1st Region Rankings and Regional Tournament Preview

[D Wolf]

Great week of basketball in the district tournament.  I am going to first do a very brief ranking of the eight remaining teams, and then I will have a preview of the quarterfinal matchups.

Here are my rankings of the remaining teams:

1. Marshall County (22-7) - this is a well-balanced team that is simply finding ways to win right now.

2. McCracken County (24-7) - the one/two punch of Senior Connor Miller and Sophomore Jackson Klope may be enough to lead them to Rupp Arena.

3. Murray (23-9) - a very narrow loss to the Marshals, and I think they led most of the way.  This is a senior-led team that has a very good chance.

4 (tie). Mayfield (19-8) - this team just keeps getting better.  They are capable of a big upset this week.

4 (tie). Paducah Tilghman (14-15) - they have some guys who are really playing well right now.  My question for them is are they capable of strining together three wins in a row?

6. Graves County (20-10) - the Eagles have been on a slide the last part of the season, but this team also has several seniors who don't want their high school career to end.

7. Carlisle County (21-10) - Coach Oneil is crafty and he will have them ready to play this week.

8. Fulton County (6-23) - their mascot is the Pilots.

Here is a preview of the quarters:

Game 1 - McCracken County vs Graves County

When: 6:00 Wednesday night

Previous Matchup - McCracken Co. won 44-35

Connor Miller scored 21 points on 11 shots in the district finals, and he made some big plays down the stretch.  Klope missed most of the 1st half with foul trouble but ended up with 14 points.  The Eagles are led by two senior guards - Lukas Pigg and Briley VeuCasovic.  I think that the Miller/Klope duo will be too much for the Eagles on Wednesday night.  I like the Mustangs to move on to the semis.

Game 2 - Carlisle County vs Murray

When: 7:30 Wednesday night

Previous Matchups - Murray won both.  1st game was 64-52 and the 2nd game was 60-33.

Congrats to the Comets on winning the 1st District, but they got a really tough draw in the Murray Tigers. Murray has a very balanced scoring attack, and four of their top five scorers are seniors.  The Comets are led by Carter Barnett and he scored 39 points in the district finals.  I believe that Murray's size will be too much for the Comets in this one.  However, Coach Oneil always seems to have a trick or two up his sleeve. I think this one could be close but I think the Tigers will move on.

Game 3 - Mayfield vs Paducah Tilghman

When: 6:00 Thursday night

Previous Matchup - Mayfield won 65-61

You'll notice that I put these two teams as tied for 4th in the region.  I just can't pick this one - I will call it a toss up.  Mayfield is led by Senior Braydon Pate, and he is an excellent shooter.  He makes three 3s per game, and shoots it better than 48%.  Senior Braden Morris is also chipping in over 10 points per game.  The Tornado is led by Sophomore Miles Woodfork, and he is scoring the ball really well right now.  And both Josh Campbell and Omari Williams have been tough to deal with at the rim.  I think this game could go either way.

Game 4 - Marshall County vs Fulton County

When: 7:30 Thursday night

No previous matchup.

I'm done calling Matthew Langhi a Freshman - he is now playing like a veteran.  Langhi scored 20 points in their win over the Tigers Thursday night.  The Marshals are quite balanced and Junior Alex Staples actually leads the team in scoring at 15 PPG.  The Marshals should win this one pretty easily Thursday night.

[jacksonpurchase]

Head to Head in Regional Tournament 

6 of the 8 teams have won 19 or more games. I'm going with Murray, McCracken or Marshall. Looking at in region play they seem to have the upper hand. Mccracken only losing 2 games to regional teams. Many of these games were early and really don't matter but does show you who actually has beaten the big 3 ( Marshall, McCracken and Murray). You will have to beat one of these teams to win it if not two of them. 

Vs Marshall, Murray, McCracken-

McCracken 3 wins

Marshall 2 wins

Murray 2 wins

Carlisle- 1 win

Graves-1 win 

PT 0 wins

Mayfield 0 wins

Fulton Co 0 wins

 

Marshall Co vs 22-7 

McCracken 1-2,Murray 1-2 ,Graves 1-1 ,PT 2-0, Carlisle 1-0,Fulton Co-0-0,Mayfield 0-0 

McCracken Co vs

Marshall 2-1,Carlisle 0-1,Murray 1-0,PT 3-0,Graves 2-0, Mayfield 1-0 ,Fulton Co 0-0

Murray vs

Marshall 2-1, McCracken 0-1, Fulton Co 2-0,Carlisle 2-0,Mayfield 1-0,Graves 1-0 ,PT 0-0

Paducah Tilghman vs

Graves 1-0, Carlisle 1-0, Fulton Co 1-0,Mayfield 0-1, McCracken 0-3. Marshall 0-1, Murray 0-0, 

Graves Co 

McCracken 0-2, Murray 0-1, PT 0-1,  Marshall 1-1, Mayfield 2-1, Carlisle 1-0, Fulton Co. 

Mayfield vs

 Murray 0-1, McCracken 0-1, Marshall 0-0, Graves 1-2, PT 1-0, Carlisle 1-1, Fulton Co 2-0

Carlisle Co vs

McCracken 1-0, Marshall 0-1, Murray 0-2, PT 0-1, Mayfield 1-1, Fulton Co 3-0, Graves 0-1 

Fulton Co vs

Murray 0-2, Carlisle 0-3, Mayfield 0-1, Graves 0-1, Marshall 0-0, McCracken 0-0, PT 0-1  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[D Wolf]

I 100% agree with you that the regional winner will most likely be Marshall, McCracken or Murray.  I think four of those other five teams could spring an upset but I’m not sure they could put three wins together over high quality teams.  

[blackandblue]

Not sure that PTHS can win three in Row without Ahmad Wilkins, their second leading scorer out for the season. But Miles Woodfork and Josh Campbell have been playing well. They will need big games from Omari Wiliams.

[jacksonpurchase]

PTHS did get a good 1st round draw and played Marshall close earlier this season. The tornado could pull out the upset in the Semis, but not sure but Its been a long time since the Tornado made the finals. 

[D Wolf]

This will be a very brief semis preview. I’m writing this on my smartphone. I will be consistent with my previous rankings for the Final 4.  1-Marshall, 2-McCracken, 3-Murray, 4-Tilghman.  There’s honestly not much separating the Top 3, and PT has been much better in the latter half of the season. 
Game 1 is at 1:00 and Game 2 follows. 
Game - McCracken vs Murray. The Mustangs are led by Region 1 POY Connor Miller and Jackson Klope.  But Dylan Jackson also came up big in their win over Graves.  The Tigers are led by their four seniors and they have very good size.  I think Miller will be the best player on the floor so I’ll take McCracken in a tight one. McCracken 23, Murray 21.  No, that’s not a halftime prediction - I think that will be the final score (maybe bring a crossword puzzle).

Game 2 - Tilghman vs Marshall.

The Marshals have been rolling and they are just finding ways to win. It can be a different guy each game - Staples, Langhi, Parker, Robertson.  The Tornado will be missing their sharp-shooter Wilkins so the trio of Woodfork, Campbell and Williams will all need to have big games for PT to pull this one out.  Williams in particular is a wild card.  I’ve seen games where he’s dominant and also games where he has very little impact.  
I think this one is close for a while but the Marshals pull away in the 2nd half.  
 

sShould be some fun games!

[jacksonpurchase]

McCracken vs Murray in the finals. AGAIN. 

[ElitePatriot]

Is there a stream for the championship?

[jacksonpurchase]

McCracken vs Marshall in Finals.