I have been a Holmes fan for 60 years...right on the nose. However, the time out call produced an eruption of pure laughter from all of the neutrals sitting around us. I noticed that the Boone County fans, and it happened right in front of them, were not amused.The Holmes player was not faslling out of bounds...he was flat out of bounds, not in the air and the time out was an after thought on his part and a darn good one.

The time out call on which the Boone County player slid across the floor also produced a lot of questions. If he truly had possession, he should have been called for walking. If not, he could not call TO. When Riley tripped and went to the floor that was called walking. It takes mental gymnastics to separate the 2 call because Riley lay motionless and did not turn over which is, of course, walking. The 2 calls wash each other out.

Even giving the defense it's due, you have to sugar coat the performance of these 2 teams to call it much other than a "root canal" performance. Neither team shot the ball well when wide open, there were numerous misses from close in, there were many walking calls and too many missed free throws (not much defense on those).

Both teams gave incredible effort, but Holmes will have to play much better down state.

Oscar...I also agree with your posts.

 

First of all why do you say Cotton's play was walking? His situation was nothing like Riley's. Riley had the ball and fell to the floor with it. Cotton dove on a loose ball and called timeout.

 

Also Housely had called timeout when he was by the block. The ref didn't give him the call until he was out of bounds, but he definitely called it.

I thought Holmes did a much better job this time around in defending the back screens/cuts that Boone killed them with in the first game. That was the difference in this one IMO. Boone just didn't get a lot of easy shots like they did in game one.

 

Both teams layed it all on the line tonight. I hope now the Boone fans who criticized their coach so much last year and early in the year this year realize they have a great coach in Mcqueary. He has put his team in position to win every game they've played this year.

 

Not 100% sure but didn't Boone tie their record for wins in a single season with 26? I know their 03/04 team was I believe 26-4 or 26-5 and also lost in the region title game.

 

Let's not forget that Boone's 09/10 classes are two of the most talented that Boone has had to work with in several years. Many of the players, including some of the bench players, would start at just about any other school in the 9th region except for maybe Holmes, as well as at many schools throughout the state. These groups have always been successful against their peers at every level. Not saying that Boone's coaches did a bad job this year. I actually thought they did better than last year in several areas. However, they too still have areas they can improve in in order to get over the hump and win a regional championship. Many people have believed that Boone would/should contend for the regional title in 09 and 10 even before these two classes were in high school.

This is NOT correct. You can slide the entire length of the floor and it not be traveling.

If Riley tripped and fell with posession of the ball then it is a traveling violation.

 

I didn't know you could slide the length of the floor with the ball. Thought it was a travel. Isn't that just like sliding you pivot foot??

Boone has an excellent rebounder in TBrown, but they choose to leave him on the bench. Second chance points and missed rebounds proved costly in the game last night. T Montgomery is the player that most likely should fill in for Mcfarland, but he too was limited to playing time because he's only a sophomore. I also think Popp is a lot better than a 1 minute player. I hope the rumors of him transferring aren't true, because they will need him next year.

 

Brown is an excellent rebounder. Earls probably gets up an down the floor a little better. Montgomery might be the closest to McFarland in all-around skills and size, but I don't think he has the vision that McFarland does yet. I agree that Popp is a much better player than only a minute or few minutes a game.

I didn't know you could slide the length of the floor with the ball. Thought it was a travel. Isn't that just like sliding you pivot foot??

 

ATM was using exaggeration to stress the point. When you are on the floor there is no pivot foot. If you momentum carries you after you slide its legal regardless of how far you slide.

Let's not forget that Boone's 09/10 classes are two of the most talented that Boone has had to work with in several years. Many of the players, including some of the bench players, would start at just about any other school in the 9th region except for maybe Holmes, as well as at many schools throughout the state. These groups have always been successful against their peers at every level. Not saying that Boone's coaches did a bad job this year. I actually thought they did better than last year in several areas. However, they too still have areas they can improve in in order to get over the hump and win a regional championship. Many people have believed that Boone would/should contend for the regional title in 09 and 10 even before these two classes were in high school.

 

I agree. I just think several Boone fans set the bar too high for last years' team. Just because their 10' class was successful against their peers doesn't mean that will translate to success at the varsity level when you're playing against the best of all different age levels. As you said, they have improved TREMENDOUSLY since last year and it was shown as this team went from losing to Holmes by 20 last year to beating them by 7 and losing by 3 this year.

 

Boone has proved those people right that they would contend for a region title in 09, as they just played in the region championship last night. If there is anyone who now doubts Boone's coach though, I don't think they truly understand how good that team was that they played last night. They have a very good chance at winning it all this year.

