The Seventh Region All A tournament commences on Friday at one of my favorite venues in Jefferson County, the old Male gym. Few if any of the players who will play in this tournament will appreciate the significance this gym has played in high school basketball in Louisville through so many years, and that's a shame.

 

In any event, the two first round games pit St. Francis taking on Walden and Kentucky Country Day facing Brown. Walden stands 9-3 on the season while the Wyverns of St. Francis currently sport a 2-8 record. These two teams opened the season against each other, with Walden prevailing 65-54. I expect a similar result this time.

 

The KCD-Brown match up is also a repeat of an earlier game, won by KCD 81-32. KCD suffered through a 6-game losing streak at one point earlier in the season, but is now 5-6, having won 4 in a row. That stretch has included impressive wins over Shawnee (67-51) and Louisville Holy Cross (74-63). Brown is 2-10. I suspect the KCD Bearcats will once again come out on top against the Brown Bears.

 

In Saturday's semi-finals, Louisville Collegiate will face the winner of the Walden-St. Francis game. Collegiate is having a tremendous season, now sitting at 10-3. Its most recent game was a hard fought 59-52 loss to the St. X Tigers. The biggest challenge to the Titans may be to focus on this game instead of thinking about their Monday night game against the Male Bulldogs in the Louisville Invitational Tournament. Whether the opponent is Walden or St. Francis, I anticipate Collegiate advancing.

 

The other semi-final will pit the Whitefield Academy Warriors (5-6) against the winner of the KCD-Brown first round game. Whitefield has played, and beaten, both of its potential opponents already this year, getting the best of KCD 85-74 and Brown 64-48. However, Whitefield has been without the services of senior Trevor Nauert, who is averaging close to 20 ppg, for its last 3 games. I am not sure of his status, and that very possibly will affect the outcome of that game.

 

Regardless of who advances out of the bottom bracket, it is hard to see anyone other than Collegiate winning the finals to be played on Thursday, January 16. They have set themselves apart from the other small schools in the Seventh Region this year. Thus, I look for the Louisville Collegiate Titans to win the Seventh Region All A tournament and advance to the All A state tournament in Richmond.

 

As for players to watch, Chez Moore at Collegiate is one of the top players in the Seventh Region regardless of school size. Joey Leachman combines with Moore to give Collegiate two quality front court players. Trevor Nauert is a standout for Whitefield, although I don't know if he will be playing. Isaiah Cargill at Walden is leading the Wolverines in their outstanding season. Darian Wade is having an outstanding year for St. Francis, while Brown's Josiah Bibb is averaging 20.7 ppg and may be the most fun player to watch in the region. KCD has 4 players averaging in double figures, led by Anthony O'Neal at 16.2 ppg. Other than Chez Moore, none of these players are getting much attention, but they are all worth watching.

Good summary, Smallhoops. KCD has three solid seniors and a freshman who can shoot, I expecting them to be a little better than their early record indicated. It will still be a tall task for them to upset Collegiate this year.

Good summary, Smallhoops. KCD has three solid seniors and a freshman who can shoot, I expecting them to be a little better than their early record indicated. It will still be a tall task for them to upset Collegiate this year.

 

It is interesting to note that Collegiate and KCD played Holy Cross within 3 days of one another; Collegiate beat Holy Cross 49-46 while KCD beat 74-63. While it would be a mistake to jump to any conclusions based on those comparative results, I would be encouraged if I were KCD.

I was at St.X/Collegiate game and I thought Collegiate had the best front court of teams I’ve seen. Not looking forward to playing them again in district play.