Thanks for clearing the air. Crazy tales. Glad to hear he is doing okay.

Rhoden had scored at will against Bracken County in their first encounter back in the "A" title game and would have undoubtedly done the same in the district game - they had no answer for him.

 

Derrick Rhoden is a great kid, he's a friend of mine to this day. I've taken him fishing in Canada on a couple of occasions and we just went to Keeneland a week or so ago. But if I were Willie I wouldn't have played him a minute in the Bracken County game either.

 

When he was a freshman, he was a phenom - tall, smooth, intelligent, coordinated ...... He was happy and making second honors. The world was his oyster.

 

I watch those highlight tapes and want to cry - he might have been the greatest player ever to come out of NoKy - he was THAT good.

 

Tragically, just before his sophomore season something happened. We'll leave it at that, that caused him to become a whole different kind of player. Slow, sluggish, heavy, surly replaced his former positive attributes. When he came back at mid-season, in his mind he was the same player with the same moves and abilities but he never was again - not even close.

 

It seemed like from that time on it was a constant struggle to get him to practice hard or make a positive contribution to the team effort. Occassionally he would show signs of his old self. Against Campbell County and Newport Catholic (in the "A" State) during his senior year he was brilliant, but we still had to deal with his practice demeanor and his game efforts, and his performance against those teams were the exception rather than the rule. He refused to play according to the script and constantly tried one on one moves, putting the ball on the floor, failing to kick it out - and became a liability in games rather than an asset.

 

The day before the Bracken game, in what was the continuation of an ongoing battle between he and the coaching staff, Derrick refused to "wear white" (play defense against the first string) because he took that as an insult instead of understanding that he wasn't going to play 32 minutes and the other guys often had to play without him. He totally refused to practice at all and leaned against the pushed-in stands for the duration of that practice. Coach Schlarman, Coach Rowe and myself tried to talk to him, reason with him, and explain to him. But unfortunately on that day, it came to a head and because of his actions wasn't played in the fateful Bracken County game.

 

The Polar Bears, with a great game plan dictated a very S-L-O-W tempo, packed it in against McDole and challenged the Mustang shooters who couldn't throw it in the ocean that night, keeping the game close, and were able to win it 31-30. The Mustangs were the "A" Runners-up that year, had beaten Highlands just a week or two before the district, Owensboro by 15 in the Rupp Classic at LexCath a week before the tournament, and Simon Kenton by 36 just days before the "game that will live in infamy."

We finished the season 23-6 that year.

 

Our coaches weren't stupid, they were stalwart in dealing with an impossible situation, and unfortunately it found its way to the game floor and the upstart Polar Bears pulled one of the biggest upsets in recent history.

 

And now you know the rest of the story..................

 

Mustang,

 

Great Quote, I think you cleared up a lot of "myths" about the ball game and the situation surrounding the coaching staff. You had a birds eye view of what was happening and can always be counted on as the voice of reason.

Rhoden had scored at will against Bracken County in their first encounter back in the "A" title game and would have undoubtedly done the same in the district game - they had no answer for him.

 

Derrick Rhoden is a great kid, he's a friend of mine to this day. I've taken him fishing in Canada on a couple of occasions and we just went to Keeneland a week or so ago. But if I were Willie I wouldn't have played him a minute in the Bracken County game either.

 

When he was a freshman, he was a phenom - tall, smooth, intelligent, coordinated ...... He was happy and making second honors. The world was his oyster.

 

I watch those highlight tapes and want to cry - he might have been the greatest player ever to come out of NoKy - he was THAT good.

 

Tragically, just before his sophomore season something happened. We'll leave it at that, that caused him to become a whole different kind of player. Slow, sluggish, heavy, surly replaced his former positive attributes. When he came back at mid-season, in his mind he was the same player with the same moves and abilities but he never was again - not even close.

 

It seemed like from that time on it was a constant struggle to get him to practice hard or make a positive contribution to the team effort. Occassionally he would show signs of his old self. Against Campbell County and Newport Catholic (in the "A" State) during his senior year he was brilliant, but we still had to deal with his practice demeanor and his game efforts, and his performance against those teams were the exception rather than the rule. He refused to play according to the script and constantly tried one on one moves, putting the ball on the floor, failing to kick it out - and became a liability in games rather than an asset.

 

The day before the Bracken game, in what was the continuation of an ongoing battle between he and the coaching staff, Derrick refused to "wear white" (play defense against the first string) because he took that as an insult instead of understanding that he wasn't going to play 32 minutes and the other guys often had to play without him. He totally refused to practice at all and leaned against the pushed-in stands for the duration of that practice. Coach Schlarman, Coach Rowe and myself tried to talk to him, reason with him, and explain to him. But unfortunately on that day, it came to a head and because of his actions wasn't played in the fateful Bracken County game.

