Here's a fun thread, in your school's history, who do you think is the best team ever?

For my school, Owsley County, it would be a good debate between the 1983 team that finished runner-up in the region and had a 28-5 record, or the 1990 team that was runner-up in the All A state tournament to University Heights. The '83 team was led by All State Mike Turner and the '90 team was powered by 6'5 All State player Jeff "Moose" Moore. Those were both great teams but if I had to give an edge it would be to the '83 team just because it had more bench strength than '90. Owsley also had good teams through the years 1999-2001 with Dakota Roberts, Travis McIntosh, and Adam Terry. Those teams won 3 straight All A regions and made it to the state semis in 2000.

 

Owsley also had good teams in 1961 and 1962 behind guard Paul Smith, who went on to play at Mississippi State. Smith is the All time top career scorer in Owsley history, scoring over 3,300 points for his career. His name and numbers are not on the KHSAA list as one of the state's top career scorers, I suppose because it's never been reported, but that's what he scored. A local guy has his point numbers right down to the exact total. One of my goals is to get his name in the KHSAA records but he played such a long time ago that it may be difficult to verify his totals. Smith had the consecutive free throw record in the SEC for about 20 years before that record was finally broken by Vandy player. He was very good player and his high school teams did well in the region but that was in the days when Coach Faircy Woods' Breathitt County teams dominated the 14th region.

Conner started in about 1971.

 

Despite the 1993 being the only team to win the region I'd lean towards the early 70s teams of Rick Hicks and Tony Faehr.

Best isn't always the most successful. I still think that Mason County's best team was the 2004 incarnation.

Conner started in about 1971.

 

Despite the 1993 being the only team to win the region I'd lean towards the early 70s teams of Rick Hicks and Tony Faehr.

 

I'm nowhere near the authority on Conner hoops and you'd definitely know better than me, but one team in particular that stands out to me would be the 2001 team with Marcus Johnson, Jeremy Stevenson, and Terry Johnson that lost to Highlands with Neltner as a sophomore and Guidugli as a senior in double overtime in the the 9th Region finals.

 

I can't say with any certainty that they were the best Cougar team ever, but wow they were exciting to watch. Though it was not to be, I was really hoping to see how they measured up on the state level.

 

In my history of watching 9th Region ball, and the many really good teams that I've probably forgotten, that team still sticks out as being probably one of my top 5 favorites of all time.

I'm nowhere near the authority on Conner hoops and you'd definitely know better than me, but one team in particular that stands out to me would be the 2001 team with Marcus Johnson, Jeremy Stevenson, and Terry Johnson that lost to Highlands with Neltner as a sophomore and Guidugli as a senior in double overtime in the the 9th Region finals.

 

I can't say with any certainty that they were the best Cougar team ever, but wow they were exciting to watch. Though it was not to be, I was really hoping to see how they measured up on the state level.

 

In my history of watching 9th Region ball, and the many really good teams that I've probably forgotten, that team still sticks out as being probably one of my top 5 favorites of all time.

 

That was a fun team to watch. Great run in the 9th region tourney.

Somerset 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 State Runner-Ups each season.

That's about as good as it gets for Somerset Basketball!

Best isn't always the most successful. I still think that Mason County's best team was the 2004 incarnation.

 

Agree wholeheartedly. Holmes "best" team was almost certainly 1978 (34-2 state runner up, but with two high D1 players (Beal and Schloemer)... only 2 losses were both to Shelby County), although I would put the 1980 version right there with them (33-3 state semi finals). 1980 team was more fun to watch IMO (averaged 87 ppg with a fuller "highlight" reel).

 

Actually, in a lot of ways, the 2009 team that won the state was the antithesis of the 1980 team. More size, more deliberate, tougher defensively, less scoring and, IMO, less fun to watch. But they did win it all.

Bracken County/Brooksville is either the 1939 State Champions or 1944 State-Semi Finals team that was upset when they were ranked #1 in Kentucky.

 

The only team that comes close in modern times was either the 1998 or 1999 team that won the last district and Class A title for the Polar Bears.

Tough to pick against NewCath's 1966 team just based on star power.

 

2015-2016 getting to the Semis is pretty awesome though. Of course, they didn't play Male in the 1st round like the '00 team or the 73 team, so who knows.

Tough to pick against NewCath's 1966 team just based on star power.

 

2015-2016 getting to the Semis is pretty awesome though. Of course, they didn't play Male in the 1st round like the '00 team or the 73 team, so who knows.

 

As goofy as it might seem, 1984 squad makes an argument ... their "body of work", ranked number one almost all season, won the region, then had one awful game in the first round of the state tournament ....

Agree wholeheartedly. Holmes "best" team was almost certainly 1978 (34-2 state runner up, but with two high D1 players (Beal and Schloemer)... only 2 losses were both to Shelby County), although I would put the 1980 version right there with them (33-3 state semi finals). 1980 team was more fun to watch IMO (averaged 87 ppg with a fuller "highlight" reel).

 

Actually, in a lot of ways, the 2009 team that won the state was the antithesis of the 1980 team. More size, more deliberate, tougher defensively, less scoring and, IMO, less fun to watch. But they did win it all.

 

Agree with every point. The 1978 Holmes team is one of the best ever in No. Ky. and had so much talent in addition to Schloemer and Beal. They also had John Wimzie, a D-1 talent but only 6-2, a 6-7 center in Tony Malik (or Reed, whatever he went by that year), Moeves at guard, Phil Davis, Todd Riley and Mo Green. Walton and Simpson were sophs on that team. If Nate Flanigan and Steve Briscoe had remained at Holmes, both would have been sophs that year and actually played significant minutes. Briscoe, who played at a high school in Cincinnati that I can't remember, was actually better than Beal. Flanigan was just the best inside player in Covington junior high school history. Great run by Holmes in the 1970s.

As goofy as it might seem, 1984 squad makes an argument ... their "body of work", ranked number one almost all season, won the region, then had one awful game in the first round of the state tournament ....

 

When you lose to a team with a losing record in the first round of the Sweet 16, it's hard to seriously call yourself the school's best team. The 1984 NewCath squad laid the biggest egg in Sweet 16 history at the time with that loss to Scott County.

Tough to pick against NewCath's 1966 team just based on star power.

 

2015-2016 getting to the Semis is pretty awesome though. Of course, they didn't play Male in the 1st round like the '00 team or the 73 team, so who knows.

 

 

The 1975 NewCath team was outstanding. Maybe the deepest, most talented team in their history.

Dad says that our 2004 Boone County team still has the best overall win percentage at 26-4. I believe that the team that might have won the region a few years ago had more wins, but also more losses.