Right now I think that I have three tiers.  Here they are:

The Favorites - Calloway & Marshall

The Contenders - McCracken, Tilghman, St. Mary, Graves, Mayfield

Sleeper Teams - Murray, Carlisle, Ballard Mem.

I definitely reserve the right to move teams up and down these tiers throughout this young season.  We have some very interesting 1st Region matchups this week.  Here are the key games of the week by day:

Tues - Calloway at Graves, PT at Henderson Co., Marshall at Carlisle, UHA at Murray, Ballard Mem. at St. Mary, Dawson Springs at Mayfield

Thurs - Marshall at McCracken (D Wolf's Game of the Week), PT at Christian Co.

Fri - Graves Co. at St. Mary, Hickman Co. at Carlisle Co.

Sat - Marshall at O Cath, Teams playing in the Ken Tenn Classic - Calloway, McCracken, PT, Graves, Murray (these teams play a team from Tennessee.

No change yet to my rankings.  Here they are:

1. Calloway Co. (3-0) - W 84-54 vs Haywood, TN, W 71-48 Clarksville Acad., W 69-68 Pope John Paul, TN

How about a nice buzzer beater to take down Pope John Paul.  The Lakers intentionally missed the free-throw and then kicked it out to Conner Lockhart for the game winner.  Eli Finley has now moved into 4th place in scoring all time for the Lakers.  This team is the favorite for me - simply the combination of Finley and Butler is so difficult to stop.  They have other very good pieces too!

2. Marshall Co. (3-0) - W 65-30 at Christian Co., W 56-21 vs Massac Co., IL, W 71-58 vs Battle Ground Acad., TN

How about Kyzer Phllips emerging as another scoring threat for the Marshals.  This team is very deep, and is not far behind the Lakers in my book.  They have an interesting matchup at #3 McCracken on Thursday - that's one you're going to want to see and I assume it may be on YouTube (McCracken broadcast).  

3. McCracken Co. (1-1) - W 83-29 vs CCA, L 63-70 Butler Co.

No shame in a neutral court loss to Butler County - I believe that team is in the Top 20 in Kentucky in most polls.  Something has caught my eye so far - the Mustangs only have one senior significant contributor (D. Jackson) and one junior contributor (Grogan).  But not to worry - their Sophmore class is very deep and many of those guys played some significant minutes as Freshman.  Another player to keep an eye on is Freshman Aaron Adams - he has good size and should contribute a bunch this year.

4. Paducah Tilghman (0-0) Game versus Carlisle Friday night was cancelled.

Big-time congrats to the Tornado football team for their 4th state title!!!  There are at least three football players who will now move over to the hardwood (Campbell, Thompson, Purdiman).  I assume it will take a bit of time to get them on track.  This Tornado basketball team has some good quality depth and lots of Juniors and Seniors to lead this team.  Tough first game - they travel to Henderson.

5. St. Mary (2-0) - W 64-35 vs Trigg Co., W 62-47 vs Carlisle Co., W 73-36 at Hickman Co.

Three impressive wins to begin the season for the Vikings.  I listened to Coach Denson on the Region 1 podcast (Brian York does an excellent job!) and Coach has me sold on the quality of this team.  They have four very talented players, and Mayes and Puckett are not your average underclassmen.  In fact - I would say that Griffin Mayes is one of the top 8th graders in Kentucky!  Furthermore, I think that Luke Sims should be in the Region PoY conversation.  The gap between the Vikings and the Mustangs/Tornado is not as big as it usually is.  I wouldn't be surprised if they knocked off one or both of those teams this year - especially at home.

6. Graves Co. (1-0) - W 71-23 vs Hickman Co.

This Eagles team is one that I don't know a lot about, but has been getting lots of buzz in the 1st Region.  A very good opportunity for the Eagles to go to the Vikings on Friday and move up these rankings.  The only thing that I don't like about this team is that I have to keep spelling VeuCasovic for a few more years (I didn't know there was a brother).

7.  Mayfield (1-0) W 75-46 at Fulton Co.

Owen Byrd really emerged for this team late last season, and the junior kept things going in the first game by putting up 29 against Fulton County.  This team has graduated a ton of seniors the last couple years, but their youth program is very good and I think the Cardinals will be in the mix by the end of the season.  Coach Croft does an excellent job!

8. Murray (1-3) L 57-66 vs Caldwell Co., L 62-80 vs Lyon Co., W 75-62 at Ballard Mem., L 53-61 Madisonville

Credit to new Coach Holder for this ringer of a schedule for week one.  A player to watch for the Tigers is John Harris Moore, and he is averaging 15 ppg.  I believe it's his dad who was quite a player for Tilghman in the mid-90s.  This is a young team and I look for them to make strides throughout the season.

9. Carlisle Co. (0-2) L 47-62 at St. Mary, L 30-50 Lawrenceville, IL

The talent is primarily in the Sophomore class for the Comets and Wyatt Rickard is a player that is one of the most highly recruited in this Region - he's a 6-9 Super Soph.  I strongly believe that the Comets are the favorite to win the 1st District and I don't think I see that changing any time soon.

10. Ballard Mem. (1-1) W 73-53 vs Fulton County, L 62-75 vs Murray

The Jace Birney watch is once again on, and he is only averaging 34 ppg right now.  34 ppg!!!  He is going to set a record at Ballard that is extremely tough to beat.

11. Community Christian Acad. (1-1) L 29-83 at McCracken, W 66-63 vs CFS

A pretty impressive Freshman class for CCA.  I think this team will get some wins this year, but unfortunately I don't really see them competing much in the 2nd DIstrict.

12. Christian Fellowship School (0-2) L 67-80 at Dawson Springs, L 63-66 at CCA

A pretty impressive showing in a narrow loss at Dawson Springs.  I also this CFS will have some wins this year!

13. Hickman Co. (0-3)  L 58-60 S. Fulton, TN, L 23-71 at Graves Co., L 36-73 vs St. Mary

I think this is my pick to finish second in the 1st District and play at the CFSB Center in regionals.  But I'm not 100% sure.

14. Fulton Co. (0-2) L 53-73 at Ballard Mem., L 46-75 vs Mayfield

One of my favorite color schemes and mascots in this area - the Pilots!

15.  Fulton City (0-3) - L 39-45 vs Dresden, TN, L57-69 at Greenfield, TN, L 44-91 vs Ft. Campbell

I'm simply curious - I wonder if Fulton County and Fulton City has ever explored merging their school systems.  Really just wondering.

I don't know about legally exploring the possibility of merging, but I read a couple of years ago on the football forum that Fulton City didn't like the idea because they believed the majority of athletes would come from the County and not be a fair representation of a merger. Although I'm a Tilghman fan, I have always wanted to see both of these school do really well. 

I agree with you 100%.  Both are very small schools - they play in the All A Classic.  I assume they have their reasons but it would seem they could compete much better as one.  However, I know not everything is about athletics.  I wish them both well!!!

The Region One podcast guy ranked today like this:

1-Calloway, 2-Marshall, 3-McCracken, 4-Graves, 5-St. Mary

His podcasts are excellent if you enjoy 1st Region sports.  You can find them on Twitter.