Lion Mania

Elliott by a boat load. They won't even play unless they meet in the finals of the All A Regional at Menifee County or in the regional at Johnson Arena. Elliott plays Fairview in the All A Saturday and then would have to play Menifee County (got a bye) on Tuesday night. Final on Friday would be Elliott vs. Raceland/RH/or Bath.

Elliott County 108 Morgan County 62 Scores in the 16th with Elliott vs. anybody are going to get old fast. And we haven't even started yet!!! Here is the prediction for the entire year with Elliott vs. 16th region (one exception East Carter). Elliott by a boat load........

After watching Barrett & Andy play all summer with the Derek Smith AAU team their combined output of 13 pts. really surprises me. Between the two of them one would expect something like 40 points. Must be first game rust or something?? Makes one scratch his head to see these low numbers!!!

Weak is a relative term. AC was rated #19 by the Herald Leader. Garrard is certainly no top #25 team in the state and I saw probably 50 High School teams play last year including many in the Top 25. They may be strong in relation to the 12th region, but the 12th region is one of the weakest regions in the state and I live in that region. I don't see a lot of 12th region games just for that reason.

Interesting to note that BGP came out with their HS rankings today and Corbin is #8 and GRC is #9. Guess the scrimmage moved Corbin up (vs. Herald Leader and CJ polls that were before the scrimmage) and moved GRC down a little. GRC was higher in the two other polls and Corbin was way down toward the end.

As I am only a few years from senior citizen age, I like the gyms that have plenty of chair back seats (save on the old aching back). Three come to my mind being Russell County, South Laurel, and Montgomery County's new gym. Sure there are plenty of others just can't think of them!!!

Most of their top players I thought didn't play football. Patterson, Dedman, Taylor, Cinnamon, Honchel (sp?), and Sagraves don't play football (I think). McCloud plays football, but what other top players play football??

We will get a good measuring stick on December 20th at Bourbon County when #3 or #4 Elliott County plays #1 Class 3A South Charleston, WVA in a 7:45 nightcap game. Talked with Jonathan Bevins and some of the players form Logan who were good kids and honest. They said they (Logan) were not ranked in the pre-season Top 20 in Class 3A. Said South Charleston was ranked #1 or #2 according to the poll. Logan beat Scott County in the 2d half by 2 on a last second three point shot. I thought Logan had a nice shooting team and I saw Bevins play all summer with the Derek Smith AAU team. He is a real nice inside player and was surprised to hear that he doesn't have many offers on the table. He is a 6'8" big body strong blue collar player who bangs and works relentlessly hard around the basket.

Speedy, you are right. Garrard did not look like a top 10 region team in the generally weak 12th region last night. AC is a contender in not a real strong 8th region. Coach Drury seems content on controlling the tempo and getting 10-15 passes each time down the floor before a shot can be taken. They (AC) have some good athletes in Penny, Ruggles, and Russell, but he will not turn them lose in my opinion and let the horses run so to speak. It was a boring game from my perspective with sometimes AC taking almost a minute to get a shot up in the half court offense. It was an opener against a weak opponent and one must take that into account. But, I saw AC play 5 or 6 times last year and with the same team the style doesn't change any from last year. They have some talent, but I feel don't get full utilization of what they have with the style they play.

Final score from last night. Was at the game and Penny was a man among boy's against Garrard County. He scored 27 points and was very unselfish trying to get others involved. AC plays a real deliberate style that is conducive to keeping the score in the 60s. Front line of 6'5" Penny (27 pts.), 6'4" Jr. Will Ruggles (11 pts.), and 6'3" Jr. Jacob Russell (18 pts.) scored 56 of the 65 points. Only other scorer was the little left hand guard who scored 9 pts. on 3-4 trey shooting. NOTES: AC will have major problems with Elliott on Jan. 10th if they don't develop some guard play and scoring. AC runs a lot of time off the clock with each possession and EC will try to push them into an up tempo game. AC must keep the score in the 60s to have a shot at Elliott, which I don't think they can do with their guard play right now.

