Oldham County played Friday night. Albeit a blowout. But the starters played at least 2.5 quarters. Spencer was off. Yes. It was their 3rd game of the week. But these kids, regardless of depth, are conditioned to play 2-3 games a week. Tired legs can’t be the issue this early in the season. Burns is smart enough. I’m sure they aren’t full on practicing when they have a day between games. Light shoot around to break a sweat, film.

 

Oldham played Trimble County and won by 50 with a deep bench. Spencer played three of the top four teams in 5 days. As Colonel Mike said those games were played at high intensity playoff level. If you think fatigue didn't have an effect on last night's game then I don't know what to tell you. The first five minutes of last night's game showed that.

Yes it did. Because of Oldham County's style and depth it would have definitely helped Spencer to play them first over these last five days. Much harder to defend and attack Oldham than North or South. Especially when you have nothing left in the tank. I bet Oldham was licking at the chops before last nights game. Hopefully they will meet up at regionals.

 

How well did you attack North or South? You were 0-3 vs the Oldham schools.

Vacation.

 

OMG.

Against NO missed three at buzzer to go to overtime and lost by four at home to SO. Two of the top 3 teams in region. Pretty successful.

OMG

 

Yeah. No comment. Lol.

I believe the way the boys and girls state tournament’s are this year a lot of boys regionals may be held Wednesday thru Saturday so to win it a team might have to win 3 tough games in three or four days that could ba problem for Spencer if they don’t develop some depth. If you are tired and wore down playing 3 games in a week this early in the season it will only be worse by the end of February.

Against NO missed three at buzzer to go to overtime and lost by four at home to SO. Two of the top 3 teams in region. Pretty successful.

 

Sorry, no participation trophy here, 0-3 is 0-3.

I think the major issue regarding Spencer is going to be the depth issue, as we suspected. Cardsrule1972 is 100% correct that this was a very taxing 5 days for Spencer - but the question then becomes the Region - which will pretty much more of the same. This was a good job of scheduling, I think, for Spencer, which played two of these three games on the road. Getting an opportunity to play in the South Oldham Classic the first week of January will also be a boon to Spencer, as they'll play three pretty good teams - Holmes, Warren Central, and Bowling Green - in three days.

 

New Castle is 3 games in 5 days - 6 if you're lucky - with the last two coming on back to back days. Overtime grinds are not uncommon. And they are all tournament-intensity level games (obviously) between the best.

 

I would say Spencer proved this week that they are exactly what we thought they were in the preseason - a starting five that is as good as any in the region. Strong outside shooters. A veteran group with lots of varsity experience and background playing with each other that shows a strong chemistry on the court. Temperamentally, they are a dogged, energetic bunch that doesn't back down. Their shortcomings are primarily an overall lack of length, which was exposed by Oldham last night (bad matchup for Spencer in that regard as that is one of Oldham's greatest strengths) and that painfully short bench.

 

The good news for Spencer is - while you can't do much about the length issue - they have all season to develop the bench. Plenty of time. And there are some kids who look like they have potential to be contributing role players. Cook has some size and athleticism and showed some range on his shot against Oldham by hitting a three from the left corner... Basham got some quality minutes last night. But those kids are going to need to get playing time against tough competition to develop into what Burns needs.

 

Oldham was a little bit of a mystery in the pre-season. We knew Oldham had talent; we knew they physically were long and athletic. We knew Coy Zerhusen probably had enough athletic bodies to ratchet up his pressure defense even more than last year. But we didn't know how this group - which had limited varsity experience overall - would perform on the varsity stage. I stated in the season preview that I thought Oldham had the potential to be one of the elite defenses in the region. It's early, but I think Oldham has certified that this is the case. We've learned that Oldham contests everything - every pass, every drive, every shot. And those long arms give Oldham a huge advantage on defense - the Colonels seem to have 7 players on the court. Similar to Spencer County and South Oldham, the Colonels boast a large group of shooters, making them difficult to defend; no "cheating" off on a player who is a suspect shooter. The Colonels don't emphasize the three like Spencer and South, but Oldham shoots it extremely well (20 of 40 in the last two games), which forces the defense outward and opens up the lanes for the Colonels offense.

 

I think Zerhusen most wants to condition this team "by fire" in order to get this group acclimated to what it takes to win at the varsity level. Obviously, they've passed the early tests, going 5-0. But big matches remain against Grant County, Paul Dunbar, Beechwood, South Oldham, North Oldham, PRP, Tates Creek, LaRue County, Simon Kenton, Collins, and Anderson County...

 

Two really good teams played last night...both are going to do quite well this year, I think.

 

CM

Let’s just hope none of the Bears have a vacation scheduled during the district/regional tournaments!

 

Regular season games against Collins, Woodford, and Anderson take on greater importance if the #1 seed earns a first round bye in the district tournament.

I think the major issue regarding Spencer is going to be the depth issue, as we suspected. Cardsrule1972 is 100% correct that this was a very taxing 5 days for Spencer - but the question then becomes the Region - which will pretty much more of the same. This was a good job of scheduling, I think, for Spencer, which played two of these three games on the road. Getting an opportunity to play in the South Oldham Classic the first week of January will also be a boon to Spencer, as they'll play three pretty good teams - Holmes, Warren Central, and Bowling Green - in three days.

 

New Castle is 3 games in 5 days - 6 if you're lucky - with the last two coming on back to back days. Overtime grinds are not uncommon. And they are all tournament-intensity level games (obviously) between the best.

