gswilder

Brandon Wilder, Robbie Stenzel, Ryan Fucci in Central KY.

I saw them in Cincinnati a few weeks ago and was impressed with Shining stars 17 and under. Got to watch part of a few games this weekend. Addition of CJ Penny really helped them out. He should be top 5 pre-season next year.

My son is Brandon Wilder and plays for the Lexington ICE and for Henry Clay. So I was at the game on Sunday. thewaterboy is correct, the one ref was a little sensitive. He did give the ICE coach a Technical for asking if his subs could go in during an official timeout. The same ref threw out one of the ICE parents the night before for saying something about "that looked like a pretty good play to me". In the first half, the fouls seemed to go against the ICE. In the 2nd, I think the Shining Stars got more. I didn't keep the book, but I would guess total fouls for the game were fairly close.

I saw KY players this weekend a couple of times. I think they had a lot of talent, especially athleticism. But you could tell they had not played together much as a team. Sometimes these AAU squads "load up" at tournament time. And they don't play as a team, but more one on one.

The Lexington ICE won the 15U State Championship today at KBA. They defeated Shining Stars (Pittman) 72 - 55 in the finals. They have now won the state AAU, 2 of the last 3 years. Brandon Wilder and Ryan Fucci combined for 56 of the 72 points for the ICE. Players ====== Ryan Fucci (Tates Creek) Brandon Wilder (Henry Clay) Daniel Kiesling (Henry Clay) Tanner Shotwell (Scott Co) Taylor Barnett (LCA) Carter Helton (LCA) Taylor Martin (LexCath) Daniel Deluca (LexCath) Travis Purvis (Clark Co) Coach - Richard Grier

15U Final Four for Sunday is : Shining Stars(Pittman) vs Shining Stars (McCord) Lexington ICE vs A1 All Stars Tonight in the quarterfinals, the Lexington ICE beat the Louisville Royal Family (they are pretty much Derek Smith - Kimbro) Final Score was 94 to 80 I believe. Ryan Fucci (Tates Creek), Taylor Martin (LexCath), and Brandon Wilder (Henry Clay) all had big games for the ICE. Very physical game. Other Quarterfinal, the Shining Stars(McCord) beat Louisville Lakers

15U Lexington ICE Roster ======================== Brandon Wilder (Henry Clay) Daniel Kiesling (Henry Clay) Ryan Fucci (Tates Creek) Tanner Shotwell (Scott Co) Taylor Barnett (LCA) Carter Helton (LCA) Daniel Deluca (Lex Cath) Taylor Martin (Lex Cath) Travis Purvis (Clark Co) Cabbot Hagin (Sayre) Coached by Richard Grier

Gelawn will have to improve a LOT, before he can get a scholarship to a high major like UK. Right now, I would say possibly a mid-major team like Xavier or Butler.

Scott Co. should be very good next year (at least it looks that way on paper). Considering they are basically a KY All-Star team! I think Pre-season #1 in the state? Nationally? Really national rankings mean nothing at the high school level. Really no way to objectively compare teams. Pretty meaningless. Scott may go undefeated, and again may loose in the first round of their district. Just look at the NCAAB and NFL. Both of those highly rated team not only lost a game. But neither won their championship. High School ball is so unpredictable. That's what makes it exciting.

I agree with Hutchinson as COY. He did not have the level of talent that Scott, Bryan Station, or Catholic had. He really developed them over the course of the year. Dunbar and Scott should be top of the 11th region next year pre-season. If not Red, I would vote for Ligon. I just do not understand how Hicks got the award. Maybe due to how he handled the Mackey situation, and was still able to have a very good year.

If Jackson ends up at Scott County, I think the KHSAA will look into it. That will be 3 major transfers in less than a year with Gelawn, Dakota, and Chad. What is the KHSAA rule on where you can play based on where you live. For example, if you live in County-A, can you play in County-B? I know the Eutons are moving to Scott County, but just wondering. I know a lot of kids in Fayette move around, but is that under the control of local school district?

This week was the first time I have seen Henderson. I was impressed with his overall game. He seemed to do whatever his team needed. Stayed cool throughout all the games I saw. Never rushed or made many bad decisions. Athletic for his size. In the finals, I kept waiting for him to kick it up a notch and get Holmes back in it. Don't get me wrong, he had a very good game considering Darius was on him all night. Hopefully he gets a chance to play at the next level. As we are seeing from the NCAA tournament this week, there are a lot of good "underdog" teams. And many of these (Butler, Davidson, Belmont) have player who were not even recruited at the D3 level, but walked on, and have become very good ballplayers. Hendrerson may be one of these "diamonds in the rough" that colleges are overlooking.

I was there for both games on Saturday. It was an unfortunate situation. But this is one rule that has been emphasized a lot. I am sure Setty knew the rule before jumping off the bench and stepping onto the court. He was pretty frustrated during Saturday's game. I think he had missed a lot of shots, and was sitting on the bench a lot in the 2nd half. So his emotions go the best of him, and it could have potentially cost Mason County their title. Would have to see all the rules before making a determination in my mind. Either way they ruled, there would have been controversy. Many will argue that Mason's title is not legitimate. Which is unfortunate for everyone, especially Mason County. Those of us who are basketball junkies will debate things like this forever. I saw on a forum here Saturday, someone claiming a bad call cost some team a title back in 1978 or something! We have long memories don't we? I would guess the KHSAA will get a lot more questions about this issue the upcoming week. They may have to come out and further explain their decision making progress. Suspending and then reinstating at the last moment, leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

Miller will win it. In the end, he was not only a great HS player, but took his team to the title. Both games on Saturday, when Mason needed a basket, Miller got it for them.

Miller needs to work on ball handling. Holmes has done a good job on setty.

He got a technical in the semi-final for leaving the bench.

Is Setty playing tonight? He is dressed but word in the stands is he will not play.

I watched Catholic play several games throughout the year. They have improved more throughout the season than just about any team I saw this year. They were just totally dominating against Station last night. I haven't seen Mason in about 3 weeks, so maybe they are playing much better also. I hope it is Mason vs Catholic or Mason vs UHA in the finals.

I didn't say Elliott would win, but that Mason would have to be careful. For example : Mason beat Bryan Station by 13 in their first game, and lost by 11th in the last game, at home. (24 point swing) Catholic is playing very very well right now, and have improved a lot since their last game with Mason. I hope to see Mason vs Catholic in the finals. Already got my lower arena tickets.

Burdette is also graduating for Station and he is another big loss for 3. Also, a couple of other decent non-starting players graduating(Larry Johnson). Station returns Ashford and Morones. Their JV team was not so good this year. Freshmen team is pretty good.

This one was closer than I thought it might be. UHA seemed to be up pretty good until the last 4-5 minutes. Yes, great first round matchup between Lexington Catholic and UHA. Catholic looked very very good against Bryan Station.

Hope to see Mason and Catholic in the finals.

I have seen both play. My prediction is Lexington Catholic wins the game. May be close until the end. I saw Lexington Catholic dismantle Bryan Station last night. They looked pretty awesome. I would predict the winner of Lexington Catholic/UHA plays Mason County in the Finals. But Mason has to be careful in their first round game against Elliott County I believe.

I would predict Scott County, Dunbar, and Lexington Catholic as top 3 in the 11th next year. Then probably Franklin, Madison Central or Tates Creek.

Game not close from beginning to end. Catholic looks to be the team to beat in the sweet 16. They have improved a lot over the last 4-5 weeks. Mason may be the only team left that has a chance to beat them,