Magic Mike

Top 10 1. Marshall County (12-3) 2. Graves County (13-4) 3. St. Mary (8-6) 4. Calloway County (10-6) 5. Heath (10-3) 6. Lone Oak (5-11) 7. Paducah Tilghman (6-8) 8. Mayfield (6-9) 9. Carlisle County (10-6) 10. Hickman County (6-5) Game of the week: Marshall County at Graves County (1/11): A year ago, this was Marshall's only loss in the region, a game in which it hit only 1 of 21 3-point attempts and still had a chance to tie the game with a shot at the buzzer in a 63-60 loss. This year's edition of the Marshals appears to be putting the pieces to the puzzle together around established players like guard Chase Clark and 6-6 center Austin Rentfrow. Graves is supremely balanced and won in a pressure-cooker environment at crosstown rival Mayfield last week, but one wonders if its lack of post presence (other than 6-4, 270 reserve Eli Wilson) will cause it a major matchup problem with Rentfrow. The Eagles also have a tough district game with St. Mary on Tuesday, with a win giving them the inside track on the #1 seed for the district tournament. All A Classic: Region 1 is the only one in the state that seeds its All A Classic tournament, having cast its lot with the Litkenhous Ratings more than 20 years ago. The initial rankings came out on Tuesday, with no surprise that St. Mary and Heath were the top two seeds, followed by Mayfield and Carlisle County. That would set up a Heath-Mayfield semifinal (Heath beat the Cardinals 63-62 on Dec. 10 at Heath) with Carlisle County getting an unfavorable matchup with St. Mary, whose strength (guard play) attacks the Comets' biggest question mark. Yet the #5-9 seeds could pose some problems. Hickman County is the #5 and beat Carlisle last week, and Murray, Reidland, Ballard Memorial and Fulton City all have reasons to be considered dangerous. Fulton City, which could play St. Mary in the quarterfinals and has the same backcourt issues as Carlisle, should get 6-4, 280-pound center Khalil Frame back on the court. Frame has been out since injuring a knee in practice for the state all-star football game in December. For the first time in around a decade, Graves County won't host the All A Classic. The first-round games will be played on Saturday (1/12) at Lone Oak, with the rest of the tournament taking place at Paducah Tilghman. Twelve of the 17 teams in the region compete in the All A Classic, which makes it a bigger deal here than in some other regions. That number shrinks to 10 next year, as Heath and Reidland will close and become part of the McCracken County consolidation.

Top 10 1. Graves County 2. St. Mary 3. Marshall County 4. Calloway County 5. Mayfield 6. Lone Oak 7. Paducah Tilghman 8. Heath 9. Carlisle County 10. Reidland Game of the week: Graves County at St. Mary (12/11): It's an early-season 3rd District showdown of teams that some coaches are already projecting as perhaps the top two teams in the region, at least until Marshall County gets some injured players back in the fold. St. Mary guard Patrick Hubert, a 6-2 junior guard, is averaging 23 points per game and has hit more than half of his 3-point shots (14-26) in the Vikings' four wins. He has also shot 80 percent from the foul line. Graves is 2-2, coming off back-to-back losses to Warren Central (in the Marshall County Hoop Fest) and a road trip to Carbondale (IL) last week. Welcome to the top 10: Reidland has won just eight games in each of the last two seasons, and the frustration of some early close losses to the likes of Murray, Fulton City and Calloway County (all on the road and by a combined eight points) was erased by Friday's 2nd district win over Lone Oak. Guard Jared Burnett had 24 points and forward Clayton Ali had 19 points and nine rebounds. The Greyhounds (2-3) will try to go 2-0 in the district by beating Heath on Friday. Going it alone: Fulton City's Jordan Miller is used to lots of defensive attention, but he faced steady double- and triple-teams in Friday's loss to Calloway County. Miller (6-6, 210) had 27 points and 12 rebounds, nevertheless, but still had to deal with the absence of 6-4, 275-pound center Khalil Frame, who was out of town preparing to play in the Kentucky football all-star game in Louisville. Frame is a defensive tackle getting attention from several OVC programs. Earlier in the week, Miller had 37 points and 18 boards in a win over 1st District rival Carlisle County. Triple-double man: Carlisle County's Marcus Burnett had 31 points, 25 rebounds and 12 blocked shots as the Comets beat archrival Hickman County 63-51 on Friday. Burnett (6-8, 240) is getting plenty of college attention but indications are he may be headed to the junior college level next season.