4th Region: Week 8

1) Warren Central (15-2) - 1/20 81-64 W #5 Glasgow, 1/22 59-65 OT L at #7 Bowling Green    
Previous Rank: 1    
This Week: 1/30 vs. #3 South Warren, 1/31 vs. #16 Todd County Central    
    
2) Clinton County (18-3) - 1/22 55-39 W Evangel Christian (at Owensboro Sportscenter), 1/23 46-48 L Caverna (at Owensboro Sportscenter)    
Previous Rank: 2    
This Week: 1/27 vs. Wayne County    
    
3) South Warren (13-5) - 1/22 55-75 L #6 Greenwood    
Previous Rank: 3    
This Week: 1/27 vs. #9 Logan County, 1/30 at #1 Warren Central, 1/31 at Ohio County    
    
4) Glasgow (11-8) - 1/20 64-81 L at #1 Warren Central, 1/23 54-44 W #9 Barren County    
Previous Rank: 5    
This Week: 1/27 at #15 Metcalfe County, 1/31 at Apollo    
    
5) Greenwood (16-4) - 1/20 72-59 W #12 Franklin-Simpson, 1/22 75-55 W at #3 South Warren    
Previous Rank: 6    
This Week: 1/27 at #8 Barren County, 1/30 vs. #6 Bowling Green    
    
6) Bowling Green (11-9) - 1/22 65-59 OT W #1 Warren Central    
Previous Rank: 7    
This Week: 1/26 at North Hardin, 1/27 vs. University Heights, 1/30 at #5 Greenwood, 1/31 vs. Bell County (at Marion County)    
    
7) Russell County (11-8) - 1/23 77-63 W East Jessamine    
Previous Rank: 8    
This Week: 1/27 at Green County, 1/30 vs. #14 Cumberland County    
    
8. Barren County (10-9) - 1/19 79-70 2OT W at Campbellsville, 1/23 44-54 L at #5 Glasgow    
Previous Rank: 9    
This Week: 1/26 at #10 Allen County-Scottsville, 1/27 vs. #5 Greenwood, 1/30 at #18 Warren East, 1/31 vs. #11 Monroe County    
    
9) Logan County (11-9) - 1/2045-57 L Ohio County, 1/23 68-63 2OT W at #12 Franklin-Simpson    
Previous Rank: 10    
This Week: 1/27 at #3 South Warren, 1/30 at #12 Russellville    
    
10) Allen County-Scottsville (7-10) - 1/20 54-67 L at Macon County (TN), 1/22 88-65 W at #18 Warren East    
Previous Rank: 13    
This Week: 1/26 vs. #8 Barren County, 1/27 vs. #14 Cumberland County, 1/30 at #11 Monroe County    
    
11) Monroe County (10-8) - 1/19 60-63 L at #15 Metcalfe County, 1/23 61-77 L at #14 Cumberland County    
Previous Rank: 4    
This Week: 1/27 at Campbellsville, 1/30 vs. #10 Allen County-Scottsville, 1/31 at #8 Barren County    
    
12) Russellville (13-7) - 1/20 82-79 OT W Hart County, 1/23 52-55 L at #16 Todd County Central    
Previous Rank: 11    
This Week: 1/27 vs. #18 Warren East, 1/30 vs. #9 Logan County    
    
13) Franklin-Simpson (6-10) - 1/20 59-72 L at #6 Greenwood, 1/23 63-68 2OT L #10 Logan County    
Previous Rank: 12    
This Week: 1/27 at Edmonson County, 1/30 vs. #16 Todd County Central    
    
14) Cumberland County (7-11) - 1/20 91-79 W #18 Warren East, 1/23 77-61 W #4 Monroe County    
Previous Rank: 14    
This Week: 1/27 at #10 Allen County-Scottsville, 1/30 at #7 Russell County, 1/31 at #3 Southwestern    
    
15) Metcalfe County (9-10) - 1/19 63-60 W #4 Monroe County    
Previous Rank: 15    
This Week: 1/27 vs. #4 Glasgow, 1/30 at Green County    
    
16) Todd County Central (5-15) - 1/20 74-90 L Hopkinsville, 1/22 68-53 W at Trigg County, 1/23 55-52 W #11 Russellville
Previous Rank: 16    
This Week: 1/30 at #13 Franklin-Simpson, 1/31 at #1 Warren Central    
    
