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2013 Sweet 16: Best Ever?

D-Rob
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quickslick

quickslick

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Almost every game was in doubt until late, breaking attendance records, and Mr. Basketball finalists leading their teams deep. Can any tournament from the past top this years?

 

Definitely a good one ... but I think that these are better (lots of close games/OT's/underdogs/etc):

1986 (Pulaski County/Reggie Hansen/Shannon Fraley with winning runner with 9 seconds to go over heavily favored PRP)

1987 (Clay County/Richie Farmer .. I will never forget the picture in the Kentucky post .. Richie Farmer with a 40 year old mustache and Allan Huston in the background with a look of disappointed anger on his face)

1985 (Hopkinsville Over Clay County ... 9th Grade Richie Farmer with full beard)

1988 (PRP over Wayne County ... Wayne County .. the ultimate underdawg all week .. with the best name in Sweet 16 history .. Jimmy John Owens ... almost pulled it out).

 

I guess I was a Farmer fan ... too bad he turned out to be such a tool.

 

But ... this is the first time in a LONG time where I actually watched every game ... so I have a feeling that it will end up on my "all time" list if you ask me the same question in 5 years.

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letabrotherspeak

letabrotherspeak

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Everybody cringed at last year's state tournament and the physical play and Julian passed down the edict to clean up the physical play.

 

Then you have this year's Sweet 16 which was really really good. Was it because the physical play was cleaned up?

 

IMO, I didn't see much clean up in how the game was called in the 9th Region this year.

 

What I think happened this year at the Sweet 16 was that you had really good teams in the field and most everyone had good to great guard play. Hawkins, Bosley, Snider, Bolden and on and on. That is what made this tournament a little more wide open.

 

I think the attendance was skewed a bit by Madison Central and Montgomery advancing as far as they did.

 

All in all a very entertaining Sweet 16.

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Hellbird

Hellbird

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Definitely a good one ... but I think that these are better (lots of close games/OT's/underdogs/etc):

1986 (Pulaski County/Reggie Hansen/Shannon Fraley with winning runner with 9 seconds to go over heavily favored PRP)

1987 (Clay County/Richie Farmer .. I will never forget the picture in the Kentucky post .. Richie Farmer with a 40 year old mustache and Allan Huston in the background with a look of disappointed anger on his face)

1985 (Hopkinsville Over Clay County ... 9th Grade Richie Farmer with full beard)

1988 (PRP over Wayne County ... Wayne County .. the ultimate underdawg all week .. with the best name in Sweet 16 history .. Jimmy John Owens ... almost pulled it out).

 

I guess I was a Farmer fan ... too bad he turned out to be such a tool.

 

But ... this is the first time in a LONG time where I actually watched every game ... so I have a feeling that it will end up on my "all time" list if you ask me the same question in 5 years.

Those were great games but this year it seemed just about every game came down to the wire and as each game was finished people were claiming "One of the best games ever" That was until the very next game lol.

 

6 games decided by 6 or fewer pts and most of those games going down to the last second or going into OT.

 

Loved this sweet 16. The kind of tournament that will have little kids dreaming of making it there when they grow older.

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ESPNdeux

ESPNdeux

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To me, I can't call this the best I've been to. I've been going since '99. A short time compared to some. A long time compared to others. But here's why...

 

While there was great talent, there really were no great 'upsets'... Some years you have a team that is clearly less superior talent wise get on a role and win a few games they have no business winning. Apollo in the early 2000's come to mind. For the most part, everyone had MC and Ballard in the final, and thats what they got.

 

There was no great underdog story. That started with the smallest schools being 4A. But you usually have the small school that knocks off a few big dogs on the strength of teamwork overcoming talent. Shelby Valley of 2010 comes to mind.

 

There wasn't that team that everyone in Lexington got behind. Because of their great story or what have you. The Elliot County teams that made ESPN come to mind.

 

While there was a lot of 'Really Good' talent, I don't know that there was any professional level talent there. The OJ Mayo Rose Hill teams or the Chris Lofton Mason County teams come to mind. (This one could be argued)

 

And honestly I would argue that, while there were a lot of close games, there was really a lack of 'defining moments.' I realize that the Bosley shot will live in Kentucky High School Basketball History forever, but other than that, there wasn't a lot of big moments. This could just be on my memory, but I remember the Holmes/Central game had multiple 'did he really just do that' moments... Riley's 3 from the corner, when the Patterson kid from Central fouled out, Jeremiah Johnson missing an uncontested lay up that would've won state in regulation... There is also the Rowan/Christian game with the 3 at the buzzer to send it into OT, and Anthony Hickey doing amazing things all over the court and going from a D2 recruit to the SEC in one weekend.... or the 2004 tourney with Lofton going crazy Saturday morning to get Mason to Saturday night and then DeWalt with the dunk that night....

 

 

 

Aside from that, just my opinion, but the entire weekend missed being on NCAA tourney weekend. I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoyed watching the 1st round games between sessions rather than sitting around and waiting...

 

I realize my sentiments on a few of these will not be shared by everyone.

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mcpapa

mcpapa

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^ I was thinking the exact same thing. The only outcome that wasn't pure chalk might have been the final but even that one was six of one and a half dozen of the other; and that was reflected in the way the game played out.

 

I wasn't there so I can't give an objective opinion. Sounds like the great majority of the games (after the opening rounders) were close and competitive, and the attendance was up, but it may be a stretch to say best ever.

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gchs_uk9

gchs_uk9

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I think it may depend on your definition of "best." It seemed like the games were played at a higher level than some have been in the past. But the tournament didn't have any upsets. There were numerous good players from multiple teams in the field. But I didn't see many players that looked like potential high-major stars or NBA players. So we might be assigning the term "best" to an event in which we are all coming from different angles.

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Randy Parker

Randy Parker

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I didn't go to a single game, so I can't speak to it being the best ever.

 

One that has always stuck out for me was the 1993 tournament when Marion County won with Anthony Epps, Elton Scott & the Douglas kid. There was some good talent playing in that tourney.

 

Others who have gone for a long, long time say this year was the best. Listening to some of the games on the radio, it sure sounded exciting & made me want to be there.

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