John Hardin 71 North Bullitt 52

[Runcible Owl]

1️⃣ Welcome back "John"!

ICYMI: Saturday's win was the first of the season for the season for the Defending 5th Region champs, who lost a TON to graduation.

Good week to build some momentum: Today, at Bardstown. Tuesday, host Fort Knox. Saturday, at Metcalfe County. 

Thoughts anyone? @5thregionbasketball, your take?

[5thregionbasketball]

Working on my rankings and review right now, but it's definitely a good win for them against North Bullitt. I honestly, didn't think they'd win that game, but I admittedly don't know much about North Bullitt's program. 

I think this week will be much of the same though. Bardstown is having a bad year too, but they have the athletes to compete with most teams in the region. Bardstown should win by 15. Tuesday against Fort Knox is a winnable game for them. They lost earlier in the year by 2, but led by 10 with 5 minutes to go in that game. Being at home should help them. I think they'll win that game. I wouldn't say that I have a great grasp on the 4th region but I've read dragonfire's reports and looking at KHSAA. The Metcalfe game should be competitive but I think the edge goes to Metcalfe. 

Realistically, I don't think John has much of a chance after Tuesday to win again until the last game of the regular season at Marion County. They will be in the 4/5 game against Ft. Knox for the opening round of the district, they should win that, and then will be a pretty quick exit from the semi-finals against whoever the #1 seed ends up being. 

[Mojocat]

Is this the first year, or second, for John Hardin's coach?  I'm used to them being among the region favorites.  He's not off to a great start!

[Runcible Owl]

1 hour ago, Mojocat said:

Is this the first year, or second, for John Hardin's coach?  I'm used to them being among the region favorites.  He's not off to a great start!

I'm used to the Bulldogs in the mix too. Eight 5th Region titles and finalists in six others since their 2001/02 debut.

Second year for Coach Austin Jones; took them to the Sweet 16 last year. 

If I'm reading last year's stats correctly they lost their top seven scorers. Varsity roster this season: 4 frosh, 5 sophs, 3 juniors, and 2 seniors. 

Having not seen them, hard to gauge what ails them other than youth. They're way behind in stat reporting. Their KHSAA home page link below ~

scoreboard.12dt.com

[5thregionbasketball]

Yeah, they lost top 7 scorers to graduation. Jake Owens was their leading returning scorer averaging about 4 point a game coming into the season. Owens is a nice guard, can shoot, but he just doesn't have much help around him. Other than him, there might have been one or two other players that got some varsity time last year, but not much competitive time. 

Coach Jones was the assistant for McCurry during his tenure there so he's familiar with the program. I think given the youthfulness of his team, he could be poised for a nice season in another year or so, but this year has certainly been rough and next year, probably won't be much better. 

[gchs_uk9]

Looks like John Hardin is just super young. I think they had a similar problem with football this year, another program that is almost always very good but wasn't this season.

As an aside, I am surprised at the size discrepancy of Hardin County schools. North Hardin and Central Hardin are both very large 6A schools, while John Hardin is right on the 3A/4A line. Is there a reason for this? I would think you would balance them.

[Mojocat]

Ah, I see - if he made it to the Sweet 16 last year, then he very much got off to a good start, and I suspect the folks there will be patient while he rebuilds.

I remember being very surprised probably 20 years ago to read that the two largest public schools in Kentucky were in Hardin County - North and Central.  Which is why it was necessary to build JH presumably.  Not sure if the lines are drawn weirdly just because that's the way the county and demographics dictate, or if there's something else going on.  We have a similar situation in Oldham:  North is 3A, South is 5A and OC is 6A (I think that's right).

[Hardin County Preps]

In 2015 John Hardin went from a 5A school the previous season to a 4A school after Hardin County moved the district lines and moved a bunch of students who were going to John Hardin to North Hardin based on a redrawing of the school maps. John Hardin has room to grow and with the new Ford Battery Plant coming in 2025 to southern Hardin County, I expect the district lines to be redrawn and John Hardin should be a 5A school in several years.