9th Region - Week 6 Review

[B-Ball-fan]

9th Region Week 6 Review 

Well... the only thing that is for certain in the 9th Region is that nothing is for certain, except of course that the Covington Catholic Colonels are indisputably the Number 1 team in the region just as they have been all season long. No surprises there. 

Now who the heck is Number 2? 

A case could be made for a number of teams. 

In the past couple of weeks we saw the Beechwood Tigers beat St. Henry and Highlands, but then lose an important district seeding game to Holy Cross by a margin of 18 points. 

We saw Highlands lose to Beechwood by 4, and just slightly get past the Conner Cougars, but also take care of business in decidedly dominating fashion over the likes of Cooper, Lloyd, Campbell County, and St. Xavier. 

We saw St. Henry lose to Beechwood by 7, but also beat a really good Dixie Heights team by 8 in an important seeding game. 

Outside of that 8 point loss to St. Henry, The Dixie Colonels destroyed Newport and Villa Madonna, and also had powerful victories over Lloyd, and Boone County. 

We saw Holy Cross do a pretty darn good job of taking down Beechwood in an important district seeding game by 18; take care of business with a feisty Lloyd team; beat out of region teams Great Crossing and South Oldham by decent margins, then turn around and lose to Newport Central Catholic by 3 up on the Hill. 

Conner (and if the other teams don’t already have me scratching my head) Had Highlands on the ropes in a 3 point loss at Highlands, dominated a schizophrenic Scott High team, lose to Oldham County by 19, dominated a Newport Central Catholic team who just the night before beat Holy Cross, and then won a close battle with struggling Newport squad who gave them all they wanted. 

Newport Central Catholic has been playing pretty decent ball as of late where they took down rival Bishop Brossart by 10, demolished Bellevue of course, beat a great Holy Cross team, took care of business with Pendleton County, but lost to Conner by 14 in a game that Conner jumped out in the 1st quarter 14-0. 

We saw a feisty Lloyd team who has been struggling tremendously in finding a win, continue their losing ways while playing their guts out finally get their first win in the last 9 games over the Holmes Bulldogs. 

We saw a Cooper Jaguars team that was beginning to find themselves albeit a 29 point lost to the Highlands Bluebirds be sidelined big time by COVID which cancelled their last 4 games. Cooper has not played a game since their Feb. 2 loss to the Bluebirds. 

The Ryle Raiders, who seem to be bringing to the court a more competitive team this season than they have in recent years is still sorta hanging around mediocre hit and miss land, however they did get a couple of nice wins over the last couple of weeks with W’s over Augusta, and Walton Verona, but also losing to Mason County, Bracken County, and Campbell County. 

The Holmes Bulldogs have also been sidelined a bunch over the last couple of weeks cancelling 3 of their games but finally getting the chance to suit up recently in their losses to Simon Kenton, and the Lloyd Juggernauts. 

Newport went 1-4 over the last couple of weeks, and while they were demolished by Dixie, they were on the losing end in a close one with Conner. 

Boone County also went 1-4 over over the last couple of weeks, and while they do have some decent players, they just can’t quite put together a cohesive gameplan, or win any kind of statement games. 

Ludlow, while with a decent 8-6 record lost by a bunch to Boone County, but still went 3--2 over the last couple of weeks winning they games that they should’ve and losing the ones that were to be expected. 

Then you have Dayton, Villa Madonna, Bellevue, Heritage Academy, and Covington Latin. 

 

OK so then how are we going to rate them considering how many of the top teams have been beating up on each other? In some incidences I’m just going to have to mix reality along with my gut, but still there’s really no wrong answer in the Top 5 outside of Covington Catholic being Number 1. 

So here we go…

 

1. Covington Catholic - (13-2) - wins over La Salle(Cincinnati) 58-30, St. Xavier 73-49, Male 70-58, McNicholas(Cincinnati) 72-42

 

The Colonels are a Top 5 team in the state, and have balanced scoring with Jr. Mitchell Rylee leading the way with 74.5% shooting from the field (2nd in the state), followed by So. guard Evan Ipsaro, Sr. guard Donovan Stocks, along with other fine dependables, and a deep bench who would likely start for any other team in the region. As you can see, they have recently taken care of business in decidedly dominating fashion over some respectably strong competition. 

 

2. St Henry - (9-2) - loss to Beechwood 83-76, and wins over Dixie 69-57, and Ludlow 845-53

 

The senior loaded Crusaders are led by two awesome 3 year starters in Wyatt Vieth, and Jude Bessler who just recently earned his 1000th career points. Both Vieth and Bessler are the two best free throw shooters in the region. St Henry will be in Richmond Kentucky at the McBrayer Arena at EKU starting Wednesday defending their 2020 All ‘A’ Classic State Championship where last season they went 54/59 from the foul line, and needless to say charity stripe shooting like that is going to win you some games. They will be taking on the Owensboro Catholic Aces from the 3rd Region in the first round game on Wednesday at 6:30. 

