1) Bowling Green (16-4) - 1/9 73-44 W #11 Franklin-Simpson, 1/12 81-33 W #8 Greenwood, 1/13 66-57 W Nashville Ensworth (TN) (at Greenwood)    
Previous Rank: 1    
This Week: 1/16 vs. #4 Barren County, 1/19 at #2 Warren Central    
    
2) Warren Central (6-5) - 1/9 66-47 W #4 Barren County, 1/12 69-60 W at #7 South Warren, 1/13 52-39 W Taylor County    
Previous Rank: 2    
This Week: 1/16 vs. #12 Glasgow, 1/19 vs. #1 Bowling Green, 1/20 vs. Montgomery County (at Taylor County)    
    
3) Russell County (8-7) - 1/8 77-79 L at Southwestern    
Previous Rank: 3    
This Week: 1/15 vs. Caverna, 1/19 vs. Garrard County, 1/20 at #7 Clinton County    
    
4) Barren County (11-4) - 1/9 47-66 L at #2 Warren Central, 1/12 68-55 W #12 Glasgow    
Previous Rank: 4    
This Week: 1/15 vs. Bluegrass Blazers (KY), 1/16 at #1 Bowling Green, 1/19 at #17 Allen County-Scottsville    
    
5) Warren East (9-6) - 1/12 50-72 L DeSales (at Owensboro Sportscenter)    
Previous Rank: 5    
This Week: 1/16 at Caverna, 1/19 at #12 Glasgow    
    
6) South Warren (7-7) - 1/12 60-69 L #2 Warren Central    
Previous Rank: 7    
This Week: 1/16 at University Heights, 1/19 at #8 Greenwood    
    
7) Clinton County (10-8) - 1/11 75-46 W #15 Russellville, 1/12 52-49 W #10 Monroe County    
Previous Rank: 9    
This Week: 1/16 at #9 Cumberland County, 1/20 vs. #3 Russell County    
    
8. Greenwood (9-9) - 1/9 49-76 L at Butler County, 1/12 33-81 L at #1 Bowling Green, 1/13 65-69 L Kirkwood (TN)    
Previous Rank: 8    
This Week: 1/16 vs. #11 Franklin-Simpson, 1/19 vs. #6 South Warren    
    
9) Cumberland County (10-8) - 1/8 51-20 W at #13 Todd County Central, 1/11 35-51 L #10 Monroe County (at Clinton County)    
Previous Rank: 6    
This Week: 1/16 vs. #7 Clinton County, 1/19 vs. #10 Monroe County    
    
10) Monroe County (11-6) - 1/8 60-15 W #18 Foundation Christian Academy, 1/11 51-35 W #6 Cumberland County (at Clinton County), 1/12 49-52 L at #9 Clinton County    
Previous Rank: 10    
This Week: 1/16 at #16 Metcalfe County, 1/19 at #9 Cumberland County    
    
11) Franklin-Simpson (7-7) - 1/9 44-73 L at #1 Bowling Green    
Previous Rank: 11    
This Week: 1/16 at #8 Greenwood, 1/19 vs. #13 Logan County    
    
12) Glasgow (5-9) - 1/12 55-68 L at #4 Barren County    
Previous Rank: 12    
This Week: 1/16 at #2 Warren Central, 1/19 vs. #5 Warren East    
    
13) Logan County (9-7) - 1/9 45-60 L at Edmonson County, 1/12 80-68 W #13 Todd County Central    
Previous Rank: 14    
This Week: 1/16 vs. #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 1/19 at #11 Franklin-Simpson    
    
14) Todd County Central (7-8) - 1/8 20-51 L #6 Cumberland County, 1/12 68-80 L at #14 Logan County    
Previous Rank: 13    
This Week: 1/19 vs. #15 Russellville    
    
15) Russellville (3-13) - 1/8 56-52 W #16 Metcalfe County, 1/11 46-75 L at #9 Clinton County    
Previous Rank: 15    
This Week: 1/16 vs. Christian County, 1/19 at #14 Todd County Central    
    
16) Metcalfe County (5-11) - 1/8 52-56 L at #15 Russellville, 1/13 60-40 W #17 Allen County-Scottsville    
Previous Rank: 16    
This Week: 1/16 vs. #10 Monroe County, 1/20 vs. Adair County    
    
17) Allen County-Scottsville (2-14) - 1/9 36-42 L Westmoreland (TN), 1/13 40-60 L at #16 Metcalfe County    
Previous Rank: 17    
This Week: 1/16 at #13 Logan County, 1/19 vs. #4 Barren County    
    
18) Foundation Christian Academy (7-6) - 1/8 15-60 L #10 Monroe County, 1/12 60-29 W Currey Ingram Academy (TN)    
Previous Rank: 18    
This Week: 1/16 vs. Metro Nashville (TN), 1/19 at Clarksville Christian (TN)    

Notes

-With two more blowout victories this week, Bowling Green contiues to mow down region competition.  They've yet to score fewer than 73 points in region play, and in their last four games against the region, have not allowed more than 44 points.  They're averaging margins of 38.4 PPG in region play.  They have a big week (snow pending) as they host #4 Barren County before they get their first crack at #2 Warren Central, traveling on the road to the Dragons.  A year ago, Bowling Green missed a shot at the buzzer that would have won their game at WC, before falling in overtime.  Added to the similar scenario of missing a shot at the buzzer that would have won the region tournament in overtime, it's safe to say this game has a few more added circles to it.  They have not lost since falling to Fairdale in the King of the Bluegrass tournament, and have now won nine in a row.