They have beefed the schedule up with Myrtle Beach, Mason, Anderson, and South Charleston. They live and breath as a part of the 16th region and have an obligation year in and year out to play those teams in that region. They must play East, West, and Morgan (district) home and away. Everyone is restricted by the 23 max game schedule. Some think that besides who they scheduled this year they should have added a Holmes, Scott County, and J-Town. Just not realistic for a 16th region team. On a 1-10 scale they have a 7 schedule with 5 being a middle of the road average schedule. Should it have been a 8 or 9 in difficulty. Maybe? But, again just not feasible with the obligations and restrictions on # of games. Besides I like the mystery of should they play a Scott County, Holmes, J-Town, Manual, etc in the Sweet Sixteen we don't have a regular season game to measure by (unlike Mason last year that didn't turn out the way most thought it would anyway).

I agree. Hood is the best player I have seen. After him there are a host of players that you could argue for #2 in the state including Phares, Jackson, Euton, Cosby, Sanford, Ev. Faulkner, Et. Faulkner, Ferguson, Pittman, R. Johnson, Jenkins among others. I don't think that after Hood there is a clear #2, #3, #4, and on and on.

They have an equal shot with Regions (not teams) 5-7-9-10-11. I say regions vs. teams because I believe the eventual state champ will come from one of those six regions (EC 16th). Certainly not out of the question that regions 2, 4, 6, 13, 14, or 15 could win the state, but certainly more of a big long shot. Shocking would be the word if someone from regions 1, 3, 8, or 12 won the state.

The prediction thread is closed. I guess you can throw caution to the wind. I predicted a 93-81 win and Elliott won by 30+. I did predict Hood getting a hard earned 27 pts. and that was pretty close. I predicted Ferg getting 30 and he got 27 and didn't play in the 4th quarter. On the D-Dawg & Big Slick comments about me being like a kid right before Christmas. Well, yes, I have found my fountain of youth with these young men. For a basketball junkie like me I am excited 10 minutes after the game awaiting the next game. Watching them play is more fun & exciting than the first time I rode the Blue/Red Racer at King's Island in 1972. After playing/watching basketball for over 40+ years I don't think I've seen a more fun bunch to watch play the game. I have got LION MANIA real real bad.

Jackson was the most impressive athlete on the court. He is a tremendous talent and looks like a college player already. Euton reminds me of Hansbourgh for North Carolina. Kid works hard, hustles all the time, and lays it all on the line and gets the most of his talent. Guyn must have shot (what seem like) 30 times and some of them very ill advised. If I could coach for a day he would sit beside me and we would talk. One other note: Elliott's lack of depth and bench which was a real weakness is way ahead of schedule. Morgan, Ison, Flannery, and Nickels are providing some surprising good quality minutes and steady play. If they continue to improve it may not be a weakness at all come March.

Typo--Jenkins IS A GREAT PLAYER.

Jenkins if a great player and many of us thought that he was really unselfish last night. Tryed to get the other players involved and made some great feeds and assist. Not trying to be negative, but just honest. Much like Madisonville I don't think Manual has the supporting cast (just slightly better than Madisonville's) to go along with Jacob. They are rated in the Top 6 in the state, but not having seen all the other teams it makes one wonder if they should be that high. Elliott would have beat them by 25 points last night. No way to prove that because the only time they would even play would be March in Rupp. Jenkins much like Ferg has a beautiful long range rainbow jumper that most of the time finds the bottom of the net. Good luck to Manual and Jacob in the loaded 7th.

