Well I did it again.  Two seasons ago I had the Marshals ranked something like 9th in the 1st Region and they ended up being one of the top teams.  Last season I had them ranked in the back half of the Top 10 after losing some guys, and they ended up winning the regional tournament.  This season they lost two bigs, and I thought that would hurt them some so I ranked them behind the Lakers.  I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong.  Not only did the Marshals go to Calloway and come away with the victory - they did it in dominating fashion!  I hope I've learned my lesson, and you better believe the Marshals are #1 in my rankings this week.

Perhaps I say this every week, but rankings 3 through 9 are a jumbled mess.  I feel like any of those teams could beat one of the others on any given night.  We'll see how correct this is when #3 travels to #9 on Tuesday night.  I think that game could be a close one.

Key games this week:

Mon - Lyon Co. at Graves Co.

Tues - McCracken Co. at Carlisle Co., Tilghman at Murray

Fri - Calloway Co. at McCracken Co. (D Wolf's Game of the Week), Tilghman at Marshall Co., Graves Co. at Ballard Mem., Carlisle Co. at Hickman Co.

Sat - McCracken Co. at Marshall Co., Mayfield at Murray, Carlisle Co. at Ballard Mem.

Here are my rankings:

1. Marshall Co. (17-0) - W 79-52 at Calloway Co., W 54-49 vs Graves Co.

Just your average 40 point game for Sophomore Matthew Langhi at the Jeff.  He was 13 for 21 from the field (4 of 9 from 3!) and 10 of 12 from the FT line.  I followed this score on Twitter and every time I saw it I was surprised as the game never really was very close.  One thing to remember about this team is that out of their top eight players pretty much every one of them are solid defenders.

2. Calloway Co. (17-2) - L 52-79 vs Marshall Co., W 68-42 Rowan Co., W 52-44 LaRue Co., W 80-75 Harlan Co. (2A State Championship)

Congrats to the Lakers as they are the 2A State Champions!  Let's not talk about Tuesday night here, and focus on the bounce back that they had in Owensboro.  Jonah Butler continues to put up huge numbers and he's now in 6th place in all-time Calloway County scoring.  Ok - I'm definitely not going to predict a win for the Lakers when they visit Marshall, but I do believe they will make a game of it.  This is too good of a team to get blown out twice to any team.

3. McCracken Co. (9-7) - W 76-59 vs Tilghman

This team keeps getting better and they controlled the game against Tilghman for the majority of the night.  It seems that someone new steps up each night and on Friday it was Owen Grogan who scored 21 points.  The Mustangs have a chance to prove themselves Friday night when they host Calloway.

4. Paducah Tilghman (8-7) W 78-65 at Graves Co., L 59-76 at McCracken Co., L 63-71 Evansville Reitz (IN)

Congrats to Miles Woodfork as he scored his 1,000th point against the Eagles on Tuesday night.  He's a pure scorer. Will the real Tilghman please stand up?  The Tornado looked outstanding in a comfortable win at Graves, but then laid an egg on Friday night when they visited McCracken.  Tilghman travels to Marshall on Friday night, and if they played like they did in the Graves game it could be a close one.  If they played like they did against McCracken they will get beat by 30.

5. Graves Co. (10-6) - L 65-78 vs Tilghman, L 49-54 at Marshall Co. 

It's strange to say that the Eagles gave the Marshals much better of a game than Calloway did, but the game at Reed Conder was close throughout.  Braden Waller is a big body, and is putting up impressive numbers for the Eagles.  He's averaging 16 points and 7 rebounds on the season.

6. Ballard Memorial (10-6) - W 73-45 vs Fulton Co., W 54-53 St. Mary, W 62-52 Mayfield (All A Championship)

Did you see the shot that Ike Miller hit from 3/4 court to beat St. Mary by one.  Pretty incredible!  After a slow start this Bombers team has been impressive as of late.  They followed up the win over the Vikings with a 10-point victory over Mayfield.  All of a sudden it's not so crazy to think about these Bombers in the regional tournament.  But first - good luck at the All A Classic!

7. St. Mary (12-4) - W 80-49 vs CFS, L 53-54 Ballard Memorial

This is the team that I thought would be cutting the nets down in the 1st Region All A Classic.  Tough way to go out as you've gotta say there was a little luck in Ike Miller's 3/4 court bank shot.  It seems the Vikings are a very strong team at home, but have struggled some away from the Holy Hardwood.  This week they play in the Superman Classic up in Metropolis, IL (home of Superman of course).

8. Mayfield (14-3) - W 81-44 vs CCA, W 50-47 Carlisle Co., L 52-62 Ballard Memorial

It seems like Coach Croft has a deadeye shooter every year.  This year it's Owen Webb - he makes over three 3s per game and shoots it from downtown at 52%.  Pretty impressive!

9. Carlisle Co. (8-8) - W 62-25 vs Hickman Co., L 47-50 Mayfield

On Tuesday night the Comets host McCracken.  Can they make this a close one?  I think that Wyatt Rickard will need to have a big night for the Comets to spring the upset.

10. Murray (6-12) - L 59-74 at Camden Central, W 74-57 vs Hickman Co.

The good news for the Tigers is that none of their top three players are seniors.  Both Maddox Mitchell and Acey Stricklin are Juniors.  And their top scorer, Harris Moore, is a Sophomore.

11. Community Christian Acad. (8-7) - L 44-81 at Mayfield, W 72-69 at CFS, W 40-28 at Hickman Co.

Ahmed Dee is averaging a double/double for this young Warriors team.

12. Hickman Co. ( 5-10) - L 25-62 at Carlisle Co., L 57-74 at Murray, L 28-40 vs CCA

Which team will end up 2nd place in the 1st District.  We may find out who rises to this spot when the Cardinals host Fulton Co. this week.

13. Fulton Co. (3-8) - L 45-73 at Ballard Mem.

Tristan Kinney is also averaging a double/double for the Pilots.

14. Christian Fellowship School (6-11) - L 49-80 at St. Mary, L 69-72 at CFS

Elijah Grigg is one of the top scorers in the state - averaging over 21 points per game.

15. Fulton City (2-14) - L 64-71 at CFS

The top three scorers for this team are two Freshman and a 7th grader.

The Graves/Lyon  game will be at Murray State. 

One note - the Graves/Ballard game for Friday is canceled and will be rescheduled since the Bombers are at the All A.

I listened to Brian York’s 1st Region blog and his Power Rankings were 1-Marshall, 2-Calloway, 3-McCracken, 4-Ballard, 5-St. Mary.   His blog is very good if you’re a 1st Region sports fan.  
Steve Springer, a fantastic writer for the Murray paper had 1-Marshall, 2-Calloway, 3-Graves, 4-McCracken, 5-Mayfield.

Both rankings are solid.  It goes to show that starting with #3 everything is up in the air.