After watching 5 straight days of great basketball and the top players in the state at the King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic basketball tournament in Fairdale, KY, I was greatly disappointed in the outcome at the end of the day Sunday championship game.

Am I disappointed that North Laurel lost, because Kentucky's pride and joy and current KY King of Basketball, Reed Sheppard, didn't bring home the 1st place trophy? Or that the State's most talented and loathed team, Covington Catholic, took home the championship in a dominant performance? Or that Reed just didn't have the talent surrounding him for the game to be more competitive? Or that in the last game on a neutral court Cov Cath was booed as they took the court? 

No, not any of the above. Actually, after watching Reed Sheppard over the last two years and over rhe summer in AAU and after watching Evan Ipsaro dominate the NKY/Cincinnati area in school and AAU since he was in 4th grade, I was just excited about watching these two players go toe to toe. With Reed at 6'3" and Evan at 5'10", with similar but different games, as Reed is methodical at orchestrating the offense and has super hero anticipation on defense and amazing offensively abilities compared to Evan's elite stop and explode pace, pull up jumpers, and tenacity on both ends! You can try to compare and pick their games and pick them apart but it would be very difficult my opinion to give either one the edge at this point in their HS basketball careers. Their Basketball IQs are off the charts! 

 

So again why ami disappointed? I'm disappointed that favoritism put a bad mark on a great 2021 HS tounrment! After CCH donated the competition over 4 straight games wirh Evan averaging 28 ppg, there is NO way he doesn't get the MVP of the tournament! Yes Reed, on the runner up team likely averaging 30+ ppg in the tournament gets the MVP? How? Why? Evan had 35 points in the championship game, and although they are both great players, Evan CLEARLY WON THIS BATTLE! He defended and frustrated Reed from the start of the jump ball to the final buzzer! Evan Ipsaro was clearly the best player on the court on Tuesday December 21st at Fairdale HS. It was a complete blow to the reputation of the King of the Bluegrass tournament and the selection committee for ousting Evan and taking away his MVP trophy! I'm not taking anything away from Reed, love his game! But HATE that they took this moment from Evan Ipsaro! As of right now, Ipsaro is the King of the Bluegrass and the only way he gets knocked off the throne is if Reed redeems himself when they play Cov Cath in February or he does it in the Sweet 16! Which is where Evan and Cov Cath will be! 

Again, shame on the King of the Blue grass for taking the MVP trophy from the Championship team and the top 1 or 2 players of the tournament, but top player in the final game by far! Keep favoritism out of HS basketball! Let's let some things remain pure! 

 

 

Put me down for Bologna.  I agree, it’s obvious Ipsaro got hosed.  Hype goes a long way in basketball unfortunately.  When you look at the product on the court, it speaks for its self.  

Let me play devil's advocate on this one. I am probably a good person to do that because I don't care who or lost this at all, didn't see 1 second of any of the games and I'm only looking at stats and posts that I see here on BGP.

1.  Is it possible Sheppard was named MVP because he was much more valuable to his team?

2.  I looked back at the semifinal games and saw that Sheppard scored 45 and Ipsaro scored 17.  Did those semifinal performances predispose some voters to favor Sheppard?

3. Both players put up great numbers in the championship game but Sheppard had a triple double.

11 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Let me play devil's advocate on this one. I am probably a good person to do that because I don't care who or lost this at all, didn't see 1 second of any of the games and I'm only looking at stats and posts that I see here on BGP.

1.  Is it possible Sheppard was named MVP because he was much more valuable to his team?

2.  I looked back at the semifinal games and saw that Sheppard scored 45 and Ipsaro scored 17.  Did those semifinal performances predispose some voters to favor Sheppard?

3. Both players put up great numbers in the championship game but Sheppard had a triple double.

Maybe it is in the game final thread but does anyone have a complete breakdown of the stats for each player in the King of the Bluegrass?

Reed Sheppard
(29.75 PPG,  61.5% FG,  34.7% 3PT,  87.8% FT,  7 RebPG)

Opponent	Points	Field Goals Made	Field Goals Attempted	3-Point FG Made	3-Point FG Attempted	Free Throws Made	Free Throws Attempted	Rebounds	Assists
Eastern	15	6	11	1	4	0	0	8	Not Available
North Oldham	45	15	19	0	4	15	17	8	Not Available
Dorman (SC)	34	11	21	4	10	8	8	2	6
Cov Cath	25	8	14	3	5	6	8	10	10
TOTAL	119	40	65	8	23	29	33	28

 

Evan Ipsaro
(24.75 PPG,  67.3% FG,  40.0% 3PT,  83.3% FT,  3 RebPG)

Opponent	Points	Field Goals Made	Field Goals Attempted	3-Point FG Made	3-Point FG Attempted	Free Throws Made	Free Throws Attempted	Rebounds	Assists
Trinity	21	8	13	1	4	4	7	5	Not Available
Fairdale	27	8	11	2	4	5	5	1	Not Available
Male	17	6	11	3	5	5	6	4	Not Available
North Laurel	34	11	14	2	7	6	6	2	5
TOTAL	99	33	49	8	20	20	24	12

58 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Let me play devil's advocate on this one. I am probably a good person to do that because I don't care who or lost this at all, didn't see 1 second of any of the games and I'm only looking at stats and posts that I see here on BGP.