Still real foggy as I got back home last night at 2:15AM. But, it was worth the ride to Inez which is at the end of nowhere. Hood is the real deal, but he has a bunch of athletes around him that are football players and not basketball players. If we were playing flag football last night we would have got creamed by 9 touchdowns. Ferg got 27 points the first 3 quarters and like most of the starters sit the whole 4th quarter. His shot looks really good and effortless. Probably could have had 40 if he played the whole 4th quarter. Timmy continues to show improvement by leaps and bounds and can score inside, outside, or driving. The twins are phenomenal and it seems like there are four of them on the court instead of just two. If I was on the other team they would really get on my nerves. And yes they have all bulked up and looks like they have been on some weight/strength program all summer/fall. But, the same quickness and speed is still there despite the added weight/strength. I wish they had more games against Top 10 or 20 teams, because the 16th region games are going to be over very early. They really need the challenge of playing the Scott County's, Holmes's, J-Town's, etc. Right now they are scoring 90 points a game with relative ease and not many run-outs. When they start pushing the ball against some of the competetion coming up the scoreboard may go places it has never been before.

Oh yea, and Christian in the 2d with Wilford and Wilson will get plenty of respect in W. KY.

Should be a fun day for all us HS B-Ball junkies. If we can't get a fix after 10 hours of it then we are in trouble. I will be in Inez and get the popcorn on!!! Stamper, Cox, Hudson, Middleton, Jenkins, Hood, Phares, Guyn, Euton, Jackson, Bevins, Ev. Faulkner, Et. Faulkner, Ferguson, T. Knipp all in Inez saturday. I am sure I missed a few more.

Eta Rho--Holmes is going to be a fantastic team. Being an Elliott crazy fan I want to play them, but not until Saturday night in Rupp if that's OK with you.:banana: The two teams that really scare me (probably not the Elliott kids though) is Scott County and Holmes because of the talent levels. Good luck to Holmes on a what will surely be a 30 win season and probably only 1 or 2 losses. They probably don't need a whole lot of luck!!!:dancingpa

Sorry, I was talking teams instead of players and on the wrong thread. Six lashes and 20 push-ups for me.

Hope so. It will be interesting to compare the two. You would think they will have a more 11th Region/Central KY leaning and not as many Louisville teams in the top 25. Not saying one is right or wrong, but it tends to go that way. Also, interesting to see show much respect they give the mountain teams like Elliott, SV, Hazard, Corbin, South Laurel, etc. Seems to me in this mix that regions 1-3 get slighted, probably because they (the two papers) aren't sure what is down there. Warren Central (4th) may be the only team in the top 25 in both papers from Western Kentucky.

What do you think the outcome of this one will be?? Elliott plays Madisonville in the last game (8:00PM) Saturday of the Fast Lane Classic at Sheldon Clark High School. I will take first stabs. After the impressive 21 pt. win over GRC one might think well they would win by 25-30 over Madisonville. Many don't even have Madisonville in their Top 25. Basketball is a funny sport and I think Elliott will win by 12 points. Hood will see a lot of defensive looks. Evan Faulkner who is a great defender at 6'1" will get the majority of the call. Ethan and Ferg may get some time on him along with Timmy Knipp. Elliott is real good with help side defense and pressure. I still think Hood will get a hard earned 25 points on 8-20 from the field (3-7 treys) and 6-8 from the line. Look for Ferg's hand to be much better and 30 points with 7-12 from trey land. Ethan and Evan should combine for 40 points. Final score: Elliott County 93 Madisonville 81.

I would have to agree with Mrs. Hoops 69. Clark's top players all got significant minutes and no one was missing except Purvis who will be out all year. Ferg and the Falks got more bench/rest time then I've seen them get in a long time. Cody Nickels, a little 5'8" sophomore guard, who looks like a middle school player got more minutes than I expected for Elliott. Not downing Cody as he did a really good job in the short minutes he got, but he is no Ethan Faulkner or Jonathan Ferguson by a long shot. Even 6'6" sophomore Jacob Ison got more minutes than I expected and did well with about 4 points and 4 rebounds or so. Both teams did their fare share of rotating and experimented with different combinations. There was no advantage either way and yes both teams will improve and get better. One more note: From the score one would think Elliott got their fair share of fast breaks. Not the case. The game was more of a half court game which should have favored the taller, more athletic, GRC team. Elliott's defense was excellent despite the height disadvantage in the half court.