Lion Mania

Before the season started they were my dark horse in the Seventh. Still my darkhorse in the seventh. They are a relatively young team that will only get better both this year and next year.

Up until this game I thought Trinity might be a Top 5 Seventh Region team. Getting beat by almost 30 points surprises me. Thought Ballard would win by 8 points or so. Trinity only had one loss coming into this game.

This establishes J-Town right now as the 7th Region favorite. Seems J-Town and Cosby took over in the 3d quarter of the game. Eastern was the last unbeaten HS Boy's team in the state of KY until last night. The Girl's side still has unbeatens Iroquois and Rowan County.

I agree. I hope & pray the Elisha gets back to 100% soon. Saw him in Summer AAU play and what a great little point guard. He is fun to watch play and much like the Faulkner's goes full throttle all game (when healthy).

King James--Not so sure. Some of their losses were with Justice out. Kind of like EC not having Ethan Faulkner. Before Justice went down they looked on top of their game beating Henry Clay by a large margin, Walton, GA by 20 something points, and thrashing Ashland by 53 points. My understanding is that he will be back at full throttle next week when the All A regional's start. When you have a terrific point guard and he is out that changes your team dramatically.

Good article in Field's Notes from Jan. 9th on Elliott County. Quotes from Bob Baldwin, the Winchester Country Club Golf Pro, who saw them beat South Charleston 107-83 a few weeks ago in Paris. Here's what Bob says, "Heard they played well together, but what I saw was surreal--so fundamentally sound & absurdly fun to watch that they almost take your breath away. What I saw was jaw dropping." Comparisons made to Rupp's Runts that he saw play 43 years ago when their tallest player was 6'5" and 6'4" Pat Riley jumped center. Can a MOD help me post the link from the kentucky.com site?? Thanks

He is the X factor with how deep a run they make. Against a quality opponent like Holmes or Scott County he must show up and stay out of foul trouble which has always haunted him. Must he get 25 points?? No Maybe something like 16-19 pts. and 8-10 rebounds. If he doesn't show up in a big game and gets 7 pts. and 5 rebounds I can't see EC getting deep into Saturday play in Rupp.

Duck's poll is pretty close except I would still have West a little ahead of Fairview. Those two are playing very shortly so we will know. Rose Hill and Terry I would have ahead of Greenup. Have not seen Terry so looking forward to seeing him on 17 Jan at Menifee in the All A. Heard he is a good young player (6'6" or 6'7" freshman I believe). How close can Fairview play Elliott?? Haven't seen Fairview (Collins, Jackson, Evans), but we will find out in 7 days in Frenchburg?? How close can Menifee play Elliott?? Will also get that question answered if EC beats Fairview in 7 days?? Bath's 21 pt. win over Montgomery was impressive with Metz scoring 38 pts. and Maze 23. A Bath County-Rose Hill All A SF game could be a very good game (if RH beats Raceland which they should).

Corbin is not an A Team. Middlesboro or Pineville are probably the favorites in the 13th region with Bishop Brossart the favorite in the 10th. Saturday's second SF could be a Elliott-Shelby Valley matchup. Hazard and Bardstown look like the favorites in the top bracket.

Pittman not getting double figures even in a slow down game is surprising to me. Holmes keeps rolling along. Doubt they lose very many more. One more regular season loss would be about it and to who I don't see it?? Congrads to the Bulldogs on another W......

Elliott wants to push the tempo. Anderson wants to slow it down and keep the score in the 60s. AC will succeed to some degree, but still lose the game 72-62. Second scenario: They don't succeed and EC wins 94-72. But, I'll take the first scenario.

As the old BTO song said, "Taking care of business". AC should be more of a challenge tomorrow afternoon in the KY PREPS CLASSIC. See everyone at Montgomery County.

If the season ended today it's still amazing what these young men have done. It isn't finished and I believe in miracles like the Milan story in 1954 (Hoosiers Movie) and the similarities are striking. Elliott is the Sea Biscuit (Great Movie by the way) of HS Basketball. This amazing story is what compels & motivates me to Sandy Hook night after night with 5 hours of driving (round trip). All the coverage & verbage they gather on here just fuels the passion.

Draw is Jan. 30th (Friday) with TV coverage on WKYT-TV in Lexington. Either Noon or 12:30PM that day.

#5 is just fine. Heck just to be in the Top 10 is fine. I'm like the 94 year old preacher who visited and preached at our church back in the fall. His opening statement was this, "I'm glad to be here this morning, but at my age I'm happy to be anywhere." (true story by the way).

I made the trip to MB and it seemed more like 300 fans. I am not good at guessing numbers. They were a loud bunch so it probably seemed like 300. No other team had the fan support that EC had. Some teams didn't have anybody (or so it appeared). Maybe a few parents and that was it. Some of the locals wanted to know if anybody was left in town. I told them to come to Lexington if they make the State Tourney and you will be surprised how many fans they bring. Then you can truly ask the question--Anybody left in Sandy Hook??

Was at this event last year and got my first look at the nice facility at Montgomery County. Some one told me that it seats 4,200. Very nice facility for HS kid's to play basketball and call their home gym. My HS gym held about 500 when packed and was built in 30s just guessing. New gym built in 1973-74 held a whopping 800.

