article 9th Region Week 9 Review: Movement in the middle of the pack as seeding tightens up.

[PP1]

The top four teams are the same as last week. There is a lot of movement between teams 8-18. District Tournament week is only about three and a half weeks away and it is looking to be exciting.

 

Beechwood has the chance to move up if they can defend their home against Covington Catholic on Friday. The 35th District may have gotten more competitive as Holmes seems to be playing better.

 

The 34th District is also looking to be more competitive as Dixie Heights is gaining some momentum. Even with the weak record, Dixie has the athletes to beat both St. Henry and Lloyd Memorial. Lloyd has a huge match against St. Henry on the 1st.

 

The 36th District also looks to be exciting with New Cath proving to have some fight, even in their losses to Highlands and Newport.

 

 

1. Covington Catholic (17-5): Covington Catholic beat Huber Heights this week to improve their win total to 17. The Colonels are scheduled to play Boone County and Beechwood this week. The Beechwood game is in Ft. Mitchell, I would get their early for that one. They do have to make-up the Holmes game, but to my knowledge, a date has not been set.

 

2. Cooper (18-3): Cooper beat Ryle and Conner last week. Blaine Walters and Michael Spencer seem to be playing very well. The Cooper team is averaging 34 rebounds a game which contributes to them only giving up 924 points for the year.

 

3. Newport (18-5): Newport represented the 9th Region well at the All A state tournament. Taj Harding scored 36 points over the two games. They are rewarded with playing Cooper on the 29th. They should be the #1 seed in their district.

 

4. Beechwood (19-3): The Tigers won three games this week and will need this momentum against three quality opponents. The Grant County Braves come to Ft. Mitchell on Monday, the Tigers then travel to Conner on Tuesday, and end the week by hosting the Covington Catholic Colonels.

 

5. Highlands (13-9): The Bluebirds won two games this week including a district win against Newport Central Catholic. Highlands should be the #2 seed in the district tournament. Highlands travels across the river to Anderson High School on the 29th.

 

6. Conner (10-9): Conner had a good showing against the Cooper Jaguars. They will be tested Tuesday when they host the Beechwood Tigers. Since their rough stretch from December 20th-29th the Cougars have been playing well and are sitting on the #2 seed for the district tournament.

 

7. Newport Central Catholic (9-11) Newport Catholic has lost three straight games, but they’ve played really good team and have been close in all three of those losses. Evan Mullikin and Eli Howard are playing well while Joel Illes is shooting the 3 at a rate of 47%.

 

8. Lloyd Memorial (14-4): Lloyd is separating themselves from the rest of the “mid-pack” with victories over Holy Cross and Dixie Heights last week. The Juggs have a huge district game at St Henry this week and I look forward to their game against Walton Verona on February 5th.

 

9. Dixie Heights (8-14): The Colonels won two game this week. They had a quality win against Grant County, a team that defeated Holy Cross twice this season. If Dixie can move the ball and attack the basket the way they did in the 4th Quarter against the Braves, then they can win 4 more games before the start of the district tournament.

 

10. Holmes (6-14): After being 0-for-2019 the Bulldogs finally got some wins in the new year. Holmes beat Holy Cross and Ryle after playing Beechwood and Highlands pretty tough the previous week. Looking at the rest of their schedule, they have the ability to win at least four more games. Holmes does have to make up the Covington Catholic game at some point this year.

 

11. St. Henry (9-11): The Crusaders beat Pendleton County and lost to Campbell County last week. I moved them down because Dixie and Holmes won some 9th region games against a team that St. Henry lost to. The Crusaders host the Lloyd Juggernauts this week and can move up in the rankings significantly with a victory.

 

12. Holy Cross (6-13): The Indians lost all the excitement they generated from two weeks ago. Holy Cross have lost three consecutive 9th-region games with Conner and Newport coming up. I was surprised that they lost to Holmes by 19.

 

13. Ryle (4-15): Ryle hasn’t won since January 5th and some people are getting restless with the coaching staff. The Raiders have three winnable games this week against Owen County, Shelby County, and Boone County. It would go a long way if they can win all three of these games.

 

14. Boone County (5-17): The Rebels put up 81 points against Simon Kenton last week. Parker Kyle had 18 against the Pioneers. Kyle is a solid offensive player.

 

15. Bellevue (6-15): The Tigers have a slew of games against small schools until the end of the year.

 

16. Dayton (6-16): The Devils won 2 games last week when they beat Silver Grove and Ludlow. They previously lost to Ludlow, so this win is a sign of progress for Coach Volpenhein’s crew.

 

17. Ludlow (11-9): It's hard to figure out the Panthers. At the beginning of the season they were winning games against teams like Bellevue and Dayton but last week they lost to the Green Devils.

 

18. Villa Madonna (8-14): The Vikings beat the Trains before losing to Ludlow and Trimble County.

 

19. Covington Latin (1-11) Latin lost to Portland Christian and Silver Grove.

 

20. Heritage Academy (1-14): Heritage lost to Bellevue and Calvary Christian this week. Don Chambers is averaging 14 rebounds a game.

Edited January 28, 2019 by True blue (and gold)

[Bluesport]

The CovCath/Holmes makeup game has been scheduled for this Saturday.

[PP1]

Thanks @Bluesport!

[XregCoach]

Just out of curiosity, why have Ludlow (11-9 overall; 9-2 in conference; and leading NKAC d3 conference) below Bellevue (6-15 overall; 5-3 in conferece) and Dayton (6-16 overall; 3-6 in conference)?

 

I get that Dayton hung an L on Ludlow, but body of work seems to be quite different, especially against similar competition.

[PP1]

Just out of curiosity, why have Ludlow (11-9 overall; 9-2 in conference; and leading NKAC d3 conference) below Bellevue (6-15 overall; 5-3 in conferece) and Dayton (6-16 overall; 3-6 in conference)?

 

I get that Dayton hung an L on Ludlow, but body of work seems to be quite different, especially against similar competition.

 

Both Bellevue and Dayton beat them recently. Dayton by 15 and Bellevue by 26.