17) Foundation Christian Academy (13-5) - 1/20 78-35 W Metro Christian Academy (TN), 1/22 78-42 W Stem Prep Academy (TN), 1/23 75-27 W Jonathan Edwards Classical Academy (TN)    
Previous Rank: 17    
This Week: 1/27 at Crittenden County, 1/31 at Christian Fellowship    
    
18) Warren East (1-19) - 1/20 79-91 L at #14 Cumberland County, 1/22 65-88 L #13 Allen County-Scottsville    
Previous Rank: 18    
This Week: 1/27 at #12 Russellville, 1/30 vs. #8 Barren County    

Notes:

-Most of the games scheduled for Monday and Tuesday should be considered alleged.  The ice is all over the place, and it's hard to imagine many, if any, games getting played.

-Impact game of the week is Bowling Green knocking off Warren Central 65-59 in overtime.  A lot more detail here: https://bluegrasspreps.com/forums/topic/257048-bowling-green-65-warren-central-59-ot/ - But long and short of it, it's a massive upset that underlines that perhaps the region cannot be taken for granted the way I thought it could.  Still tough to move Central from the top spot, but it is certainly more possible.  Their game against South Warren will be interesting to see the response.  It wasn't much later than this a year ago where it all went wrong for Central.  They're also probably going to end up well under the 30 games they could conceivably play.  They've had three cancellations this year, and I suspect that Todd County Central game won't get played either.  If there's any retooling they need, they're not going to have many opportunities.  

-Clinton County had what was likely the toughest draw of any team in the All "A", and unfortuantely it got them in the second game.  Their first game was uneven, jumping out to a lead on Evangel, seeing Evangel come back to take a 31-29 lead, but then hammering them with a long run and settling in for a 55-39 victory.  The following day against Caverna, the Bulldogs trailed pretty much the entire way, but always found a way to stay in touch.  They battled back from an eight point deficit to tie the game at 46, but it sounded like there was some misunderstanding of the situation, and as time was dwindling, they fouled to send Caverna to the line, where they made both.  A last second three was no good, and Clinton County fell 48-46.  Those are two teams ranked in many top 25s, and Clinton County performed very well.  They continue to make it known that they are real.  

-If not for the Bowling Green/Warren Central result, the most eye-popping result would have been Greenwood taking South Warren to the woodshed to the tune of a 75-55 victory, seemingly out of nowhere.  The Spartans entered the game riding high off their win over Bowling Green the week before, and with an opportunity to sweep the season series from Greenwood.  Had they done so, they'd have clinched the tiebreak over Greenwood in a head to head scenario, and put themselves in a position to be able to take the top spot in the district outright thanks to the Central loss.  They were without starting point guard and third leading scorer Brandon Perkins, who was out due to illness, and perhaps that explains why they fell so flat.  South led by as many as five at 10-5 in the first quarter, but a 12-1 run by Greenwood put them in front for good.  Greenwood led by as many as 16 in the second quarter, led by 15 at the half.  South did manage to claw within nine at 41-32 during the third, but that was the only time it got to single digits.  Greenwood had five players score in double digits, led by Martell Tuttle's 19 points.  Both Isaiah Summers and Ethan York had 14, Brayden Kennedy added 13, and Kash Sampson scored 10.  The Gators shot 51% from the field and 41.7% from three while making ten from outside.  Owen Shively scored 22 for South in the losing effort, with Johan Pratt adding 16, but they shot below 40% from the field.  Presuming that neither South Warren or Warren Central get in a game this week prior, they'll meet on Friday each looking to avoid a second straight district loss.

-Glasgow continued their bounceback season, with a strong effort at Warren Central followed by wrapping up the top spot in District 15 with a 54-44 win over Barren County.  The Scotties are 5-0 in district play, and pick up the season sweep over their rival.  Barren County scored the first two of the game, and then Glasgow scored the next ten to take a lead they'd never relinquish.  Barren County did close to 12-11 at one point in the second, but eight straight points by Glasgow ended that run.  The lead stayed around 6-10 points most of the second half before Barren County made a run to close within 37-35 with just under five minutes remaining.  Jaylen Bradley had the answer with back to back shots off the glass followed by a Landon Minton layup, and after a Trojan bucket, Jeremiah Moore's and-1 off a steal made it 46-37, followed by a Martin steal and dunk to push it to 48-37, effectively ending the game. Glasgow was terrible from the field, shooting 39.6% from the field and 23.1% from outside, but it was enough. Barren County has now dropped 7 of 8.  

