6th Region Week 7 Review

 

Western remains perched atop the rankings ahead of Evangel Christian, despite Western's loss to Male last week and Evangel Christian's current 10-game winning streak. Strength of schedule does it for Western even though Evangel Christian has the superior KHSAA RPI: .660 to .622. In fact, the top 11 in the rankings remain the same as most of last week's action came at the Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament, which hosted 12 teams from the region. Bullitt East and Doss make incremental moves just outside the top 10. Western, Evangel Christian, Butler and DeSales have yet to lose to a regional foe. Pleasure Ridge Park is 6-1 versus the region and Fern Creek is 4-1. Jeffersontown is 2-2 against the region. Everybody else has at least three regional losses. The best teams with at least three losses against the region according to KHSAA RPI are Fairdale, Holy Cross, Beth Haven and Iroquois, in that order. But they are not ranked in that order here.

 

Regional Rankings:

 

1. Western (14-4): The Warriors finished 2-1 at the Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament, beating Fairdale, 56-48, and Trinity, 48-42, and losing to surging Male, 69-56, in the semifinals for just their second loss to a Kentucky team. Julius Edmonds posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds against Fairdale. Josiah Lawson led with 13 points against Trinity. Western is 5-0 against regional competition and 2-0 versus the 22nd District.

 

2. Evangel Christian (15-2): The Eagles won their only game of the week, beating Elizabethtown, 73-64, at the RDT Construction New Year's Classic to push their winning streak to 10. They are 5-0 vs. the region and 3-0 against the 23rd District. They have beaten Pleasure Ridge Park.

 

3. Pleasure Ridge Park (12-3): The Panthers went 1-1 at the Louisville Invitational Tournament. They beat Southern, 92-71, but lost to Central, 59-57. Malachi Hamilton led the team with 17 points and six rebounds vs. Central. PRP is 6-1 against the region and 2-0 vs. the 21st District.

 

4. Butler (13-5): The Bears went 1-1 at the Louisville Invitational Tournament, losing to Male, 55-49, and beating Seneca by 35. Dayton Williams scored a team-high 12 points against Male. Markel Meriweather scored 15 points against Seneca. Butler is 3-0 vs. the region.

 

5. DeSales (11-6): The Colts beat Calloway County, 59-52, in their only game of the week at the Kentucky 2A Championship. Crew Gibson had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Brady Cummins led with 14 points. They are 1-0 against regional foes, the win coming against Iroquois.

 

6. Iroquois (12-7): The Raiders went 1-2 at the Louisville Invitational Tournament, beating Southern and losing to Trinity and Bullitt East. Jordan Williamson scored 22 points against Southern. Iroquois has beaten Holy Cross

 

7. Holy Cross (13-6): The Cougars went 1-2, losing to Kentucky Country Day and Bullitt at the Louisville Invitational Tournament and downing Moore with 23 points from all-time leading scorer Jacob Hand. Holy Cross is 4-4 vs. the region.

 

8. Fern Creek (6-9): The Tigers went 1-2 at the Louisville Invitational Tournament, losing to Central and Doss and defeating Atherton.

 

9. Fairdale (11-6): The Bulldogs went 2-1 at the Louisville Invitational Tournament with victories against Atherton and Beth Haven and a loss to Western. Dalton Hicks scored 20 versus Beth Haven. Fairdale is 4-3 vs. the region and 3-1 vs. the 21st District.

 

10. Beth Haven (13-5): The Bearcats went 2-2 last week, losing to Moore and Fairdale and beating North Bullitt and Portland Christian. Jordan Harris scored 28 points vs. North Bullitt and 30 vs. Portland Christian and averaged 21.5 ppg. for the week.

 

10. Jeffersontown (6-7): The Chargers split a pair of games at the L.I.T., beating Bullitt East and losing to DuPont Manual. Brenton Moore had 24 points vs. Bullitt East.

 

12. Bullitt East (6-11): The Chargers went 2-1 at the L.I.T., losing to Jeffersontown but defeating Lou. Holy Cross and Iroquois.

 

13. Doss (4-15): The Dragons went 2-1 with a loss to Male and wins versus Fern Creek and Moore, all at the L.I.T.

 

14. Moore (7-10): The Mustangs went 1-3 for the week, beating Beth Haven and losing to Ballard and Doss at the L.I.T., then losing to Lou. Holy Cross. They have beaten North Bullitt.

 

15. North Bullitt (9-8): The Eagles lost both games at the L.I.T., dropping contests against Seneca and Beth Haven. North Bullitt is 1-4 vs. the region, the win coming in a split of two games vs. Bullitt Central. The Eagles have beaten just two in-state teams with winning records.

 

16. Southern (6-12): The Trojans went 1-2 at the L.I.T., beating Atherton and losing to Iroquois and Pleasure Ridge Park. Southern has a win vs. Iroquois and Bullitt Central, the win against Iroquois the only one against a Kentucky team with a winning record.

 

17. Bullitt Central (2-13): The Cougars went 1-1 last week, losing to Frankfort and beating John Hardin. Bullitt Central beat North Bullitt by 15 on the road earlier in the season but it's the only regional win in four games.

 

18. Valley (0-11): The winless Vikings were idle last week. They are 0-6 vs. the region.

 

19. Whitefield Academy (3-12): Played once and lost to Frankfort Christian at home. Has not played a regional opponent.

Nice work. Looks about right. Hard to get a good feel for PRP. Compared to the other top ranked teams their schedule is much much easier…

One correction. Unfortunately, DeSales lost to Calloway Co. 59-52. Calloway Co. went on to lose to Lexington Catholic in the Championship game 56-52.  Thanks for the great analysis! 

1 hour ago, coachb110 said:

One correction. Unfortunately, DeSales lost to Calloway Co. 59-52. Calloway Co. went on to lose to Lexington Catholic in the Championship game 56-52.  Thanks for the great analysis! 

Thanks for spotting that. I appreciate those who read so closely.

I hope you don't think I was being sarcastic!! I really do think you do wonderful work analyzing the teams in the 6th Region. You're a BGP MVP. ?

 

10 minutes ago, coachb110 said:

I hope you don't think I was being sarcastic!! I really do think you do wonderful work analyzing the teams in the 6th Region. You're a BGP MVP. ?

 

No, no. I stand corrected! I got your vibe right. I don't know why I got that backward. Totally missed it on the re-read. Thanks for the truly kind words.

The region's top six scorers (through Tuesday):

Marcus Barker, Doss 22.5
Jacob Hand, Holy Cross 22.1
Jamir Ford, Iroquois 21.1
Jordan Harris, Beth Haven 19.8
Dalton Hicks, Fairdale 19.1
Jordan Williamson, Iroquois 19.1

45 minutes ago, Basketball Jones said:

The region's top six scorers (through Tuesday):

Marcus Barker, Doss 22.5
Jacob Hand, Holy Cross 22.1
Jamir Ford, Iroquois 21.1
Jordan Harris, Beth Haven 19.8
Dalton Hicks, Fairdale 19.1
Jordan Williamson, Iroquois 19.1

Interesting that none of the top scorers are on the top rated teams…

4 hours ago, Hoopstars said:

Interesting that none of the top scorers are on the top rated teams…

You're right about that! It just shows how balanced the scoring is on each of the top 5 teams.  It's hard for an opponent to shut down a team defensively if they can't concentrate on one or two guys!  Iroquois is the sleeper in the 22 district, but they will need someone else to produce points if Ford or Williamson have a bad night!