1) Warren Central (20-4) - 2/3 62-45 W at Madisonville-North Hopkins, 2/4 47-60 L at Butler County, 2/7 55-49 W #2 Bowling Green, 2/8 86-50 W #14 Glasgow    
Previous Rank: 1    
This Week: 2/10 at #10 Warren East, 2/11 at Adair County, 2/15 vs. Evangel Christian    
    
2) Bowling Green (20-5) - 2/4 96-54 W Owensboro, 2/7 49-55 L at #1 Warren Central, 2/8 82-66 W at McCracken County    
Previous Rank: 2    
This Week: 2/11 at Henderson County, 2/13 at Apollo, 2/15 at #16 Russellville    
    
3) Clinton County (25-1) - 2/8 57-35 W Pickett County (TN)    
Previous Rank: 3    
This Week: 2/13 at #8 Russell County, 2/14 vs. #5 Barren County    
    
4) South Warren (14-8) - 2/4 90-63 W #16 Russellville, 2/7 62-67 L at #6 Greenwood    
Previous Rank: 4    
This Week: 2/11 vs. #7 Cumberland County, 2/14 at Grayson County, 2/15 vs. Caldwell County (at Butler County)    
    
5) Barren County (16-10) - 2/3 68-60 W at #8 Cumberland County, 2/4 61-54 W #13 Franklin-Simpson, 2/8 43-69 L Adair County    
Previous Rank: 5    
This Week: 2/11 vs. #12 Metcalfe County, 2/14 at #3 Clinton County    
    
6) Greenwood (15-10) - 2/4 52-92 L at Daviess County, 2/7 67-62 W #4 South Warren    
Previous Rank: 6    
This Week: 2/11 at Grayson County, 2/14 vs. #15 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/15 at #12 Metcalfe County    
    
7) Cumberland County (13-8) - 2/3 60-68 L #5 Barren County, 2/7 65-57 W #12 Metcalfe County    
Previous Rank: 8    
This Week: 2/11 at #4 South Warren    
    
8. Russell County (15-8) - 2/4 87-78 OT W at #12 Metcalfe County, 2/7 71-68 OT W at #11 Monroe County    
Previous Rank: 9    
This Week: 2/11 vs. Mercer County, 2/13 vs. #3 Clinton County, 2/14 at Adair County    
    
9) Logan County (14-9) - 2/4 72-67 W at #7 Warren East, 2/7 69-53 W #17 Todd County Central    
Previous Rank: 10    
This Week: 2/10 vs. Owensboro Knights Christian, 2/11 vs. Bluegrass Blazers, 2/14 at #13 Franklin-Simpson, 2/15 at Daviess County    
    
10) Warren East (14-10) - 2/4 67-72 L #10 Logan County, 2/6 73-63 W Bluegrass Blazers, 2/8 57-85 L Fairdale (at LaRue County)    
Previous Rank: 7    
This Week: 2/10 vs. #1 Warren Central, 2/11 vs. Caverna, 2/14 at #11 Monroe County    
    
11) Monroe County (11-14) - 2/4 49-88 L at Adair County, 2/7 68-71 OT L #9 Russell County    
Previous Rank: 11    
This Week: 2/10 vs. Red Boiling Springs (TN), 2/11 at #14 Glasgow, 2/14 vs. #10 Warren East    
    
12) Metcalfe County (9-15) - 2/4 78-87 OT L #9 Russell County, 2/7 57-65 L at #8 Cumberland County, 2/8 70-55 W Campbellsville    
Previous Rank: 12    
This Week: 2/11 at #5 Barren County, 2/13 at Hart County, 2/15 vs. #6 Greenwood    
    
13) Franklin-Simpson (6-13) - 2/4 54-61 L at #5 Barren County, 2/7 57-45 W at #16 Russellville    
Previous Rank: 13    
This Week: 2/10 at #17 Todd County Central, 2/14 vs. #9 Logan County    
    
14) Glasgow (4-18) - 2/4 54-75 L Caverna, 2/7 52-44 W #15 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/8 50-86 L at #1 Warren Central    
Previous Rank: 14    
This Week: 2/11 vs. #11 Monroe County, 2/14 vs. LaRue County    
    
