Word on the street is that before Kapinga & Collier left this year yet another player was scheduled to transfer in but it got vetoed by the powers that be. One can only speculate that what with Southwestern and PC both under the same school administration that enough PC parents brought pressure to bear that SW cease & desist on the "transfers" which is a bit ironic when you think about it.

 

Strictly a personal opinion but I don't picture Coach Wright hanging around for long if he's forced to draw his players only from the local student base. Time will tell.

Watch the ESPN documentary "Bluegrass Basketball," it will give you some insight to the Paintsville/Johnson Central rivalry.

 

From what I have gathered from having family in the area, Paintsville will not consolidate and has the political power and the money to refuse. I think its more of a one looks down their nose at the other.

 

But which is it, JC looking down their noses at Paintsville or the other way around, or a combo of both?

But which is it, JC looking down their noses at Paintsville or the other way around, or a combo of both?

 

Paintsville looking down to JC.

Paintsville looking down to JC.

 

Ok, I thought that was the case but wasn't 100% sure.

Which parish and Catholic grade school did the following (recent vintage) Trinity basketball players attend: Josh Sewell, James Quick, Darryl Hicks, Charles Foster, Miles Rice, Demarcus Page, Craig Owens, Tre Ivory, Raymond Spalding, Jax Levitch, and Kelshawn Knight-Goff?

 

I had many, many friends at Trinity who didn't go to Catholic grade schools -- their families weren't Catholic. Most of them never played a single down, minute, or play of any varsity sport at Trinity. Families send their children to Trinity for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that it's one of the best schools in the city of Louisville.

 

We've covered all this before.

 

And you continued to jump all over Trinity while ignoring the perfectly reasonable question of wondering how Ballard ended up with five of the top 10 players in the region.

To return to the subject:

 

I can really only talk much about Louisville.

 

St. Xavier and Trinity is a fantastic rivalry across all sports, including basketball. Everyone at both schools seems to know each other or at least you have heard the names of everyone else; a situation that only grows after you graduate and realize the Catholic school community in Louisville is remarkably close. You go to college and life after that and a lot of those rivals become close friends.

 

Male and Manual is also phenomenal. I agree with everything that has been said about the excellence of this longtime feud.

 

Ballard and Eastern is a great rivalry with wild, energetic crowds whenever they play.

 

And Ballard/Trinity is and will remain a great rivalry whether they play in the regular season or not. It's a big-time battle in the East End whenever the two play. It was a rivalry a decade ago. The rise of Trinity's basketball program has only made it more intense.

Bracken/Augusta has always been good, especially at Augusta.

 

Bracken/Pendleton used to be brutal, but lost it's zip when the two were seperated in district alignment. Looks like it's gaining steam again.

 

Anyone have a link to purchase that DVD? I grew up in Clay County, but haven't seen it from start to finish, which is kind of weird considering Red Bird is in Clay County.

 

A few years back, I'd started a HS Basketball Media thread that talked about some of the great documentaries.

 

I want to see this and 'Colonels to Rupp', but haven't been able to find either.

 

Wanted to add to this. One year at the Sweet 16, my family happened to be sitting behind Coach Kerry Stovall of Christian County. He and his staff were a class act, and everyone near him in the section turned around and smiled when his part of the clip about "everyone expected us to choke... we didn't... no one expected us to be here..." came up. One of the more memorable moments of that Sweet 16 for me.

Anderson County vs Shelby County was a great rivalry until the school's split.

Are you saying that Trinity is doing the same thing today that it did 10 years ago? 15 years ago? My memory is that the Trinity teams from 10-15 years ago were made up of kids who knew they wanted to go to Trinity at a very early age, attended Catholic grade schools, and were very good high school players (see the Sweet 16 team featuring Brian Brohm). Those kids today don't have a chance, or very little chance, to play at the school. Because Ballard does it, Trinity must do it. It's just an arms race, and it's bad for everyone. We know that very few of the Ballard players live in the Ballard "resides" area, but that doesn't seem to be a plausible reason for Trinity to offer "aid" to kids who would never attend the school without the aid. And I also know, first hand, of the people who offer "aid" to the athletes. They may not be employed by Trinity, but it is impossible to believe that the Trinity administrators don't know of these people and what they are doing to get 6'5 kids from Conway and all-state freshmen from Shelby County to enroll at the school.

Owsley County and Lee County have always had a big rivalry. The schools didn't play between 1953 and 1977 because of a fight over a seat at a district tournament game between the Owsley principal and a Lee businessman. The no-play ban was for regular season games only but it cost both school a lot of money over the years because the game is always the biggest gate of the season. After the Owsley principal retired in 1977 the two schools started playing again. It's a good rivalry. The county seats are only 10 miles apart and many people know and associate with one another in both counties. And since the two started playing again it enabled the 56th district to begin seeding soon afterwards, and that makes the regular season games much more important.

Are you saying that Trinity is doing the same thing today that it did 10 years ago? 15 years ago? My memory is that the Trinity teams from 10-15 years ago were made up of kids who knew they wanted to go to Trinity at a very early age, attended Catholic grade schools, and were very good high school players (see the Sweet 16 team featuring Brian Brohm). Those kids today don't have a chance, or very little chance, to play at the school. Because Ballard does it, Trinity must do it. It's just an arms race, and it's bad for everyone. We know that very few of the Ballard players live in the Ballard "resides" area, but that doesn't seem to be a plausible reason for Trinity to offer "aid" to kids who would never attend the school without the aid. And I also know, first hand, of the people who offer "aid" to the athletes. They may not be employed by Trinity, but it is impossible to believe that the Trinity administrators don't know of these people and what they are doing to get 6'5 kids from Conway and all-state freshmen from Shelby County to enroll at the school.

 

I may be mistaken, but you can't get a "scholarship" to a school and be eligible. Besides that, I think Trinity has an outside entity that acts as sort of a "clearinghouse" for their financial aid. I don't know what the threshold is exactly, but it's been covered on here time and time again.

 

It's my understanding that, under the rules, work-study is a different story though.

Anderson County vs Shelby County was a great rivalry until the school's split.

 

Still is. Splitting just added another good rivalry with Collins

Owsley County and Lee County have always had a big rivalry. The schools didn't play between 1953 and 1977 because of a fight over a seat at a district tournament game between the Owsley principal and a Lee businessman. The no-play ban was for regular season games only but it cost both school a lot of money over the years because the game is always the biggest gate of the season. After the Owsley principal retired in 1977 the two schools started playing again. It's a good rivalry. The county seats are only 10 miles apart and many people know and associate with one another in both counties. And since the two started playing again it enabled the 56th district to begin seeding soon afterwards, and that makes the regular season games much more important.

 

That is a tremendous story!

I'll also say that, while it might not be the rivalry it was over the past decade today, North Hardin versus Elizabethtown was big time in the late 1990's, early 2000's. North Hardin won the region more often than Elizabethtown, but Elizabethtown took home the big prize. Lots of fans would argue about who was better and say things like, "we wouldn't trade 20 regional titles for our 1 state championship".

 

E'town v. North is pretty bitter, but all the Hardin County public schools have a great deal of antipathy toward E'town HS.