 

The Polar Bears, with a great game plan dictated a very S-L-O-W tempo, packed it in against McDole and challenged the Mustang shooters who couldn't throw it in the ocean that night, keeping the game close, and were able to win it 31-30. The Mustangs were the "A" Runners-up that year, had beaten Highlands just a week or two before the district, Owensboro by 15 in the Rupp Classic at LexCath a week before the tournament, and Simon Kenton by 36 just days before the "game that will live in infamy."

We finished the season 23-6 that year.

 

Our coaches weren't stupid, they were stalwart in dealing with an impossible situation, and unfortunately it found its way to the game floor and the upstart Polar Bears pulled one of the biggest upsets in recent history.

 

And now you know the rest of the story..................

It was about time someone cleared that up.:thumb: :thumb:

I always wondered...

 

Mason County always had a tough time with big men, because the Royals are typically undersized. The year they won the state title, no one over 6'2" started. I had always assumed that Rhoden would make life miserable for Mason County, but as he got older it seemed like he got heavier. I always assumed that he didn't get much PT against Mason County because he wasn't fast enough to keep up for long stretches during the game.

 

Gotta respect the powers-that-be for doing what they had to do.

 

And if I haven't said already...

 

1a) Clark County (if Jones is healthy)

1b) Mason County

3) Brossart (Eubel is TOUGH, and Cooper will be a force inside)

4) Montgomery County, esp. if their center gets his act together

Mason is #1 in the region because they are 10 deep with miller,middelton,scott,pawsat,stahl,browning,setty,tolle,king,downing they do not have to worry about fouls,clark is a clear #2and montgomery#3.

Mason is #1 in the region because they are 10 deep with miller,middelton,scott,pawsat,stahl,browning,setty,tolle,king,downing they do not have to worry about fouls,clark is a clear #2and montgomery#3.

 

 

I think GRC's bench is going to be just as good, if not better than Masons or anyone elses.

I think GRC's bench is going to be just as good, if not better than Masons or anyone elses.

:thumb:

I haven't seen it yet, but I've been told that for Augusta, they state that they lose two starters, Gallagher and Hargett. Gallagher was a guard and Hargett started. I (Hargett) heard that i was deemed the 6th man. Can anyone confirm this?

I saw in the Cynthiana paper this week that the Talbott kid wasn't playing this year.Whats up with that?He was supposed to be maybe their best returning player.Harrison maybe a lot more down than up this year.

read the top of my post -- Having 2 kids that can play for Mason's Middle School team can't possibly impress anyone.

 

I think you may be a bit biased towards N KY teams as well...just my opinion. You seem to get flustered anytime someone mentions the 10th region and Mason Co. You are a Bengals fan though which is very cool!

read the top of my post -- Having 2 kids that can play for Mason's Middle School team can't possibly impress anyone.

 

I think you may be a bit biased towards N KY teams as well...just my opinion. You seem to get flustered anytime someone mentions the 10th region and Mason Co. You are a Bengals fan though which is very cool!

 

 

I am not biased towards the northern part of the region. Mason is the best and GRC is second. Brossart is third. Deming and Augusta can not compete in the tenth region and that has nothing to do with me. If they have 2 talented 8th graders than they probably don't have anything else, or they will transfer and go somewhere bigger. I like Mason County's program and have for several years. That is well documented.

Everybody knows mason, clark and brossart are the number 1,2,3 year in and year our but after those three i think the rest is wide open can be any body game

Everybody knows mason, clark and brossart are the number 1,2,3 year in and year our but after those three i think the rest is wide open can be any body game

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I think teams like Augusta, Deming and Saint Patrick can compete in the region with teams like Pendleton, Harrison, Montgomery and Bourbon this year from what I have seen and heard thus far. They cannot, however, compete in the state which the top three in the region (Mason, Clark and Brossart) will be. I think that would be a better explanation.

I couldn't agree with you more. I think teams like Augusta, Deming and Saint Patrick can compete in the region with teams like Pendleton, Harrison, Montgomery and Bourbon this year from what I have seen and heard thus far. They cannot, however, compete in the state which the top three in the region (Mason, Clark and Brossart) will be. I think that would be a better explanation.

 

Not Montgomery...

I couldn't agree with you more. I think teams like Augusta, Deming and Saint Patrick can compete in the region with teams like Pendleton, Harrison, Montgomery and Bourbon this year from what I have seen and heard thus far. They cannot, however, compete in the state which the top three in the region (Mason, Clark and Brossart) will be. I think that would be a better explanation.

 

I don't think Augusta, Deming, or St. Pat's can compete against PC, Bourbon, Harrison, Montgomery, or Scott. This is wishful thinking.