 

I would say Spencer proved this week that they are exactly what we thought they were in the preseason - a starting five that is as good as any in the region. Strong outside shooters. A veteran group with lots of varsity experience and background playing with each other that shows a strong chemistry on the court. Temperamentally, they are a dogged, energetic bunch that doesn't back down. Their shortcomings are primarily an overall lack of length, which was exposed by Oldham last night (bad matchup for Spencer in that regard as that is one of Oldham's greatest strengths) and that painfully short bench.

 

The good news for Spencer is - while you can't do much about the length issue - they have all season to develop the bench. Plenty of time. And there are some kids who look like they have potential to be contributing role players. Cook has some size and athleticism and showed some range on his shot against Oldham by hitting a three from the left corner... Basham got some quality minutes last night. But those kids are going to need to get playing time against tough competition to develop into what Burns needs.

 

Oldham was a little bit of a mystery in the pre-season. We knew Oldham had talent; we knew they physically were long and athletic. We knew Coy Zerhusen probably had enough athletic bodies to ratchet up his pressure defense even more than last year. But we didn't know how this group - which had limited varsity experience overall - would perform on the varsity stage. I stated in the season preview that I thought Oldham had the potential to be one of the elite defenses in the region. It's early, but I think Oldham has certified that this is the case. We've learned that Oldham contests everything - every pass, every drive, every shot. And those long arms give Oldham a huge advantage on defense - the Colonels seem to have 7 players on the court. Similar to Spencer County and South Oldham, the Colonels boast a large group of shooters, making them difficult to defend; no "cheating" off on a player who is a suspect shooter. The Colonels don't emphasize the three like Spencer and South, but Oldham shoots it extremely well (20 of 40 in the last two games), which forces the defense outward and opens up the lanes for the Colonels offense.

 

I think Zerhusen most wants to condition this team "by fire" in order to get this group acclimated to what it takes to win at the varsity level. Obviously, they've passed the early tests, going 5-0. But big matches remain against Grant County, Paul Dunbar, Beechwood, South Oldham, North Oldham, PRP, Tates Creek, LaRue County, Simon Kenton, Collins, and Anderson County...

 

Two really good teams played last night...both are going to do quite well this year, I think.

 

CM

 

Holmes is not in the same class as WC and BG this year.

I like Oldham County doing well. St.X lost to Oldham County by 1 in scrimmage plus St.X other game results tells me St.X has pretty good team. Plus my wife went to OC so go OC.

Holmes is not in the same class as WC and BG this year.

 

Agreed.

Sorry, no participation trophy here, 0-3 is 0-3.

 

I don't think Spencer County is looking for participation trophy. I think the schedule sets up to be extremely difficult but they aren't worried about 20 win seasons anymore (already did that the last three years). Wins in the playoffs are what matter to everyone. So they found out last week they are right in the mix. Spencer might have a losing record going into the middle of January but they should be ready. If there is a season ending injury to any of their top four players then all bets are off. The last part of the schedule will allow for rest.

Cardsrule - nice meeting you tonight! I was hoping we'd have more time to talk, but we had an announcer miss and I had to do all four of the games we broadcast. I didn't have time to disentangle myself from the headset when you came by as we were on the air.... maybe we can talk more next time. Still - thanks for coming by! Good to put a face with an avatar! LOL

 

I tend to agree with your ranking of the three Oldham schools right now. There will be some movement in the BGPreps 8th region rankings this week, and right now, I expect Oldham to be ranked over the other two Oldham schools. Of course, this is just December, and I've seen an awful lot of teams ranked highly in December flame out in March - and vice-versa. I wouldn't be surprised to see South or North be the region kingpin at the end of the year, but if I'm ranking teams based on who I think would do better if the region were played today, then I have to rank Oldham ahead of them both right now.

 

The Oldham win tonight was impressive, especially considering the caliber of the competition.

 

Exciting game from start to finish. Oldham steadily built their lead, winning every quarter by a few points... biggest lead was 19 in the fourth period, but Oldham settled for a 15 point margin.

 

Oldham County 21 19 17 17 - 74

Spencer County 17 16 11 15 - 59

 

Oldham shot 50% or better from the floor in each frame:

First: 9 of 17

Second: 6 of 12

Third: 6 of 11

Fourth: 6 of 11

 

Oldham shooting

Overall: 27 of 51 52.9%

Threes: 6 of 14 42.9%

FT%: 14 of 18 77.8%

 

Spencer Shooting:

Overall: 20 of 48 41.7%

Threes: 8 of 20 40%

FT%: 11 of 14 78.6%

The intensity level was post-season caliber. Everything was contested to the max. And we saw some highlight-reel plays, including a monster two-handed dunk by Spencer's Sam Conley off a missed shot.

 

Deaton Oak (23 points) and Tyler Slone (17 points / 11 rebounds) played masterful games for Oldham. Lucas Hornback had a really solid game for Spencer, scoring 14 points, but Oldham held him to just 4 points in the decisive second half.

 

Oldham won the battle of the boards, unofficially, 29-20.

 

It was one game, one night - but tonight, Oldham was clearly the better team.

 

Congrats to Oldham County, who moves to 5-0 on the season. Good luck to the Bears the rest of the way.

 

Long way to go till March....

 

CM

 

Great meeting you also! I'm sure we'll get to talk more in the future. Your analysis this past week is pretty much spot on for what I am seeing. The only thing I might not agree on is where you have Simon Kenton ranked. I don't think they have enough to compete with these five teams (Collins,Oldham, South Oldham, North Oldham,Spencer). Good Job!