All I can say is "WOW"! This is by far the Lady Cats worst outing of the year. They came out flat and actually trailed Grant at the half 22-18. Don't know if they were taking Grant too lightly but they sure looked like it. They did come out and outscore Grant 16-2 in the 3rd quarter and played basically even in the 4th. Not a good performance but "a win is a win". I guess all teams have nights like this.

 

On another note, Walton's JV team won 48-12 and improved to 10-1.

All I can say is "WOW"! This is by far the Lady Cats worst outing of the year. They came out flat and actually trailed Grant at the half 22-18. Don't know if they were taking Grant too lightly but they sure looked like it. They did come out and outscore Grant 16-2 in the 3rd quarter and played basically even in the 4th. Not a good performance but "a win is a win". I guess all teams have nights like this.

 

On another note, Walton's JV team won 48-12 and improved to 10-1.

 

Every team has few off nights. After all, we're talking high school athletes, and that is just the reality of it. But it does bring up a point, Madman, that is worth considering. You routinely bemoan the ranking of W-V as not being as high as you think it should be. However, some of the teams that you want them to be ranked above have played schedules that don't allow them off nights and still win. A large number of the more highly ranked teams are duking it out night-in-and-night-out with no "breathers." Those teams are not afforded the opportunity to "gear up" for a big game, because more of their games are big-time games. This is not to take pot-shots at the Lady Bearcats, as this has nothing to do with head-to-head match-ups, only the formulas for the rankings or polls. Tournament time is the only true test, and even then the cursed off night rears its head. Note: W-V has taken steps to toughen up its schedule, and it's paying off for them.

Every team has few off nights. After all, we're talking high school athletes, and that is just the reality of it. But it does bring up a point, Madman, that is worth considering. You routinely bemoan the ranking of W-V as not being as high as you think it should be. However, some of the teams that you want them to be ranked above have played schedules that don't allow them off nights and still win. A large number of the more highly ranked teams are duking it out night-in-and-night-out with no "breathers." Those teams are not afforded the opportunity to "gear up" for a big game, because more of their games are big-time games. This is not to take pot-shots at the Lady Bearcats, as this has nothing to do with head-to-head match-ups, only the formulas for the rankings or polls. Tournament time is the only true test, and even then the cursed off night rears its head. Note: W-V has taken steps to toughen up its schedule, and it's paying off for them.

 

I agree, every team has a few off nights and last night was one of them. Where I disagree is that all teams have "breather" games on their schedule that does allow them to "gear up" for their next big game. No team schedules highly ranked teams night-in-and-night-out. Just looking at the schedules of the top 4 in the 8th, Walton has had by far the toughest schedule of all of them and they have done pretty well for themselves. Again, as I have said several times, on any given night one team can beat the other.

Every team has few off nights. After all, we're talking high school athletes, and that is just the reality of it. But it does bring up a point, Madman, that is worth considering. You routinely bemoan the ranking of W-V as not being as high as you think it should be. However, some of the teams that you want them to be ranked above have played schedules that don't allow them off nights and still win. A large number of the more highly ranked teams are duking it out night-in-and-night-out with no "breathers." Those teams are not afforded the opportunity to "gear up" for a big game, because more of their games are big-time games. This is not to take pot-shots at the Lady Bearcats, as this has nothing to do with head-to-head match-ups, only the formulas for the rankings or polls. Tournament time is the only true test, and even then the cursed off night rears its head. Note: W-V has taken steps to toughen up its schedule, and it's paying off for them.

 

 

Don't know if anyone else sees the irony in this, but if a team has to "duke it out" night after night, every game being a fight, and they can't beat anybody bad enough to consider it a "breather"...then why in the world would they be ranked at all, much less ranked in the top ten.

 

In a way, what you are saying doesn't make much sense. In fact it is somewhat the opposite. Many of the higher ranked teams are beating people pretty bad and getting those play deep in your bench "breathers" For example, Marion County has played 17 games. Nine (over half) of them are wins by 20 plus, 4 (25%) were by 28 or more. It looks like they have some "breathers" in there to me. Same for DuPont Manual, 11 of their first 12 games were wins by 30 or more. Boone had 5 wins by 20 or more. You can look at it more if you want, but it didn't appear, for these teams anyway, that they were playing big time games every night. All of them had unranked opponents, and must play district games on their schedule, all AFFORDING them the opportunity for breathers.

All I can say is "WOW"! This is by far the Lady Cats worst outing of the year. They came out flat and actually trailed Grant at the half 22-18. Don't know if they were taking Grant too lightly but they sure looked like it. They did come out and outscore Grant 16-2 in the 3rd quarter and played basically even in the 4th. Not a good performance but "a win is a win". I guess all teams have nights like this.

 

On another note, Walton's JV team won 48-12 and improved to 10-1.

 

So I guess that our Lady Braves just happened to be the other team on the floor last night. Nothing that happened was a result of Grant County playing hard or executing their defensive system.

Don't know if anyone else sees the irony in this, but if a team has to "duke it out" night after night, every game being a fight, and they can't beat anybody bad enough to consider it a "breather"...then why in the world would they be ranked at all, much less ranked in the top ten.

 

In a way, what you are saying doesn't make much sense. In fact it is somewhat the opposite. Many of the higher ranked teams are beating people pretty bad and getting those play deep in your bench "breathers" For example, Marion County has played 17 games. Nine (over half) of them are wins by 20 plus, 4 (25%) were by 28 or more. It looks like they have some "breathers" in there to me. Same for DuPont Manual, 11 of their first 12 games were wins by 30 or more. Boone had 5 wins by 20 or more. You can look at it more if you want, but it didn't appear, for these teams anyway, that they were playing big time games every night. All of them had unranked opponents, and must play district games on their schedule, all AFFORDING them the opportunity for breathers.

 

Well said. :thumb:

Some wins are "uglier" than others but they all count the same.

So I guess that our Lady Braves just happened to be the other team on the floor last night. Nothing that happened was a result of Grant County playing hard or executing their defensive system.

 

Your Lady Braves had nothing to do with Walton coming into the game flat and not focused. That was Walton's fault. Grant did play hard but Walton was it's own worst enemy. They made several unforced turnovers and missed a ton of uncontested, wide open shots.