Team Rankings:

 

1. Wayne County

 

Wayne County remains atop the 12th Region rankings and they also remain undefeated on the season. They have enjoyed victories over Clinton (TN) and Clay County to push their record to 14-0. They are 3-0 against 12th Region opponents. Wayne County is currently ranked #14 in the most recent Bluegrasspreps.com Top 20 rankings.

 

Next up: Garrard County(1/13), McCreary Central(1/14), East Jessamine(1/17), Bryan Station(1/18)

 

 

2. Lincoln County

 

Lincoln County stays in the #2 spot as they had victories over Danville, Taylor County and Bryan Station. Lincoln County is currently 11-5 and have gone 9-2 after a 2-3 start. Their 2 losses after the 2-3 start are by a combined 4 points to Montgomery County and Lexington Catholic who are ranked #9 and #13 in the most recent Bluegrasspreps.com Top 20 Rankings. Lincoln County is currently #17 in those rankings. Lincoln County is 4-1 against 12th Region opponents with their only loss from a 12th Region opponent being Wayne County early in the season.

 

Next up: Pulaski County(1/14) and Boyle County(1/17)

 

 

3. Southwestern

 

Southwestern moves up a spot in the rankings from #4 to #3 despite a loss to Doss. Southwestern sits at 12-3 overall and 6-2 against 12th Region opponents. Southwestern defeated McCreary Central and Somerset after losing to Doss.

 

Next up: Pulaski County (1/17)

 

 

4. Boyle County

 

Boyle County is sitting at 9-4 and have only played one game in 2014 so far due to weather cancellations. Boyle County is also 3-0 against 12th Region opponents with their lone game in 2014 being a win over Garrard County. This week brings two more huge district games with their biggest rivals.

 

Next up: Danville (1/14), Lincoln County (1/17)

 

 

5. Pulaski County

 

Pulaski County is now 10-3 overall and 6-0 against 12th Region opponents. Victories over Somerset, Rockcastle County and Scott have pushed Pulaski County to the #5 spot in the 12th Region. Their opportunity to prove just how good they are begins on Tuesday against Lincoln County.

 

Next up: Lincoln County (1/14), Southwestern (1/17)

 

 

6. East Jessamine

 

East Jessamine put themselves in a good spot to get the beloved #1 seed in their district with their victory over West Jessamine. They are now 9-7 overall, 4-3 against 12th Region opponents but most importantly, 3-0 in their district. The #1 seed is this district is pretty much guaranteed a spot in the 12th Region tournament and East Jessamine controls their own destiny at this point after a rocky start to the season.

 

Next up: Rockcastle County (1/13), Wayne County (1/17), McCreary Central (1/18)

 

 

7. West Jessamine

 

West Jessamine drops 4 spots from #3 to #7 after an upset loss from the hands of district and crosstown rival, East Jessamine. While rivalry games can always go either way it was still surprising to see West Jessamine lose this game. West Jessamine will end this upcoming week with a huge test against Montgomery County.

 

Next up: Lexington Christian (1/14), Burgin (1/16), Montgomery County (1/18)

 

 

8. Somerset

 

Somerset is 8-9 overall and 4-6 against 12th Region opponents. They have had a rocky start to the new year but in their defense they have lost to teams believed to be better than them: Pulaski County, East Jessamine and Southwestern. They did get a victory over Casey County and appear to be headed to a #2 seed or #3 seed in their district.

 

Next up: North Laurel (1/14), Cumberland County (1/17)

 

 

9. Danville

 

Making their debut into the 12th Region Top 10 Rankings is the Danville Admirals. The Ad's victory over Mercer County propelled them into the rankings this week. They have had losses to Lincoln County and Montgomery County but they also have victories over Mercer County and Casey County. Danville is 6-7 overall and 4-4 against 12th Region opponents.

 

Next up: Boyle County (1/14), Garrard County (1/17) and Frankfort (1/18)

 

 

10. Mercer County

 

Mercer County barely makes into the rankings this week at #10. Losses to West Jessamine and Danville have hurt the Titans and they seem to be going backwards after high expectations for this season. While all is not lost it would be nice to see the Titans play they way they are capable of. If not, then they may disappear from the rankings soon. They are better than their 7-6 overall record says and they are better than 1-3 against 12th Region oppoenents.

 

Next up: Estill County (1/14), Anderson County (1/18)

 

 

 

Player of the Week:

 

Ronnie Carson from East Jessamine. Carson led East Jessamine to victories over West Jessamine and Somerset and has been a huge part of East Jessamine's recent success. Arguably the top player in the region, Ronnie Carson has been delivering points and victories to East Jessamine at a rapid pace. He has averaged 27 points a game in the last two East Jessamine victories which is almost equal to his 28 points per game average.

