article Inside the 6th Region (2/15/15)

[GoHardITP]

The top 4 teams in the 6th region all won their games this week and are overwhelming favorites to advance from their respective district as #1 seeds. However, Doss & DeSales will need to battle it out to emerge as the #1 seed from their district since they reside together. Entering the last week of the regular season Doss and PRP will wrap up with two games against 6th region opponents. They each play Fern Creek with PRP facing off against the Tigers on Tuesday, and Doss finishes the season off with Fern Creek on Friday. Bullitt East and DeSales each have two games with opponents outside the 6th region.

 

Top 10

 

1.) Doss

Doss is undefeated in 6th region play with a 11-0 record and 21-6 overall. However they did not win either game in a fashion that would convince you they are hitting on all the right cylinders. They beat Bardstown 58-57 which was the closest loss that Bardstown has had in losing to all 5 Jefferson County schools they have played this season. Doss finished the week beating Moore by 10, but Moore has struggled this season with only 6 wins all season. Fairdale and Fern Creek are the only teams remaining in the way of achieving a perfect record against 6th region foes.

 

2.) Bullitt East

Bullitt East is a solid # 2 in the ranking this week. They came from pretty far down to get a 3 point win against Dixie Heights which shows they can never be counted out of a game. With Tyler Sharpe hitting timely shots they can make some noise in the 6th Region. They also easily won over rival North Bullitt and are now 18-9 and 5-3 in the region.

 

3.) DeSales

Now 21-6, DeSales has a 10-2 record in the region, with three consecutive wins last week. Only a 51-48 win against Collins gave the Colts any trouble . I watched the Colts handle Fairdale pretty easily last week and they are very difficult to beat if they are getting open three point shots. They can also score in close with efficient play sets, but they really excel at circle backs after penetration and hitting their open guy at the three point line. If they get open shots they will hit most of them, so the key to stopping DeSales is playing very good defense. The Doss/DeSales match up in District could be a preview of a regional final as they are both capable of making a strong run in the post season.

 

4.) PRP

After a single win in their last 4 games, PRP got two wins this past week over Iroquois by a large margin and then a 9 point win over Fairdale. They could very well be a strong contender in the region because that is what Dale Mabry and his staff prepare for. They lost key players from their last season run which ended at Rupp, but never count out the Panthers when tournament play begins. They are 16-7 overall and 9-1 in the 6th.

 

5.) Fern Creek

After going 2-1 last week, the Tigers are now 16-10 and 8-3 in the region which puts them outside the likely candidates to win the region, but they are a dangerous team that nobody would choose to play in early rounds. Fern Creek beat Fairdale by 15 and also St. Xavier by 13 last week, but between those two games they lost badly to Central. Before district play begins Fern Creek will get a chance to prove how much of a threat they could be when they play both PRP and Doss in the final week of the regular season.

 

6.) Fairdale

Fairdale stays in the 6th spot despite going 1-3 last week against 6th region opponents. They are not dropping because they lost to three teams in the spots of the rankings directly in front of them. Fairdale had a chance to rise in the rankings had they won more games last week, however, they took a step back from the five teams in front of them by losing to #3 DeSales by 18, #5 Fern Creek by 15, and #4 PRP by 9. They did beat Iroquois by 22 in their fourth and final game of the week. They exit the week with a 12-14 record, but they are still 9-4 within the region.

 

7.) North Bullitt

North Bullitt is moving up to the 7th spot over Western and Whitefield who each lost to 6th region opponents last week as did North Bullitt. But North Bullitt lost to #2 Bullitt East while Western lost to Holy Cross and Whitefield lost to Valley. North Bullitt is 15-10 and 5-3 in the region.

 

8.) Western

The loss to Holy Cross was a 35-34 loss, but they also had a win over Southern earlier in the week. Western is now 10-9 and 6-4 in 6th region play. They finish with 6th region foes, Moore & PRP.

 

9.) Holy Cross

Holy Cross loss very badly to St. X, but rebounded to beat 6th region foe Western. They close out the season with Bethlehem and Male. They are now 13-14 and 5-7.

 

10.) Bullitt Central

With 4 consecutive wins, including a win over 6th region, Valley, the last spot goes to Bullitt Central. They are 14-13 and 6-6 on the season

 

Top Player

Freshman Glenn Queen from Fairdale gets the nod as he is emerging as the best player on the Fairdale team in recent games. After several players exited the Bulldog team in late season dismissals, Queen became a starter and has not looked back. He is making an impact and has led his team in scoring since inserted into the starting role. His future looks bright and he will be a big cornerstone to the rebuilding job that is going on at Fairdale.

Edited February 16, 2015 by GoHardITP

[dawgs83]

After watching Desales at Fairdale I would put them ahead of Bullitt East. They are to inconsistent. I may even put Fern Creek ahead of PRP they have not been very impressive lately and wasn't the other night at Fairdale. Good updates all year. Appreciate your time and efforts with the updates. This weather could cause some cancellations and loss of practice time at a crucial part of the season with districts starting next week.

[Basketballfan2]

Bullitt East has won 5 in a row and playing much better basketball. They seem to be getting it together at the right time.

[Northstar85]

Bullitt East has won 5 in a row and playing much better basketball. They seem to be getting it together at the right time.

 

Bullitt East has won 5 in a row against what type of teams? Shelby County? North Bullitt? Christian Academy? JTown? Dixie Heights is more inconsistent than Bullitt East, so you can't judge there.

[GoHardITP]

I think the dialogue in this thread is indicative of the really difficult task of figuring out teams in this region. If there is ever a year an unexpected team could make a run through regional play and make it to Rupp, this is the year. However, since the opening game of the season with Doss defeating PRP, they have been the team to beat. Their downfall is they seem to take teams lightly. I do feel that they will come into tournament play with the focus they need and will not be taking anyone lightly. Beyond Doss as the team with the best chance would come down to either DeSales or Bullitt East. After those Top 3, it would be PRP and Fern Creek. My surprise pick is Jeffersontown. I am not sure they can do it with a single player carrying the load, but Brandon Johnson is really special and if he gets hot they could make it through to the region where they could be the sleeper pick.

[Basketballfan2]

The same type of teams Desales has played their last five & they are 4-1. Since Bullitt East's inconsistent play has been allowing teams that they should beat easily to upset them, I was pointing out that at least in the last 5 games they were putting them away fairly easily. I agree with goharditp that it really is a toss up ..East lost to Doss by 7 in a game that went to the last min & Desales lost to Doss by 12.

[GoHardITP]

DeSales also has a 22 point loss to Doss while Doss beat Iroquois recently by 3. Yet DeSales easily beats Iroquois. This is just a crazy year in the 6th and now it looks like the last week of the regular season will result in many canceled games that do not get rescheduled. Welcome to districts after a week off of school kids.

 

It is many times about match-ups and Doss does seem to match up well with both DeSales and Bullitt East. I am guessing that Doss will beat DeSales in their district game, but can they beat them a 4th time if they were to meet in the Regional Final? Will Bullitt East win their district and avoid playing Doss early in Regions? I still think these three teams are the likely candidates to advance to Rupp, with Doss as the most likely.