Give me your thoughts on how the Districts are aligned in N KY. For basketball and baseball I think they are very unfair, especially to the Boone County schools when you compare "getting out of district play" with some of the other schools in the 9th. Having four 6A schools in one district compared to teams like CCH and Dixie, who have to get by some smaller schools every year to advance.

I have a problem with the baseball alignments, specifically the 34th District. No offense intended, but there simply is no question that this district - Dixie, St.Henry, Villa, and Lloyd - will be much weaker on a year in-year out basis than the 33rd (Ryle, Boone, Conner, Cooper) and 35th (CCH, HC, Beech, Holmes). I don't see it as being so critically important that all the Boone schools be lumped together in the same district and would suggest that one of the top three teams in that district (most logically, Boone or Conner) be moved to the 34th and have St. H moved back into the 33rd. I assume the logic for the switch was for travel purposes, but let's be serious here - we're not talking about rural country schools that involve substantial driving. They are all reasonably close to one another.

Interesting that we now have larger schools complaining about the districts? here is a thought go to classes...........................I am all for 4 classes in every major sport.....but guess what if you want to tell the small schools to get better and compete with the big boys..........then the big boys have to take the districts being done by geography

Coop, the answer is real simple . . . Classification.

How are districts put together by the state? Does basketball drive it? Baseball? County?

Interesting that we now have larger schools complaining about the districts? here is a thought go to classes...........................I am all for 4 classes in every major sport.....but guess what if you want to tell the small schools to get better and compete with the big boys..........then the big boys have to take the districts being done by geography

 

I am not complaining. I am comparing larger schools to larger schools. The example I gave was Cov Cath and Dixie Heights getting put into pretty simple districts in most years compared to four 6A schools battling it out just to get to a regional. From a high school athletes perspective, it is not a fair draw.

Districts are aligned by geography (supposedly)..................Of course over the years you always have the fish out of water (see the 90's with Holmes in with NCC Newport Dayton and Bellevue). Honestly basketball drives the districts at the state level. Baseball and softball have the same districts as basketball. Othe sports have other alignments based on teams not playing those sports (ie (volleyball, soccer, etc)........

I agree that some districts are weaker than others........but you can't say that and then turn around and not classify......................If you want the weaker (normally equates to smaller schools compared to 5 and 6 A football schools) then classify and you will have a more even playing field for all.

Coop, the answer is real simple . . . Classification.

 

Fully agree. 100%. But until that happens - IF it ever happens - then the next best thing is to make a reasonable attempt to balance out the districts as evenly and fairly as possible. There are always going to be fluctuations in teams' competitiveness, I understand that (even Ryle isn't great every year :sssh: ) - but I think there's also situations where it's obvious that certain teams will only very rarely have an "up" year and you can't have a district full of these teams while other districts are stacked with consistently quality teams.

Edited February 25, 201016 yr by cooperstown

I am not complaining. I am comparing larger schools to larger schools. The example I gave was Cov Cath and Dixie Heights getting put into pretty simple districts in most years compared to four 6A schools battling it out just to get to a regional. From a high school athletes perspective, it is not a fair draw.

 

So lets see, the the 35th District currently has the basketball state champion in it and the current ninth region baseball champion in it and neither are CovCath. So what's your gripe again about how easy the 35th district is on CovCath!

Interesting that we now have larger schools complaining about the districts? here is a thought go to classes...........................I am all for 4 classes in every major sport.....but guess what if you want to tell the small schools to get better and compete with the big boys..........then the big boys have to take the districts being done by geography

 

Agree with classification whole-heartedly. But there is no real reason to try to base 9th region districts based on geography. None of the schools are that far apart from each other. Each district team generally only plays each other twice anyways and then spends the rest of their season travelling all over NKY to play other schools. Ryle is probably the further south of any 9th school. It's not a bad drive to Bellevue, or CovCath, or Dixie, or St. H., or Scott, or anywhere else for that matter. Heck, Conner is one of our longer drives. I understand geography for the large rural areas, but that simply doesn't apply here in NKY.

I think the last two Regional Champions (BW and NCC) would disagree with the

notion that a bigger school yields a better program. Maybe one of the 9th region historians can post a list of past champions; however, I would believe that the smaller schools have had more success than the larger schools ( CCH being towards the middle size-wise). While over the last couple years SHDHS and HC have not had a lot of success, they traditionally compete fairly well (and HC will this year). In this snapshot in time, the 34th is light and the 35th has good teams, but that hasn't been the case in the very recent past and may not be moving forward. I think a Boone for Lloyd swap would make sense though, although Lloyd wouldn't like it. BTW if you want Holmes in your district for baseball, then you also get them for basketball.

Districts are aligned by geography (supposedly)..................Of course over the years you always have the fish out of water (see the 90's with Holmes in with NCC Newport Dayton and Bellevue). Honestly basketball drives the districts at the state level. Baseball and softball have the same districts as basketball. Othe sports have other alignments based on teams not playing those sports (ie (volleyball, soccer, etc)........

 

I don't know the answer to this, so I'm just asking. Perhaps Bulldog will know. Does it (above bolded) HAVE to be this way? Must the baseball districts exactly mirror the basketball districts?

I think the last two Regional Champions (BW and NCC) would disagree with the

notion that a bigger school yields a better program. Maybe one of the 9th region historians can post a list of past champions; however, I would believe that the smaller schools have had more success than the larger schools ( CCH being towards the middle size-wise). While over the last couple years SHDHS and HC have not had a lot of success, they traditionally compete fairly well (and HC will this year). In this snapshot in time, the 34th is light and the 35th has good teams, but that hasn't been the case in the very recent past and may not be moving forward. I think a Boone for Lloyd swap would make sense though, although Lloyd wouldn't like it. BTW if you want Holmes in your district for baseball, then you also get them for basketball.

 

For me personally, I am not claiming that "large" school equals strong and "small" school equals weak. I agree the NCC and Beech - two relatively smaller schools - have historically had strong baseball programs. I am saying that it is necessary to take an objective look at the history and quality of each program and then, regardless of the school's size and (for the most part) location, make the most evenly competitive districts you can. You simply won't convince me that the 34th will ever be a consistently strong (baseball) district and on par with the other three 9th districts, especially the 33rd and 35th.

So lets see, the the 35th District currently has the basketball state champion in it and the current ninth region baseball champion in it and neither are CovCath. So what's your gripe again about how easy the 35th district is on CovCath!

 

Cov Cath should always have a fairly easy path to the Regional tourney in both basketball and baseball. Holmes is not usually very good in baseball and Beechwood is rarely good in basketball.