Crunch-time

It would be hard to dispute this, any thoughts?

This year...

Waiting to hear from bballguy, HardWoodFan, and others how the weather and lack of practice cost Boone Co this game.

It honestly looked as if neither team had practiced for a long time. I understand jitters, big floor, and all the other excuses, but my goodness it was difficult to watch. The news article reads "BC didn't score for a 10 minute stretch" and I bet it was pretty close to that long for NDA during the same 10 min stretch.

I'm guessing every team in the JV tourney had players sit out because of their roles on varsity...pretty common.

Cooper beat NDA for the Championship last night. Congrat's Jags!

Terrible officiating and borderline confusing at times, but seems to be a common topic in most threads this year.

Any team can get a single first place vote.....their coach.

Yep!

I have zero problem with a coach voting for his/her own team. VoR asked "is it reasonable" to get a 1st place vote over the teams ahead of them...IMO, not until those teams lose OR you beat 'em. In this case, neither has happened, yet!

Panda Power! I had to hurry and get that one in before DD

First place vote for Notre Dame? To those closer to the girls game than I, does that seem reasonable?

Nope!

It was a special night seeing BC retire only the 4th jersey in history. Then, it was followed by an absolute barn-burner of a game.

I would like to give Cooper head coach Levandusky a big congrats. She has taken a program that has struggled at times the last couple of seasons, and has them defending better and playing up to their potential. Coaching can and will make a difference.

Agreed! They seem to be walking with a bit more bounce in their step and "expect" to win each time they step on the floor. That confidence starts with the coaching staff.

Cooper didn't play bad...they ran into a buzzsaw. The two GC guards were very smooth and were complimented very well with role players. They shot 63% and hit from everywhere even with defenders up in their faces. They are certainly beatable, but any team that tries to run with them better have a solid gameplan with players that can execute or it could be a long night.

Lack of interest?

 

No stars?

 

Where is everyone?

There is more parity in the 9th than I've seen in recent years and I see a handful of teams that can make a run if they get hot at the right time. I've attended several games this year and IMO the overall talent level seems to be way down. As for "stars", I've seen a few pretty talented players, but I'm not sure I label any as "stars". Also, from what I've seen, the talent seems to be spread out with not any one team having multiple high level players.

This is a totally incorrect statement. It's a Boone county schools rule.

Yep, I stand corrected! I dealt with this a few years ago and failed to remember a few details of the battle. The biggest hurdle by far was the MS principal.

Highlands for the first time ever this year has implemented an internal rule that no middle schoolers may play up on high school teams unless grandfathered in.

I know middle schooler's were not allowed to play varsity until Coach Richey fought to allow it and won. It was her first year as HHS coach.

Boone Co schools won't allow MS to play up but I believe both Beechwood & Highlands have strong MS that will be part of Varsity but not sure how strong??

To clarify, Boone county "HS" doesn't move MS players up to varsity; however, Conner/Cooper/Ryle allow it.

The "unwritten" rule at Conner is/was, a MS 'er can move up to Varsity "IF" they are good enough to play significant minutes. It's not fair the the player to sit the bench and also not fair to take a HS roster spot from another kid that's perfectly capable of sitting the bench.

Knowing the Boone County School Districts stance on moving middle schoolers up, they must be going to be varsity starters. What, if anything, does that tell us about Cooper

Cooper is not there yet, but it tells me they'll have a couple of pretty good 8th grade players on the roster.

There have been some pretty strong 8th graders playing varsity over the past few years at several HS programs.

who will takeover the point when Gambrel needs a breather or gets in foul trouble?

Get in tip top condition and stay out of foul trouble!

There's enough timeouts and dead balls to go a whole game. Also, there's typically a couple of non-sense fouls, so stay discipline and keep those silly fouls to a minimum.

4 Don't know why you have Highlands so high to young to get that much credit at this point

 

5, Never under estimate Boone

 

8. Cooper will be better with new coach. My thoughts are best coach in NKY.

Absolutely agree! The Cooper staff is the best from top to bottom, hands down!

