NKYBBALLFANS

Another coin toss for the 9th Region Final. Let's see.....you had St. Henry beat Cov Cath, but lose to Beechwood. You had Highlands lose to Beechwood, but beat St. Henry. You had Holy Cross and Cov Cath beat Beechwood. Don't count Conner out..they are extremely well coached and patient. This is anyone' game.

This was not an upset. These are two very good teams. Holy Cross shot lights out....50% from the field, 42% for 3 and 91% from the Free Throw line. Teams that shoot as good as that don't lose. Holly Cross has not shot like that all year. They also had 40 rebounds to Beechwood's 20 Rebounds, the real difference in this game. Beechwood shot 42% from the field, 30% from 3 and only 50% from the FT line. That's the difference. Great games by Will Downton with 31 pts for Beechwood and Jacob Meyer from Holy Cross with 32. There was alot of talent on the court tonight. A very talented district and fun games to watch.

Scotty Draud led the charge...and the bench of Juniors contributed in 4th for the upset. Beechwood press defense is tough...they didn't press in first game......Beechwood defense ranked 6th in state....fewest points given up per game.

From the KHSAA statistics February 1st, Beechwood Tiger Defense is ranked 6th in the State of Ky for least amount of points given up per game. Dixie is 50th and St.. Henry cannot be found on list. I agree...game should be a barn burner. Beechwood starts 5 Seniors.

Watched the live stream....very uninspiring and sloppy play from both teams.

Thanks..I'll look on the KHSAA sight on Friday

Heard Beechwood's Senior Guard Will Downton picked up his 1st offer from Indiana University East last week.

Anyone know why there are no stats for the Kentucky's high school basketballs leaders yet? I thought they would put them up but maybe they wait until a month in? Any info would be helpful.

Cov Cath Colonels by 15. Mitchell Riley will be the difference. Cov Cath will over power the undersized BlueBirds inside.........

I know we only have one week of play behind us, but St. Henry made a big statement with a tough and close overtime loss against a top Lexington Catholic team, and then went on and beat Highlands at Highlands in an incredibly close game. St. Henry is a top 20 team. Just my opinion.

Today (Monday) starts the 9th Region's All A Classic. Ludlow vs Newport at 7pm and Villa Madonna vs Bellevue at 7pm. Three strong teams in the lower bracket with St. Henry, Beechwood and New Cath and what one would think is the stronger team, Covington Holy Cross in the upper bracket. Looks to be a great game Wednesday night with St.Henry facing New Cath at 7pm and Beechwood facing the winner of Villa Madonna and Bellevue at 7pm. While i give St. Henry and Beechwood the nod on Wednesday, the highlight matchup of the week should be St. Henry vs. Beechwood on Friday night if both teams win. I look for Covington Holy Cross to win the upper bracket and the winner of the Beechwood vs. St. Henry game to win it all. The Beechwood Tigers split a win and a loss against the St. Henry Cru last year, with St. Henry winning the 9th Region All A last year before winning the KY State All A Classic. St. Henry playing extremely well with a close overtime loss to Lexington Catholic last week and then beating Highlands at the BlueBirds home court in a ridiculously close game. Look for Wyatt Vieth and Jude Bessler to have great performances. Beechwood Tigers have gotten off to a great start at 3-0 and playing solid team ball with high level performances from Scott Draud, Will Downton and Cameron Decker. The Tigers start 5 returning Seniors and should be ready, though their competition thus far has not been at St. Henry's level. Should be a great match-up on Friday night. I'll give St. Henry the nod for a close win for the 9th Region All A Classic, but will not be the least bit surprised if the Beechwood Tigers flip the script and win it all. Here is the link to this weeks 9th Region All A Classic https://allaclassic.org/Regional%20Brackets/Boys%20Brackets/9th%20Region%20Boys%20Brackets.pdf

Brandon McClendon was down in Florida playing a football exposure camp. He certainly is good for 15 pts, but Conner is always coached so well.

A very efficient win for the Tigers. Good defensive effort and a much more balanced approach on offense. Draud had 20, combined with Downton's 9, Rolf's 9, Decker's 7, (all seniors) and the sophmore Boyd's 8 pts made for really good team win. Senior and KY Mr. Football was the 6th man and played well. Chemistry looks much improved. 16 total assists from 7 different players. A much different looking team than last year.

Pre Season rankings with the 9th Region having 3 Teams (Cov Cath, Highlands and Beechwood) representing. All 3 Teams have a good shot of having the type of year to win the region and make the Sweet 16, but only one can go. Interesting not to see St. Henry who have 3 returning starters (Vieth, Bessler) and won the KY All A Region last year in 2020. Cov Cath will be hard pressed to match last years deep and Senior led team, having to fill the void of Grant Disken and Greene graduating. Speaking of Senior led teams, Beechwood tops the Region with 5 returning Seniors, three of which were starters and two who were 6 and 7 man off bench. However, if Beechwood is to have the kind of seasons they had in 2019 when they were the 9th Region's runner up's, they will have to find more than one player who shoots more than 50% of their shots. Championship teams have a few things in common, Great Defense, Low Turnover Ratio and a balanced offense where 3 players score double digit per game on average. This Senior led Beechwood Team will need to play much more disciplined to win. I give Highlands the edge and prediction to win the 9th Region. They do all three.

Thanks for putting together such informative posts! It is important to honor these memories.