The combination of two very good teams that are fundamentally sound defensively, and officials that let things get way too physical, are the ingredients that lead to a 32-29 regional final game. In Holmes' first round game with Ryle I was stunned by the amount and severity of contact - it took Holmes until about midway through the 3rd quarter that night to adapt - but once they saw how much the officials were going to let go, I thought they adapted pretty well against NCC and Boone. Just not very entertaining to watch.

 

Rico Johnson is a player; the only flaw in his game is his unselfishness. When he is 1 on 1 against anyone, his TEAM needs him to take it to the bucket - very, very few players, if any, that are still playing would be able to contain him.

 

And for all those that have questioned the score and Holmes ability to win when they only score 32, I understand the initial reaction, because I wouldn't be able to understand it if I wasn't there. First, Boone is a very good team - they only lost 5 games, and most of those were to very good teams. More importantly, though, the officials let these guys absolutely pound each other. Saying every shot was contested is an understatement - I'd say there was too much contact on just about every possession by both teams. On a number of occasions, it looked like an offensive player had his man beat, only to have the defender grab his man, looking more like a defensive end making a tackle, and there was no call. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it was uneven; I just don't think it was basketball.

 

If the offiicials allow this kind of play in the Sweet Sixteen, there will be some ugly scores. I think Holmes has shown they can adapt. The question will be can the other 15 teams. I guess we'll see.

 

 

I thought that the officiating is just what the 9th region needed because for years we have been surprised but the physicality of the game once you get to Rupp. Holmes has played enough around the state to have adjusted and I think they did an excellent job. The 16th region officials definitely let them play but they were always consistent on both ends of the floor.

 

I really didn't understand the number of travelings that were called last night. Most of those calls were in uncontested situations, again on both ends of the floor, that I don't think the 9th region has seen all year. Defense definitely had alot to do with the low score but the excessive traveling calls contributed as well.

A few more highlights from last night's game:

 

 

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/866115/boone_county_29_holmes_32?cpt=8&wpid=1277

IMO: The top three teams next year will be:

1. Holmes

2. Highlands

3. Boone County

 

I think Holmes will be the favorite again next year, with the projected starters including the Johnson brothers, Pittman, Arnold, and maybe Mayfield. They may just have one starting spot to fill, plus a couple of good players off the bench.

 

Highlands will be 2nd and the deepest team and will lose nobody from this year's team. They will have projected senior starters Grubbs, Kowolonek, Watson, Lother, and Grote, as well as at least a few more seniors.

 

The gap between 3-5 next year will be much closer and could be a tossup IMO. Boone loses McFarland and 2 other seniors who got a lot of playing time in the last third of the year. IMO, they should have projected senior starters Earls, Cotton, Gabbard, and Popp coming back, as well as Lay and Schulze who will be good contributors, in addition to juniors Montgomery and T. Brown who will also contribute. Boone will also have a few other seniors coming up from the J.V. team if they play next year. Ryle will have a pretty good group of seniors coming back, including McLeish, Coleman, and Nichols, in addition to juniors Stauffer and Vollet. Conner will have Avery and Stephens back as seniors, as well as some good juniors in Liechty, Robinson, Flesh, and Hodges.

Suprised to see his minutes dwindle over the season:confused:. Thought he could have given Boone a legitimate outside threat to open up some lanes for Gabbard to penetrate.

 

I agree that Boone could have used a little more outside shooting to open things up. Popp and Gabbard complement one another. Both are penetrators and can shoot from outside. Boone's offense went from relying too heavily on the three this year to not utilizing it quite enough IMO.

I agree that Boone could have used a little more outside shooting to open things up. Popp and Gabbard complement one another. Both are penetrators and can shoot from outside. Boone's offense went from relying too heavily on the three this year to not utilizing it quite enough IMO.

 

How does one suppose that Popp was going to have enough space to shoot?

How does one suppose that Popp was going to have enough space to shoot?

 

Boone had some open looks from outside that they passed up or did not hit. In general, they weren't looking to work the ball around the perimeter to shoot from outside.

How does one suppose that Popp was going to have enough space to shoot?

 

Chicken or the egg question.

 

Penetration creates space for the outside shooters and having good outside shooters creates lanes for drive to the basket.

For tez and/or other Holmes insiders, what was J. Johnson all ticked off about at the end of the game? He didn't celebrate with the team on the floor. He went over to the bench and sat down with a towel over him while his team was celebrating a region title. I think anyone watching that perhaps got some insight into the issues Henley has to deal with. The ironic thing is, JJ gets named to the all tournament team. That seemed to perk him up a little but he still was moping around. So what was he upset about?

Boone had some open looks from outside that they passed up or did not hit. In general, they weren't looking to work the ball around the perimeter to shoot from outside.

 

They had open looks because Holmes wasn't worried about them taking the outside shot. While a shooter would force Holmes to have one player pay closer attention , I don't think Boone has any player that could get their shot from 3 against this D.