12th Region Week 13 Rankings and District Tournament Preview

[se7ens]

We made it. The regular season is now in the books and we turn our attention to the four district tournaments. There will be a few talented teams left behind when the dust settles. Let's take a look at what happened in the final week of the regular season and preview what we have in store for district tournament week.

Rankings:

1. Danville Christian - DCA dispatched two fellow contenders this week as they defeated Wayne County and Somerset. Titus Boyd scored 21 and 14 points, respectively. They now await the winner of Danville and Garrard County and will face that winner at Garrard County in the district semifinals.  They previously defeated Garrard by 53 points and by 7 points and defeated Danville by 27 and by 24.

2. Wayne County - After building up a quality winning streak, the Cardinals fell in back to back games to Danville Christian and Evangel Christian. Kendall Phillips finishes the regular season with a points per game average of 17.4 and Antajuan Dumphord finishes the regular season with 15.4 points per game as well as 8.8 rebounds per game. They face Somerset Christian School in the district semifinals at Southwestern. They have defeated SCS twice by 23 points.

3. Pulaski County - The Maroons split their games last week as they defeated Russell County and fell to LaRue County, both games on the road. Will Blankenship scored 25 against Russell County. They now turn their attention to Rockcastle County in what is set up to be one of the most competitive district semifinals in the region. They defeated the Rockets by 5 in January and just fell to them in overtime two weeks ago. 

4. Somerset - The Briar Jumpers returned to some of their earlier season form as they defeated Boyle County by 14 behind Indred Whitaker's 20 points and nearly defeated DCA, falling by 3. They face Casey County in the district semifinals who they beat earlier in the year by 24 and by 34.

5. Mercer County - The Titans to defeated Bardstown and Trinity Christian before falling to the upstart Southwestern Warriors. They are 8 - 0 in regular season district play and await the winner of Burgin and West Jessamine. Trevor Ellis finishes the year averaging over 20 points per game and over 12 rebounds per game.

6. Lincoln County - The Patriots had about as good of a January as anyone in the region but their February has been much chillier. They had back to back losses to Mercer County and Lexington Catholic but defeated McCreary Central behind Cash Baird's 18 points and Trevor Miracle's 17. They face the winner of Boyle County and the Kentucky School for the Deaf. This will almost certainly be Boyle, meaning we will have the rubber match of a series that is currently knotted up at 1 win for each team.

7. Rockcastle County - The Rockets defeated Model by 32 for their regular season finale. Walker Craig scored 17. They host the district tournament and get to play Pulaski County who they just defeated in overtime on the road.

8. Southwestern - The Warriors are riding high. They followed up the previous week's big win over Somerset with wins over Garrard County and Mercer County. Connor Hudson scored 26 in the win over the Titans. They host the district tournament and have McCreary Central as their semifinal opponent, a team they beat by 1 and by 12.

9. East Jessamine - The Jaguars end the regular season with wins over Tates Creek and Danville. Righteous Harris scored 20 against Tates Creek and Miyo Jones had 22 against Danville. They face Trinity Christian, a team they beat by 12 and by 5, in the district tournament at home.

10. Boyle County - The streakiest team in the region finds themselves on a losing streak to end the regular season. The Rebels went on the road and fell to both Somerset and Taylor County. They should get a tune-up game as they face Kentucky School for the Deaf before taking on Lincoln County in the district semifinals. They split the regular season series with the Patriots.

11. McCreary Central - The Raiders lost to Lincoln County and Clinton County last week and square off against Southwestern in the district semifinals.

12. West Jessamine - The Colts defeated Burgin and Garrard County and face Burgin one more time in the 4/5 game in the district.

13. Danville - The Ads fell to Campbellsville, Washington County and East Jessamine. They play Garrard County to see who faces DCA in the district semifinals.

14. Trinity Christian - The Titans lost to the other Titans in the district, Mercer County, but find themselves on the other side of the bracket from them by virtue of splitting the regular season series with West Jessamine. Trinity Christian goes to East Jessamine to play the hosting Jaguars in the district semifinals.

15. Somerset Christian School - The Cougars fell to Monroe County, extending their losing streak out to 8. They face Wayne County in the district tournament.

16. Casey County - The Rebels fell to Frankfort but defeated Jackson County and Burgin. They face Somerset in the district tournament.

17. Garrard County - The Golden Lions lost to Western Hills, Southwestern, and West Jessamine. They host the district tournament and face off against Danville.

18. Burgin - The Bulldogs lost to West Jessamine and Casey County last week. They face West Jessamine again in the 4/5 game.

19. Kentucky School for the Deaf - The Colonels lost to Red Bird and the Tennessee School for the Deaf last week. They take on Boyle County in the first round of the district tournament. 

[BasketballFan24]

I think you are pretty well spot on with this weeks rankings. Barring any major injuries I think we see the top 8 in the region except for either Pulaski/Rock which should be replaced by number 9 East.  However, it is almost March and the madness could take any of them out.

Give me: 

DCA over Lincoln in the 45th.  Coach Jackson is just a master at game planning when his back is against the wall and his kids are disciplined to carry it out.

Mercer over East in the 46th. I expect closer games than what has been the case in the regular season. 
 