 

3. Highlands - (10-4) - wins over Cooper 75-46, Lloyd 87-62, Conner 78-75, Campbell County 86-74, and St. Xavier 84-68, with a loss at home to the Beechwood Tigers 67-63

 

Outside of a close loss to the Beechwood Tigers, The Bluebirds have been playing some really good basketball lately with balanced scoring from firstly; Sam Vinson of course who is always dependable, and is averaging 23.2 ppg, along with the 3 point duo threat of Luke Muller, and William Herald, as well as a supporting cast of really decent dependable players namely Oliver Harris, Zachery Barth, Cole Kocher, and Leyton Read. 

 

4. Beechwood - (14-3) - wins over St. Henry 83-76, Simon Kenton 81-62, Boone County 82-63, Highlands 67-63, and Grant County 70-61, with a district seeding game loss to the Holy Cross Indians 83-65. 

 

It’s really difficult to place Beechwood in the 4 spot when they recently beat both St. Henry and Highlands. I could place them at Number 2 and I wouldn’t be wrong, but what are you going to do when it’s all so too close to call? I suppose I could’ve ranked them 2a, 2b, and 2c, but which is which and who is who? Beechwood has also been playing some great ball lately, but it’s hard to overlook the sting of losing to Holy Cross by 18 in a district seeding game, one which they should have totally been up for and even in losing, it should’ve been much closer than the final margin we saw in this game. 

 

5. Dixie Heights - (12-3) - wins over Lloyd 58-41, Newport 64-37, Boone County 78-59, Villa Madonna 79-16, and a district seeding game loss to St. Henry 69-57.

 

Here we go again with what I’ll call Tier 3 teams, that are arguably pretty darn close to the Tier 2 teams, and where to place them, because here again it wouldn’t be a stretch to rate them as 5a, 5b, and 5c. ...The Red Colonels are a really exciting team this season with balanced scoring from Snelling, Summe, Geraci, Wogenstahl where any one of those guys could drop 15-20 a night. Earlier in the season they impressively lost to Highlands at Highlands in double-overtime, and that one game has stuck with me that told me that these guys were not some fluke, and since that loss to Highlands they have gone 9-1 with their only loss in that span coming by the hands of St. Henry in the recent district seeding game. 

 

6. Conner - (10-4) - wins over Scott 68-47, Newport Central Catholic 52-38, and Newport 49-43, with back to back losses to Highlands 78-75, and Oldham County 73-52. 

 

The Cougars have also been playing some impressive basketball lately where they had Highlands on the ropes in a game they had been leading by a significant margin until Vinson took over in heroic fashion to get the Bluebird ‘W’. In the NewCath game they came out of the game with a 14-0 run. They took care of business over Scott winning by 21, but they took a hard hit in their loss to a decent Oldham County team, and then in puzzling fashion won a close one with a struggling Newport team. 

 

7. Holy Cross - (9-4) - wins over Great Crossing 90-72, Beechwood 83-65, South Oldham 79-67, and Lloyd 73-66, with a loss to Newport Central Catholic 79-76. 

 

I really struggled with placing Holy Cross at 7 because there’s no denying they're an exciting tough team that has the great fortune of 2 players in Jacob Meyer, and Brandon McClendon both averaging over 20 ppg, along with the powerful force of Jeremiah Hicks, and the high 3 point percentage shooting of Blake Robinson. It’s hard not to notice what hurt they put on Beechwood in their huge district seeding game winning by 18, and while I really can’t say many bad things about them, they puzzled me in their loss to NewCath where while playing good they just don’t always seem to be consistent with executing a proper gameplan. Well in that game at least IMO they didn’t, but overall  I really like the looks of this Indians team. 

 

8. Newport Central Catholic - (6-4) - wins over Bishop Brossart 60-50, Bellevue 67-23, Holy Cross 79-76, and Pendleton County 57-48, with a loss to Conner 52-38. 

 

Just like every season you can always depend on the Breds to put a competitive team on the court, and this year is no different. Sure, there’s been more dominant teams in the past, but they seem to be in a rebuilding year of sorts. Still I think that we saw a statement in them with their win over Holy Cross. They’re led by Jr. Joel Isles who is lights out from the 3, Butts who has been putting up some reliable scoring as of late, Baggett is proving to be a force down low, Geisler is a reliable guard. Sadly they’re missing Ross Pangallo who is out for the season with an injury, and there ain’t no denying that his services this season surely would have been a big help. 