-With only one week left in January, some of the districts have come into focus, while several are incredibly muddy.  
--13th District: Logan County is still unbeaten in district play at 3-0, taking a 2OT thriller from Franklin-Simpson this week.  Everyone else is 1-2 as the three other teams have played round robin beating each other.  That means that Logan County is heavily in the driver's seat, and all that is between them and the #1 seed is winning two of three from their remaining games.  While they struggled to put Franklin-Simpson away, they beat Russellville by 22 and Todd County Central by 19.  Those are their next two district games - they may well have the district wrapped before they even get to their rematch with Franklin-Simpson on February 13th. As for the rest, it's anyone's game who ends up where.  Franklin-Simpson nearly lost to Todd County Central the first time they played, sruviving by a point.  Russellville had the largest margin in the round robin, knocking off Franklin-Simpson by 10.  The Panthers have two of their three remaining district games at home, as does Franklin-Simpson.  That would seemingly put Todd County Central behind the 8 ball, as they have to go on the road to both Franklin and Russellville, their lone home game left is against district favorite Logan County. The tiebreak in the district is head to head then RPI. Right now, Russellville is solidly ahead of Franklin in RPI, and Franklin is even further ahead of Todd County Central.  If the Rebels want out of the last spot, they'd better win some games.

--14th District: We were an eyelash away from mostly having the order of things wrapped up.  It was already known that Greenwood had stomped South Warren when Bowling Green hit their game tying three to send it to overtime against Warren Central.  If not for that, the district matchups would likely be all but set already.  As it stands, we're still in the expected order, but Bowling Green is back in the mix to get out of the bottom spot.  Warren Central still leads outright at 3-1, and any combination of a win and loss by both Greenwood and South Warren will give them the top spot in the district.  Both Greenwood and South Warren control their fate to stay in the 2/3 game and to give themselves a crack at the top spot in the district.  RPI is the tiebreaker after head to head should it come to that.  Warren Central is way ahead of everyone in that regard, and likely, only a single district win at this point will probably get the top spot for them.  Greenwood is at .636, followed by South Warren at .603, and Bowling Green at .570.  For the Purples, Their best shot is probably still winning out and having either Greenwood or South Warren lose to Warren Central as well.  If it comes to a tie, it's probably South Warren they want to be tied with.  All four teams play in district games this Friday, so we'll know that much more one week from now.

--15th District: Everything is wrapped up in this one, we just don't know who will be the 2 or 3.  Glasgow has clinched the top spot at 5-0 in district play, and Warren East is locked into the last spot at 0-5.  Both Barren County and Allen County-Scottsville are 2-2.  One will be the 2 and one the 3, but it just determines who wears white when they play each other in the postseason.  Glasgow all but has a bye into the region tournament.

--16th District: As usual, this district is wild.  Clinton County has just about wrapped up the top spot, and likely will be #1.  They are 6-1 - the oly team that can match them is Russell County, who will meet them on 2/10.  The Lakers are currently 2-2 in district play, and if they win out, they'll both be 6-2 in the district.  Their tiebreakers are apparently still a random draw if head to head doesn't break the tie, as they haven't been updated since RPI became a thing.  Maybe it'll be forced on them.  If so, Clinton County essentially already clinched.  Russell County and Cumberland County are both at .500 in district play, as Cumberland County is 3-3.  Those two play on 1/30.  If Cumberland County wins that, they'll guarantee no worse than 4th, and realistically will be in the 2/3 game as a result.  Monroe County is probably the most surprising team as suddenly everything has gone wrong for them.  They had the critical win over Clinton County earlier this year, but suddenly now are 3-4 in district play after losing to both Metcalfe County and Cumberland County last week.  Their sole district game left is against Russell County on 2/6.  If they lose that, the BEST they can do is a tie for third, and will be in serious trouble to be in the 4/5 game.  Somewhat unthinkable at the start of January.  Metcalfe County brings up the rear at 1-5.  It will be tough for them to get out of the bottom spot, and if they lose either of their remaining district games (2/3 at Russell County, 2/6 vs. Cumberland County), they will be locked into the 4/5 game.