OK, If I had it to do over again, I would have passed it over completely and not commented at all.

It was certainly not meant as a slant against Newport.

 

Apologies to all who are offended!

 

As one who thought it over the top, let me say this: if it wasn't for the fact that I think so highly of you, it wouldn't have made an impact. If any number of other people posted that I would have simply rolled my eyes and moved on. Fair or otherwise, I hold you in a different light, thus it really struck a chord with me.

Amazing that Brossart had never won a district title until 1997 and now they are respected as a basketball "powerhouse."

All kids like to compete, from the classroom to sports. The disparity in this score (& other such) makes me think it's time for the KHSAA to end the winner-take-all Sweet 16. KY is the only state, except I think for 2 little ones whose populations total less than ours, who has a 1-class system in basketball. Alaska, whose population is near that of Metro Louisville, has 4 classes (but the vast size of Alaska may be a big factor).

 

Maybe some numbers would help. I am using the Jan. 20 Litkenhous ratings; the Litratings assign all 270 teams a rating. This week, the top team has a rating of 102.1; the bottom 4 teams have ratings of 1. CovLatin, btw, is 1 of those 4. Obviously Ballard would never schedule CovLatin, but let me give you more numbers. I divided the 270 teams into 5 groups based on a 20-point, more or less, spread in the Litratings. Teams 1-57 ranged 102.1–80. Teams 58–185 ranged 79.8–59.8. Teams 186–248 ranged 59.3–38.7. Teams 249–261 ranged 38.4–23.0. Teams 262–270 ranged 17.2–1.0. Alright, arbitrary divisions, but this is just for discussion.

 

Somewhere as we go down the ratings, there have got to be some groupings. Wiser heads than mine would need to determine the criteria, but, assuming the Litratings have some validity (no wisecracks allowed), it would simply seem fair to put teams in appropriate divisions. The Class A tourney acknowledges that but CovLatin's mismatch shows that, if the KHSAA were serious, they would need to devise a method for who goes where. Indiana's reviewing football teams' tournament performance every 2 years & reclassifying them accordingly might be a model to discuss.

 

All I am saying is that appropriate classifications would give teams a fairer deal & approach the goal of high school athletics: participation, competition, & life lessons.

He's a student at NKU majoring in Biochemistry. He's not playing ball, and I imagine that it's a smarter move on his part to consider his professional career instead of basketball, however he is quite a mature looking big kid for his age, and can't help but wonder how much more mature he'd be in a couple of years when he's a Junior in college at a normal Freshman age. I've never spoken to him personally so I have no idea if he's given any consideration of keeping the idea of ever playing again on the table. Be interesting to see, but no matter what good luck to him whatever he decides.

I echo those sentiments--good luck to him.

Thank you for the info.

There's no "could" about it. I've seen that chant for years out of CovCath (I was a Holmes Grad) and didn't like it then nor do I now. The CovLatin kids are and should act better than such tripe.

 

Funny story from this year's game at Holmes. I was sitting on the Holmes' side (my alma mater) with my youngest son (11)... the CovCath Crazies were there in full force, doing their thing, and some of the young guys sitting in front of us were trying to come up with clever things to say back (mostly they were laughing at the stuff the Crazies were chanting because its really funny stuff) when all of a sudden one of them jumped up and was waving something in the air saying, "you guys have never seen one of these!" Everybody was looking at him trying to figure out what he was holding... when he finally sat down the other guys asked him what it was... "a magnum condom!" LOL. It was really funny... until my 11-year-old asked me what a "magnum" condom was.. haha.

BTW, when's the last time Newport, or at least Cov. Latin, had a thread with 50 plus replies and 1600+ views? :lol2:

 

This is not a "putdown" oldbird.

 

Maybe when they won the region. :banana:

All kids like to compete, from the classroom to sports. The disparity in this score (& other such) makes me think it's time for the KHSAA to end the winner-take-all Sweet 16. KY is the only state, except I think for 2 little ones whose populations total less than ours, who has a 1-class system in basketball. Alaska, whose population is near that of Metro Louisville, has 4 classes (but the vast size of Alaska may be a big factor).

 

Maybe some numbers would help. I am using the Jan. 20 Litkenhous ratings; the Litratings assign all 270 teams a rating. This week, the top team has a rating of 102.1; the bottom 4 teams have ratings of 1. CovLatin, btw, is 1 of those 4. Obviously Ballard would never schedule CovLatin, but let me give you more numbers. I divided the 270 teams into 5 groups based on a 20-point, more or less, spread in the Litratings. Teams 1-57 ranged 102.1–80. Teams 58–185 ranged 79.8–59.8. Teams 186–248 ranged 59.3–38.7. Teams 249–261 ranged 38.4–23.0. Teams 262–270 ranged 17.2–1.0. Alright, arbitrary divisions, but this is just for discussion.

