I was very impressed with Dunbar's personnel last year. And they return their best players from that team.

 

GRC would get a big shot in the arm by Zollo.

 

I am not far off from agreeing with you, but care to explain why LexCath is a top 5 team?

 

Lex Cath has strong guard play in Sanford and Botkins. Sanford is talented and Botkins always takes care of the ball and should be more of a scoring option this year. They will have some height in the middle too.

Lexington Catholic will be playing tomorrow in Louisville and will be a contender. Elliott County will be tough to beat and a favorite to win the Shootout.

 

Link:

 

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2008/06/derek-smith-shootout.html

Lex Cath has strong guard play in Sanford and Botkins. Sanford is talented and Botkins always takes care of the ball and should be more of a scoring option this year. They will have some height in the middle too.

 

You can't base it on summer games I know, but GRC has played Lex Cath. twice this summer and beaten them handily.

You can't base it on summer games I know, but GRC has played Lex Cath. twice this summer and beaten them handily.

 

Good point. Summer ball has teams missing players or are using the games to develop new talent that will be used in the coming year's rotation. That is why I discount GRC's loss to Doss.

You can't base it on summer games I know, but GRC has played Lex Cath. twice this summer and beaten them handily.

 

If I may ask, what are you basing your rankings on?

If I may ask, what are you basing your rankings on?

 

I haven't posted any rankings in this thread, but if I was to I would base them on the overall talent the teams have coming back plus any new talent the team would have this year. The summer games give you some idea, but like you said, many things could alter the outcome of summer games.(missing players, 5 games in 2 days, etc.)

Holmes.. they will be more experienced then last year, and they have lots of playmakers.

Holmes.. they will be more experienced then last year, and they have lots of playmakers.

 

Holmes won't be more experienced than last year's team. More overall talent, yes, but not more experience. Last year they had 6 seniors and all 6 were making their third trip to Rupp in 4 years. This year they have just 3 seniors and only one will likely start. (Riley)

 

What Holmes does have in their favor is they should be considerably bigger this year (Likely starting lineup will be 6'0, 6'3, 6'5, 6'5, 6'6 with 2 6'6 kids off the bench) and much more athletic in the front court than last year's team.

You can't base it on summer games I know, but GRC has played Lex Cath. twice this summer and beaten them handily.

 

If summer ball has anything to do with it, throw Franklin Co. in there. They beat Clark Co. by about 25-30 without two starters. Clark was missing their point guard and Zollo, of course.

1. Elliott Co.

2. J-town

3. Holmes

4. GRC

5. Scott Co.

1. Elliott Co.

2. J-town

3. Holmes

4. GRC

5. Scott Co.

 

I'd say Elliot is too high and GRC too low. Elliot will really struggle against teams who have a good big man as they only have one person who can guard him. Elliot also lacks depth needed to make a serious run at the title.

 

I'd personally have Holmes as the #2 team considering what they return. I've also heard Josh Nelson's younger brother will be coming out this year as well. Will give Holmes a very athletic 6'4 soph to be and more depth.

You can't base it on summer games I know, but GRC has played Lex Cath. twice this summer and beaten them handily.

No disrespect here......GRC will be formidable......but if one of the times they played LEX CATH was at Madison Central it was not handily.....and obviously w/o Zollo. I saw the game and Botkin (Robot) was about 55% at best coming off a high ankle spain.....and Sanford sat out in the second half for 3-4 minutes until their lead dwindled to about even. Yes Vee came in the last few minutes and GRC won a close one......but did not beat Catholic I would say handily. GRC did not have Zollo, and will be very good this year.

No disrespect here......GRC will be formidable......but if one of the times they played LEX CATH was at Madison Central it was not handily.....and obviously w/o Zollo. I saw the game and Botkin (Robot) was about 55% at best coming off a high ankle spain.....and Sanford sat out in the second half for 3-4 minutes until their lead dwindled to about even. Yes Vee came in the last few minutes and GRC won a close one......but did not beat Catholic I would say handily. GRC did not have Zollo, and will be very good this year.

 

Mainly talking about their game at Lex Catholic but they didn't have Botkin. They beat them there by about 15. I had just heard they beat them again at Central, didn't know the score.

I'd say Elliot is too high and GRC too low. Elliot will really struggle against teams who have a good big man as they only have one person who can guard him. Elliot also lacks depth needed to make a serious run at the title.

 

I'd personally have Holmes as the #2 team considering what they return. I've also heard Josh Nelson's younger brother will be coming out this year as well. Will give Holmes a very athletic 6'4 soph to be and more depth.

 

I am a huge Elliott fan, but I agree that #1 is a little high. I don't agree so much with the big man argument as they beat Rose Hill with 6'8" Euton in the Regional SF and played Mason to the wire with two 6'7" players. East Carter they beat 4x and they have two 6'6" players on the inside. DEPTH is the BIG CONCERN. If we had Tyler Maynard back then I would rank them #1. The starting five is back and as good as any in the state. But, after that finding any quality minutes from anyone off the bench will be hard to come by. With last year's JV players there is a huge fall off in talent and in fact shows that Elliott will struggle in 09/10 to win 8 games. In 09/10 there is only Timmy Knipp and then the talent level drops off the chart. But, I think Elliott should be ranked at #4 or #5 just based on an outstanding starting five that will include 4 seniors and soph Timmy Knipp.

Don't sleep on the Defending State Champs Mason Co.