Bell Co. 57 Cumberland 42

[4chs]

Bell Co. gets the district win despite only getting four points from Ryan Whitaker. Slusher led Bell in scoring with 19 and Josh Whitaker finished with 15. Simpson scored 12 and Johnson 8 for Cumberland.

[uk96]

Good win for Bell in this one...

[WILDMAN]

Does Johnson tend to get into foul trouble a lot or are teams keying more on him this season? I've noticed that we don't see as many 18 point 17 rebound games from him when I look at Redskin box scores?

 

I was at the Corbin game but heard Cumberland was leading up until a little way through the third quarter? Is that true, if so, what happened?

 

Regardless, this is a very good win for the Bobcats. This could be the first of many meetings between these two schools this season. With wins over Corbin and Cumberland, Bell County is making a strong case at pushing South Laurel for the top spot. I've said all year that even though I'm wanting Corbin to win it and South is the favorite, Bell County is my pick to go to Rupp IF everyone stays in tact.

[rudedogky]

Does Johnson tend to get into foul trouble a lot or are teams keying more on him this season? I've noticed that we don't see as many 18 point 17 rebound games from him when I look at Redskin box scores?

 

I was at the Corbin game but heard Cumberland was leading up until a little way through the third quarter? Is that true, if so, what happened?

 

Regardless, this is a very good win for the Bobcats. This could be the first of many meetings between these two schools this season. With wins over Corbin and Cumberland, Bell County is making a strong case at pushing South Laurel for the top spot. I've said all year that even though I'm wanting Corbin to win it and South is the favorite, Bell County is my pick to go to Rupp IF everyone stays in tact.

Cumberland played really well through 2 1/2 quarters then BellCo had a run and they sort of lost composure.Johnson gets in foul trouble sometimes,but he actually did well VS Slusher.Slusher was more affective when Johnson got his 4th foul.I would not be surprised come next month that Cumberland beats

Bell in Cumberland & then possibly the distrtict at Cumberland.This game is more of a 7 point loss because of the free throws down the stretch when Cumberland fouled.

[Log Mountain Boy]

If Slusher doesnt leave the team at all I look for Bell to continue to get better and better. Slusher has only been playing basketball for a month and a 1/2. He didnt play at all last year or this summer. He will continue to improve. Also the backcourt of Zachery (soph) and Whitaker (freshman) will continue to get better and better. I cant see their being a deeper team, more athletic team in the region from top to bottom than Bell. That being said South Laurel 3 very good players leading the way. And who knows what will happen on a given night.

[bellalumni40]

If Slusher doesnt leave the team at all I look for Bell to continue to get better and better. Slusher has only been playing basketball for a month and a 1/2. He didnt play at all last year or this summer. He will continue to improve. Also the backcourt of Zachery (soph) and Whitaker (freshman) will continue to get better and better. I cant see their being a deeper team, more athletic team in the region from top to bottom than Bell. That being said South Laurel 3 very good players leading the way. And who knows what will happen on a given night.

But we all know no matter how deep a Bell Co. team is, when Whitaker is coach come tournament time it will be 7 man rotation, 8 if you are lucky.

 

Also, it doesnt appear to be likely that Slusher will leave early for Auburn as his family had hoped, so he should be around for the rest of the season.

[Log Mountain Boy]

But we all know no matter how deep a Bell Co. team is, when Whitaker is coach come tournament time it will be 7 man rotation, 8 if you are lucky.

 

Also, it doesnt appear to be likely that Slusher will leave early for Auburn as his family had hoped, so he should be around for the rest of the season.

 

Yeah I know. I know at one time here recently Bell had lost in the regional tournament to the eventual winner 6 years in a row. Thats a lot of near misses!

[HDE]

A lot of championships have been won in the 13th Region with a seven-man rotation.

[Log Mountain Boy]

A lot of championships have been won in the 13th Region with a seven-man rotation.

 

BellAlum's point is that Bell is deeper than anyone else, and should be able to run most teams out of the gym with an up and down style. And in a couple years Coach Whitaker has had teams like this year that ran up and down all year, but the bench was shortened and the pace was slowed for tournament action. This has been a mistake in the past.

[bellalumni40]

A lot of championships have been won in the 13th Region with a seven-man rotation.

This is true, and had often been the case with teams like Clay Co. that had run a 7 man rotation all year long. I am not saying it is a bad thing to have a 7 man rotation, as long as that is what got you there. Whitaker's tendency has been to get there with a 9 or 10 man rotation, getting up and down the floor, then slow it down in the tournament with 7 guys and never seal the deal. 2001 comes to mind as a year the Bobcats went 10 or so deep almost every game all year, then in the tournament it was back to 7. That 2001 team was easily Whitakers best and he shortened the bench getting away from what the team had done all year and they lose in the finals to Clay Co. That Bell team was ranked in the top 10 all year and didnt get to the finals and there is no excuse for that except coaching.

2002 was a 7 deep team all year and they lost in the first round to eventual champ Rockcastle. Not saying that was wrong, but that is one of the few cases I can think of where he hadnt used more than 7 all year. That teams problem was they had no point guard.

[WILDMAN]

I agree with bellalum and LMB on this one. In years past there have been many teams wearing the blue and white that have been misused (for lack of better term). The 99-2000 team was a very good team and lost to Corbin in the finals. I don't think that there were going to be anyone keep that Corbin team out of Rupp Arena but with the team Bell had that year, it wouldn't have been a total upset. Bell could have made some noise just like Corbin could have if they had another draw. With the lack of size in the 13th region other than Ely and a freshman named Isaiah Mills, Russellville and Tony Key were just a huge matchup problem not better than Corbin or Bell.