Lion Mania

Congrads to Evan. Big chest bump and hug when I see you in a few weeks young man. He has worked hard and plays with high level intensity on every play and lays it all on the line each and every minute on the court. By the way, Radford finished 10-20 last year, but has all five starters back and is picked 2d behind Winthrop in the Big South pre-season coach's vote. Looked at their roster last year and they had one 6'9" player, three 6'8" players, one 6'7" player, and three 6'6" players. Sure looks like a big D-1 roster to me. Wintrop about knocked off Tennessee a few years back and of course Gardner Webb in that conference beat UK at Rupp. And it is only 4 hours from Sandy Hook so many of your family and friends will be able to see you in action. CONGRATULATION TO A GREAT YOUNG AMERICAN!!!

Guess we really won't know until March in Rupp. While Holmes is playing all those Top 20 teams, Elliott will be playing all those bottom 20 in the 16th region. I hope they get a chance to play Holmes in Rupp. If you all win then I will give the superior credit award where credit is due. If they blow Elliott out by 25 points I will still give credit where credit is due. If little tiny Elliott was to squeak one out then I also expect the same amount of respect and credit. Debate won't be settled until 18-21 March. I rest my case until then......... And before someone chimes in--Yes they have to win the regions first or we won't never settle anything........................

Yes, but we lost to Mason by 4 and should have won the game with a 7 point lead with 3:30 left. Holmes lost to Mason by 9 in the final. Holmes lost a top player in Henderson and Elliott has their entire starting five back. From everyone's (except those in Elliott County) perspective Elliott is David and Holmes, Scott County, and GRC are Goliath's. David did sley Goliath despite the odds. The game would be closer than you Goliath's think. Also, Rupp was not the Mason Fieldhouse and there was pressure. Lights were on at Rupp and it was showtime and the Elliott kids showed they belonged with the Goliath's. I am confident they will show it again with everybody back and three kids who have started since their freshman years and played over 100 varsity games if you go back to their 8th grade years.

Actually haven't been to a HS Football game this year. Gearing up for my HS Basketball season and some 8,000 miles between 25 November 2008 and 21 March 2009. Roundtrip for me to Sandy Hook is 254 miles and I will be there every night both home and away. Besides about 30 Elliott games and I also plan on seeing about 25 other HS top ranked teams and games including Scott County, Holmes, Franklin County, Lexington Catholic, Corbin, South Laurel, Tates Creek, GRC, J-Town, Anderson County, and Manual. Plenty of coffee, big cracks in windows, and loud music at midnight on the road...... As Don King would say, Only in America Baby!!!! Also Mytle Beach southbound and down...........................

Actually Elliott County stayed in the game for more than three quarters. With 3:30 left in the game they had a seven point lead and forced Mason to call a timeout as the roof was coming off Rupp Arena. Don't believe Holmes had a 7 point lead with 3:30 left in their game with Mason on championship night. And by the way, shooting is part of the game and Elliott more times than not knocks them down from all over the court, even against so called superior athletes with their superior defenses.

Timmy Knipp is not 6'6". He was 6'7" last year and has not shrunk. In fact has grown close to 6'8" from what I am hearing. Nice to see Timmy pretty high on the list. Now Timmy needs to play the level that many anticipate he will play to this coming season and consistent with the confidence given by this ranking.

Ethan at #7, Ferg #16, Evan at #27. If there is a better trio of guards in the state then bring them on. In fact along with Chris Knipp Elliott will start 4 guards and Timmy Knipp who even at 6'7-6'8" is more of a three. Elliott really has no one close to a power forward or center. Take those three guards and add a Leonard Macon and Richie Phares and you have a real top notch team. Oh yea, that was the starting five for Derek Smith 17U All-Stars this summer. Congrads to Ferg, Ethan, and Evan. And you know what?? Three well grounded down to earth hard working nice young men who just love to play hoops and happen to play it pretty darn well.

