Boys Top 5

 

1. K. Central (14-4 overall, 9-1 vs. 13th Region foes)

What’s the scoop: What a weird and wacky high school basketball season it has been. With the Corbin Redhounds’ 25-point loss at home against South Laurel, Brandon Elam’s Knox Central Panthers become the third different team this season to capture the No. 1 rating. The Panthers will get to see if they deserve the No. 1 rating Friday on the road against No. 3 Corbin.

 

Surprise, surprise: Despite seeing his team claim this week’s No. 1 rating, while coming off a 70-61 win over Cawood, Elam wasn’t happy with his team’s effort against the Trojans.

“I wasn’t happy with anything in this game,” he said. “There was no effort to speak of. We were sleepwalking through the whole game. We jogged up and down the floor all night and never did anything correctly fundamentally speaking. I guess we are just truly lucky that we scored more points than they did.”

A few positives that came out of the win are Cody Miller’s 19-point scoring effort, along with Knox Central capturing its seventh win during its last eight tries.

 

What’s ahead: Things get a little bit tougher in the following week for the Panthers.

A road test against Corbin comes up Friday and on Jan. 31 Knox Central will get a solid test against 51st District foe Pineville.

 

2. South Laurel (15-5, 7-2)

What’s the scoop: Just when I thought you could stick a fork in them, Steve Wright’s South Laurel Cardinals come away with an impressive 61-36 road win over 50th District rival Corbin Tuesday.

Boy, oh boy, with the way things are going this season, the 13th Region title is up for grabs. I believe there are at least six to seven teams that have a legitimate shot at winning the thing.

 

Surprise, surprise: To be honest, I’m shocked with South Laurel’s win over the Redhounds.

Matt St. John only tallied two points and starting point guard Matt Gilbert didn’t play after having to set out again with an injury, but the Cardinals found a way to win.

The biggest reason South Laurel won might be credited to the play of Matt Watkins.

About three weeks ago, no one knew who Watkins was, but they do now.

He’s one of the best shooters in the region and led the way Tuesday with a game-high 21 points.

After losing at home on Dec. 14 by 21 points to Corbin, the Cardinals had a 47-point turnaround.

 

What’s ahead: South Laurel has a home date against Bell County Friday before having a chance to at least finish tied for first in the 50th District race with a home win against Whitley County Jan. 29.

 

3. Corbin (13-6, 7-1)

What’s the scoop: Despite losing to South Laurel Tuesday, I still believe Tony Pietrowski’s squad has the talent to win the 13th Region title.

Good teams have bumps in the road all the time, and the 26-point loss to the Cardinals could have been just that for Corbin.

For instance, in 2005, South Laurel was pummeled at home against Lexington Catholic, but recovered and eventually won the state championship.

Look for the Redhounds to recover quickly and assert themselves as one of the top teams in the 13th Region.

 

Surprise, surprise: No one in the 13th Region has played a tougher schedule than Corbin, but dating back to Dec. 23, the Redhounds are 4-4.

Corbin gets a chance for redemption today at Whitley County and at home Friday against No.1 Knox Central.

Look for Pietrowski to have his players ready to play in both games.

 

What’s ahead: The Redhounds have a tough three-game stretch ahead and I look for Corbin to pass all three beginning with today’s game against Whitley County.

The Redhounds follow with a home date against Knox Central Friday and then a road game against North Laurel on Jan. 29.

 

4. Cumberland (13-2, 8-0)

What’s the scoop: Are the Redskins the fourth best team in the region? To be honest, they could be No. 1.

But until things clear up a bit in the region, I’m sticking Jerry Edwards’ squad in this spot.

Why?

Well, to be honest, Cumberland’s schedule isn’t the strongest around and until the Redskins play some of the stronger teams in the region, they’ll be hanging around in the No. 2, 3 or 4 spot.

 

Surprise, surprise: The Redskins continue to remain the best defensive team in the 13th Region after limiting their opponents to an average of 42 points during Cumberland’s past two games.

The Redskins will get a test today at Lynn Camp High School against Pineville.

 

What’s ahead: Cumberland will play Pineville today and if the Redskins win, a date with either Harlan or Barbourville will take place Friday.

