For the Bulldog faithful you'd like to see Holmes win by a bit more but this is a tough win and a good step towards building team chemistry to win the region

Let's examine Holmes eight losses. 1st loss to Simeon Kenton at their place by four in O.T. 2nd loss to Barberton, Oh at J-Town Tourney by two points. 3rd loss to GRC in Fifth/Third by two. 4th loss to Cov. Cath in Fifth /Third by one point in O.T. (this was the day after all of Holmes problems arose and their fourth game in four days, Cov. Cath's third in three days) 5th loss to St. Henry on the road the day before the suspensions were to be handed out by eleven points. 6th loss to Holy Cross at home by five points in O.T.(Holmes was up by 13 with five minutes to go in the game and this was the first game played without the six suspended players). 7th loss to Cov Cath. on the road by four during suspension period. Last but not least 8th loss to Scott on the road by eleven points last game of suspension period. They have lost three O.T. games. I personally believe that Holmes will be the top contender to win the Ninth. They will, if they beat Holy cross on a neutral floor in the district, be hosting the Regional at Holmes were they have only lost one home game all year. Barring the injury to Jefferson, Holmes could really be somewhere around 3 to four losses and ranked in the top ten in the state. I do believe they would of have beaten Cov. Cath. at least once this year if DJ wasn't hurt and they had not created all of their own problems. DJ with his talent at the point makes Holmes at least ten points better with his ballhandling & passing skills alone (somone to take care of the ball down the stretch). Holmes over confidence can come back to bite them though as evidenced in the Ryle, Newport, and Dixie Heights games they tend to play down to their opponets and only play well enough to win and not take care of business because they are definetly better than the margin of victories they had in those games. All in all I still think they will turn it up at the right time and win the 35th district and 9th region championship. They have not lost to a bad team yet and have played a pretty tough schedule and the biggest common thread that has lead to the losses by Holmes is missing their true point guard and senior leader DJ.

P.S. - remember inside of a minute to go of the Cov. Cath. game Austin Hill had the ball stolen in the backcourt with a chance to tie the game or go ahead with a three. He was having to try and do everything without the suspended players & DJ. This is where DJ steps up and makes this team better because he is a much better ballhandler than Hiil and Henderson and this gives them the chance to have four bonafide scoring threats on a last second play (DJ, Hill, Henderson & Rice) because DJ's much tougher to guard on the dribble in the backcourt and can't be trapped as easily. Question? who takes the last second shot for Holmes if I'm a coach who do I defend? Or possibly try and double team. This is why I believe Holmes will Be going to Rupp.

Let's examine Holmes eight losses. 1st loss to Simeon Kenton at their place by four in O.T. 2nd loss to Barberton, Oh at J-Town Tourney by two points. 3rd loss to GRC in Fifth/Third by two. 4th loss to Cov. Cath in Fifth /Third by one point in O.T. (this was the day after all of Holmes problems arose and their fourth game in four days, Cov. Cath's third in three days) 5th loss to St. Henry on the road the day before the suspensions were to be handed out by eleven points. 6th loss to Holy Cross at home by five points in O.T.(Holmes was up by 13 with five minutes to go in the game and this was the first game played without the six suspended players). 7th loss to Cov Cath. on the road by four during suspension period. Last but not least 8th loss to Scott on the road by eleven points last game of suspension period. They have lost three O.T. games. I personally believe that Holmes will be the top contender to win the Ninth. They will, if they beat Holy cross on a neutral floor in the district, be hosting the Regional at Holmes were they have only lost one home game all year. Barring the injury to Jefferson, Holmes could really be somewhere around 3 to four losses and ranked in the top ten in the state. I do believe they would of have beaten Cov. Cath. at least once this year if DJ wasn't hurt and they had not created all of their own problems. DJ with his talent at the point makes Holmes at least ten points better with his ballhandling & passing skills alone (somone to take care of the ball down the stretch). Holmes over confidence can come back to bite them though as evidenced in the Ryle, Newport, and Dixie Heights games they tend to play down to their opponets and only play well enough to win and not take care of business because they are definetly better than the margin of victories they had in those games. All in all I still think they will turn it up at the right time and win the 35th district and 9th region championship. They have not lost to a bad team yet and have played a pretty tough schedule and the biggest common thread that has lead to the losses by Holmes is missing their true point guard and senior leader DJ.

P.S. - remember inside of a minute to go of the Cov. Cath. game Austin Hill had the ball stolen in the backcourt with a chance to tie the game or go ahead with a three. He was having to try and do everything without the suspended players & DJ. This is where DJ steps up and makes this team better because he is a much better ballhandler than Hiil and Henderson and this gives them the chance to have four bonafide scoring threats on a last second play (DJ, Hill, Henderson & Rice) because DJ's much tougher to guard on the dribble in the backcourt and can't be trapped as easily. Question? who takes the last second shot for Holmes if I'm a coach who do I defend? Or possibly try and double team. This is why I believe Holmes will Be going to Rupp.

 

Wow nice assessment. I couldn't have said it any better. I agree with practically everything said in that last post. Having DJ on the floor bringing the ball up is a huge advantage. If you try to key on him in the last seconds, there waiting is Hill, Henderson, and Rice.