From Scott County's Billy Hicks Classic.

I tuned in to Cov Cath's audio broadcast just in time to hear them announce the final score, lol.

Athens McGillis named MVP of the game.

Scoring leaders for Cov Cath:

Athens McGillis - 23 points

Cash Harney - 12 points

Donovan Bradshaw - 12 points

Teegan Stava - 11 points

The Colonels were 8/15 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Who do they play next?

13 minutes ago, Cov_Cath_Hwy said:

Who do they play next?

Scott County. Friday night at 6pm.

The other semifinal is Frederick Douglass vs. Great Crossing.

Both games are at Great Crossing,

 

45 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

From Scott County's Billy Hicks Classic.

I tuned in to Cov Cath's audio broadcast just in time to hear them announce the final score, lol.

I believe CovCath was down 8-0 to start the game.

I really like this CCH team, Athens is the second best scorer in the region. They play and defend extremely hard, and they have a tough defensive minded all around guard in cash to run the show. But I love that they have multiple guys they can count on late to handle and score, guard play is huge come tournament time. I think their biggest issue may be a dominant big man! 

How different is their offensive system under Coach Thelen as compared to Ruthsatz's system?  I get they are limited by not having a back to the basket player, but I assume Jake is comfortable going back to his Bellarmine days and playing a 5-out offense.

In the couple scrimmages and game I watched versus Lex Cath, Thelen runs a similar type of offense but I haven't seen him run as many sets that Ruthsatz has ran in the past. Harney and McGillis can get points on their own but against strong teams who are big, physical, and can play defense, the ISO play will only go so far and effective sets will be needed. 

I have also seen a huge drop off like last year in Guards able to handle pressure outside of Harney and McGillis. The other guards struggle to manage the basketball under pressure and their IQ isn't there which will create an issue later in the season due to minute load management for those two. I believe both Harney and McGillis play the majority of the game at a high intensity. Personally I'm not sure they can sustain those amount of minutes over the long hall but we will see. When the pressure turns up McGillis is the only true PG able to handle it just like last year. 

I have also seen many players have the green light to shoot the three or other shots without discipline. Thelen is new, and I would say under Ruthsatz if you didn't hit 3s consistently in practice you were definitely not shooting them in games. I think this will also change over the course of the season. Harney and McGillis are creating a lot of shots for themselves and the team needs to understand the hierarchy and get them the ball when they are open. I felt like this was a must in the Ruthsatz System and isn't happening with Thelen yet.

Lastly, Bradshaw has experience playing with Harney and McGillis and Cov Cath needs to quickly maximize this chemistry and start Bradshaw. They all play so well together and this will be the big 3 that will help them win Regionals. Plus he is the only true size on the team and he is averaging 8 RPG only playing 60% of the game. 

In short, Thelen isn't as meticulous yet as Ruthsatz was but has a different approach and rapport with his players that hypes his players up and gives them confidence. Thelen will only continue to get better as the season goes on and I think the Colonels will only get better and better as the season ticks along. 

Although small, they are scrappy and will cause a lot of team's problems. 

 

10 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

How different is their offensive system under Coach Thelen as compared to Ruthsatz's system?  I get they are limited by not having a back to the basket player, but I assume Jake is comfortable going back to his Bellarmine days and playing a 5-out offense.

It's more or less a 5-out offense...but when Donovan Bradshaw is on the court he's kept as close to the basket as they can have him.

One thing Coach Thelen hit on in the two interviews he did with the Colonel Athletic Network was the fact that he wanted to ALWAYS have Cov Cath control the tempo of the game. I didn't see or listen to the Woodford County game, but at least against Lex Cath the tempo was completely dictated by Cov Cath for the entirety of the game.