Right, but I'm wondering what St. Henry gets out of the deal?

 

Conversation:

"Hey, we want you to let us drop this game we had with you. It seems we overscheduled this year. Is that alright? Hope you understand."

 

Someone will lose the experience of playing and getting better, plus revenue from the gate, concessions, etc. that comes with it. I could see that leading to some hard feelings.

 

I just wonder what's in it for a school like St. Henry in that scenario.

There have been years when St. Henry has advanced and needed the same favor.

I'm surprised that St. Henry would agree to a reciprocal with NCC seeing how they are NKAC Division II opponents.

 

That would make it even easier to have an agreement would it not? If one school needs to cancel the game nothing is lost except a NKAC game which no one really cares about. They have cancelled that game in previous years.

I'm surprised that St. Henry would agree to a reciprocal with NCC seeing how they are NKAC Division II opponents.

I would think they would agree to count their meeting during the ALL A regional ( which often happens ) as the conference game.

Well, with NCC there's the whole, 3 starters happening to "move in and enroll" in a two year period. Let's don't open that can of worms back up, because I've heard tons of explanations as to why those kids are different and have an exceptional situation, despite the fact that they moved from one of the most expensive private schools in the State to go there.

 

Cordia?

 

Hazard with 3 foreign exchange players rumored to be on the way and Chris Hudson, a kid from Texas who originally enrolled in Cordia playing there?

 

Just takes away from the spirit of it, especially when NCC won it last year and is a top 5-10 type team in the state this year and the others mentioned with them only have 1-2 local kids.

 

I'm all for schools getting kids from wherever (check my previous posts if you don't believe me), but I think the All-A is for two types of teams:

 

1. Small schools in rural, far less populated places compared to the top teams in their regions.

 

2. Expensive private schools in urban areas, who, whether or not it's "PC" for me to say, I'll just go ahead and say it, are not competitive compared to other top teams in their regions for a variety of reasons, one of which is socioeconomics.

 

Give them lacrosse sticks, golf clubs, tennis rackets, or a diving board and it's a different game, but they aren't good at basketball or football unless they get kids from the area that probably wouldn't go there otherwise. Not saying every kid that's ever played for them and was good at basketball or football isn't a kid who couldn't have went there without that, just saying that, more times than not, it might have something to do with it. Sorry if that's offensive.

 

At the end of the day, it's something for the kids at schools who won't have a snowball's chance of competing for a state tournament bid (unless they are in a really weak region and the traditional powers in that region happen to be down) or advancing far in it if they somehow got there. It's a chance for their kids to play on a college floor and in a big atmosphere, for their cheerleaders to get a chance to cheer on the sidelines and their band to get a chance to play in the stands. In the case of a smaller school in an isolated area, maybe even for some of them to get noticed.

 

 

It's not a tournament that I'd beat my chest for winning if I were a top 10-20 team in the State. Good. You are a top 10-20 team in the State and you've just proven you can pound some small schools that the tournament was set up for and who can't realistically compete with you. Here's your prize. Maybe it'd be different if Villa Madonna's 3 best players from last year weren't tearing it up in the 9th. Those kinds of schools, you know, the ones who lose their talent to the bigger fish year in and year out, are the ones that the tournament was setup for.

 

If you are a team like NCC whose supposed to be in contention for the State and you could be playing Covington Holmes in the regional finals where a trip to CONTEND in Rupp is on the line, I think you are doing yourself a disservice by playing down and stomping on Ludlow, Newport, etc. on the way before maybe getting one or two quality wins over a Lexington Christian (maybe the third, fourth, or even fifth best team in their DISTRICT) and a Hazard or Cordia en route to a title.

 

Of course, the alternative to that, however, is that you lose on the way there and end up giving those who are skeptical about how good you really are tons of ammo to hurl at you when you stumble and lose in a tournament you should have rolled through.

 

If I'm Bolden or Hatton and I see my competition lose in the "All A", I'm licking my chops to show them what I can do when it comes time to play with the "big kids".

Tell you what. How about teams like NCC only play in the ALL A when they aren't very good. Will this make you happy. By the way, how do you not want to open "that can of worms" about transfer yet you mention it anyway. You must be a politician the way you twist words to suit your situation.

Still like it the way it is. Just the spectacle of playing in Rupp is something that makes kids heroes in their communities, especially for the really small schools.

 

If it goes to classes, I think it's kind of a death sentence for those teams getting to Rupp.