With a game against Anderson in about 20 hours after this one is over, I don't see the starters playing but about 20 minutes. Still Elliott wins by a score of 88-64.

It's obvious and much the same every year, but just wanted to highlight the point. 6 of the top 10 teams are from the 7th and 11th. Take those teams out of the top ten and your left with Holmes, Elliott County, Christian County, and Shelby Valley. From an EC perspective hears hoping that 7-9-11 are in the bottom bracket and 16 is in the top bracket when those little balls pop out in 22 days from now. Just let the big boy's continue beating up on one another a little while longer!!!!:banana:

That was one game. You should have seen the South Charleston game when he had 34 points and was shooting 8-12 from three point range and throwing them in from deep with 2 defenders breathing all over him. And those defenders were 6'4" to 6'5" range and long and athletic. Ferg was 6-9 (67% shooting) from the field last night and averages 19 shots per game. He had 35 points vs. West Carter a few weeks ago. Where was Mr. Oney in that game?? I only saw one time where Oney actually stopped him on the dribble. Guess that makes him the defensive player of the year in the 16th region now.

As the story goes to me. That Morgan team was 26-2 and would win the region hand's down. Their only regular season loss was at home to a bunch of Elliott County Boy's who were mostly freshman then. Then West knocked them out in the first game of the district. Those young freshman went on to win the district and then play in the region championship with a 4 point loss to Russell. Those young freshman are now seniors and are smart young men. Smart enough to learn from the past and remember the lesson. Plus those freshman have now won 2 region titles and that Morgan team never won a region title. Point being that Morgan team was good and how good I don't know (I never saw them play as back then I didn't care anything about any 16th region team), but they didn't accomplish the things these kids have already accomplished and we aren't through yet.

Great game and my hats off to the boy's from Olive Hill. Capacity crowd of nearly 3,000 with folks standing. Had to turn people away at the door. Does anyone know what West shot from the field and especially trey land?? Must of been about 10-16 from trey land. I believe Elliott only had about 6 treys. First time I have seen them get out shot from downtown?? But, Elliott probably only had about 12-13 trey attempts. Good defense by the comets tonight and EC was in trouble and had to pull it out down the stretch in the last 4 minutes. Sealed it at the end with good FT shooting. W is a W, but this one was a hard earned surprise to many tonight. West right now has to be the 2d best team in the 16th region.......

Menifee continues to impress with now 9 wins (3x their # all of last year). Only surprise was them losing to my alma mater @ Burgin by 17 points. Would have thought this one would have been a 1 or 2 point game. As an EC fan I was sort of dreading the All A in 10 days. Not any more. The Fairview and possible SF match-up with Menifee are now sparking my interest. Can Fairview/Menifee make it close and for how long or will they be just more 16th blow-outs?? Will find out in a few days........................

I am sure that Ferg is just concentrating on helping his team win each time out. With the early signing period gone I'm sure after the season his attention will turn to offers and evaluating each one. I often compare Ferg's game with that of Lofton. Lofton's right place and decision came after the State Tournament was over. Ferg too will find the right place and fit for him. He is just a ridiculous (in a good way) long range deep shooter to not find a good place to play. Many teams I've seen on TV this year could use someone that can flat out shoot the ball from deep. This kid's range is once he gets inside the building.

Out of the loop all day yesterday--Wow what a debate!! Nothing more to be said just read all the posts!! But, trying to be as objective as possible, even though I am an EC fan here is my analysis/facts of a possible matchup. Note I have seen Holmes twice this year: 1) Holmes is more athletic, tall, and more length at each position. Pittman and the Johnson Brothers play more above the rim more than probably any three on any one team in the state. They are also good outside shooters. 2) Key for Elliott against any team like Cedar Hills, Scott Co., Holmes, etc. is shooting %. Length and athleticism does degrade shooting % somewhat. To what degree you have that length degrading shooting and/or how bad EC shoots will determine the outcome. Must shoot better than Cedar Hills game at 31.8% field and 13.3% from trey land. How much better depends on a lot of factors. EC did out-rebound the taller Cedar Hills team 36-32 which helped negate some of the %. Only EC warming up (actually only Ethan Faulkner warming up) and them shooting 4-10 from trey land in the final 8 minutes allowed them to cut a 16 pt. lead to 2 inside 2 minutes. They won't shoot a high % against a quality opponent like they would a Rowan, Fleming, etc. But, they don't have to shoot that high % to compete against a quality team, just much better than the Cedar Hills %. IMO, they must shoot over25% and maybe as high as 30% from the arc and at least 40% from the field.3) Although much smaller, EC's pesky defense will keep them close when shooting is degraded and/or poor. 4) T. Knipp although one of the best sophomore's in the state will have real big problems with Pittman on the inside. He must stay out of foul trouble despite how well Pittman is doing on the inside. If he has to sit over half the game that poses serious problems for EC on the inside. I have said all along that T. Knipp is the X factor for EC and will determine how far they go. 5) Finally, they are both great teams with different styles. EC starts 4 guards and T. Knipp. Holmes has more of a true front line with 6'7", 6'5", and 6'5". It would be an entertaining game if it becomes a reality. But, let us not forget that there are probably 5-10 other teams, including a talented bunch in Georgetown, that will all factor into the March equation. Good luck to both teams!!!