-Adding to that, Bowling Green notched their highest margin of victory in their 88 game series with Greenwood, shellacking the Gators 81-33 on Friday night.  A week prior they equaled their largest margin of victory in their series with South Warren.  The Purples are rolling.

-For their part, Warren Central heads into the week with a five game win streak, and are now 5-1 since the turn of the year and the return/eligibility of several players.  Saturday, they held Taylor County to just 39 points, a season low for the Dragon defense.  Kade Unseld remains on a minutes restriction, and sat out the game with Taylor County after a modest scoring effort the night before.  Elijah Starks stepped into the void, scoring 25 on 10/17 shooting.  The team is closing in on a milestone for their head coach - Will Unseld is just five wins from the 300th of his career as head man at Warren Central.

-Clinton County made the most of their homecourt advantage in the All "A" Classic region tournament, knocking off Russellville 75-46 and Monroe County 52-49 on back to back nights.  That gives the Bulldogs wins in three of their last four games and catapults them to the All "A" state tournament for the first time since 2021, when they finished as state runners-up.  They are due to meet Raceland on January 25th as the tournament shifts to Corbin.

-Meanwhile, Warren East bowed out of the Kentucky 2A Classic with a 71-50 loss to favored DeSales.  The loss extends a stretch of five losses in seven games after the Raiders started the year 7-1.  They face a challenging road game at Caverna this week befor taking on Glasgow in their second matchup of the year - with a third likely to come in the district tournament.

-Monday night featured one of the strangest results on the season.  Todd County Central hosted Cumberland County in the All "A" region tournament.  The Rebels came into the game with a 7-6 record, fresh off of narrowly losing to Franklin-Simpson by a 64-61 score the Friday before.  Jamison Glass, who averages 28 PPG, is one of the state's most prolific scorers.  Their low score on the year coming into the game was 53 points, in the season opener.

They scored 20 points.  That's two-zero, as in 8 points less than their leading scorer AVERAGES. Glass had only five points int he game, going 2/8 from the field and 1/4 from the line.  The team made only eight shots on 8/46 shooting, and were 2/24 from three.  What's more, is that Todd County Central had 14 at the half - they scored six in the entire second half.  It was an incredible defensive effort from the Panthers to hold Todd County Central down that badly, but also likely one where Todd simply could not get anything to fall at all.  The Rebels are heading in the wrong direction.

-Besides the obvious in Bowling Green's visit to Warren Central, games to keep an eye on this week include Friday's matchup between South Warren and Greenwood, Clinton County's pair of games as they visit Cumberland County on Tuesday (weather permitting) before hosting Russell County on Saturday, and Franklin-Simpson playing host to Logan County in a game that will go a long way to determining the top seed in that district.  

Stay safe out there everyone - snow is a-coming.

Great job as always!

BG vs Warren Central is always a big game.  Don't see that changing.

I'm also interested in the Greenwood vs South game.  Should be interesting.

Hope you all liked these rankings - doesn't look like any games are going to be played to change them!

Per usual, a 2 horse race. 

3 hours ago, TheBarber said:

Per usual, a 2 horse race. 

It does appear that way to me, with Bowling Green a clear front-runner and Warren Central fitting the "stalking horse" type. 

It probably will remain that way many years until/if Warren Central drops off.  The other thing that could happen would be for the region to figure out how to deal with Bowling Green.  I repeat it most every year, but it is wild to me how completely Bowling Green dominates the rest of the region.  You would think it would be Warren Central that would cause teams to melt - they've won 14 region titles out of the last 22 years, doubling BG's 7 - and Central obviously wins their fair share.  But for the most part, the other teams in this region see that purple color coming at them, and the game is already over.  I'm frankly jealous of that! Bowling Green has won 48 postseason games in a row against region teams that aren't Warren Central.  They've made 10 straight region finals, and 15 of the last 16 - the one they didn't, they lost to Warren Central in the district semifinals.  They've won 194 of their last 199 games overall against region opponents that aren't Warren Central (Greenwood has beaten them three times, Barren County twice, and of course none in the postseason).  Only 47 of those 199 games were decided by single digits, meaning 76% of the games Bowling Green has played against the region outside of Warren Central in that span have been decided by double digits for BG - their average margin of victory in those games is  19.4 PPG.  No team outside of these two is going to win the region if the others can't figure out Bowling Green.

[For comparison's sake on those numbers, WC is 37-4 in the postseason in that span against teams other than BG, and 162-22 overall.  Very good numbers in their own right, but a ways away from what Bowling Green has accomplished.  11 of the other 15 region teams (I'm not counting FCA) have managed at least one win over Warren Central in that time. Cumberland County, Logan County, Metcalfe County, and Todd County Central are the only ones who haven't - Cumberland County and Metcalfe County have not even met Warren Central since 1995 and 2006 respectively, and Todd County Central has only played them once since 2002.  So every region team that has played Warren Central more than once since the start of the 2010 calendar year has beaten them at least one time, with the exception of Logan County.]