Most coaches do not recruit the high school season. There are coaches that will come to the games but its really only to make a appearance to let a player know they are there after there is big time interest. 99% do not evaluate players based on high school games. Most evaluations are done at the AAU exposure events where they watch the players against top competition. Lots of states have players that now do not even play high school basketball that train in the winter and play AAU Exposure in the summer.

I agree 100%. Typically, the only time D1 level schools are in the HS stands is to show the love to one of their recruits and in most cases, it's an asst. The only time you'll see D1 head coaches, especially from bigger schools, is when a big time recruit is still undecided.

The vast majority of Women programs do not have the budget to travel to see one or two players compete in a non-competitive HS game. Exposure events are win-win for their programs and for the players. They see hundreds of players at one location and the player competes in front of 100's of college scouts...no brainer!

For the folks that don't know, these events have been going on this time of year for a very long time and Kentucky was not permitted to participate until just a few years ago when a group of folks took it to the KHSAA...

I would think the most talented players may perhaps be competing in the exposure tournaments where a much larger number of college coaches/scouts will be in attendance since they only get one weekend to shine.

I'll go with Nell bc on her track record and with being an BC alumni and my daughter also plays for her.. People hear that she's this or that but I can say from personal experience she's as fiery as some of the rumors you hear that being said I wouldn't want any other coach besides her shaping my daughter's life or basketball career . Well maybe besides Stowers @ SK he's one hell of a coach who's team should be really good this yr.

Ditto!

It's hard to argue with 20+ wins for 27 straight years. No state titles, but a boatload of dist/region titles. Is she tough, dang right! Absolutely no way my Daughter would've been mentally prepared for the D1 level as a freshman without Nell's tough love. I watched recruit after recruit quit because they were not mentally prepared for the rigors of playing D1 and the in your face coaching using language that would make Nell blush.

Bigmike: Ya gotta have tough skin on this board if you're a Nell fan. Anyone that truly knows her, loves her because we know what she's about. Everyone else, judges what they see on the floor. That said, I've seen folks on here call coaches "the best" who have never won a region title so ya gotta take it with a grain of salt.

For the record, Nell was absolutely the right coach for my daughter, but I don't think she's the best coach top-to-bottom in the state or in NKY...

Jamie Walz Ritchey Best in NKY, hands down.

I applaud the loyalty.

How did one of the top players in the country end up signing with UF? I wonder what she saw in the Gators that she didn't see in the two in state schools, both of which were on the rise?

UF & WV got in early. She fell in love with UF and she took her visit on the sidelines during a huge FB game. Mr Tebow walked over to her, put a UF hat on her head, and the deal was sealed. She only considered WV because of her family loyalty, but they really never had a shot.

Interesting.Is the incentive to go D3 so she does not have sit out a year? Then after one season return to D1.

Unless something changes...nope!

The D1 grind will quickly humble many athletes and ya tend find out quickly the difference between "loving the game" versus "passion for the game". On top of that, this young lady has dealt with a tremendous amount of personal issues that would knock down most teenagers, but she's incredible.

I thought I saw somewhere that Florida released Sydney to any school except UK.

Don't look for her to play at any big program.

Actually Boone County is still in session through tomorrow.

 

From what I understand Coach Fookes is not at school teaching and she is not having any contact with her basketball team and their off-season workouts.

Guru, not sure your info is completely accurate!

Man, this thread sure took on a life of its own "guilty until proven innocent" following one post which seems to clearly be "hearsay". I have an opinion "IF" it happened as described, but I know the integrity of this woman and I choose to wait to hear the facts from credible sources before convicting her. A lot of very good people have their reputations trashed by false accusations & assumptions of guilt. You of all people understand.

What a great move for both Cooper and Nicole! She has the opporunity to establish "her" program at a big school. Make no mistake, Cooper found a Coach (and staff) that will not be dictated by parents...count on it! If the talent is there, they have immediate success. If the talent isn't there "Yet", Nicole will get the most out of what she has and you can bet she'll be fair.

We will also be glad to throw it up with any AAU team anytime, anywhere.......:thumb:as a matter of fact we will be playing at the Nike Midwest Showdown in Mason Ohio Memorial Day weekend. Shining Stars should come on up and request Kentucky Premier first game.....

Now that sounds "exactly" like an AAU coach. Congrats on what you've obviously built, but be a little more humble! Good lord dude!