This is the final part of a series that posits that the peak of Kentucky high school basketball, the year featuring the most compelling combination of preseason hype, the largest number of powerful teams, top-shelf talent, and competitve intrigue, was fifty years ago, the 1975-76 season. If you haven’t read them yet, you can find them here:

Part I -- The Hype

Part II -- The Teams

Part III -- The Players

 

As for the competitive intrigue, it arrived late. The regular season consisted of the top teams winning almost every night, with the rare exception being when they faced each other and one had to lose. That’s how the regular season played out, and the district tournaments too. Things began to get interesting in the region tournaments.

 

The region upsets were significant but not shocking. Madisonville ended the season in the top 20, very nearly a prerequisite to winning the Sweet 16. In fact, of the state champions dating back to 1947, more than a third had been the top-ranked team in the season-ending Litkenhous ratings; over sixty percent were in the top three; eighty percent of champions had been ranked within the top five, and ninety percent within the top ten. There were a couple of champions ranked between 10 and 20, and only one, Hazard in 1955, with future UK star Johnny Cox leading the way, broke through to win a state title from outside the top 20. And just barely outside at that. When Christian County topped the Maroons in the second region semifinal, it knocked out one of the dark horses to win the state. It would not be the last time Christian County took down a more highly rated team that year.

 

The fifth region boasted only one team in the top 20, Elizabethtown. E’town was favored by over 20 points in a first round game against 18th district runner up Caverna. But the lightly regarded Colonels beat the Panthers easily. Green County eliminated region number two North Hardin and went on to capture its first region championship, but they lurked outside the top 50, a place where no team had ever emerged to win a state title.

 

In the seventh region, Ballard finally toppled its nemesis, top-rated Male. Ballard was not a one in three favorite to take the championship, and indeed the Bruins entered the game as a seven-point underdog to the Bulldogs. But as the number three team in the Litratings, Ballard was not exactly a long shot either.

 

In the ninth region, the only team in the top ten, Newport Catholic, lost in the semifinals to Covington Holmes, a team still in the top 20. A ninth region champion became slightly less likely as a result.

 

The best hope for a dark horse team east of Lexington was the 10th region’s Bath County, ranked 16th in the state. Bath County lost in the region final to Harrison County, which fell outside the top 20, even if only by fractions of a point.

 

The state tournament started off predictably enough, with all the heavy favorites advancing to the quarterfinals. That’s when all hell broke loose. Edmonson County, which had just cracked the top 50 for the first time all season was a double-digit underdog to Harrison County. The upstarts from the fourth region pulled off a surprise 61-57 win. Then Christian County, another ten-point underdog to Louisville Shawnee handed the Indians only their fifth loss of the year, and their first to a team not among the elite Louisville powers.

 

State number two Henry Clay and number seven Shelby County were the presumptive finalists heading into the semifinal games against Christian County and Edmonson County, respectively.  Both fell victim to stunning upsets.

 

After all the hype, after the dominating regular seasons the top dogs had compiled, the state final would be between two teams out in the state, neither ranked in the top 20 of the final Litratings. On paper, Christian County was a solid six-point favorite. But by the time the game rolled around, nobody was putting much stock in who the favorite was on paper. The announcers, Hardin McLane and Jock Sutherland rightly surmised that it was anybody’s game for the taking.

 

And for a while it was. But by the end, it was Edmonson County breaking the Christian County press for layups and making free throws to extend a lead that took the air out of any drama. That didn’t make it much less exciting in its own way. After seven years of Lousiville teams putting the final touches on their high rankings, a team had broken through when it seemed least likely. No team had ever come from so far back in the Litratings to win the state tournament. There had been much talk of moving to a size-based class system, but Edmonson County’s championship deflated the momentum. Jock Sutherland said on air that all the small schools in the state could take a lesson from this and get to work. If Edmonson County could do it, a lot of other teams could too.

 

As of the date of this post, the 1976 championship game can be found on YouTube. It’s a good watch, in my opinion, in spite of the sketchy video quality. In addition, for a deeper dive into the magical 1975-76 season, I have just released a book titled Mammoth Miracle. It’s on sale at my website for anyone who is interested in learning more.

