NKY Girls Basketball Top 10 -- Week 11

We are here, the final week of the regular season!  Congrats to all of the hard-working young ladies, their dedicated coaches, and their supportive parents and families, on an amazing season thus far.  One more week to fine-tune your strengths, work on improving your challenges, and prepare yourselves for District and Regional play next week.  

This week was incredibly hard.  I'm going to walk you through some of my thinking so, even if you don't agree, you know where I am coming from and why.  The other thing I'll point out is the gap between 5 and 6 is far wider than the gap between 6 and 10.  It is a chasm.  

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 stayed the same.  Conner, even with a SUPER IMPRESSIVE 16 game winning streak, isn't going to jump over Notre Dame this week.  I wish Mother Nature hadn't scratched that game, but they did, and it isn't going to be made up, so I'm left to make a decision on my own.

I think Cooper and Dixie are super tight, and I chose to bump Cooper over Dixie this week due to their incredible ROAD win at Anderson Co. down in Lawrenceburg.  That is a terrific win, so I'm rewarding them for it.

I wanted to drop Holy Cross after their very disappointing loss at Bishop Brossart (made even more disappointing when the Lady Stangs scored a couple dozen points the very next night out at Cooper), but everyone behind them made that impossible...so they'll begrudgingly stay at #6.

NewCath has a double digit loss to the Indians, and have been, frankly, non-competitive vs their top-tier competition (30 to Ryle, 35 to North Laurel [who beat Holy Cross by 10], so they are going to slide back a few spots.

Bishop Brossart had the nice win vs Holy Cross, but sandwiched it between losses to Highlands and then a game at Cooper where they were held below 30 and beaten soundly.  They'll stay the same.

Simon Kenton was competitive in their only loss, have been playing much better, and they have a double digit win over NewCath.  They slide up slightly.

So, as you can see, this week was NOT easy, but while I "think" I have them right, I'm not entirely sure.  The good news, everything will be settled on the court over the next few weeks.  I will say this, I believe I have them right, so I'm going with it. 

1.  Notre Dame (19-3):  vs #3 Ryle (2/15 at 7:30!!!) and vs George Rogers Clark

2.  Conner (21-3):  at Scott

3.  Ryle (18-6):  at #1 Notre Dame (!!!) and vs Sacred Heart (2/16 at 7:30!!!!) Ryle will certainly be ready for next week.

4.  Cooper (16-9):  vs #9 NewCath and at Owen Co. (!!!)

5.  Dixie (21-6):  at St. Henry

6.  Holy Cross (17-11):  at Mercy (!!!) and vs #7 Simon Kenton

7.  Simon Kenton (15-10):  vs Highlands and at #6 Holy Cross

8.  Bishop Brossart (16-10):  at Scott and at St. Henry

9.  Newport Central Catholic (18-9):  at #4 Cooper and at Tates Creek

10. Ludlow (22-7):  vs St. Henry, vs Highlands, at Bellevue, and vs Newport

Others To Watch:

*  St. Henry (15-11)  brutal schedule this week for the Cru, at Ludlow, vs Dixie, and vs Brossart

*  Pendleton Co. (14-12)

*  Walton Verona (12-13)

Sadly, I won't be able to be at either of the marquee games this week (Notre Dame & Ryle, Sacred Heart & Ryle), so hopefully there will be some in attendance who can provide some first-hand accounts.  Both of those should be great.  Holy Cross and Simon Kenton could be a sneaky good game as well.

Good luck to everyone, stay healthy in the last week of the regular season, and get yourselves ready for the post-season run starting next week!!