 

Think of it this way, which would you rather be able to say if you were a high school kid:

1. I won the All-A Classic in Richmond on EKU's floor.

 

2. We had a once in a generation team at my school, got to make the trip to Rupp and got drilled by _________ (Ballard, Male, Eastern, Scott County,) because they had __________ (Michael Bush, Chris Lofton, Donta' Smith, OJ Mayo, Remy Abell, Darius Miller) who went on to play at _______ (UK, U of L, NBA, Big time D1 school).

 

The second one might sting some right after the game, but the thrill of playing in Rupp and telling everyone about how your "little" school got matched up with some of the best players in the country. At least you had that chance to beat them. That probably doesn't go down if there are classes.

 

Tons of arguments all year about who was the better team between Trinity, St. Xavier, Male, Bowling Green, Highlands, and Scott County in football this year. Wasn't really a good way to settle it, even though it got narrowed down more than it usually would have with the Louisville "Super District" being upset and Highlands losing.

 

We'd have those same arguments about basketball. Just seems like the talent would be really watered down.

 

I know it doesn't happen as often, but schools like Breckenridge County, Paintsville, and Shelby Valley have won it all recently too. We've also seen a team like a South Laurel, who has an enrollment around the 4A/5A size but isn't in an urban area by any means, or a Mason County or Elizabethtown, which are 3A/4A sized schools who've combined for four state championships as well.

Why can't you say both. They aren't mutually exclusively.

There seems to be a number of thinly-veiled swipes at the quality of play in the All A Classic and how NCC "doesn't have anything to gain" by continuing to participate in it.

 

In a majority of the regions in Ky, the top All A schools are major contenders for the overall region championships and ranked teams are regularly a part of the All A field. This is true in boys and girls play.

Agree completely. The quality of play in this tourney is outstanding, and many "ranked" teams regularly play in it. It is also ridiculous to say any school "doesn't have anything to gain" from playing in it. THis type of talk comes from people who haven't experienced the competition of this tournament. Incidentally, the tourney has been held in Frankfort for several years now, not at EKU.

I wouldn't say they don't have anything to gain. I just think they have more to gain by playing stiff competition. The kids have the memories and experience of winning it last year too, so it's not really like many of them are missing out.

Excuse me, but you DID say you "Don't have anything to gain". As far as playing stiff competition you obviously haven't looked at NCC's schedule this year. Plus it is up to the school to determine where they have more to gain. Also, since when does winning any tournament TWICE make it not worthwhile.

I wouldn't say they don't have anything to gain. I just think they have more to gain by playing stiff competition. The kids have the memories and experience of winning it last year too, so it's not really like many of them are missing out.

 

Then again, I would go back to what I said about the All A field being loaded with teams that will contend for overall region titles. They have plenty to gain in terms of tough competition, because the All A is a quality tournament and not some low-rent walkover.

Another thing that has come up is the cancelling of games as a result of All A and other tourney runs: This happens every year. The schools around the state are used to it and I never hear of this being a big problem. If it is, I would guess schools wouldn't schedule All A participants. More often than not, they just agree to a makeup date the following year to satisfy the contract.

There have been years when St. Henry has advanced and needed the same favor.

 

Gotcha. That makes perfect sense then.

Tell you what. How about teams like NCC only play in the ALL A when they aren't very good. Will this make you happy. By the way, how do you not want to open "that can of worms" about transfer yet you mention it anyway. You must be a politician the way you twist words to suit your situation.

 

Tell you what, NCC should play in the All-A again and take out the Ludlows of the region. Holmes can go to a tournament in New York and enhance their chances of winning region-- again.

 

And to the final, thanks, I'll take that as a compliment.

Both! Why is it limited to just one of these options?

 

Classify basketball, watch the crowds dwindle, then see if renting Rupp is as viable of an option.

Tell you what, NCC should play in the All-A again and take out the Ludlows of the region. Holmes can go to a tournament in New York and enhance their chances of winning region-- again.

 

And to the final, thanks, I'll take that as a compliment.

 

If you recall, when Holmes was in New York playing "stiff" competition, NewCath was in Lexington playing the best in the State. I believe Cordia was there??? They weren't playing in the All A at that time. Those two tourneys aren't trade offs so you can't compare.

 

I don't believe NewCath has even won the All A regional yet. I think St. Henry may like to have something to say about that. They're playing better every game.

Just for the record, I don't see my saying that NCC is too good to be playing in this tournament because there aren't many teams who can challenge them as being something that's as disparaging as some are making it out to be.

Tell you what, NCC should play in the All-A again and take out the Ludlows of the region. Holmes can go to a tournament in New York and enhance their chances of winning region-- again.

 

And to the final, thanks, I'll take that as a compliment.

 

If NCC makes it to the All-A state tourney while they are playing the best teams from 15 other regions Holmes will be playing Ryle and Beechwood.