 

East Jessamine emerges victorious in battle with veteran-laden West Jessamine - The Jessamine Journal: East Jess HS

 

 

East Jessamine fails to get jumped by Somerset's late rally - The Jessamine Journal: East Jess HS

 

 

 

 

Games of the Week:

 

West Jessamine/Lexington Christian (1/14)

Boyle County/Danville (1/14)

Lincoln County/Pulaski County (1/14)

Wayne County/East Jessamine (1/17)

Boyle County/Lincoln County (1/17)

Pulaski County/Southwestern (1/17)

Rockcastle County/Casey County(1/17)

Danville/Garrard County (1/17)

West Jessamine/Montgomery County (1/18)

Wayne County/Bryan Station (1/18)

 

 

 

I still think West is a solid #3, at worst #4. Looking at Pulaski's resume, I'm not sold on them just yet. East, on the other hand, appears to be legit. I also think we'll learn a lot about Boyle this week as they play 2 district games against a very good Lincoln team and a better than expected Danville team. I expect them to go 1-1 in those two games but neither 2-0 nor 0-2 would shock me.

 

At this point, I think Wayne and Lincoln are easily top tier, then Southwest and West. Depending on what Boyle does this week, they could be added to that second tier (or not). Then there's East. If they continue their trajectory over the next week, they rise above the rest as well. Then you have Danville, Pulaski, Somerset and Mercer, each of which I see fighting for 7th place right now. Some have better records than others, but strength of schedules are very different as well.

 

A lot can change between now and the end of the season. The only thing I'm sold on at this point is Wayne and Lincoln are the top 2 teams, I'm just not sure in what order. The latest Cantrall ratings have Lincoln #1. I know some aren't fans of computer rankings but I actually like them. They fully account for both results and strength of schedule (other than out of state games). And, the deeper into the season we get, and the more info that is fed into the system, the more accurate they become.

My problem with the computers is that they don't factor in head to head results. Lincoln shouldn't pass Wayne until Lincoln beats Wayne or until Wayne has a bad loss or two. Wayne beat Lincoln at full strength and is undefeated but the computer has Lincoln higher? That doesn't make sense.

I hear ya and I'm not sure that I think Lincoln is better than Wayne. They are marginally ahead in the computer ranking. I just don't give any one game that much weight - head to head or otherwise. If it were a series, I might feel differently. Then there's the fact that it was at Wayne and that it was about a week before Lincoln really started to gel.

 

Also, think about this. Miss State beat UK to win the SEC title 2 years ago. Cats go on to win the national championship without facing Miss State again. Cats won it all and ended the year rated #1 in the polls yet did so without facing/beating Miss St.

I hear ya and I'm not sure that I think Lincoln is better than Wayne. They are marginally ahead in the computer ranking. I just don't give any one game that much weight - head to head or otherwise. If it were a series, I might feel differently. Then there's the fact that it was at Wayne and that it was about a week before Lincoln really started to gel.

 

Also, think about this. Miss State beat UK to win the SEC title 2 years ago. Cats go on to win the national championship without facing Miss State again. Cats won it all and ended the year rated #1 in the polls yet did so without facing/beating Miss St.

 

I'm show and prove kind of guy and game results and eyeballs are all I have to go by.

Is this a two-horse race 12th Region folks?

Is this a two-horse race 12th Region folks?

 

Absolutely not.

Is this a two-horse race 12th Region folks?

 

I don't believe so. I think Wayne, Lincoln, West Jessamine, and Southwestern could all win the region. I believe Boyle, East Jessamine, Mercer County and Pulaski County could all possibly win the region. Anyone beyond those eight, however, would be a very big surprise.

It appears that Wayne is solid as they have improved across the board with their top seven players. Lincoln started off rough, had some kids suspended and that seemed to right their ship. Southwestern unexpectedly lost two of the top players in the Region (Kapinga & Collier) over the summer, but thus far they've proven to be a better "team" than they were last year.

 

And I note that last year I don't believe you could have found anyone (outside of their fans) that would have chosen Wayne County to win the Region, especially after Southwestern beat them in the District Finals. But look what happened.

 

So you never know. Most teams have 10-15 games remaining on their schedules. Younger & less experienced players can do a lot of learning & improving during those games and coaches can sometimes change attitudes and chemistry. Right now I lean heavily towards Wayne, Lincoln & Southwestern, but that can change between now and the end of February.

I don't think Southwestern is a top 5 team after watching them this weekend. They are 12-3 but Southwestern doesn't have a true quality win. Their best win so far this season was their 2nd game of the season vs Monroe Co. Other than that they only have 2 other wins over teams with winning records. Their record will be put to the test over the next few week as 6 of their next 7 game are against teams with winning records. If they win 4 or 5 of those games then I will believe they are top 5.

I'm thinking that 12th region teams have done better than normal against out of region teams this year. I need to add up the cumulative record one day when I get some time. West Jessamine and Somerset added two more victories last night against out of region teams.

Some big 12th region match ups tonight:

Lincoln Co. at Boyle Co.

Pulaski Co. at Southwestern

Wayne Co. at East Jessamine

I'll be at Lincoln and Boyle providing updates as long as long as the game is still going on.

Cumberland Co. at Somerset is canceled tonight. Said it will be made up at a later date.