SWEET 16....who is the FAVORITE now?

[Bengal Maniac]

Can someone in Northern Kentucky explain to me how Newport Central Catholic lose in the regionals? What strategy do the teams employ that works. They seem so big and shoot the ball so well. Same question relates to Holmes?

 

You would think that NCC would have gotten one in the last 10 years, but they just get beat, is all I can say. They don't necessarily play that badly, but they are playing good teams. Holmes has had more success than anyone, so I don't know where that comes from. They just can't win it every year, there are very good teams in the 9th. Probably the only time they didn't win when I thought they should was 2010, they couldn't have played worse and Newport was rolling.

[JokersWild24]

Is everyone forgetting about Scott County?

 

Good point.

 

I think you pose a really good question.

 

When I look at Scott County, I see a team capable of winning it, but not one that I'd call the favorite. Scott County did beat Trinity head-to-head, and a few people are proclaiming Trinity as the best team left in it, so you'd think that those people would recognize Scott County as a very serious threat.

 

I think that if you were to take an objective poll on why people aren't pegging Scott County as the favorite (other than they don't like them and/or Billy Hicks) and there'd be a large portion of the answers that related to their lack of depth/talent 1-8, particularly in the 5-8 spots.

 

To me, there's just something about Scott County's depth this year that seems like they are a piece short of winning it all. You have a Mr. Basketball candidate in Gilbert, but he's a kid whose size and lack of foot speed separates him from D1 prospects in the 11th like Jackson Davis and Jordan Green. Same goes for their second best player, Tony Martini. Great high school player, anyone would want him on their team, but he's somewhat undersized and doesn't really make up for it with explosive athleticism.

 

Ware has had some great games, including a 27 point game against Trinity and a 17 point in the regional opener against Lexington Catholic, but he's also had a couple of 10 point games against Madison Central and Henry Clay in region and a 7 point output in the loss to Henry Clay in the 42nd District Final. There will be games where they simply have to have more than 10 points out of him if they want to win. There will also be stretches of games where others are struggling to score that they'll need him to step up and help Gilbert carry the team through. How well he rises to the occasion in those instances are probably going to be a large piece of the puzzle.

 

At the end of the day, I think we know what they'll get from Gilbert, Martini, and Long, so they probably go as far as Ware and the rest of the kids can end up taking them. Once you get to the later stages of the tournament, you'll only be as good as your weakest link (and I'm not trying to call Ware a 'weak link' by any stretch of the imagination).

[JokersWild24]

Last chance to tell everyone you knew who the favorite was and why.