 

Somewhere as we go down the ratings, there have got to be some groupings. Wiser heads than mine would need to determine the criteria, but, assuming the Litratings have some validity (no wisecracks allowed), it would simply seem fair to put teams in appropriate divisions. The Class A tourney acknowledges that but CovLatin's mismatch shows that, if the KHSAA were serious, they would need to devise a method for who goes where. Indiana's reviewing football teams' tournament performance every 2 years & reclassifying them accordingly might be a model to discuss.

 

All I am saying is that appropriate classifications would give teams a fairer deal & approach the goal of high school athletics: participation, competition, & life lessons.

 

There are simply some small schools, mostly private and religious based, that cannot compete at the KHSAA level with even the smallest public schools, and to be quite honest I don't know why they keep membership in the KHSAA. There are other options where they could still play and be much more competitive. The KCAA or KCSAA would be better fits for teams like CovLatin, Riverside, etc. With that, don't use schools like this as an argument of doing away with the sweet 16 and creating classes in basketball. Using CovLatin and the very small number of schools in a similar situation simply is not enough of an argument for change.

All kids like to compete, from the classroom to sports. The disparity in this score (& other such) makes me think it's time for the KHSAA to end the winner-take-all Sweet 16. KY is the only state, except I think for 2 little ones whose populations total less than ours, who has a 1-class system in basketball. Alaska, whose population is near that of Metro Louisville, has 4 classes (but the vast size of Alaska may be a big factor).

 

Maybe some numbers would help. I am using the Jan. 20 Litkenhous ratings; the Litratings assign all 270 teams a rating. This week, the top team has a rating of 102.1; the bottom 4 teams have ratings of 1. CovLatin, btw, is 1 of those 4. Obviously Ballard would never schedule CovLatin, but let me give you more numbers. I divided the 270 teams into 5 groups based on a 20-point, more or less, spread in the Litratings. Teams 1-57 ranged 102.1–80. Teams 58–185 ranged 79.8–59.8. Teams 186–248 ranged 59.3–38.7. Teams 249–261 ranged 38.4–23.0. Teams 262–270 ranged 17.2–1.0. Alright, arbitrary divisions, but this is just for discussion.

 

Somewhere as we go down the ratings, there have got to be some groupings. Wiser heads than mine would need to determine the criteria, but, assuming the Litratings have some validity (no wisecracks allowed), it would simply seem fair to put teams in appropriate divisions. The Class A tourney acknowledges that but CovLatin's mismatch shows that, if the KHSAA were serious, they would need to devise a method for who goes where. Indiana's reviewing football teams' tournament performance every 2 years & reclassifying them accordingly might be a model to discuss.

 

All I am saying is that appropriate classifications would give teams a fairer deal & approach the goal of high school athletics: participation, competition, & life lessons.

 

Football is classified into too many classes and you can still find the numbers spread that you see in basketball in each Class. How many classes would basketball need? 10, 20, 30 before you would not see any mis-matches?

 

And I absolutely hate the idea of moving teams up a class or two if they are successful.....how is that fair to a team they then eliminate in the playoffs in their new class?

There are simply some small schools, mostly private and religious based, that cannot compete at the KHSAA level with even the smallest public schools, and to be quite honest I don't know why they keep membership in the KHSAA. There are other options where they could still play and be much more competitive. The KCAA or KCSAA would be better fits for teams like CovLatin, Riverside, etc. With that, don't use schools like this as an argument of doing away with the sweet 16 and creating classes in basketball. Using CovLatin and the very small number of schools in a similar situation simply is not enough of an argument for change.

 

While I am not the statistical scholar that some on here are, I do know that the percentage of schools who actually legitimately compete for and/or earn trips to the state tournament is miniscule in comparison to the total number of schools in the KHSAA. That "statistic" or better that reality IS enough to say ALL sports need to be classified. NO, NOT 6 classes, that is absurdity, but certainly a one-class system only benefits the haves and the biggest schools. Anomalies exist, yes, but I guarantee the number of those anomalies is extremely small.

Since this conversation started with the Covington Latin score, I gotta bring up a couple of points... I don't think the players at Covington Latin, for the most part, are concerned, depressed, or in any way emotionally compromised by the fact that they do not compete for a state basketball championship. The guys that I know well that played at Latin - and I know a lot - are huge Kentucky high school basketball fans and would strongly oppose classification. They've been to enough Sweet Sixteens to appreciate it - even though their alma mater has never made it. If you wanna argue for classification, I really think you ought to choose another "small school victim" cuz I don't think Latin guys want you carrying the banner on their behalf.

 

Secondly, I understand the small school emotions of not being able to compete... but there are plenty of small schools that have, in fact, won state championships... and this year, Newport Catholic has a legitimate shot, as an "A" school, to get there.

 

A couple of years ago, prior to the state final game, a short movie was shown that recapped that years state tournament, and also included references to great state champions of the past. It was very well done, and concluded with simple text of something like "270 schools, 1 champion".... "We are Kentucky, and we play basketball". The hair still stands up on the back of my neck just typing it... it encapsulated in about 10 words every reason to retain the Sweet Sixteen, the nation's best high school tournament, and not to appease the classifiers...