1) Bowling Green (22-5) - 2/6 73-59 W at Owensboro, 2/9 46-41 W #2 Warren Central, 2/10 89-90 2OT L at Lyon County    
Previous Rank: 1    
This Week: 2/12 vs. #6 Barren County, 2/15 vs. Evangel Christian    
    
2) Warren Central (10-9) - 2/6 74-70 W Butler County, 2/9 41-46 L at #1 Bowling Green, 2/10 74-54 W at Paducah Tilghman    
Previous Rank: 2    
This Week: 2/13 vs. Adair County, 2/15 vs. North Hardin, 2/16 vs. #16 Russellville    
    
3) Warren East (15-7) - 2/6 69-60 W at #15 Logan County    
Previous Rank: 3    
This Week: 2/12 at #5 South Warren, 2/13 vs. #9 Franklin-Simpson, 2/15 vs. #12 Monroe County, 2/16 at #14 Todd County Central    
    
4) Clinton County (16-9) - 2/8 79-62 W at Somerset Christian    
Previous Rank: 4    
This Week: 2/11 at #10 Cumberland County, 2/14 vs. #7 Russell County, 2/16 at #6 Barren County    
    
5) South Warren (11-9) - 2/6 79-57 W at #16 Russellville, 2/9 66-59 W #9 Greenwood    
Previous Rank: 6    
This Week: 2/12 vs. #3 Warren East, 2/16 at #11 Metcalfe County    
    
6) Barren County (16-9) - 2/5 43-58 L at #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/6 54-44 W at #5 Franklin-Simpson, 2/9 69-46 W #13 Monroe County, 2/10 47-61 L at Adair County    
Previous Rank: 7    
This Week: 2/12 at #1 Bowling Green, 2/13 at #11 Metcalfe County, 2/16 vs. #4 Clinton County    
    
7) Russell County (11-11) - 2/6 63-48 W #10 Cumberland County, 2/9 68-76 L at Caverna    
Previous Rank: 8    
This Week: 2/13 at Danville, 2/14 at #4 Clinton County, 2/16 vs. Adair County    
    
8. Greenwood (12-14) - 2/6 69-64 W Daviess County, 2/9 59-66 L at #6 South Warren, 2/10 58-54 W #5 Franklin-Simpson    
Previous Rank: 9    
This Week: 2/13 at #12 Monroe County, 2/16 vs. Grayson County    
    
9) Franklin-Simpson (13-10) - 2/6 44-54 L #7 Barren County, 2/9 52-41 W at #15 Logan County, 2/10 54-58 L at #9 Greenwood    
Previous Rank: 5    
This Week: 2/13 at #3 Warren East, 2/16 vs. #13 Glasgow    
    
10) Cumberland County (14-10) - 2/6 48-63 L at #8 Russell County, 2/8 58-57 W #13 Monroe County    
Previous Rank: 10    
This Week: 2/11 vs. #4 Clinton County, 2/15 vs. Somerset Christian    
    
11) Metcalfe County (9-15) - 2/6 61-54 W Edmonson County, 2/7 68-77 L Adair County, 2/9 43-77 L at Somerset    
Previous Rank: 12    
This Week: 2/13 vs. #6 Barren County, 2/15 vs. Hart County, 2/16 vs. #5 South Warren    
    
12) Monroe County (13-12) - 2/6 61-56 W #11 Glasgow, 2/8 57-58 L at #10 Cumberland County, 2/9 46-69 L at #7 Barren County    
Previous Rank: 13    
This Week: 2/13 vs. #8 Greenwood, 2/15 at #3 Warren East    
    
13) Glasgow (7-13) - 2/6 56-61 L at #13 Monroe County, 2/9 61-36 W #17 Allen County-Scottsville    
Previous Rank: 11    
This Week: 2/13 vs. Taylor County, 2/16 at Franklin-Simpson    
    
14) Todd County Central (10-13) - 2/9 45-63 L at #16 Russellville, 2/10 82-21 W Crittenden County    
Previous Rank: 14    
This Week: 2/12 at Ballard Memorial, 2/16 vs. #3 Warren East    
    
15) Logan County (11-13) - 2/6 60-69 L #3 Warren East, 2/9 41-52 L #5 Franklin-Simpson    
Previous Rank: 15    
This Week: 2/13 vs. Dawson Springs, 2/15 at #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/17 vs. Daviess County    
    
16) Russellville (4-21) - 2/6 57-79 L #6 South Warren, 2/9 63-45 W #14 Todd County Central    
Previous Rank: 16    
This Week: 2/12 vs. Christian County, 2/13 vs. #17 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/16 at #2 Warren Central    
    