Somerset over Rock in the 47th. I think Rock uses the home court advantage to take Pulaski out.  It will take a lot out of them to do it though and Godbey and Whitaker close it out in the championship. 
 

Wayne over Southwestern in the 48th. I think this is the one I’m most unsure about considering the injury to Farmer and some of their depth players. Southwestern is rolling at the right time but I think the Phillips boys and Dumphord have enough to get it done. 

[BobbyKnight]

Just a thought. What if the districts for the 12th went something like this:

Burgin, Trinity, Somerset Christian, KSD

McCreary, Somerset, Pulaski, Southwestern, Wayne

Boyle, Danville, DCA, Garrard, Mercer

East, West, Lincoln, Rockcastle, Casey

[LethalPG]

2 minutes ago, BobbyKnight said:

Just a thought. What if the districts for the 12th went something like this:

Burgin, Trinity, Somerset Christian, KSD

McCreary, Somerset, Pulaski, Southwestern, Wayne

Boyle, Danville, DCA, Garrard, Mercer

East, West, Lincoln, Rockcastle, Casey

The top district would be throwing a party for sure!

[BasketballFan24]

3 minutes ago, LethalPG said:

The top district would be throwing a party for sure!

And everyone else hoping to draw that district in region. 

[BasketballFan24]

16 minutes ago, BobbyKnight said:

Just a thought. What if the districts for the 12th went something like this:

Burgin, Trinity, Somerset Christian, KSD

McCreary, Somerset, Pulaski, Southwestern, Wayne

Boyle, Danville, DCA, Garrard, Mercer

East, West, Lincoln, Rockcastle, Casey

I do think you could see something like this in the near future:

East, West, Trinity, Garrard, KSD or DCA

Boyle, Danville, Mercer, Burgin, KSD or DCA

Rock, Lincoln, Casey, Somerset, Pulaski here or in the bottom

Wayne, McCreary, Southwestern, Somerset Christian, maybe Pulaski

[12th Region Fan]

Excited to watch the Rockcastle and Pulaski matchup tomorrow night, and then the Boyle/Lincoln matchup later in the week! I’m taking the two coaches who have been in the region finals the last two years. Give me Fraley and Jackson to both advance. 

[gchs_uk9]

Nice win for Garrard County over Danville tonight. Golden Lions led the entire way, coasting to a 69-52 win. Nice performance from junior guard Jay Noe who scored 33 points. Danville never seemed to get into any offensive flow while Garrard shot it well most of the evening. Golden Lions will definitely have their hands full on Thursday against DCA.

[gchs_uk9]

9 hours ago, BasketballFan24 said:

I do think you could see something like this in the near future:

East, West, Trinity, Garrard, KSD or DCA

Boyle, Danville, Mercer, Burgin, KSD or DCA

Rock, Lincoln, Casey, Somerset, Pulaski here or in the bottom

Wayne, McCreary, Southwestern, Somerset Christian, maybe Pulaski

It will all depend on how the impending statewide basketball realignment shakes out. I can't help but think both the 9th and 11th Regions will lose some teams to balance the load. Depending on who leaves the 11th and where they go, it could have major ramifications on the 12th Region.

[se7ens]

4 hours ago, gchs_uk9 said:

It will all depend on how the impending statewide basketball realignment shakes out. I can't help but think both the 9th and 11th Regions will lose some teams to balance the load. Depending on who leaves the 11th and where they go, it could have major ramifications on the 12th Region.

I think this is accurate. The 12th is so long north to south and so narrow east to west that I can’t help but think there’s some major fluctuation when regions are realigned. 90 plus miles separate Nicholasville and Monticello as well as Nicholasville and Stearns.

[24Rocks]

It used to include Laurel County and went no further than Danville.  Jessamine and Mercer weren’t included.  
That seems to make more sense geographically.  Adding Russell County would make sense too.  

[gchs_uk9]

11 minutes ago, 24Rocks said:

It used to include Laurel County and went no further than Danville.  Jessamine and Mercer weren’t included.  
That seems to make more sense geographically.  Adding Russell County would make sense too.  

Mercer, Harrodsburg, and Burgin came into the region in 1982. The Laurels and Russell both left and Jessamine entered in 2006. I doubt Russell County will return just because they're central time and no one else in the region is.

[24Rocks]

In my era Russell wasn’t in the 12th.  Monticello and Pine Knot each had a school.  
 

There were 6 schools in Pulaski County alone before consolidation.

[gchs_uk9]

14 minutes ago, 24Rocks said:

In my era Russell wasn’t in the 12th.  Monticello and Pine Knot each had a school.  
 

There were 6 schools in Pulaski County alone before consolidation.

Russell County was always in the 12th Region. It opened in the fall of 1953 and stayed in the 12th until being moved to the 4th Region in 2005. Even before consolidation, both Jamestown and Russell Springs both played in the 12th Region dating to the early 1930.

[24Rocks]

Are you certain?  I played at Somerset and graduated in 1974.  We never played Russell other than a preseason scrimmage my freshman year.  I don’t recall a Russell County team ever playing in the regional tournament.  What district would they have been in?