article 9th Region Week 7 Review and Rankings: Conner is on a little Roll.

[PP1]

Regional Rankings

 

1. Covington Catholic (16-3): The Colonels are on a 15-game winning streak. That’s pretty good. They travel to Holmes this week and then play St. Xavier.

 

2. Conner (11-5): Conner has beaten SK, Ryle, Dixie, Highlands, and Grant County. Not a bad 5-game stretch.

 

3. St. Henry (12-3): St. Henry won the All A Region. Congrats to the Cru. The big post player off the bench had a good tournament. St. Henry plays Thursday at 9:30.

 

4. Beechwood (13-7): Tigers came up short in a good game. I still like their chances to go to the regional tournament. On a personal note, he probably is not in the mood to hear this, but when the players arrived at St. Henry for the Lloyd game, my 2nd grade son was watching them go by. Draud was at the end of the line and my son chased him down the hallway, said his name and something like “good luck”, he turned around and gave him a high five and said, “thanks buddy.” It was a class act and it made his day. Thanks.

 

5. Highlands (16-1): Highlands beat Campbell and Newport this week. Their schedule is pretty light until February.

 

6. Newport Central Catholic (10-7): The Breds were a couple of free throws away from beating St. Henry. They actually play St. Henry again on Saturday.

 

7. Lloyd Memorial (10-6): Treshawn Cody is really good.

 

8. Holy Cross (8-7): The Indians play Campbell County and Conner. I will be surprised if they beat either of those teams, but Grammar does a good job getting his boys ready.

 

9. Cooper (5-10): Cooper lost to SK and Cov Cath this week. They host Conner on Wednesday; I think I am going to go see this one. I haven’t watched Conner yet.

 

10. Dixie Heights (4-13): Dixie beat Scott and lost to Simon Kenton. Dixie has been in almost every game and has lost 7 games by less than ten points. I think they will go to the regional tournament.

 

11.Ryle (7-10): Ryle lost two games this week. They play Holmes and Lloyd.

 

12. Holmes (7-10): Holmes beat Scott. The Dawgs play Covington Catholic this week. If they keep it within 20, I consider it a moral victory.

 

13. Newport (9-8): The Wildcats won 9 straight and have now lost 8 straight. They play Beechwood and Bellevue this week.

 

14. Boone County (4-13): The Rebels beat Carroll County. Carroll is not too bad, they beat Henry at Henry earlier this year.

 

15. Ludlow (8-7): Ludlow got walloped by Beechwood in the first round, but then rebounded to beat Harrison County.

 

16. Dayton (4-11): Dayton plays New Cath, Bracken, and Heritage this week. They should win at least a game.

 

17. Villa Madonna (4-13): Villa will play Ludlow and Calvary.

 

18. Bellevue (2-10): Bellevue should beat Heritage this week.

 

19. Heritage (3-10): Heritage plays Bellevue and Dayton.

20. Covington Latin (0-7): I heard that Latin is indeed taking the #5 seed in the district tournament. I will cover their record for the rest of the season.

 

 

 

Post-lude:

 

 

 

I’ve mentioned before about my 4-year old. David has Autism. I am very intentional in treating him as “normal” as possible. I take him with me to basketball games because I think he still deserves to experience the world. He loves going to the games. He jumps up and down, claps his hands, and laughs the whole time. In less crowded gyms I usually sit up in the corner with him to give him plenty of room. Sometimes he will bump into someone in a crowded gym and he will regularly put his hand on someone’s shoulder, to steady himself, while he tries to walk down the bleacher stairs. He does not scream in anyone’s face, grab anyone, or cry. There was one time when he reached into someone’s popcorn and took a bite.

 

The majority of people smile and seem to enjoy his company (you have no idea how that melts my heart). The eye rolling, suddenly changing seats, and stare downs are getting a little old. If he is really bothering you, just come tell me and we’ll move.

[Tones]

I am somewhat surprised to see St. Henry #3 after beating Beechwood. On a side note, I hope that your son doesn't recognize others being rude and is able to enjoy the games without having to feel less than. I can't imagine the challenges that not only you have to go through, but especially him, and for someone to take away his joy in a world filled with challenges just seems unfair. God bless you both and continue giving your son these moments of joy regardless of how others act and feel. At the end of the day, as a father, that is all that matters.

[Cooper_fan]

If your coming to the Cooper/Conner game it’s at Cooper and the game is Wednesday.

[nkucardsfan]

I am somewhat surprised to see St. Henry #3 after beating Beechwood. On a side note, I hope that your son doesn't recognize others being rude and is able to enjoy the games without having to feel less than. I can't imagine the challenges that not only you have to go through, but especially him, and for someone to take away his joy in a world filled with challenges just seems unfair. God bless you both and continue giving your son these moments of joy regardless of how others act and feel. At the end of the day, as a father, that is all that matters.

And St. Henry won at #2 Conner in December

[PP1]

I am somewhat surprised to see St. Henry #3 after beating Beechwood.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I know St. Henry won the tourney, but Conner winning five straight games against the likes of Simon Kenton, Highlands, Dixie, Ryle, and Grant County is at least equally impressive.

[Tones]

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I know St. Henry won the tourney, but Conner winning five straight games against the likes of Simon Kenton, Highlands, Dixie, Ryle, and Grant County is a bigger deal.

 

I personally am going to throw out Dixie and Ryle as impressive wins. Give me Holy Cross, NCC, & Beechwood wins over SK, Highlands, and Grant Co. not to mention the St. Henry win at Conner earlier in the year. It is all personal opinion I just disagree with you. Great list though and thanks for your weekly dedication.