17) Allen County-Scottsville (3-21) - 2/5 58-43 W #7 Barren County, 2/9 36-61 L at #11 Glasgow    
Previous Rank: 17    
This Week: 2/13 at #16 Russellville, 2/15 vs. #15 Logan County    
    
18) Foundation Christian Academy (12-10) - 2/6 52-69 L at Heritage Christian, 2/8 55-26 W at Currey Ingram Academy (TN), 2/10 66-79 L at Christian Fellowship    
Previous Rank: 18    
This Week: 2/13 at Cloverport, 2/16 vs. Cannelton (IN)    

Notes

-As with last time, we covered the marquee matchup between Bowling Green and Warren Central here:

A TL/DR of that - the game was not very good.  Competitive, but not good. Both matchups reek of two programs that expect to see each other in one month at Diddle Arena, so they are showing nothing of value, just lining up and going.  It shows.

-As bad as that game was, Bowling Green's game at Lyon County the following night was a complete 180 on that one.  The Purples took on a fully healthy Lyon County team, and matched them blow for blow.  Travis Perry was hot early, pumping in 29 points in the first half to stake Lyon County to a 40-27 lead, but the tempo was very much to the liking of Bowling Green, and eventually, the shots that hadn't been falling for 24 hours began to fall, and the Purples closed what was ultimately a 15 point third quarter deficit, and eventually led by as many as 4-5 points in the 4th Quarter.  It was 69 all towards the end of regulation.  Bowling Green held for one shot, and they got two out of it - Banks shot a floater in the lane that bounced off the backboard and missed the rim, but he followed the shot at put up a three footer in a hurry.  It hit off the back iron and came back out to Lyon County, who missed a heave at the buzzer.  In double overtime, the Purples had the ball and a 1 point lead at 79-78, Banks went to the foul line, missed the first, hit the second.  Perry went to the rim, fought through contact, and tied the game with just more than 8 seconds left.  The Purples sprinted up the floor, but turned it over, and no one got a shot off for the win.  The Purples trailed 88-86 with a minute left, and Deuce Bailey put them up with a three from the wing.  Perry missed a shot in the lane with 30 seconds left, but Shoulders got the rebound, and put it in to give Lyon County a 90-89 lead.  The Purples would yet again have a shot to win it.  Wardlow took a contested shot with his foot on the three point line, and drew nothing but backboard, and the game was over in double overtime.  Even though the result wasn't what they wanted, Bowling Green proved they can go toe to toe with the best in the state - really confirmation of what they already knew they were capable of.  It was the most points they'd scored in just over two years, and the most they've scored in a loss in almost exactly 34 years (a 96-90 loss to Todd County Central in 1990).  In fact, they'd won 111 in a row when they'd scored 84 or more, dating to an 89-84 loss to Beech (TN) on New Years' Eve in 1990.  In other words, this was a rare result, and a really special game to watch.

-Warren Central had a classic of their own on Tuesday, when they hosted Butler County.  The Dragons had not played the Bears since 12/1/1989, long enough ago that current head coach William Unseld and assistant coach Cedric Gumm were both playing for the Dragons in that game.  The game was worth the wait.  Butler County was on fire early, shooting 16/35 in the first half, and going 7/16 from three as they ran out to as many as a 17 point lead, and led by 11 at the half. Ty Price in particular was hot in the half, scoring 24 by the break. Central had only one made shot from deep in the first half, so while they often matched them score for score, it was the proverbial "trading two points for three" and that's not going to lead to a win.  Central slowly began to whittle back in the third, and made their move down 66-58 in the 4th.  Bratton got it started with a three point play after scoring off a lob from an inbounds play.  After forcing a tough Price shot that didn't fall, Cadin Hammer knocked down a three following an offensive rebound to make it 66-64.  Briar Griffin extended it to 68-64 with a scoop shot layup.  Central ran their offense patiently for 40 seconds, eventually finding Jarek Kirk for a corner three to make it 68-67.  Ty Price hit a pair of free throws to make it 70-67, and the fireworks really began.  After an Unseld miss on a wide open three, Central drew a foul on the rebound.  With 15 seconds left, Central inbounded to Unseld, who head faked to the left on the wing, drifted right to the corner, and knocked down a game-tying contested three.  Butler County elected to try to score without calling a timeout, and Kirk back-tipped Price as he sprinted up the floor.  Drevin Bratton gathered the loose ball, dribbled twice, stepped two (three?) times and slammed home the game-winning dunk.  Butler County threw the ball away trying a deep pass, Unseld was fouled, hit both free throws, and the final was 74-70. 

