BluegrassPreps.com 8th Region Boys Basketball Preview

[ColonelMike]

2 hours ago, Iceman13 said:

Excellent job as always Colonel.  I missed on the trivia question as I thought Charles Hurt might have won Mr. Basketball in 1978 when he led Shelby to the title but Doug Schlomer won it that year.

If I hadn't had the information in front of me, I might have made the same guess.    Hurt was one year older than me, and I got to see him play a lot   He was incredibly impressive - I haven't seen a big man to compare to him in the 44 years I've been watching the 8th Region, and I'm including Todd Hundley (who won Mr. Basketball), C. J. Penney, Dieonte Miles, and Carson Williams (another Mr. Basketball) in that comparison....    All of those were amazing, dominating, and fun to watch - but Hurt had something about him that transcended mere talent.   His fire - his burning desire to BEAT YOU - was something you just hardly ever see. 

[ColonelMike]

1 hour ago, dragon man said:

Wow, this is an excellent preview of the 8th Region!  Thanks so much!  It may take a few games to get going, but I think we're going to see some scoring in the 8th region this year with many offensive threats.  OC is certainly the team to beat.  Their length at many positions, along with considerable experience... they're going to be tough.  

I agree whole-heartedly with you on all points.

It's going to be a fun year.    So many shooters in this region this year.    But lots of questions as well.    Every coach in the region has questions / concerns they want answers to.    And those answers will tell us who will be travelling to New Castle in March....

I also think there's going to be some teams with the potential to make noise and get back to the region after significant absences....teams like North Oldham, Williamstown, and Owen County may be poised to make a move this year after experiencing some "time off" in the region tourney.

[ColonelMike]

SCHEDULE UPDATE:

The Oldham County - Gallatin County boys game on Monday January 11th, 2021 has been postponed.   No new date has been set yet.

[Mojocat]

Goodness gracious, what a tremendous post!  That’s a ton of information, and very much appreciated. I focused so far just on South Oldham, where my kid plays.  As you later surmised, the height info is questionable (about the only thing I can quibble with in an otherwise excellent analysis).  I’m talking specifically about this quote:  “Speaking of the bench, South will be almost exclusively guard-oriented when subs come in; six of the remaining seven players on the current roster check in under 6’0” and the seventh – junior Murphy Couvillion – is right at 6’0”.

If that’s from Coach Simpson, he’s sandbagging just a little, and if it’s from the KHSAA it’s just off.  
 
I just went thru the South roster, and only see 2 kids (of 12) under 6 feet, and only 1 other that I suspect is 6 feet even.  I see one that’s 6’6, two others at 6’4, one at 6’3 and three others at 6’2 (including my own, who was 6’2.5 in the kitchen a month ago. Heh).  Note, those are all ‘in shoes’ measurements.  As we all know, basketball and Hollywood are the two places where in shoes heights are the norm!

[ColonelMike]

1 hour ago, Mojocat said:

Goodness gracious, what a tremendous post!  That’s a ton of information, and very much appreciated. I focused so far just on South Oldham, where my kid plays.  As you later surmised, the height info is questionable (about the only thing I can quibble with in an otherwise excellent analysis).  I’m talking specifically about this quote:  “Speaking of the bench, South will be almost exclusively guard-oriented when subs come in; six of the remaining seven players on the current roster check in under 6’0” and the seventh – junior Murphy Couvillion – is right at 6’0”.

If that’s from Coach Simpson, he’s sandbagging just a little, and if it’s from the KHSAA it’s just off.  
 
I just went thru the South roster, and only see 2 kids (of 12) under 6 feet, and only 1 other that I suspect is 6 feet even.  I see one that’s 6’6, two others at 6’4, one at 6’3 and three others at 6’2 (including my own, who was 6’2.5 in the kitchen a month ago. Heh).  Note, those are all ‘in shoes’ measurements.  As we all know, basketball and Hollywood are the two places where in shoes heights are the norm!

I knew the rosters on the www.khsaa.org site were not 100%, but I learned just how horribly off just after posting this review and getting parental feedback (some parents are surprisingly sensitive about their son's height!   It's as if they think I intentionally understated their kid's height for - what reason?? LOL!!!!)    Unfortunately, of the 17 8th Region coaches who responded to my information requests, I think only 2 or 3 actually sent me rosters with full information.   The rest all referred me to the khsaa.org rosters.   

Lesson learned for me.

CM

[Mojocat]

Yeah, it’s really not a big deal - but I know first hand how sensitive a person might be, even about something insignificant, when it pertains to their kid.  Heh.  By the way, I didn’t know until digging around on the khsaa site tonight that it does have full rosters, with sizes.  I’ve always just looked at the roster on each team’s page in the scoreboard section, which only has name and class.  The roster for South Oldham, at least, is laughably dated - some of those measurements have to be at least 2 years old.  I suppose a coach has plenty enough to do - this is one thing that could fall through the cracks.....

[ColonelMike]

If Jefferson County Public Schools pushes back their teams playing until February, as suggested, that will really affect the 8th region schedules, as Oldham County, South Oldham, North Oldham, Collins, Shelby County, and Spencer County - in particular - play a lot of games against JCPS teams.  

CM

[ColonelMike]

Watched Walton-Verona dispatch Williamstown tonight in the 8th Region All - A, 68-44.

First game of the year, obviously, for both.    A few random thoughts:

- It's way too early to make too many conclusions from one 32 minute game after all the chaos we've had so far.

- Both teams played high-octane, fast-paced basketball all game.    Walton-Verona was more up to regular-season efficiency.   The Bearcats struggled a bit from the outside, but got inside frequently, and were dogged on the offensive glass.  