 

5. Jackson County (15-5, 5-3)

What’s the scoop: The Generals keep rolling along.

 

Surprise, surprise: Jackson County has won two games in a row since losing to Corbin on Jan. 15.

 

What’s ahead: Jackson County plays Lawrence County Jan. 26 and Clay County Feb. 1.

 

The Best of the Rest

 

No. 6 Pineville (17-2, 10-0)

What’s the scoop: The Mountain Lions might not be getting the respect they deserve. They’re undefeated in region play, while garnering the best record in the 13th Region.

If Pineville beats Cumberland today, then the Mountain Lions will be moving on up.

 

No. 7 Clay County (10-5, 5-1)

What’s the scoop: The Tigers picked up a big win over North Laurel this past week, while Justin Hobbs continues to impress.

 

No. 8 North Laurel (11-6, 2-4)

What’s the scoop: The Jaguars have to perform better against 13th Region teams.

 

No. 9 Whitley County (11-8, 3-5)

What’s the scoop: This is the highest Whitley County has been ranked since I’ve started these ratings three years ago.

 

No. 10 Barbourville (9-9, 5-6)

What’s the scoop: A win today would put the Tigers in the 13th Region Tournament All ‘A’ finals. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Dinky Phipps is one of the best coaches around.

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Les is KC's schedule better than Cumberlands? Take away the hoopin it up and it is basically the same teams.

They've played Jackson County twice, Clay County, Boone County and June Buchanon.

 

I call'em like I see'em.

Cumberland dropped two spots without losing. It's a tough job though. As Les said, Cumberland could be No. 1 or they could lose tonight and be seventh or eighth.

 

I'd still put Bell ahead of Whitley or Barbourville. North Laurel is one spot ahead of where I had them in the preseason when I got bashed for ranking them too low.

South's margin of win over Corbin on the road changed a lot of things. I can honestly say, this week was the hardest I have had to do in the past three years.

Bell has just been struggling, but hey, they might beat South Friday.

I'd say North is where they should be. But like you said HDE, it's very tough doing this.

Cumberland is 6-1 in the their last 7 with their only loss being to a team (Hazard) that is currently ranked higher in all of the power polls than anyone in the 13th and they drop from 1st to 4th in this poll?

Check out the Cantrall Ratings, Cumberland is fifth in that one behind Corbin, Central, South and Jackson. You should be happy. In the Litkenhouse Cumberland is rated SIXTH and Clay County is in front of them.

Sorry.

Someone has to be number one, Knox Central looks like a solid pick to me at this point in the season. The Pineville and Cumberland game tonight will tell alot more about the Lions and Skins.

Thanks Bubba.

I would have to put Cumberland first, but I like teams that play good defense. Knox Central looks good at the #2 spot followed by South, then Corbin. The rest look good to me except that I agree with HDE on Bell over Barbourville. Good job though!

Thanks 4chs.

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Cumberland lost a tough one tonight in overtime to Pineville by 2. Garfield Wilson was in foul trouble and that's probably what cost them. Right now if I were ranking them based on current play and not my opinion of who the best teams are it would be.

 

1. Knox Central

2. South Laurel/Corbin

4. Jackson County

5. Cumberland

6. Pineville -despite the great win tonight

7. Clay

8. North

9. Whitley

10. Barbourville/Bell

Pineville should be moving way up after tonight. They are going into the 13th Region All "A" Classic Championship without the first round bye. This coming after defeating Red Bird(who beat lynn camp last week) at home by double digits, Middlesboro(at Middlesboro, which is a tough place to win) by double digits, then won an overtime thriller by 2 against Cumberland (previously ranked 2nd in the Fear 'Les' rankings) in Lynn Camp's gym. Having the Mountain Lions ranked 6th is completely ludacris. They have the best record in the region and to say they haven't played anyone is also crazy after tonight. I am sure they will prove more people wrong in the upcoming weeks. They are scheduled to play North, Corbin, Knox Central, South (i think), and Cumberland again. If they win the Championship game in the All "A" against Harlan/Barbourville, then they would go on to Richmond to play another regional champion which is presumably good on the basis that they made it to Richmond as well.

Pineville has some big games coming up. Good luck to Coach Strange and the Mountain Lions.