-Barren County is having a stretch that I can only describe as deeply, deeply weird.  19 days ago, the Trojans were 13-4.  They'd already wrapped up the top seed in their district despite two games remaining to play, and had the look of a dark horse for the region at large.  They promptly lost two head scratchers in a row, falling to Glasgow by 15 (!) and in double overtime to Monroe County.  They popped back up and beat Greenwood in double overtime, but at the start of this week, incredibly lost to Allen County-Scottsville, also by 15 (!!!).  To put that in perspective, it gave the Patriots just their third win on the year.  It was their first win in the district, as well as the region.  They'd lost six in a row to Barren County, and had fallen by 28 to them in December.  They'd lost 15 district games in a row, and their last win over a district opponent, in 2022, was against a Monroe County team that is no longer in their district.  It was unexpected.  By this point, Barren County had not won a game away from their home gym since January 6th, and had a game at Franklin-Simpson the very next day.  So, of course, Barren County won that game by 10.  Why? Because life seldom makes sense. When combined with their 23 point win over Monroe County on Friday, perhaps it is the beginning of the Trojans finding their footing.  They'd better do it soon, because with the district pairings finalized, they'll visit Allen County-Scottsville in the same gym they just lost to them by 15 points, with a berth in the region tournament on the line.  That comes in a mere two weeks. 

-Russell County is another team that has had an odd stretch of games, but they too, may be emerging from it.  While the 16th District has been by and large chaotic, and their inexplicable loss to Metcalfe County - AT HOME - added to that, they held serve in a home contest with Cumberland County on Tuesday, taking the 63-48 decision and putting themselves in position to grab the district's #1 seed.  They are now assured of no worse than a tie for the top spot, and there's a chance they can get the #1 seed without even lifting a finger (more on that when we recap the district standings below).  The Lakers got the job done against Cumberland County by knocking down 7/15 from the three point line and shooting nearly 55% for the game.  Six different Lakers knocked down threes, and Braydon Cerrato led Russell County overall with 22 points.  Defensively, they shut Cumberland County down, holding them to 2/15 shooting from outside, and just 31.6% from the floor overall. 

-The game ultimately meant nothing, but much like Allen County's win over Barren County, my eyebrows shot straight up when I saw the score of the Todd County Central/Russellville game.  Playing in the final district contest for each, all Todd County could achieve was to extend a seven game win streak over the Panthers - their longest in the Riherds era - and to perhaps tie Logan County for 2nd in the district, leading to a tiebreaker to decide who'd wear white when they play in the district tournament.  Well neither of those became a factor at all.  After an even first quarter, the Panthers outscored the Rebels 53-35 over the final three quarters, taking a 63-45 decision that is easily their best win of the year.  Russellville has won just four games on the year, and the win snapped a nine game losing streak overall, and they'd also lost nine straight district games. 

-Which brings us to the district snapshot.  Only the 16th District has any doubt as to the pairings for the district tournaments in two weeks, and none of the results from the other districts required any crazy tiebreakers.

--In the 13th, Franklin-Simpson completed an undefeated district slate at 6-0.  They'll play district host Russellville (1-5) in the first round of district.  Logan County (3-3) is the #2, and they'll play Todd County Central (2-4) - they split their regular season meetings.

--In the 14th, Bowling Green also finished district play unbeaten at 6-0.  They'll play #4 seed Greenwood (0-6), who have lost 15 district games in a row, having not won one since defeating now 15th District member Warren East on 2/11/22.  Greenwood hasn't defeated Bowling Green in the postseason since the 2008 4th Region finals, an oft-repeated stat of mine since no one else in the region outside of Warren Central has beaten them in the postseason since then either.  Warren Central (4-2) settled into the #2 seed, and they'll play host school South Warren (2-4) in the semifinals.  South Warren will be seeking their first 4th Region tournament berth, and are 0-3 all-time against Warren Central in the semifinal round.  They met in the semifinals the last time the tournament was at South Warren, in 2020.

--The 15th is the site of our first tie, where Barren County and Warren East both finished at 4-2.  But no fancy tiebreakers were necessary - Barren County clinched the top spot thanks to sweeping Warren East in district play.  Barren County will play host Allen County-Scottsville (1-5) in the semifinals - as mentioned above, this will be contested in the same spot that AC/S just pulled their massive upset over the Trojans this past week, making it probably THE 1/4 game to watch.  Glasgow (3-3) will meet Warren East, who swept them in three contests this year (albeit one in the 2A sectional so not counting in the district standings).  Warren East has not lost to Glasgow since joining the district for the 22/23 season, and will put the theory to the test of "it's hard to beat a team four times".  Just last year, Glasgow nearly prolonged East's 26 year nightmare of not making the region tournament, pushing them to the limit in a 53-51 semifinal at East.

