21st District Tournament Preview (6th Region)

21st at Pleasure Ridge Park

* Monday – Beth Haven (5) vs. Valley (4), 7:30

Just looking at records one could assume that Beth Haven with 19 wins on the season should win this game against a 5 win Valley to advance to play PRP in the semi-finals. But that is discounting the fact that Valley did not back away from playing a much tougher schedule despite being very young with little returning talent. In fact, one of the Valley wins was a victory over Beth Haven early in the season by a wide margin. This is why I ignore the win/loss record for the most part and focus on who teams have beat, not how many. I have to give a big advantage to Valley and first year Coach Joe Harris who has been steady with his rebuilding approach utilizing younger players which has paid dividends as his team has improved throughout the season.

* Tuesday – Holy Cross (3) vs. Fairdale (2), 7:30

This could prove to be a closer game that Fairdale would like, but I am still predicting a Fairdale win. Early in the season these two teams played and Fairdale had a 22 point win in that contest. Holy Cross has won 4 out of their last 5, including wins over Bullitt Central and Western. However, they were beat by St. X by 36 points recently. Fairdale lost to that same St. X team by 14. As long as Fairdale has stayed together after losing some seniors towards the end of the season, I suspect they will be playing PRP in the Final game of the district.

* Wednesday – Beth Haven-Valley winner vs. Pleasure Ridge Park (1), 7:30

PRP beat Valley by over 40 points in the beginning of the season. PRP may not have improved as much as Valley, but they are still good enough for a comfortable margin should Valley beat Beth Haven as expected. If Beth Haven does win, it will not matter as PRP will move on to the Finals of the district.

* Friday – Final, 7:30

This should be an easy prediction of PRP facing Fairdale. Both will advance on, but likely we will see PRP as the #1 seed from the 21st in the 6th Region tournament. These teams did play less than a week ago and it was a 9 point victory margin for PRP. With tournament play at PRP, I suspect they will be ready and capable of making this one a bigger margin, but Fairdale has a chance for the upset. I feel we will see Richard Gaines have a major impact as a senior determined to return to Rupp for his final go around.