1) Bowling Green (18-4) - 1/23 52-47 W at #2 Warren Central, 1/26 64-38 W at #6 South Warren    
Previous Rank: 1    
This Week: 1/30 vs. Ohio County, 2/2 at #9 Greenwood    
    
2) Warren Central (7-6) - 1/23 47-52 L #1 Bowling Green, 1/26 76-45 W #8 Greenwood    
Previous Rank: 2    
This Week: 1/29 at Christian County, 2/2 vs. #6 South Warren, 2/3 vs. Elizabethtown    
    
3) Russell County (9-9) - 1/22 63-61 W at #9 Cumberland County, 1/23 58-63 L Green County, 1/26 51-54 L at Mercer County    
Previous Rank: 3    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #14 Metcalfe County, 2/2 vs. #12 Monroe County    
    
4) Warren East (12-6) - 1/23 64-62 W at #12 Glasgow, 1/25 64-63 W Ohio County, 1/26 71-52 W at #17 Allen County-Scottsville    
Previous Rank: 5    
This Week: 1/30 at #16 Russellville, 2/2 vs. #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/3 at Caverna    
    
5) Clinton County (11-9) - 1/25 61-39 W Raceland (at Corbin Arena), 1/26 32-50 L Murray (at Corbin Arena)    
Previous Rank: 7    
This Week: 1/30 at #12 Monroe County, 2/1 at #11 Glasgow, 2/3 vs. Hopkins County Central    
    
6) South Warren (8-8) - 1/22 71-62 OT W at #8 Greenwood, 1/26 38-64 L #1 Bowling Green    
Previous Rank: 6    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #13 Logan County, 2/2 at #2 Warren Central    
    
7) Barren County (13-6) - 1/22 88-60 W Bluegrass Blazers, 1/23 64-56 W #15 Russellville, 1/26 43-58 L at #12 Glasgow, 1/27 58-59 2OT L at #10 Monroe County    
Previous Rank: 4    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #9 Greenwood, 2/3 vs. Butler County (at Owensboro Sports Center)    
    
8. Franklin-Simpson (10-7) - 1/22 77-53 W at #15 Russellville, 1/23 71-38 W at #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 1/26 66-32 W #14 Todd County Central    
Previous Rank: 11    
This Week: 1/29 vs. #13 Logan County, 1/30 at Butler County, 2/2 vs. #16 Russellville    
    
9) Greenwood (10-11) - 1/22 62-71 OT L #6 South Warren, 1/23 64-60 W at #13 Logan County, 1/26 45-76 L at #2 Warren Central    
Previous Rank: 8    
This Week: 1/30 at #7 Barren County, 2/2 vs. #1 Bowling Green    
    
10) Cumberland County (10-9) - 1/22 61-63 L #3 Russell County    
Previous Rank: 9    
This Week: 1/30 at #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/2 at #14 Metcalfe County, 2/3 vs. Jackson County (TN)    
    
11) Glasgow (6-10) - 1/23 62-64 L #5 Warren East, 1/26 58-43 W #4 Barren County    
Previous Rank: 12    
This Week: 1/30 at Caverna, 2/1 vs. #5 Clinton County    
    
12) Monroe County (12-8) - 1/22 68-72 L Hart County, 1/25 68-70 2OT L at #16 Metcalfe County, 1/27 59-58 2OT W #4 Barren County    
Previous Rank: 10    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #5 Clinton County, 2/2 at #3 Russell County    
    
13) Logan County (10-8) - 1/23 60-64 L #8 Greenwood, 1/26 58-55 W at #15 Russellville    
Previous Rank: 13    
This Week: 1/29 at #8 Franklin-Simpson, 1/30 at #6 South Warren, 2/2 at #15 Todd County Central, 2/3 vs. #17 Allen County-Scottsville    
    
14) Metcalfe County (7-11) - 1/25 70-68 2OT W #10 Monroe County, 1/27 72-50 W at #15 Russellville    
Previous Rank: 16    
This Week: 1/30 at #3 Russell County, 2/2 vs. #10 Cumberland County, 2/3 at Campbellsville    
    
15) Todd County Central (8-10) - 1/26 32-66 L at #11 Franklin-Simpson    
Previous Rank: 14    
This Week: 1/30 vs. East Robertson (TN), 2/2 vs. #13 Logan County, 2/3 vs. McCracken County (at Graves County)    
    
16) Russellville (3-18) - 1/22 53-77 L #11 Franklin-Simpson, 1/23 56-64 L at #4 Barren County, 1/26 55-58 L #13 Logan County, 1/27 50-72 L #16 Metcalfe County    
Previous Rank: 15    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #4 Warren East, 2/2 at #8 Franklin-Simpson    
    
17) Allen County-Scottsville (2-17) - 1/23 38-71 L #11 Franklin-Simpson, 1/26 52-71 L #5 Warren East, 1/27 32-61 L at Apollo    
Previous Rank: 17    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #10 Cumberland County, 2/2 at #4 Warren East, 2/3 at #13 Logan County    
    
18) Foundation Christian Academy (8-8) - 1/26 27-67 L Somerset Christian, 1/27 51-71 L Christian Fellowship, 61-57 W Portland Christian    
Previous Rank: 18    
This Week: 1/29 at Metro Nashville (TN), 1/30 vs. Hendersonville Christian Academy (TN), 2/1 vs. Dayspring Academy (TN)    

Notes

-The biggest game of the week was obviously #1 Bowling Green visiting #2 Warren Central. For full details on that one, visit the postgame thread:

But the TL/DR of it is that Warren Central proved this new edition could compete with the Purples, while the Purples showed that even in the face of most circumstances going against them, they are still the best team and they still won.  The result makes it very, very likely that Bowling Green will have the #1 seed in the district, as even if Warren Central splits with them, the secondary tiebreaker is RPI, where Bowling Green may already have an insurmountable lead. Really, the only impact of that would be that Warren Central will likely have to be the one to play host South Warren in the district tournament.

