicky. I remember the Lloyid Invitational game that Dickey had against Harrison County. He had a dunk or two that game in 1980. I remember, Ray Meyer (Depaul) and Joe B Hall (Ky) were there.

I am old enough to have watched Beal.He was the best to come out of N.Ky period.Bolden is awesome but Beal was better.Bolden could develop into something special.Beals best game ever was against Summit Country day.They had a stud named Dexter Bailey BEAL Dunked over him not once but twice.The best player in Ky not to be named Mr. Basketball I think Winston Bennett from Male got it Beals sr year.I would take Beal over Bolden.

Two additional comments that have thus far escaped mention....

 

1. Dicky was good enough that DePaul made him their number 1 recruit in January of 1980. Taking recruitment by UK out of the picture for a moment, at that moment DePaul was perhaps the top program in the country... we'll see if Bolden is getting looks from Duke, North Carolina, etc. in 2 years.

 

2. As a "sophomore", Dicky was not nearly as important to his team or as good a shooter as Bolden. Not even close. However, a few things to consider... (a) as said before, Dicky was a sophomore on a loaded team with the only Mr. Basketball ever to hail from these parts in the 20th century as a senior, so pretty good company, and (b) for the truly observant of this thread, the Cottage AC team with Blasingame, Volpenhein, Shumate, etc. were all guys that graduated in 81.... I"m getting to the point ..... Dicky was an extremely young sophomore, only turned 17 in September of his senior year..... I don't know if any kids start that early now. And I hear that Bolden is an "old" sophomore... maybe someone can elaborate. Bottom line... the "who was better as a sophomore" comparisons probably need some qualification.

 

One more... I have not seen Bolden dunk. Not that it makes him a better player, but I saw Dicky dunk about 30 times in high school, and a lot of those were reverses. Pretty spectacular sight for a guy who was then about 5'10".

 

I'll take Dicky.

 

 

At the risk of sabotaging this thread with talk of Cottage A.C. ... Volpenhein, Shumate, and Blasingame were all 1982 graduates (Kevin and Rick of CovCath, and Bill of Ludlow in a year I believe that he took 9th Region Player of the Year). Beal of course graduated in 1980, but with him being a young graduate, when we faced him as youngsters, he would've been in his 2nd year of C-League at NKCC in the season that ended in 1975 when most of us were in our 1st year of C.

 

Just for kicks I've provided C.A.C team photos from seasons ending in 1974 and 1976, however neither of these were taken in the year that we faced Beal.

 

The 1974 photo was taken at John G. Carlisle. My memory is a bit as foggy as the photo, but I think that we took runner-up trophy in the 2-and-out elimination tournament against I believe "Turners Green" that featured the dynamite guard play of Danny Trame.

 

Standing 2nd from the left would be Kevin Volpenhein, 4th is Bill Blasingame, and 5th standing is Rick Shumate. 3rd kneeling is Mark Wehry.

 

The 1976 photo taken at Covington Turners after completing our 23-0 season, of course as champs, with a season that also featured us as champs of the Covington Turners 2-and-out holiday tournament where we faced off twice with the tough invitee team "Yellow Cab" from Newport in packed house, smoke filled, alcohol drenched barn burners. The good ol days... LOL!

 

In this photo sitting 1st would be Volpenhein, 5th is Shumate, and 6th is Blasingame. Head coach standing 2nd from the left is Jim Shumate and as an extra bit of trivia, standing big kid number 41 is Eric Herald who went on to star at Newport.

 

I could go on in both photos and be more complete with "who's who"... as there are a few other notables... and not on your life will I be confirming which one is me. I never made it past intramural ball in high school, so who cares anyhow?

 

This photo coincidentally was taken on the Saturday morning of the 1976 Regional Final between Covington Holmes vs. Holy Cross @ Conner. How do I know this? I just remember being high on a cloud and capping off a great day of basketball with my first ever high school regional final. To me it felt big time like I was witnessing an NBA game.

Holmes incidentally won that game 79-52.

Didn't Beal really make a name for himself playing Junior Pro Basketball in Newport where he was a teammate of Bill Blasingame? Also had Phil Davis and Ricky Walton among others. I will take those teams against any and all takers as they were very special indeed. I saw many of Beal's games back in those days as a youth and saw them score 70 to 80 points with no problem at all. Ended up winning several National Junior Pro titles. Best basketball in Northern Kentucky was played at the Boy's Club back in the day IMO.

Didn't Beal really make a name for himself playing Junior Pro Basketball in Newport where he was a teammate of Bill Blasingame? Also had Phil Davis and Ricky Walton among others. I will take those teams against any and all takers as they were very special indeed. I saw many of Beal's games back in those days as a youth and saw them score 70 to 80 points with no problem at all. Ended up winning several National Junior Pro titles. Best basketball in Northern Kentucky was played at the Boy's Club back in the day IMO.

 

I believe you are correct. I seem to recall Blasingame moonlighting while he was playing for Cottage. Now that you mention it, I also recall that in our 23-0 season we played our semi-final game without the services of Blasingame and Herald because they were involved in an all important Junior Pro game on the same morning, which incidentally pushed me up to 6th man in a game where I actually scored.

Edited March 4, 201313 yr by B-Ball-fan

Isn't that funny? ... I'm sorta turning a Bolden/Beal thread into a "Me" thread. Boy what an oxymoron that is... LOL!!!

I don't know, I heard he was 17 but that was from a student I was talking to the other day.

 

He is 16 or 17... definitely not 15.

I am old enough to have watched Beal.He was the best to come out of N.Ky period.Bolden is awesome but Beal was better.Bolden could develop into something special.Beals best game ever was against Summit Country day.They had a stud named Dexter Bailey BEAL Dunked over him not once but twice.The best player in Ky not to be named Mr. Basketball I think Winston Bennett from Male got it Beals sr year.I would take Beal over Bolden.

 

Ervin Stepp, Phelps High School, was Mr. Basketball in 1981. Averaged 54 points a game.... then went to Eastern and washed out.....