Looked to me like Mason had the athletes to match up with Holmes defensively. Not many teams do. Was not as impressed with Miller as much as I was with Middleton. Miller is probably a better athlete, but Middleton looks like a better basketball player. Is he a Senior ? UK should be taking a look at him.

 

Miller is going to University of Kentucky where he may start as a freshman in the SEC. Middleton, who scored 13 points in the title game on 5 of 12 shooting and 2 for 5 at the line, is committed to play for Georgetown College at the NAIA level. He'll do a great job for coach Osbourne.

Looked to me like Mason had the athletes to match up with Holmes defensively. Not many teams do. Was not as impressed with Miller as much as I was with Middleton. Miller is probably a better athlete, but Middleton looks like a better basketball player. Is he a Senior ? UK should be taking a look at him.

 

I agree, Middleton is a very good ball player. He is a junior and has given his verbal commitment to Georgetown College. His dad played for Georgetown in the 80's.

Great season Bulldogs :thumb: You did the 9th Region very proud. You gave the fans at Rupp a TEAM to remember and ended a fine season the Number 2 TEAM in the state. Not bad at all :thumb: Stay hungry and and go get'em next year and show the state of Kentucky just what a dynasty you have become. With visits, 3 out of the last 4 years, 2 Semi appearances and a Final, I think they're already starting to take notice. No doubt you'll be back again next year making it 4 out of 5, and with all of that experience, that State Trophy has your name written all over it. Get on back to Lexington and take what is rightfully yours.

 

GO DAWGS!!!

Good win today by Mason Co. But I would like to say what a great weekend for the Holmes Bulldogs. Those boys are top notch and many of them have a bright future ahead of them. Very impressed with their basketball abilities, not only shooting and the more visual things but as in Technical basketball knowledge. They really do a great job of being patient and never giving up. I was at the tourney all weeekend and was impressed with their passion and effort. To even come back and beat Lexington Catholic when being behind 19-4 at one point was amazing, and to almost win against Mason County was incrediable. It's just tough to beat Darius Miller, and honestly a few of those shots at the end that went in and out could have went down and we're talking about maybe a win, the final score definately didn't reflect the game. And I can see and hope to see Holmes back in Rupp next year, they have the talent coming back and deserve it with the way they play the game. A big hats off to both teams though, it was High School Basketball at it's finest all weekend. Mason did great finishing out the game by making free throws, a mark of a champion.

Congrats to the Royals on winning the 2008 state championship.

 

Too much Darius Miller offensively and Holmes had no answer for him height wise. When a 6'4 kid is guarding a 6'7, its a total mismatch. Throw in Darius athletic ability and it makes things even tougher.

 

Mason Co also owned the boards in the first half which really killed Holmes as they gave up many second chance points.

 

I was very impressed with Middleton. He had several nice drives on Henderson, something nobody has been able to do all tournament.

 

I think Arrez proved himself tonight though that he is a legitimate D1 player. Miller guarded him the whole game and Henderson still dropped 18. His steal and dunk or alley oop to R. Johnson were probably the two nicest highlights of the game.

 

Highlights don't win you state championships though. Very poor shooting from the foul line hurt Holmes in the long run as well as poor rebounding. I also feel they settled for too many jumpers early on in the game. They were most effective when they started driving to the basket in the second half. That is their bread and butter. Worked against Lexcath and Mason Co, but they went to it too late in this one.

 

All in sll the two best teams played tonight and the best team won so congrats to the Royals and Mason Co community.

 

This year's Holmes seniors will be greatly missed. They have nothing to be ashamed of though. Many kids in this state and country for that matter what do anything to be able to finish their high school careers in the state championship, win or lose.

 

The good thing about it though for Holmes fans is they have 3 sophomore in the Johnson brothers and Pittman who will be back 2 more years with that same bad taste from this year in their mouths. This won't be the only time you may see this group in the state championship.

Congratz to Mason on a great season!

 

I'm still suprised about the fact that Setty was allowed to play, any player that leaves the bench is supposed to be an automatic ejection, he clearly left the bench.

 

Why enforce rules all year and then allow exceptions in the Sweet 16...Still doesnt matter because Mason was bigger than one player and would have won it without him.....

 

I wondered all night why Holmes didnt put Henderson on Miller, I was looking forward to that matchup.

Congrats to the Royals on winning the 2008 state championship.