15) Allen County-Scottsville (10-14) - 2/3 92-84 W Bluegrass Blazers, 2/7 44-52 L at #14 Glasgow, 2/8 75-35 W Fort Campbell    
Previous Rank: 15    
This Week: 2/11 vs. #16 Russellville, 2/14 at #6 Greenwood, 2/15 vs. McLean County (at Owensboro Sportscenter)    
    
16) Russellville (5-17) - 2/4 63-90 L at #4 South Warren, 2/7 45-57 L at #13 Franklin-Simpson    
Previous Rank: 16    
This Week: 2/11 at #15 Allen County-Scottsville, 2/14 at #17 Todd County Central, 2/15 vs. #2 Bowling Green    
    
17) Todd County Central (1-23) - 2/4 58-66 L at East Robertson (TN), 2/7 53-69 L at #10 Logan County    
Previous Rank: 17    
This Week: 2/10 vs. #13 Franklin-Simpson, 2/14 vs. #16 Russellville, 2/15 at University Heights    
    
18) Foundation Christian Academy (17-4) - 2/6 73-41 W at Currey Ingram Academy (TN)    
Previous Rank: 18    
This Week: 2/11 vs. Stem Prep Academy (TN), 2/14 at Cloverport, 2/15 vs. Christian Fellowship    

Notes:

-There was a lengthy recap and some discussion of the matchup of #1 Warren Central and #2 Bowling Green here:

But the long and short of it is that about halftime of that game, I'd already mentally moved Bowling Green up to #1 in the region, which would have been the first time this year someone else occupied the top slot.  The Purples have been playing phenomenal basketball, and have won 11 of 13 since dropping a contest with Woodford County on January 4th.  They've really lit up the scoreboard in that time, with all 11 of those wins featuring scores of 61 or more, including scores of 86, 81, 109, 96, and 82.  But the two they lost, they scored 51 and 49, unable to fully solve Warren Central's length.  The game turned on them in the second half on Friday, and the result cemented Warren Central as the #1 seed and locked Bowling Green into the #2, and barring something truly crazy down the stretch, they're locked into those spots for the region ranks as well. 

-Across town, there was another 14th District contest with postseason implications - or at least so it was thought - when South Warren visited Greenwood.  Entering the game, Greenwood had not won a district game in almost exactly 3 years, losing 21 district contests in a row.  The next longest district losing streak for the Gators was merely ten.  While Greenwood knew that win or lose they were facing a difficult matchup in the district tournament, making seeding less of a primary concern, sometimes a shooter just needs to see the ball go through the net, and the Gators desperately needed to see a win in a district game. The game didn't start terribly, but it didn't start all that well.  A technical was assessed prior to the game, and South Warren got to shoot two free throws to open the game.  A back and forth first quarter followed, with four ties and eight lead changes.  The play of the quarter was the final one - Sampson, inbounding for Greenwood from in front of the South Warren bench in the frontcourt with just two seconds left, lobbed it across court to Asher Pettus, who caught it, made a move to his left, and nailed a three at the horn for a 20-17 advantage.  The Gators began to pull away in the middle of the second.  With the score 30-27, Tyler Reiter, who entered the game with only eight made threes on the year, made back to back to back threes for a personal 9-0 run.  Reiter had another three earlier in the quarter, giving him 12 of his 13 points in the quarter.  The Spartans called timeout, suddenly down 39-27.  South would battle back, scoring the final five of the half to settle in for a 39-32 Greenwood lead at the break.  They'd score the first four of the third to cut it to 39-36.  The lead would go as low as two multiple times in the quarter, as high as seven, and it was 52-47 going into the 4th.  Greenwood got possession first, and Nick Simpson had a nice drive down the right side of the lane to lay it up for a 54-47 advantage, and that's when at long last the Spartans made their move.  Decker banked in a shot in the lane, South forced a turnover, and then Rardin hit a deep three to cut it to 54-52.  Pettus missed an attempted three for the answer, and then Rardin hit a three from virtually the same spot to make it 55-54 South Warren minutes into the final quarter, giving South their first lead since early in the first quarter.  It would be their last.  The Gators were equal to the task - Hatcher put Greenwood back in front at 56-55 with an up and under move, and then on their next possession knocked down a three to make it 59-55.  He'd add a free throw to cap a personal 6-0 run to make it 60-55 with less than two minutes remaining. South cut it to two twice afterwards, and it was 65-62 following a split pair of free throws by Reiter.  Perkins brought the ball up for South, and tried to find Rardin at the top of the key, but Hatcher picked the pass off, drove the floor, and laid it in for a 67-62 final - Greenwood snapped the streak, and their students rushed the floor to celebrate. 

