In Jason Mays' four seasons as head coach at Ashland, the Tomcats have won four straight 16th Region titles and had one trip to the Boys' Sweet 16® semifinals, losing to the eventual state champion Highlands cagers. This year's regional championship win made the THIRTY-FOURTH for the Tomcats' historic program.

When Scott Ruthsatz took over as head coach at Covington Catholic in the Spring of 2011, the Colonels had eight 9th Region titles, but only had tallied three regional titles in the previous 40 seasons. Since then, the Ruthsatz Colonels have won the 9th Region six times, including last night's win over Dixie Heights, making for 14 total regional championship wins for Cov Cath. Ruthsatz has also coached the Colonels to 2 state titles, in 2014 and 2018. Cov Cath hoopsters additionally made an appearance in the Boys' Sweet 16® semifinals in 2015, losing by 4 points to Owensboro, who went on to win the state championship.

Ashland, currently touting a 25-5 record, comes into the first round of the 2022 Sweet 16® with something to smile about: they're one of two teams in the state to have beaten Cov Cath (28-4) this season. The Tomcats gave it to the Colonels back on January 29th, sending Cov Cath back up the AA Highway on the short side of a 71-60 contest.

Which team will be able to pull out the win in this top-notch first round match up? Will the Colonels take the court at Rupp next Thursday with a chip on their shoulder and hand it back to the Tomcats? Or will the Tomcats be heading out with all the confidence, talent, and swagger they need to beat the Colonels for a second time this season?

Tipoff is at 8:30pm on March 17.

I am really looking forward to this one, great first round matchup!

To me this game depends on if Ashland is at full strength. If so, give me Ashland by 8-12 points. 

If Ashland stays out of foul trouble, they win.

30 minutes ago, BIG BLACK JACK said:

To me this game depends on if Ashland is at full strength. If so, give me Ashland by 8-12 points. 

They haven't posted any stats to the scoreboard as of yet for the semifinals or finals from the 16th. Did they have all their starters for those two games?

13 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

They haven't posted any stats to the scoreboard as of yet for the semifinals or finals from the 16th. Did they have all their starters for those two games?

That I don’t know. I’m pretty certain they’ve battled injuries to Porter, Sellers, and Villers on and off all season. A lot of their games they only had 2 of the 3 playing. 

17 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

They haven't posted any stats to the scoreboard as of yet for the semifinals or finals from the 16th. Did they have all their starters for those two games?

All Ashland starters played the entire regional tournament.  Coming in to the State tournament with a healthy squad!   Villers, Carter, Sellers and Porter all with 16th region all-tournament honors.  I think they are good to go.

7 minutes ago, BIG BLACK JACK said:

That I don’t know. I’m pretty certain they’ve battled injuries to Porter, Sellers, and Villers on and off all season. A lot of their games they only had 2 of the 3 playing. 

1 minute ago, Reno said:

All Ashland starters played the entire regional tournament.  Coming in to the State tournament with a healthy squad!   Villers, Carter, Sellers and Porter all with 16th region all-tournament honors.  I think they are good to go.

Thanks guys! I'm definitely glad to hear they're healthy...I want to see the A-team against my Colonels, for sure!

Looks like all four of them played against us back in January.

3 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

In Jason Mays' four seasons as head coach at Ashland, the Tomcats have won four straight 16th Region titles and had one trip to the Boys' Sweet 16® finals, losing to Highlands last year in the title game. This year's regional championship win made the THIRTY-FOURTH for the Tomcats' historic program.

When Scott Ruthsatz took over as head coach at Covington Catholic in the Spring of 2011, the Colonels had eight 9th Region titles, but only had tallied three regional titles in the previous 40 seasons. Since then, the Ruthsatz Colonels have won the 9th Region seven times, including last night's win over Dixie Heights, making for 14 total regional championship wins for Cov Cath.

Ashland, currently touting a 25-5 record, comes into the first round of the 2022 Sweet 16® with something to smile about: they're one of two teams in the state to have beaten Cov Cath (28-4) this season. The Tomcats gave it to the Colonels back on January 29th, sending Cov Cath back up the AA Highway on the short side of a 71-60 contest.

Which team will be able to pull out the win in this top-notch first round match up? Will the Colonels take the court at Rupp next Thursday with a chip on their shoulder and hand it back to the Tomcats? Or will the Tomcats be heading out with all the confidence, talent, and swagger they need to beat the Colonels for a second time this season?

Tipoff is at 8:30pm on March 17.

NIce write-up @Colonels_Wear_Blue This should be an awesome first round game. 

Hope that you don't mind me pointing out that Highlands beat Ashland last season in the Semi's, and then beat Elizabethtown in the Finals. 

2 minutes ago, B-Ball-fan said:

NIce write-up @Colonels_Wear_Blue This should be an awesome first round game. 

Hope that you don't mind me pointing out that Highlands beat Ashland last season in the Semi's, and then beat Elizabethtown in the Finals. 

Ahhh, you're correct, yes. Thanks for that, man.

Unfortuantely for Ashland, they had an undefeated record of 33-0 heading into the 2020 Sweet 16, but then the whole tournament was cancelled due to COVID. 

CovCath also was highly favored in the 2020 Sweet 16, but their dreams were dashed by COVID. 

 

I certainly wouldn't say it makes Cov Cath any kind of favorite, but it's sure tough to beat a good team twice in the same season.

3 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Thanks guys! I'm definitely glad to hear they're healthy...I want to see the A-team against my Colonels, for sure!

Looks like all four of them played against us back in January.

Villers is playing but he isn’t 100% healthy. Just a guess on my part from just watching him play recently but I would say he’s around 70% of his old self. 

28 minutes ago, The Professor said:

Villers is playing but he isn’t 100% healthy. Just a guess on my part from just watching him play recently but I would say he’s around 70% of his old self. 

I doubt that Porter is 100% either. That type of injury to a joint just doesn't completely hear in a few weeks. Just my opinion of course.

Saw Ashland for the first time in the King of the Bluegrass back in December.  Really impressed with them.  Don’t remember who they were playing - maybe Male - but I recall them being undersized, with their bigs being maybe 6’2.  Now, being small isn’t necessarily an impediment on the offensive end, especially in high school.  If you shoot well and/or are well coached - being short isn’t a big problem.  But on defense, most undersized teams are pretty helpless when facing size.  It was on that end that Ashland made an impression.  Just smart, tough, did the little things a well coached team does. Villers looked to be dragging that leg, I do remember that.  So I wouldn’t bet against them. (But, like someone said above, I wonder if the loser of a game between two good, pretty evenly matched teams might have an advantage in a rematch.)