--Which brings us to the 16th District.  Let's start with what is certain.  Monroe County (1-7) is done with district play and locked into the #5 seed.  They'll meet #4 Metcalfe County (2-6), who has also concluded district play.  Russell County's win over Cumberland County advanced them to 6-1 in district play, with only a road trip to Clinton County remaining.  That result meant that Cumberland County (5-2) can advance no higher than the #2 seed.  The Panthers were swept by Russell County, so if they were to defeat Clinton County (4-2) to move to 6-2, even if Clinton County upset Russell County, both Cumberland County and Russell County would be 6-2, giving the top seed to Russell County.  That doesn't mean the Clinton County/Cumberland County game is irrelevant.  If homestanding Cumberland County were to win that contest, Russell County would clinch the #1 seed right then and there, as Clinton County could do no better than a 5-3 record, and Russell County has that tiebreaker over Cumberland County.  If Clinton County wins that game, they'll host Russell County with a shot at the #1 seed on the line.  With a win there, Clinton County would equal Russell County's 6-2 record, and the top seed would come down to a coin flip for the top seed.  That scenario would see Cumberland County locked into the #3 seed.  If Clinton County were to beat Cumberland County and lose to Russell County, then a coin flip will decide whether Cumberland County or Clinton County is the #2 seed, though it would not matter, they'd be playing each other.  A wrinkle in all of this as well is that the district tournament will be at Russell County.  In my opinion, it would behoove Cumberland County to beat Clinton County on Tuesday, and avoid even the chance of a scenario that they'd have to play Russell County in the 2/3 game, as the Lakers swept Cumberland County, and won at home in convincing fashion.  We'll know one way or the other by end of the day on Wednesday - possibly as soon as the end of today!

Thanks for all this @DragonFire!  Very well done.

Really excited about BG's performance at Lyon County.

LC is the real deal and to take them to 2 OTs is significant.

Updating with a couple of notes:

-Clinton County narrowly edged out Cumberland County 56-54 yesterday, meaning they will get a crack at tying Russell County for the top seed in the 16th District on Wednesday.  If Clinton County can win that game at home, then they'll tie Russell County at the top of the district at 6-2, and it will go to a coin flip for the top seed.  If they lose, Russell County will clinch the top spot outright, and Clinton County and Cumberland County will flip a coin for who is the #2 seed, but that just determines who wears white in their matchup in the tournament.

-The draw for the Sweet 16 took place today, and the 4th Region's draw was...... not great.  They've drawn the early game on Thursday, March 21, and they'll face the Region 13 winners.  That in and of itself is not a death sentence.  The early game helps some with the rest worries that come later, as the winner there will not play again until 6 PM the next day, and if they advance past the quarterfinal matchup, they'll have a slight rest advantage over the team coming out of the bottom of that bracket.  Harlan County is a good team, but Bowling Green has already beaten them once.  It's a winnable game.  But, it is hardly a walkover.  And what is absolutely certain is that none of the others will be either.  Ideally, you want a draw like Lyon County got - two rounds of games you'll be heavily favored in, and then you take your chances.  The quarterfinal round would see the winner of the 9th and 10th.  That would be the likes of Newport, Covington Catholic, or George Rogers Clark.  Tough, tough teams.  Win that, and it's going to likely be a Louisville region representative waiting, as the 6th and 7th are heavily favored to advance to a quarterfinal matchup, guaranteeing one of them waiting in the semifinal.  All of that to run into a team like Lyon County or Great Crossing on more rest than you. For me personally, I think this draw removes the realistic chance of a state champion from the 4th this year.  But, I also didn't think Warren Central would get into position for a state title in 2022 when they had to go through Male and Covington Catholic just to get to George Rogers Clark, so you never know.

Strange situation unfolding in the 14th district. As of yesterday, two BGHS sophomores have transferred from Bowling Green and enrolled at Warren Central. Both have seen minimal varsity minutes this season, but enough for 1 to burn their eligibility for a year. I say strange because one of the transfers is the son of a current Bowling Green assistant coach. This marks the 3rd mid-season transfer from BG to Central in the last 2 seasons. Warren Central now has 9 former Purples currently in their program. 

I’ve never even heard of that type of thing - a player transferring from a school where their parent is on staff to go to a rival. Definitely unusual. 
 

Are all nine of those players who were enrolled at the high school at some point?

I have never heard of it either.  Almost sounds fictional.  Off the top off my head, I believe 7 played at some level at BG high and 2 left following their 8th grade seasons at BGJHS. 

Color me shocked.