 

9. Lloyd Memorial - (3-8) - with losses to Dixie Heights 58-41, Simon Kenton 81-64, Highlands 87-62, Pendleton County 60-55, and Holy Cross 73-66, and finally a big and much needed win over the Holmes Bulldogs 66-54. 

Some may find putting Lloyd in the top 10 a stretch considering their awful record, but I believe even in their losses they’re playing better ball right now than the 4 other teams that I might name.  Because of COVID we really don’t know how that is affecting Cooper, Ryle is just playing so-so, Holmes is a bit inconsistent, and so is Newport. All of these 5 teams have the potential on various nights to give any team a game, but it’s my belief that right now Lloyd would knock off those other 4 teams, and they began to prove this Saturday with their nice win over Holmes. The Juggs are a fun team to watch, and they’re going to set a lightning fast tempo with whoever they play and even in losing will play their guts out until the sound of the final buzzer. 

 

10. Cooper - (3-5) - The last time the Jags played was in their 75-46 loss to Highlands, and since have been sidelined due to COVID. Just before they had to sit these last 4 games out they were starting to show some decent improvement with a couple of wins over Holmes and Grant County. 

 

11. Ryle

12. Holmes 

13. Newport

14. Boone County

15. Ludlow

16. Dayton

17. Villa Madonna

18. Bellevue

19. Heritage Academy

20. Covington Latin 

 

[B-Ball-fan]

Upcoming games worth noting: 

Covington Catholic has two big seeding games coming up, first at Beechwood on Feb 16th, and again away at Holy Cross on Feb 19th. 

St Henry will be defending their 2020 All ‘A’ Classic title beginning Wednesday, Feb 17th with a first round game against 3rd Region’s Owensboro Catholic at 6:30. 

Highlands has 2 district seeding games both at home with NewCath on the 17th, and Newport on the 19th. 

Dixie will be at home playing NewCath on the 19th which could be a nice competitive game. 

 

[BigRob]

I wish that Dixie didn't cancel their game with Holy Cross. That would help some in the confusion, but probably would just add to the entire mess if Holy Cross would've beat them. As I saw before, it's Cov Cath and a group of 6 behind them. 

[HSBballfan1212]

Pretty good overview of the Region.  I wanted to dig into your Tier 2 group a little.  

Head to Head Competition

Beechwood (3-2) 

Conner (2-2) 

Dixie Heights (1-2)

Highlands (2-2)

Holy Cross (1-2)

St. Henry (4-1) this obviously makes them the choice over the other 5 teams.

Win/Loss Data

Looking at what teams they have beat and what teams they have lost to by record:

Beechwood Wins (80-88; 47.62%), Beechwood Losses (28-10; 73.68%)

Conner Wins (70-68; 50.72%), Conner Losses (41-11; 78.85%)

Dixie Wins (66-85; 43.71%), Dixie Losses (32-8; 80%)

Highlands Wins (70-49; 58.82%), Highlands Losses (48-7; 87.27%)

Holy Cross Wins (50-48; 51.02%), Holy Cross Losses (39-10; 79.59%)

St. Henry Wins (60-40; 60%), St. Henry Losses (26-3; 89.7%)

Educated Ranking based upon data and other stuff

1. St. Henry - own the head-to-head matchups and have played arguably the 2nd toughest schedule with a 66.7% overall opponent win percentage (OWP).  They seem to lose focus at times during games which is worrisome.  The reigning All-A champs have the senior leadership to place them ahead of the group.
2. Highlands  - have played the toughest schedule (67.82% OWP) and despite losing to Beechwood recently I'd favor them on a neutral court.  Sam Vinson is also a big reason to favor the Bluebirds.  They have more pieces and senior leaders than most of the other teams and have the 9th Region Finals experience from last season.
3. Holy Cross - a questionable loss to a NCC team makes it difficult but their win against Beechwood was more impressive. Also, the loss to Conner on 1/6 was without their 2nd leading scorer and the first game of the year.  
4. Beechwood - Without a 2nd game against St. Henry the Tigers would be 1-3 against the rest of this group.  That one win is a big one against Highlands that saw the home team shoot uncharacteristically bad from 3 and the FT Line.
5. Conner - The Cougars are 2-2 in head-to-head matchups with this group.  Their near .500 OWP isn't terrible but going 3-3 in their last 6 games doesn't help their cause despite the competition.  Losing by 21 at home to an Oldham County team that Highlands beat on the road is also why I put them here.
6. Dixie Heights - They are 1-2 in head-to-head matchups with their 1 win coming against Conner who I have at #5.  Their best win since that game is a 2 point win at home v. Simon Kenton who isn't setting the world on fire lately.  Their wins since Conner have come against an OWP of 38.39%.