-Russell County visited Cumberland County in their first district matchup of the year. The two teams entered unbeaten in district play, and it was a back and forth affair.  Ultimately, Russell County overcame a six point deficit entering the fourth quarter to take home a 63-61 win, and seize command of the district.  Crucially, only one of their four remaining district contests is on the road.  The Lakers have only played three games at home to date, going 2-1 in those, including 2-0 against region opponents.  They also remain unbeaten against region opponents. As for the game itself, the Lakers had tremendous balance, with four scorers in double digits, led by Owen Loy and Trace Stringer, both of whom had 16 points. Cerrato had 13, and Shearer added 10. They won the game at the line, where they went 17/21, helping them to overcome a Panther team that shot better from the field and outrebounded them 29-18.  Cumberland County was led by Zachery Harwood's 19 points and Braden Perdue's 15.

-The important postseason results on the week were positive for Barren County, but they had a very weird end to the week.  After a stretch of 7 wins in 8 games with the lone loss coming at Warren Central, out of nowhere the Trojans dropped a 58-43 decision at Glasgow.  Barren County had won 10 in a row in the series, including a 68-55 win earlier this year.  Their 43 points in this game were their lowest of the year, and least since scoring only 38 in a game in December 2022.  They shot only 30% from the floor and 22.7% from three in the game, and also critically, went 8/20 from the free throw line.  That was bad enough, but they followed it with a double overtime loss to Monroe County the following night.  Perhaps, they let a bad performance beat them twice, but those were two very, very unexpected results.

-South Warren and Greenwood had an entertaining finish to their game on Monday night, in a game that had a bit of "who really wants to win this" vibe.  There were a lot of lead changes during the game, but the Spartans appeared to have seized control, holding a six point lead with 2:45 left in the game following a 12-2 run.  Greenwood answered with a run that seemed decisive, outscoring the Spartans 11-2 to take a 58-55 lead with only 9.4 left.  After advancing to the frontcourt, South Warren had an inbounds from the sideline with just over 1 second remaining.  The Gators decided not to try to foul, and the Spartans hit a crosscourt pass for a wide open three that was buried.  The overtime was all South Warren, winning 71-62.

-Turning to the district races overall, in the 13th, Franklin-Simpson hosts Logan County this week in a meeting of two 3-0 teams.  The winner won't wrap anything up, but will be in strong position for the top seed.  They have games against Russellville and Todd County Central (respectively) to end the week before what will be the deciding game in all likelihood on February 9th.  Todd County Central is currently in line for the #3 seed at 1-3, with Russellville winless in district play at 0-4.

As mentioned previously, Bowling Green took the lead in the 14th, checking in at 4-0 in district play with games at Greenwood (0-4) and hosting Warren Central (3-1) still to go.  Only Bowling Green or Warren Central could grab the top seed, while South Warren (1-3) could climb as high as #2, with Greenwood's ceiling at #3. Warren Central can be no lower than #3, and Bowling Green no lower than #2. Realistically, the district is probably going to finish exactly as it is now (Bowling Green, Warren Central, South Warren, Greenwood, in that order).

The 15th is all but locked in.  Barren County (4-1) officially wrapped up the top seed this week despite the loss to Glasgow (2-3), as both Glasgow and AC/S (0-3) have three losses in district play (so can't catch their 4 win total) and Warren East (3-2) can do no better than 4-2, and lost both games to Barren County, meaning they'd lose the tiebreaker.  Warren East cannot fall below the 3 seed due to Glasgow and AC/S still having a game against each other, so really the only thing left to determine is who their opponent would be in the 2/3 game.  If AC/S were to win out (winning at Warren East on Friday, followed by a repeat win over Barren County the following Monday and finally winning at Glasgow on 2/9), they'd pass Glasgow for the #3 seed.  If they don't win out, they can force it to a random draw by beating both Barren County and Glasgow.  The two-way tiebreaker after head to head is record against the top seed in the district and then moving down in order, exempting top teams.  That means AC/S would have to beat Glasgow (as any tying scenario requires that) and Barren County (as Glasgow already has a win over them - if AC/S doesn't beat Barren County it would mean a sweep, and therefore Glasgow would get the 3 seed.  Honestly, it's very likely AC/S loses all three games, but for at least a week, there will be doubt about the final order.

The 16th, as per usual, is chaos.  Russell County (4-0) could still technically fall as far as 4th.  Metcalfe County (1-5) cannot rise above 3rd, and it would require them to win out and have either Cumberland County (3-1) or Clinton County (3-2) lose out to make that scenario possible - they can't both lose out as they still have a game remaining against each other.  In all likelihood, they'll be in the 4/5 "play-in" game.  Monroe County (1-4) is currently in line for that as well.  They can not rise higher than the 2 seed due to the combination of games that the other teams play.  We should gain more clarity for this district after the coming week - Metcalfe County's final two district games are this week, and there are two other matchups this week as well. 

 

Awesome Job!

interested in that Warren Central vs Etown game. Should be interesting. 

This region is way down. WC and BG are very good, as usual. Barren is down, GW is down. East is ok. 16th is down. Just very mediocre ball being played around here right now.