BluegrassPreps.com 9th Region Week 13: (District Tournament Wrap Up - Regional Tournament Preview)

...And then there were 8

It's Christmas time for Kentucky High School B-Ball fans. Junkies everywhere know exactly what I mean. We live for this time every year for the district, regional, and state tournament excitement like no other, and right here in the best state in the nation for it with its rich storied history. KENTUCKY!!!

In Week 13 we saw in the 9th Region the 33rd, 34th, 35th, and 36th District tournaments play out with much excitement, and while things went "mostly" as predicted by "most", going into the tournies a fairly close 33rd District was in question, and while many thought that the top seeded Cooper Jaguars would be cutting down the nets, the Conner Cougars ended the night with scissors in hand with their 55-45 victory. Conner struck first knocking down shots, and playing with an intensity that Cooper could not manage to equal, and even with the Jags lockdown 'D', the Cougars took a commanding 30-17 lead into halftime. The Jags would not rollover, and started the second half on the back of 6'7" junior Caleb Brooks with an 11-1 run, tieing the game at 31 before the Cougars once again began to very slowly pull away behind the sharp shooting of Landen Hamilton and Ayden Lohr, and the reliable and powerful rebounding of Daniel Campbell and Alex Castrucci. This is the 3rd season in a row that Conner has been crowned the 33rd District Champs. Good luck to both teams next week in the 9th Region Tournament at the BB&T at NKU as we know that both district champs and runner-ups get to advance. 

33rd District at Ryle:

First Round on Monday, Feb. 21:

Ryle 83, Heritage Academy 47

Semifinals on Wednesday, Feb 23:

Conner 73, Boone County 62

Cooper 49, Ryle 33

Title Game on Friday, Feb. 25:

Conner 55, Cooper 45

 

The 34th District tournament began with probably the most anticipated 2/3 seed game in the whole region with the Lloyd Juggernauts taking on the St. Henry Crusaders to see who would be playing in the 9th Region tournament, and who would be going home. St. Henry won the first regular season match 60-47, but when it counted most the Juggs took care of busines winning 68-55 with the chance to advance to the 34th District Championship game to face top seeded Dixie Heights where the Red Colonels prevailed as district champs 64-52 thanks to an all around balanced team effort lead by senior Keirnan Geraci who conneted on 20+ points, and big buy Billy Wogenstahl who guarded the paint. 

34th District at Ludlow:

First Round on Monday, Feb. 21:

Ludlow 73, Villa Madonna 48

Semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 23:

Lloyd Memorial 68, St. Henry 55

Dixie Heights 84, Ludlow 43

Title Game on Friday, Feb. 25:

Dixie Heights 64, Lloyd Memorial 52

 

The 35th District tourney went mostly as anticipated with top seeded Covington Catholic meeting 2nd seeded  Holy Cross in the district championship game, and while the Colonels dominated the whole way, winnnig 96-57, the Indians put up a fight that by all accounts got pretty chippy with countless fouls called as well as a decent share of techinals served. For those keeping track of Jacob Meyer of Holy Cross, he conneted on 33 points even in the face of a very tough Colonels 'D'.

35th District at Holy Cross:

Semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 23:

Holy Cross 85, Holmes 75

Covington Catholic 84, Beechwood 54

Title Game on Friday, Feb. 25:

Covington Catholic 96, Holy Cross 57

 

The 36th District tourney began with the big question: Would NewCath Thoroughbreds avenge its regualar season loss to the Newport Wildcats, and make it to the 9th Region tournament despite a pretty challenging 10-18 season, or would the young Newport squad with a promising future get the Breds again. Newport prevaild in an exciting squaker 64-62 earning their way into 36th District Finals against the Highlands Bluebirds as well as into the 9th Region tournament for the 4th season in a row. The Birds became 36th District Champs beating the Wildcats 82-64. 

36th District at Bellevue:

First Round on Monday, Feb. 21:

Dayton 76, Bellevue 46

Semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 23:

Newport 64, Newport Central Catholic 62

Highlands 100, Dayton 58

Title Game on Friday, Feb. 25:

Highlands 82, Newport 64

 

9th Region Tournament Preview: Mathups & Schedule:

While the Kentucky Sweet 16 is the cherry on top of each season, it's hard to top the excitement of regional tournament play. The brackets are now set, and personally I could not have asked for better, and more intriguing matchups. 

Let's take a look at the matchups. 

In the upper bracket that ensures that CovCath potentially will play two games against teams they didn't face in the regular season, right out of the gate we have a rematch of the Highlands Bluebirds vs. the Lloyd Juggernauts game, where in their regualar season contest the Juggs shocked the world and won 91-78 at a game played in Ft. Thomas. Can they do it again and advance, or will the Birds have their act together and keep their run alive with hopes to make it back to Rupp?

