BGElite

I am looking for those myself. The people at Madison Central should be proud. Aaron Morris battled tonight and helped make a difference. Kentucky had a big disadvantage in height, but Morris and others made with a great deal of determination on D and rebounding.

Final! Great work Kentucky. Tyler Brown had a tremendous game and was hitting his threes early. Darius Miller and Shelvin Mack played extremely well too. Congrats!

Hopson was 5 for 13 and 4 or 5 turnovers. He was 4 for 12 when he hit a half court shot at the end to give him his final points. I'm surprise Taylor Stewart did not score in the game nor Brown.

Here's something found on the game from tonight. * Darius Miller had 12 points and an estimated 7-8 assists. His passing and all-around game was very good. He really made his teammates better, did all the little things. He also threw in a big-time reverse dunk, a couple of 3s and a huge blocked shot for good measure. * Shelvin Mack was, well, Shelvin Mack. Tremendous. A force on both ends of the floor. He had 20 points, including four 3s, and caused the junior ball-handlers a lot of trouble with his D. He and Miller have a great connection on the court. They complemented each other extremely well. Just a great basketball player. The buzz around the KY staff was how big a steal Butler got with Mack and how he could have gotten away from both UK and UofL. * Tyler Brown of Owensboro Apollo (who I think is headed to Morehead State) was a surprise. Really did a lot of things well. High energy kid, maximum effort on both ends. He had 18 points, knocked down a few treys. * UK walk-on Landon Slone had a nice second half to finish with 17 points. His outside shot wasn't falling like usual, but he did some decent things around the basket. Seems to have a good basketball IQ and nose for the ball. He plays with good effort, but will need to take it to a whole new level at UK in order to make an impact. Athletically, he needs to keep pushing himself to get more explosive. At times, he looked uncomfortable with tight defense, and some guys were able to drive around him on D. * Jon Hood had 12 points for the junior all-stars. He told me he was playing his 17th game in the last five days, so his legs weren't totally there tonight. He still looked good. Handled the ball a lot, passed well. He had 3-4 drives to the hoop where he was fouled (rare displays of D in this game). He joked afterward how guys will actually defend him and Darius, but no one else. Nobody wants the UK-bound guys to go off on them. He stroked two 3s in the second half. Very nice form on the shot. More athletic and competitive than you'd ever believe. * Jacob Jenkins may have been the biggest eye-opener for me. He had 16 points, including 4 treys for the junior all-stars. This is coming off the UK Elite Camp where he reportedly lit it up for 7 or 8 3s and 30-some points in one game. He feels like he's done everything he can do to attract big-time attention. South Carolina seems very interested since Darrin Horn took over that job. Jenkins is fairly athletic, too. I think he's a guy to really keep a close eye on. Stock could be ready to go way up.

Share some stats?

It wouldn't have been fair to the other juniors for Jenkins and Hood to start since they were not at practice the day before nor at shootaround today due to Elite camp.

That was Jenkins and Hood's 9th game in 18 hours. Maybe a days rest will help for the next game.

Interesting. It looks like Holmes and Scott County are the only two that can justify being in the top 5.

You are looking way too far down the road. How did these teams fare against top 30 teams last year? Are you saying these are the four top teams in the state, hands down?

Adair will be very good with Ballou in the frontcourt and Fudge running the offense. They lose Kimberland which many felt was one of the most underrated players in the 5th. Defensively, North Hardin has what it takes to make a run.

North Hardin will be tough next year. Strong starting five, height, and quickness. I think they make some noise and will end up being the surprise team similar to Holmes of last year.

1. Scott County 2. J'Town 3. Covington Holmes 4. North Hardin 5. Manual 6. Ballard 7. Lexington Cath 8. GRC 9. Dunbar 10. Male

If Hazard were in the 7th Region, would they be the favored???? Same with PRP?

If you can add those, then I think you can add Ballard, Manual, Male, North Hardin, Adair, Bryan Station, Lex Cath, UHA, South Laurel, Madisonville, and perhaps a few others.

Played Manual and Manual wins by around 9 or 10. Shelby Valley does have some depth and they do have some size at guard. Manual opened up the game hitting some long balls but SV made a game of it and had the lead in the 2nd half.

Shelby Valley is going to be tough this year. Watched them play today at the North Hardin Shootout. Was really impressed with their balance. Extremely rugged on defense and they've got size to go with their solid guard play.

5-Star Camp is excellent. Just make sure you schedule a session during the "LIVE" period.

That's going to be a very good event. Does anyone know who will be participating in this year's Derek Smith Shootout?

Does anyone know when the pairings will be announced?

Melvin Little will be a tough player for the 'Rocks too. He has really come on and is quite an athlete.

Team Kentucky is not playing in the Bob Gibbon's event as they did not get in in time after being invited. Instead they have decided to play in a tourney outside of Cincinatti. Jenkins only played for one other team which was the Truth 17's which did not have the means to travel to the major events and disbanded. Jenkins was invited to play for Indiana Elite in Akron in place of Hulls, Byrd, and Ryan as a guest and may play for them in July. Several college elite camps coming up and a two or three invitational camps too. He'll be busy in June too. Enjoy your summer.

Was impressed with their depth. They will have a fine July.

Did not make it to bracket play. Expecting to do better in North Carolina and in the major events in July out west.

Good points. I think it is possible to add Team Kentucky in there too. They did lead the entire game against Shining Stars until mid or late 4th quarter, including starting off with a 12 to 0 lead and a 22 to 7 lead early on before tiring due to missing some players and one injury. Against the DS team, the game was even or tied when Team Kentucky lost their only post player to ejection in the 3rd quarter. Team Kentucky already has proven they will compete against the country's elite programs too.

No, just his last AAU State tournament. He will be playing in the majors during July and August and a few camps.