It was a big win for Greenwood, but in regards to the district seeding, it turned out, it was all for naught.  The following day, the seeding was finalized, using the RPI tiebreaker between South Warren and Greenwood, which favored the Spartans by .00046.  That locks in Warren Central facing Greenwood and host Bowling Green facing South Warren in the district tournament, which begins in two weeks.

-One note for Warren Central in their game against Glasgow - the team set a school record for made threes in a game, knocking down 18 of them, with 11 coming from Ant McAfee, which was also a school record for a single game.  McAfee had 37 in the contest. 

-The seeds were still yet to be fully locked in for the 16th District, and last week I described some of the potential chaos scenarios, if Russell County dropped one of their games during the week, and particularly if Metcalfe County won out as well.  We didn't get the chaos scenarios, but we did get some tense moments.  Tuesday, Metcalfe County hosted Russell County, and held a 53-39 lead with 4:07 left in the third.  It would take until the 6:33 mark of the fourth before the Hornets would score again, by which time the Lakers had cut the lead to 53-52.  Metcalfe County managed to stretch the lead out to six at one point in the fourth, but Maddox Shearer tied it at 69 all with just under a minute left.  Metcalfe answered with a pair of free throws, then Logan Walters laid it in to tie it at 71.  The Hornets elected not to call a timeout, and a drive and kickout to Hudson Jessie resulted in a three off the front iron, and the two teams were headed to overtime.  On the opening possession of OT, the Lakers grabbed their first lead since it was 3-0 when Stannelle was not challenged, and simply walked up into a three from near the top of the key.  Russell County would never trail again, scoring the first eight of the extra session, and holding Metcalfe County without a point until free throws at the 1:16 mark.  Russell County would win 87-78.  That result locked Metcalfe County into the 4/5 game, making their Friday matchup irrelevant, where Cumberland County won 65-57 to lock Metcalfe County into the 5 seed and seal the 2 seed for Cumberland County.  That meant Russell County entered Friday knowing that a win would clinch a spot in the 2/3 game with Cumberland County.  For Monroe County, a win would give them a chance at climbing, needing Russell County to also lose to Clinton County the following week.  A tight game would ensue, with neither team leading by more than four in the first half, and Monroe County holding advantages of 13-12 after one and 25-23 at the half.  That trend mostly continued into the third, but the Lakers scored back to back baskets late, and ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 46-39 advantage into the final quarter.  Monroe County trailed by nine at 58-49 with 3:33 left when they made their move.  Williams rebounded a miss and was fouled while laying it in, adding the free throw to cut it to 58-52.  Nuckols went to the line and hit two free throws on the next possession to make it 58-54, and after a pair of Laker free throws, Nuckols hit a three from the wing to make it 60-57 with 1:04 left.  A free throw contest ensued and it was 63-60 with 20 seconds left and Russell County in possession, but they turned over at half court to give Monroe County a chance.  Nuckols triggered the ball in to Caden Geralds, who swung it to Williams on the opposite wing in front of the Monroe bench.  He drove to the basket, and kicked it back to Nuckols in the corner for a three and the tie with 8 seconds remaining.  The Lakers turned it over in the frontcourt on the next possession (hitting a shot after stepping out of bounds but of course didn't count), but a Nuckols shot from halfcourt merely drew iron, and Russell County was off to their second OT game of the week (and third game in a row).  Unlike the game earlier in the week, Russell County didn't find pulling away to be easy.  They sent Nuckols to the line with just under 1 minute remaining, where he knocked down two free throws to make it a 67-66 Russell County lead.  Reece Bartley stole a pass in the backcourt and hit a spin move to the basket, drawing a blocking foul while laying it in, and suddenly the Falcons scored four points in 6 seconds to take a 68-67 lead.  He back ironed the free throw, and Loy drew a foul on the ensuing possession, hitting the first free throw to tie the game, but Monroe County could not corral the rebound, keeping possession with the Lakers with 36.5 remaining in OT.  Russell County would hold the ball until Loy drove into the lane, kicking out to the corner in front of the Laker bench to Walters, who hit the game-winner with 3.1 remaining.  Monroe County's half court heave at the buzzer was way off target, and Russell County prevailed 71-68 in overtime.  With the win, Russell County locks into the 3 seed - they have one game remaining where they could tie Cumberland County's record at 5-3 in district play, but the Panthers will be the 2 seed on head to head tiebreaker.  Monroe County will be the 4 seed.