[Jack of all Trades]

Not quite sure I understand the Highlands at number 5? They are 16-1 and they have fallen every week over the last few it seems. Sure they lost to Conner, but that was their 5th game in 8 days. St. Henry lost to Campbell and year Highlands had their way with them. Beechwood seems to be the real enigma in all of this, they lose and move nowhere?

 

I realize it is not easy doing these polls and honestly they do not mean much in he grand scheme of things, but feel the Birds are being slighted just a tad bit.

[BBTEA]

Didn't St Henry beat Conner? I think the Crusaders deserve to be 2nd especially with the win they had against Lexington Catholic. Highlands should be higher, playing at Conner is a very tough place to play and that is their only hiccup all season. Cooper beat Lloyd so they should be a little higher. Ryle has one win in Northern Kentucky this season, I think 11 is too high for them with Newport and Holmes trailing them. For the most part, great list!

[Voice of Reason]

I am a huge believe in strength of schedule being in some ways even more important than wins and losses when trying to rank teams. Factoring in SOS, this list is pretty good IMO.

 

It is a tough call between Conner and St. Henry at #2. I would lean to St. Henry by virtue of who they beat in their three wins in the All A plus their recent win over Lexington Catholic. That Lex Cath win is even bigger than the All A wins when it comes to these rankings.

 

Beechwood at #4 over Highlands is ok if you lean on SOS. Beechwood's losses are all to high quality opponents. To make my SOS point, you could argue that every other loss Beechwood has is to better opponents than St. Henry except for Simon Kenton. So I see Simon Kenton and St. Henry as Beechwood's worst two losses. That tells you their SOS. The weakness in Beechwood's SOS is no high quality wins. Yes, wins over the bottom of this top ten are good but Beechwood has no "flagship" wins. However, neither does Highlands and their SOS is certainly worse than Beechwood's. The best argument Highlands has to be ranked above Beechwood is their Brossart win. I could go either way on Beechwood and Highlands at #4. While SOS would push me to Beechwood, I think I go Highlands at #4 and Beechwood at #5 because of the common opponent Brossart results and the impressive wins over decent opponents by Highlands. Plus, if I were forced to pick a winner right now if Beechwood and Highlands played, I would go with Highlands.

 

Both of those are tough picks and arguments can be made either way. The rest of the list looks good as is to me.

[se7ens]

I do the rankings in the 12th and I see a parallel with my rankings with these in the 9th. In the 12th, there are four teams that are basically interchangeable at the top and they fluctuate dependent on the results of the last week. The same can be said for the next six being interchangeable. You can argue the placing within their own tier, but the separation of groups is clear.

 

The same can be said here. We all agree that CovCath is at the top. I think we can all agree the next four are between CovCath and the next group led by NCC. But we each have arguments for where those four teams 2-5 should be placed. It’s just all very subjective at that point and depends what you’re looking at.

[B-Ball-fan]

@PP1

 

This was an enjoyable and touching read. I really dig how you incorporate the human element into you weekly review, and how we get a chance to see just what a cool dude you are. :thumb:

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

1. Covington Catholic (16-3): The Colonels are on a 15-game winning streak. That’s pretty good. They travel to Holmes this week and then play St. Xavier.

 

For what it's worth, the Holmes game is on Friday, the Cincy St. X game is next Tuesday, and Cov Cath plays Region 15 leader Johnson Central on Saturday in between those two games. The Cov Cath/Johnson Central match-up is the annual "Grace White Game", held at Cov Cath and benefiting "Operation Grace White," a non-profit foundation formed to honor Grace White, the young daughter of Lt. Colonel Scott White (Cov Cath Class of '93) and Amy Cobble White (Notre Dame Academy Class of '94).

 

Grace was diagnosed that with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a very rare form of a brain tumor that usually affects children between the ages of 5-7. It's the same cancer from that was fought by Mount St. Joseph basketball star Lauren Hill. Grace died in 2016, but Operation Grace White still holds multiple events annually (including this one) to help fight DIPG.

 

Both schools are selling shirts to raise money. I thought it was really cool of Johnson Central to offer to sell white and blue t-shirts to their student body for the event.

 

[PP1]

The best argument Highlands has to be ranked above Beechwood is their Brossart win. I could go either way on Beechwood and Highlands at #4. While SOS would push me to Beechwood, I think I go Highlands at #4 and Beechwood at #5 because of the common opponent Brossart results and the impressive wins over decent opponents by Highlands.

 

Yeah but if you go that route you would almost have to put Highlands above St. Henry because Highlands beat Campbell County about a week after St. Henry lost to Campbell County... and some on here would support the idea of Highlands at #2, but then again Highlands did lose to Conner... who previously lost to St. Henry... who lost to Campbell....who (Campbell) then lost to Highlands by double digits after losing to Newport by 18 before Newport Lost to Lloyd... two days before Beechwood beat Lloyd which was 14 days after Lloyd lost to Cooper.... who only beat Ryle by 8.... who only beat Boone County by 4... after Boone County beat Henry County... but before Henry County beat Llody Memorial... who previously beat Holmes..... the same Holmes that lost to Newport Central Catholic in overtime but only beat Scott by 7.... the same Scott team that lost to Dixie Heights who has only one 9th Region victory on the year.

 

Whew, I need a Latte.

[theguru]

Bump.

[ParkHills911]

Highlands is better than Beechwood. Vinson>Draud. Not even open for discussion.