Tates Creek should be a little higher. At least 5th instead of #8. They are getting that ranking because of their youth. Barksdale, Fucci, and the other young talent will be tough by the end of the year. I like others hadn't even heard of Satterwhite. Guess we all need to check him out in a game. Western Hills never been a 11th region contender or a top team.

Agree with Shooter and I know this makes Gold Sunrise happy. I saw all those Clark County sophomores play AAU ball this summer (not counting Zollo who was out on crutches) and what a group of sophomores with talent. If there is a better sophomore group than this than bring them on. They have five super sophs and then add in Williams, Hatton, and the transfer guard and what a blend. The good thing is that they are no longer freshman (bad news for opponents). GRC wins the 10th and makes plenty of noise in Rupp.

Some of you 7th Region fans tell us about these players: 6'1" Zach McElwain (Junior) Seneca 6'1" Martez Harris (Soph) Seneca Roy Stone (Soph) Seneca 6'1" Kevin Glenn (Junior) Male 5'11" D'Carlos Hayes (Junior) Male 6' Remy Abell (Soph) Eastern 6'4" Sophomore Green (Eastern) 6'3" Chris Richard (Junior) Southern 6'2" Desmond Dorsey (Frosh) J-Town Looks like Seneca, Male, and Eastern are loaded with young talent. Jody Demling saw Dorsey recently and pronounced him the best freshman in the state. WOW.....

Where is Chris Knipp and Jon Morgan?? We expected them to be #5 and #6. OK before everyone gets jazzed up---just joking........Guess if your an Elliott fan like me this list doesn't have much to discuss. Barnhill and Timmy Knipp should have some interesting battles this season--both are underclassmen and top notch big athletes.

Devin Kawada 6'6" is a senior, 6'1" Tyler Jackson, and 6'4" Mark Pemberton. Juniors include 6'6" Colt Barnhill and 6'2' Kyle Bair. East lost Drew Johnson and Ryan Sagraves to graduation (starters)

Amen--Richie Phares is a Top 10 player in the state.

You are right and I am way late on this discusssion, but didn't mean to slight Dunbar they fell off my radar screen for some reason. I would have them in the 16-20 range somewhere. Scott County is the #1 team in the 11th region and state. After that the #2 argument would include Dunbar, Tates Creek, Lexington Catholic, Franklin County, and Madison Central. Personally I would put Franklin County at #2, Lexington Catholic #3, Tates Creek #4, Dunbar #5, and #6 Madison Central. Tates Creek has a lot of talented young guys and will be really good for several more years.

For what it's worth I didn't think your comments were offensive just sharing opinions which are shared on the board. Something (especially in the politically correct environment we live in today) always offends someone it seems. I like Timmy, but got frustrated last year by things like him getting two silly fouls in the first 3 minutes and having to sit the rest of the half. He went through some growing pains last year, but has a ton of potential. Like shooter said playing with the Falks and Ferg will only make him better. I really feel his sophomore year will see him make great strides and grow as a player and individual. I am a retired 24 year old army veteran and have a thick skin anyway. I've even learned in my short 10 months on this board to mellow out so to speak and not take things personal and try to respect everyone's opinions. Much like the kids who play the game we should just try to have some fun sharing ideas and opinions. Enough of feely touchy 101.

BG Elite--Is Fairdale that good?? You certainly know the Jefferson County schools better than many of us including myself. What about PRP?? Any other potential Top 25 team from the 6th region??

Timmy was just a freshman last year which is a very young player to expect consistency night in and night out. Also, Timmy's personality is different than the Faulkner's and Ferguson and this reflects over to his court personality. He is more laid back and not a real out-going type A personality. Appears at times that he is not playing hard and is un-involved which I don't think is truly the case. Another note: According to Jody Demling he dominated several AAU games this summer and reports from those who saw him is that he has made great improvements and also grown this summer to about 6'8". The best game I saw Timmy play last year was in the region SF win over Rose Hill where he really dominated in the paint blocking shots and rebounding includiing several big blocks on Euton down low in critical game situations late in the game. Let's see how his sophomore season works out and then make our assessment. I think it will be much different than right now.