1.  Is it possible Sheppard was named MVP because he was much more valuable to his team?

2.  I looked back at the semifinal games and saw that Sheppard scored 45 and Ipsaro scored 17.  Did those semifinal performances predispose some voters to favor Sheppard?

3. Both players put up great numbers in the championship game but Sheppard had a triple double.

In my opinion Sheppard is more important to his team than Ipsaro is to his, although Ipsaro is extremely talented and highly valuable to his team. Covington Catholic is loaded with talent and would still be very good even without Ipsaro. I can’t say the same about North Laurel without Reed. 
Just my humble opinion in reference to your point #1 in your post. 

A few factors that probably weighed on the voters' minds:

- Sheppard has verbally committed to the University of Kentucky.

- Ipsaro has a MUCH better supporting cast around him.

- KOB is very big on promoting individual players as opposed to solid teams.  (ie: Marion County)

- KOB will want North Laurel to return next year.  Sheppard sells tickets.

 

The KOB MVP is a tournament award... Not a championship game award.

22 minutes ago, ConverseAllStar said:

A few factors that probably weighed on the voters' minds:

- Sheppard has verbally committed to the University of Kentucky.

- Ipsaro has a MUCH better supporting cast around him.

- KOB is very big on promoting individual players as opposed to solid teams.  (ie: Marion County)

- KOB will want North Laurel to return next year.  Sheppard sells tickets.

 

Also:
- Sheppard scored more points in the tournament than Ipsaro did.
- Sheppard had a higher free throw percentage in the tournament than Ipsaro did.
- Sheppard had more rebounds last night and in the overall tournament than Ipsaro did.
- Sheppard had more assists last night than Ipsaro did.

I would also go out on a limb and say that Sheppard probably had more assists in the overall tournament than Ipsaro did, but I don't have the stats to back that up.

Reed Sheppard and Evan Ipsaro are both awesome players. I'm glad I've got at least one of the two of the playing for my home team. Tough to stack them up evenly against one another. I think we'll have an even better idea of how that looks after the Colonels and the Jaguars play again in January at BB&T Arena.

Congratulations to Reed for winning the KOB Tournament MVP.

I will say this.  How many times does a kid from the losing team in the championship game garner tourney MVP honors?  I have been around a long time and cannot think of one time I have seen that happen.  
Question for those that would know better than I, who voted on this award and did they see every minute of every game in the tournament?

Can't think of what is more valuable than winning a championship. Big blue nation buys tickets so I think there is some merit in KOB wanting Reed back next year so give him the MVP and because of Reed's stats gave them the cover to do it.

56 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I will say this.  How many times does a kid from the losing team in the championship game garner tourney MVP honors?  I have been around a long time and cannot think of one time I have seen that happen.  
Question for those that would know better than I, who voted on this award and did they see every minute of every game in the tournament?

Justin Powell won the 2019 MVP on a second place team. 

3 hours ago, ConverseAllStar said:

Justin Powell won the 2019 MVP on a second place team. 

 Interesting. So there is precedent for this happening.  I thought JOAT had a good point about the tournament MVP almost always coming from the team that wins the tournament but your post shows it happened very recently in this tournament.

4 hours ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I will say this.  How many times does a kid from the losing team in the championship game garner tourney MVP honors?  I have been around a long time and cannot think of one time I have seen that happen.  
Question for those that would know better than I, who voted on this award and did they see every minute of every game in the tournament?

A player from my hometown school, Jeff “Moose” Moore, won MVP at the 1990 All A State tournament at Memorial Coliseum. University Heights won the tournament that year and Moose’s Owsley County team was runner-up. 
 

But I agree, it doesn’t happen often. 

4 hours ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I will say this.  How many times does a kid from the losing team in the championship game garner tourney MVP honors?  I have been around a long time and cannot think of one time I have seen that happen.  
Question for those that would know better than I, who voted on this award and did they see every minute of every game in the tournament?

In 1996 Charles Sheffield from Lloyd won 9th region tournament MVP on the losing team.  Craziest part was he scored something like 5 points in championship game.