In the 2nd game of Round 1 we have: 

Covington Catholic Colonels vs. The Cooper Jaguars

It'll be a tall task for the Cooper Jags to take on the 5th rated tough as nails Colonels, but can their lockdown 'D' give the Colonels troubles? We didn't have chance of seeing this in the regular season, but the 9th Region fans will get the chance to see now! 

In the lower bracket in the 3rd First Round game we have the Dixie Heights Colonels vs The Newport Wildcats

Can the young and talented Newport Wildcats squad beat Dixie, or will the Red Colonels' experience just be too much for them?

In the 4th and final First Round game we have a rematch of Conner Cougars vs. Holy Cross Indians where in their regular season matchup the Cougars won 71-69. I expect to see another very exciting and close game! 

 

9th Region Tournament Schedule @ BB&T Arena at NKU

Quarterfinals - March 5th: 

Session 1 - 1:00, 2:30 

Highlands vs. Lloyd at 1:00

Covington Catholic vs. Cooper at 2:30

Session 2 - 6:30, 8:00

Dixie vs. Newport at 6:30

Conner vs. Holy Cross at 8:00

Semifinals - March 6th

Session 3 - 6:30, 8:00

Finals 

Session 4 - March 8th at 7:00

Good luck to all the teams!!!

In my haste this morning I spelled a word here in there in my native tongue of “Goofy” instead of English, so allow me to translate; 

 

Tieing = Tying 

Busines = Business

Prevaild - Prevailed 

Squaker = Squeaker 

 

BTW you might’ve noticed that I did not rank the 8 teams heading into the 9th Region Tournament. Since we’re nearing the end of the season, I wanted to give all of you the privilege of doing that for a change. Perhaps there’s still that nagging issue of who is Number 2, but regardless, let’s hear how you guys would rank them. Feel free to rank all 20 teams in the 9th Region, or simply just the remaining 8 teams. 

 

Go!

Y'know I got thinking that you might like to see the W/L records of the remaing 8 teams heading into the 9th Region Tournament. This will not be presented in ranking form. That's still your job. 

33rd

Conner - (20-9)

Cooper - (22-6)

34th

Dixie Heights - (20-6)

Lloyd Memorial - (21-7)

35th 

Covington Catholic - (25-4)

Holy Cross - (20-9)

36th 

Highlands - (22-8)

Newport - (9-18)

Wonder how many other regions have 7 20 win teams? Wow! 

37 minutes ago, AirYardGo said:

Wonder how many other regions have 7 20 win teams? Wow! 

Number of 20 win teams ~

8 - 13th

7 - 6th and 9th

5 - 10th (includes the only 30 win team), 4th, 7th, and 11th

4 - 12th, 15th, and 16th

3 - 2nd, 5th, and 8th

2 - 1st and 14th

1 - 3rd

Can tickets be bought at the arena with cash, or is everything online or electronic ?

@B-Ball-fan You realize I can't resist.  I put together the attached to help me support my rankings.  I tried to do everything I could to make it a picture so you didn't have to open up a file but my lack of tech skills couldn't make it happen.  I think its a nice user friendly doc to showcase the results of these final 8 against each other.

Frank's Rankings:

1. Cov Cath

2. Highlands 

3. Conner

4. Cooper

5. Dixie

6. Lloyd

7. Holy Cross

8. Newport

9th Region.pdf

18 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

@B-Ball-fan You realize I can't resist.  I put together the attached to help me support my rankings.  I tried to do everything I could to make it a picture so you didn't have to open up a file but my lack of tech skills couldn't make it happen.  I think its a nice user friendly doc to showcase the results of these final 8 against each other.

Frank's Rankings:

1. Cov Cath

2. Highlands 

3. Conner

4. Cooper

5. Dixie

6. Lloyd

7. Holy Cross

8. Newport

9th Region.pdf 188.62 kB · 4 downloads

Haha...I just knew that you wouldn't be able to resist, and I'm glad that you couldn't. 

Thanks for the file as it's a pretty cool breakdown of how all of the team faired against each other. ?

Honestly I bailed this week trying to rank them, because as you can see by studying your chart there's just too many variables to ever have an exact take on it all. I can see many various ranking possibilities, and as you know I've already lost too much sleep this season trying. ?

Thanks for your rankings, and I'd love to also see how others might rank them. 

Bring it on Bluegrass Prepers!!!

7 hours ago, dshoe40 said:

Can tickets be bought at the arena with cash, or is everything online or electronic ?

You can buy at the arena for $10 via cash or credit card.

Couple things:

- Arena required masks going in last night as they made you take one, but after you walked up the steps, no-one cared about them any longer.

- You cannot take purses in unless they are clear.