- Walton pressed man to man pretty much from start to finish.   Although I don't think they got quite the results they wanted in the full court setting, the press was productive; Williamstown was sped up, and made a lot of mistakes in the half court setting.   Don't know the number of Demon turnovers, but it was not a number that will make Coach Cheesman happy.

- In the end, W-V shot a lot better.   Demons missed an incredible number of layups - again, hurrying too much?? - and also a lot of the front ends of one and the bonus situations.   On a night when you turn over the ball too often, you have to hit the easy shots.

- Cole Kightlinger of Williamstown scored his 1,000th career point on a second half free throw.   Congratulations!!!

- Mike Hester's Bearcats looked very poised for a first game of the season.   They weren't perfect - either as shooters or as ballhandlers - but they had their wits about them nearly all the time.   Remember, this is a very young team with only two seniors on teh roster.

- Good measuring stick for Williamstown.   A "Game One" barometer of the makeup work Williamstown still has to do.   One of the region spots coming out of the 32nd district appears to be open...Wtown came into tonight's game knowing that this would be a good measuring stick as to whether the Demons have bridged the gap with the Bearcats.   Although it didn't go well for Williamstown tonight, the Demons now know the gap they must bridge if they want to go to New Castle.

- Just an impression, but I think that Coach Cheesman is still trying to figure out what lineups work best in what situations for the Williamstown Demons.

-  Brant Smithers looked really smooth for Walton-Verona.  He had at least two threes tonight, and ran the floor really well on offense and defense.

- Finally, please accept my apologies for all the typos in my in-game updates.   I was working on my cell phone and those itty-bitty keys!

ColonelMike

[ColonelMike]

Tuesday morning thoughts after the game....

- Mike Hester of Walton-Verona is a former star guard who played at Simon Kenton.   As a guard, he had to be pleased by how his team "looked downhill" all night.   The Bearcats kept their heads up and did a good job of finding the open man downcourt pretty much all game, both in the full-court and half-court settings.  Walton-Verona wasn't perfect - Hester isn't paid to be happy in January - but the WV coaching staff had this team well-prepared.     

- Jacob Cheesman of Williamstown probably isn't quite as happy today, but the good news for the Demons is that the issues that brought them down last night - turnovers, missed shots (layups), and missed free throws - are all things that are correctable during the course of the season.  Cheesman can show the video to his team and demonstrate easily how much closer of a ballgame this could have been.    Williamstown wasn't beat by things that are out of their control - size, physicality, speed, etc - and they can correct the rest.

CM

[ColonelMike]

Big games tonight (1/5/21) in the 8th:

Henry County vs. Anderson County - both teams have high aspirations this year, but have questions.    Henry County looking for new players to step up at the guard spot....Anderson has almost a totally re-worked starting five.

Shelby County vs. Spencer County - big 30th district tilt.    New-look Shelby to find out early on how they measure up in the district, against what may be a short-handed Bear squad.   

[ConverseAllStar]

2 hours ago, ColonelMike said:

Big games tonight (1/5/21) in the 8th:

Henry County vs. Anderson County - both teams have high aspirations this year, but have questions.    Henry County looking for new players to step up at the guard spot....Anderson has almost a totally re-worked starting five.

Shelby County vs. Spencer County - big 30th district tilt.    New-look Shelby to find out early on how they measure up in the district, against what may be a short-handed Bear squad.   

CM - Spencer County may be short-handed tonight due to illness/injuries or losses from last year?

[ColonelMike]

On 1/5/2021 at 10:39 AM, ConverseAllStar said:

CM - Spencer County may be short-handed tonight due to illness/injuries or losses from last year?

Sam Conley.   Out with a wrist injury.   Sounds like a 4-6 weeker....

[ColonelMike]

Friday, January 8th

Some key 8th region games on Friday...

Shelby County at Collins - Shelby's second 30th district game in their first two contests.   Collins starts a three game homestand (Shelby / Grant County / Marion County)

Simon Kenton vs. Evangel - Pioneers look for first win of the season against private school from Louisville with perhaps their best team ever.   

Henry County at Western Hills - Wildcats start a three-game road trip (Western Hills, Gallatin County, Eminence)

Woodford County vs. Anderson County - Two 30th district rivals clash in Versailles.

The three Oldham schools don't play until next week as the Oldham County Board of Education froze games until 1/11/2021.

[4 Quarters]

What was behind the move of Trimble and leaving the 29th with only 3 teams?

[ColonelMike]

11 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

What was behind the move of Trimble and leaving the 29th with only 3 teams?

OMG....really long story.

The Trimble folks have been pushing for that for at least 10 years now.    The surprise really wasn't that the KHSAA actually finally gave in to the request, it was that they acted to make it happen, immediately, and not next year.

Trimble's boys' haven't played in the 8th region tournament since 2000.   They were in the old 31st from the 60s (maybe further back even) until re-districting in 2006.   (The old 31st included Oldham, South Oldham, Trimble, Gallatin, and Carroll in 2000, when the Raiders finished as the runners-up....in 2000, the district was a blind draw, and Trimble upset South in the semis and Carroll upset Oldham in the semis....)    That was the last time Trimble's boys made it to the region tournament.

North Oldham was added to the 31st in 2003, when the school opened.

(NOTE:  The Trimble girls have had some success, and in fact won the region title a couple of years ago....)

In 2006, the re-districting resulted in a new 29th district composed of Trimble, Oldham, South, and North.   Although North originally was about twice as big as Trimble, the difference between those two has grown as North Oldham has increased to over 1,000 students and Trimble has stayed roughly steady around 350 or so.    Oldham and South are two of the largest schools in the region.

The result was a difficult scenario for the Raiders, facing three of the larger schools in the region, and they have campaigned to get out of it ever since.

The result now is that only one of the Region 8 "A" schools isn't in the current 31st district - Williamstown.