-One other game of significant note as it did impact the rankings - Logan County rather surprisingly went to Warren East and emerged with a 72-67 victory.  The Cougars have won four in a row overall, and have really made a move in the 2025 calendar year.  They've won 11 of 13 since the calendar turned over, and the win over Warren East is their most significant yet.  Logan County has risen to 9th in the rankings, which is likely their ceiling, but higher than it looked like the 13th District was going to be capable of in the back half of the year.  For Warren East, they still just don't seem to be the team that it appeared they'd be earlier in the season.  Their only wins since early January have come over AC/S (twice), Franklin-Simpson, Glasgow, Russellville, and the home school Bluegrass Blazers.  They were just blown out by Fairdale, lost to Logan County, lost to Metcalfe County in the last six games.  They still seem to be favored to advance to the region tournament, but it's far from a given.

-The 13th District remains the only district where the seeds are not officially official, but as described in previous weeks, it can be said with extreme confidence who slots where.  Logan County is 5-0 in district play, and visits Franklin-Simpson on Friday.  The Wildcats are 4-1, and can tie for the top seed with a win.  But since the teams would have split the season series, it will come down to points allowed in games between the two, if they were to tie. Since it's just two teams, that means essentially, they will have to win their game by more than Logan County won the earlier meeting.  Well, Logan County won the earlier meeting by 30 points, scoring 83 in the process.  So Franklin-Simpson would have to match that, or exceed it.  Franklin-Simpson hasn't won by 30+ over any opponent since defeating Todd County Central by 34 last year.  So realistically, Logan County already has this unless they fall to complete shreds.  In the other seed determining matchup, we have the same scenario.  Russellville visits Todd County Central - Russellville is 1-4 in district play, Todd County Central 0-5.  Russellville won the first meeting by 18, so Todd County Central would have to tie or exceed that.  Of course, Todd County Central has won only one game the entire year.  I would be incredulous if they managed to pull off a win here.

District Matchups:
--13th District - 2/14 #9 Logan County at #13 Franklin-Simpson, 2/14 #16 Russellville at #17 Todd County Central
--14th District - No Games
--15th District - No Games
--16th District - 2/13 #3 Clinton County at #8 Russell County

Games to Watch:

-Inside of the region, not much stands out. One that does is #3 Clinton County hosting #5 Barren County on Valentine's Day.  The Bulldogs have played only three region teams outside their district, and one of those was against Foundation Christian Academy.  Both of the others were against Glasgow.  This will be easily the best team they play in the region outside their district, and probably the best team they'll play before the region tournament.  It also comes on the heels of a road game with Russell County, which can challenge a short rotation.  Clinton County has been seldom tested this year, and a lot of that is down to a schedule that is among the softest I've ever seen (not all their fault).  I will follow this one with great interest.  #4 South Warren hosts #7 Cumberland County, giving the Panthers a chance to test themselves against a 14th District team, good prep for a potential postseason run.  Outside of region play, I'll be following Warren Central's trip to Adair County and Bowling Green's visit to Henderson County, both on Tuesday, both against opponents that beat the other in that group (as in Adair beat Bowling Green, Henderson beat Warren Central).  Greenwood and South Warren both have games with Grayson County, which will provide additional benchmarks heading into the final week.

I really thought Greenwood would have a shot against BG if they somehow got the 3 seed. I see no shoot at them beating Central. They don’t have the guys to be disciplined enough to get “great” shots… wide open shots. WC rushes them too much. It shouldn’t be that way. GW has too much experience to not be able to slow down, take care of the ball, and get open shots. WC just overwhelms them as they do a lot of teams. 
Again, the 4th region looks like a 2 team battle. 

GREAT Report!

BG has won alot of games this year, but likely been disappointing in the bigger games.

Like the Clinton County Story, but don't think it will play out at Regions.