 

Too much Darius Miller offensively and Holmes had no answer for him height wise. When a 6'4 kid is guarding a 6'7, its a total mismatch. Throw in Darius athletic ability and it makes things even tougher.

 

Mason Co also owned the boards in the first half which really killed Holmes as they gave up many second chance points.

 

I was very impressed with Middleton. He had several nice drives on Henderson, something nobody has been able to do all tournament.

 

I think Arrez proved himself tonight though that he is a legitimate D1 player. Miller guarded him the whole game and Henderson still dropped 18. His steal and dunk or alley oop to R. Johnson were probably the two nicest highlights of the game.

 

Highlights don't win you state championships though. Very poor shooting from the foul line hurt Holmes in the long run as well as poor rebounding. I also feel they settled for too many jumpers early on in the game. They were most effective when they started driving to the basket in the second half. That is their bread and butter. Worked against Lexcath and Mason Co, but they went to it too late in this one.

 

All in sll the two best teams played tonight and the best team won so congrats to the Royals and Mason Co community.

 

This year's Holmes seniors will be greatly missed. They have nothing to be ashamed of though. Many kids in this state and country for that matter what do anything to be able to finish their high school careers in the state championship, win or lose.

 

The good thing about it though for Holmes fans is they have 3 sophomore in the Johnson brothers and Pittman who will be back 2 more years with that same bad taste from this year in their mouths. This won't be the only time you may see this group in the state championship.

 

Well said Eta Rho:thumb:

Congratz to Mason on a great season!

 

I'm still suprised about the fact that Setty was allowed to play, any player that leaves the bench is supposed to be an automatic ejection, he clearly left the bench.

 

Why enforce rules all year and then allow exceptions in the Sweet 16...Still doesnt matter because Mason was bigger than one player and would have won it without him.....

 

I wondered all night why Holmes didnt put Henderson on Miller, I was looking forward to that matchup.

 

They were already giving up 3 inches, why give up 3 more?

It's not the size of the boat that matters, its the motion in the ocean...

I just have to wonder about Holmes sometimes, particularly the coaching. Why were they not really coming at them with full court pressure early in the game? They were very stagnant on offense tonight. I dont know if they were tired, but they didnt look the same. What happened to being 10 or 11 deep? I dont get some of the substitution patterns of the coach.

 

Mason played well and was the best team tonight and deserved to win. Congrats to them.

They were sagnant almost to a point that their offense was boring....

The only thing I saw Arrez prove tonight was that he would be a pretty darn good 6'1 post player. Mason backed off of him and exposed his inability to shoot the outside shot where he went probably 1 of 6 from deep. He went by someone a time or two without the aid of a screen, but most of his buckets were inside on loose balls, put backs, and fast breaks. He didnt even guard Middleton that well tonight, who should have been his easiest assignment. Maybe he was tired from guarding Slone and Sanford the last two days, but he definitely did not prove he was D1 talent tonight.

They were sagnant almost to a point that their offense was boring....

 

Definitely. I just dont understand why they dont get up and down and use their athleticism against some of the teams they play.

The only thing I saw Arrez prove tonight was that he would be a pretty darn good 6'1 post player. Mason backed off of him and exposed his inability to shoot the outside shot where he went probably 1 of 6 from deep. He went by someone a time or two without the aid of a screen, but most of his buckets were inside on loose balls, put backs, and fast breaks. He didnt even guard Middleton that well tonight, who should have been his easiest assignment. Maybe he was tired from guarding Slone and Sanford the last two days, but he definitely did not prove he was D1 talent tonight.

 

I agree, Middleton went right every time in the first half and every time he blew past Arrez.

I am not going to say slowing the ball down was a great thing to do for Holmes but I mean look at what happened when they did press, Mason county just diced it and got layups every time. You are not going to beat Mason with a press, they have to many options to handle the ball and honestly can see over top of any trap that woudl come their way, and can take guys one on one on the dribble so the press would be ineffective and the result would be what we seen tonight. Then the run and gun play if you watched the tourney produced several turnovers for Holmes which you cannot have against a good shooting team like the Royals (IE. Middleton, Miller, Settey) the more times you let them touch the ball the better chance that it will go in. It was a good game plan in my mind but lets face it the shots just didn't go down, if so they would have most likely won, but they had a few go in and out and honestly I think it came from fatigue. They usually shoot a little better than that, especially those 15 footers they were missing.