 

You can buy Mammoth Miracle at www.brenthouk.com 

5 hours ago, brentbbs said:

This is the final part of a series that posits that the peak of Kentucky high school basketball, the year featuring the most compelling combination of preseason hype, the largest number of powerful teams, top-shelf talent, and competitve intrigue, was fifty years ago, the 1975-76 season. If you haven’t read them yet, you can find them here:

Part I -- The Hype

Part II -- The Teams

Part III -- The Players

 

As for the competitive intrigue, it arrived late. The regular season consisted of the top teams winning almost every night, with the rare exception being when they faced each other and one had to lose. That’s how the regular season played out, and the district tournaments too. Things began to get interesting in the region tournaments.

 

The region upsets were significant but not shocking. Madisonville ended the season in the top 20, very nearly a prerequisite to winning the Sweet 16. In fact, of the state champions dating back to 1947, more than a third had been the top-ranked team in the season-ending Litkenhous ratings; over sixty percent were in the top three; eighty percent of champions had been ranked within the top five, and ninety percent within the top ten. There were a couple of champions ranked between 10 and 20, and only one, Hazard in 1955, with future UK star Johnny Cox leading the way, broke through to win a state title from outside the top 20. And just barely outside at that. When Christian County topped the Maroons in the second region semifinal, it knocked out one of the dark horses to win the state. It would not be the last time Christian County took down a more highly rated team that year.

 

The fifth region boasted only one team in the top 20, Elizabethtown. E’town was favored by over 20 points in a first round game against 18th district runner up Caverna. But the lightly regarded Colonels beat the Panthers easily. Green County eliminated region number two North Hardin and went on to capture its first region championship, but they lurked outside the top 50, a place where no team had ever emerged to win a state title.

 

In the seventh region, Ballard finally toppled its nemesis, top-rated Male. Ballard was not a one in three favorite to take the championship, and indeed the Bruins entered the game as a seven-point underdog to the Bulldogs. But as the number three team in the Litratings, Ballard was not exactly a long shot either.

 

In the ninth region, the only team in the top ten, Newport Catholic, lost in the semifinals to Covington Holmes, a team still in the top 20. A ninth region champion became slightly less likely as a result.

 

The best hope for a dark horse team east of Lexington was the 10th region’s Bath County, ranked 16th in the state. Bath County lost in the region final to Harrison County, which fell outside the top 20, even if only by fractions of a point.

 

The state tournament started off predictably enough, with all the heavy favorites advancing to the quarterfinals. That’s when all hell broke loose. Edmonson County, which had just cracked the top 50 for the first time all season was a double-digit underdog to Harrison County. The upstarts from the fourth region pulled off a surprise 61-57 win. Then Christian County, another ten-point underdog to Louisville Shawnee handed the Indians only their fifth loss of the year, and their first to a team not among the elite Louisville powers.

 

State number two Henry Clay and number seven Shelby County were the presumptive finalists heading into the semifinal games against Christian County and Edmonson County, respectively.  Both fell victim to stunning upsets.

 

After all the hype, after the dominating regular seasons the top dogs had compiled, the state final would be between two teams out in the state, neither ranked in the top 20 of the final Litratings. On paper, Christian County was a solid six-point favorite. But by the time the game rolled around, nobody was putting much stock in who the favorite was on paper. The announcers, Hardin McLane and Jock Sutherland rightly surmised that it was anybody’s game for the taking.

 

And for a while it was. But by the end, it was Edmonson County breaking the Christian County press for layups and making free throws to extend a lead that took the air out of any drama. That didn’t make it much less exciting in its own way. After seven years of Lousiville teams putting the final touches on their high rankings, a team had broken through when it seemed least likely. No team had ever come from so far back in the Litratings to win the state tournament. There had been much talk of moving to a size-based class system, but Edmonson County’s championship deflated the momentum. Jock Sutherland said on air that all the small schools in the state could take a lesson from this and get to work. If Edmonson County could do it, a lot of other teams could too.

 

As of the date of this post, the 1976 championship game can be found on YouTube. It’s a good watch, in my opinion, in spite of the sketchy video quality. In addition, for a deeper dive into the magical 1975-76 season, I have just released a book titled Mammoth Miracle. It’s on sale at my website for anyone who is interested in learning more.

 

You can buy Mammoth Miracle at www.brenthouk.com 

I was there.