7th and 11th are toughest regions. I live in Central KY area (small rural area) and don't really like the big Louisville schools (root for the small mountain schools including my Elliott boys), but I think hands down the 7th is the toughest and will have 5 teams in the Top 20, plus a Top 25 team in Seneca. 3d toughest region is usually the 9th, but 5th may be able to make that claim this year with North Hardin, Bardstown, Taylor County, Adair County, and the other Hardin County schools.

AGREE--Saw them several times last year against Elliott. They are tall and talented (much taller than Elliott). Could be a repeat of last year with Elliott and East playing 4x (home and home, district championship, and region championship). What is scary about this from an Elliott fan's standpoint is how many times in a row can you beat someone (with talent) until you lose one. Hopefully for Elliott fans not in Johnson Arena in March of next year?? If they were to go into the region championship with 7 straight wins over East (with probably several being close including one last year) then when does one have an off night and the streak ends. If going into the region and Elliott had 7 straight wins over East then I would fill more comfortable not playing them in the region final (someone upsets East in the region SF). Not saying a lose is good, but losing one regular season game (to East) could turn out to be a blessing come region tournament time.

Like Gold Sunrise I think this is a solid list. My 10-15 teams would include Shelby Valley, Mason County, Tates Creek, Bardstown, and Christian County in no particular order. 16-20 would include Warren Central, Male, Eastern, Corbin, PRP, South Laurel, and Franklin County in no particular order. What about Calloway County in Region 1?? 6'5" Williams and 6'7" Soloman are good players who some of us in Central and Eastern Kentucky don't know much about. Madisonville lost everybody except Hood and will not be Top 20. What about Hopkins County Central with the two big guys 6'8"?? Taylor County and Adair County in the 5th could be in the 20-25 rating along with Boone County (9th) and Seneca (7th) in the 20-25 range. Will Covington Catholic be a Top 25 team?? What about Madison Central??

Thanks D-dawg. They are just numbers. To be safe I will say that all 4 are in the Top 100 players in the state. Can't be too far off with that one. Kentucky does have a hundred really good players and the talent level is good. Maybe not great, but good.........

I don't know if they are Top 10, but after disappearing last year (with a really young team), I think Riley will have them back in Rupp again. I hear they have alot of young talent and two of the best sophomores in the state in Fant and Shanklin. In fact, not seeing Warren Central in Rupp last year almost felt like something was missing. Not only have they been to Rupp but seems like they were always contending on Saturday. With the right draw they would be my darkhorse to be playing again on Saturday this coming March if I had to pick one team as a darkhorse.

After looking over an extensive list here are my comments (with a little admitted Elliott County bias). Realize the trend is not to list too many players from one team with the exception of Scott County (Phares, Guyn, Jackson, and Euton). Ferguson made 4 of the list on here for Top 10. No problem. Ethan Faulkner only made BG Elite's Top 10, but Ferguson didn't on his list. Ethan is one of the top 2 or 3 point guards in the state and in my personal opinion the best because of his decision making, tenacity, and experience. Log Mountain Boy listed 33 players for consideration and listed Ferg and Ethan Faulkner, but no Evan Faulkner. Realize there are a lot of good players in the state, but I find it hard to believe that 33 are better than Evan. Timmy Knipp made no mention anywhere on here. Fine, but by the 2010/2011season he will no doubt make plenty of list. Timmy has to be one of the top sophomores in the state along with Zollo, Stenzel, Kimbro, Barksdale, Fant, and Shanklin. Not really putting up a big fight, but Elliott has 4 really good basketball players in 2008/2009.

Some of us forgot Colt. You are absolutely right. I saw him play several games last year and along with T. Knipp they are the best big men in the 16th and two of the best in the state. I agree--the kid can flat out play...... And Colt is just a junior this year and Timmy a sophomore.

Like Timmy Knipp, Zollo is a sophomore. Knipp, Zollo, Stenzel, and Kimbro are four super sophs in KY. Although Robbie is pretty tall (6'5") don't know that I would classify him as a big man.