Thomas Magnum

You are correct, North and South have great facilities, I think Corbin, South, Whitley, and North, (in no particuliar order) are tops in the regioin. I think that it shows a committment from the administrations at those schools to girls athletics. Williamsburg has added an on campus facility which is nicer than what they had before. I think that it is very frustrating to the girls (and parents) to play on sub-standard fields, and should never happen. I would not hesitate to use Title IX to get the proper facilities for the girls, they work just as hard as the boys and deserve equal playing fields. There are surveys by the state every year to make sure that athletic facilities are fair and equitable, and evey year I wonder how some schools get by, while others who appear to be at or near equal get gigged. Several years ago one school almost had to give a trip to Florida because the Title IX inspection said things were not even.

Stats?

Raider Rob has been good for McCreary basketball, but on the other hand, he has never had the post season success that most expected with the talant that he has had. There have been some suspect losses in past season and this season too, sometimes guys can get a team to a certain level but never ove the hump. Coaches post season success is what people judge them on and there is no defense to his lack of post season success. He might be a great guy and he might have politics in his favor, but if the lack of post season success continues, politics have a way of changing in a hurry. Remember those folks are voted into office, and if there is enough upset parents and supporters then he could be a man on an island.

Really solid hire for North. I hope that Coach Larkey gets the support that other coaches have lacked.

Sometimes a loss can re-focus a team, but seeing the reaction of some of the Corbin staff and players, I would wonder. Sometimes a loss like this can be a back breaker too. I think Corbin has the dominate talant in the region, but losses early season to Knox Central and now to South Laurel shows some chinks in the armour, if not making suspect to big game pressures.

I personally never thought talant was the problem, you are right McCreary does have nice talant even in a bad year, and they can't seem to get over the hump. Sometimes it takes new blood to move to the next level.

I think alot of people bought into the hype and now reality has set in. The Raiders could get it going but the schedule does not favor them. Tlhe 12th is a very even region and there are maybe 5 teams who could win it. Raider Rob could be on the hot seat if he does not produce something pretty quick.

Don Butcher can really become a great player, and could have played better last night but really tired from the JV game plus was having some other problems too. I thought the dunk by Lowrie was the best I have seen in several years, he threw it down with authority. Corbin continues to prove that they are going to be team to be reckoned with. I can see them playing on Saturday in the Sweet 16.

It looks like Kentucky did a great job getting kids into the game, it shows that the coaches did a fantastic job of getting kids to play together.

I think what set TG apart in my mind was his ability to take charge. He had a great supporting cast in the regular season and was not the only weapon Highlands had. He showed great leadership in the Border Bowl and in only three days of practice established himself as a leader on that team. Not every kid has that ability to get others to follow him. Sure there may have been better passers, and may have been better runners, but for my money it sure looked like he was the total package.

If one of the current assistant coaches is not working them, then if they applied it should take them out of consideration. If I was hired as head coach and they did not work them it would take them off of my list for assistants. If they are there and not working the kids out, it shows me lack of dedication to the program. North has too many athletes to not have a competitive football team, and it is a shame that they are not getting the proper opportunity to be good.

I am sure that every effort was made to get kids in the game, but sometimes one player or another steps up and makes plays. It looked to me early in the game both TN and KY were running two offensive and defensive groups and filling in alittle along. In the second half it looked more like running a couple of kids in and out in certian situations. It was an honor to be picked regardless of playing time. I am confident that there are many many kids who would have liked to have had an opportunity to have worn a jersey with KENTUCKY across their chest whether they got in the game or not. I can't see that it was anyones fault if a kid did not get in the game, both teams were there to win and playing just becuase you are on the team went out with Little League. I do think you need the bigger numbers to have kids who are not playing both ways, coaches are going to put the best players on the field, remember they are keeping score and you don't want to be the guy who lost to Tennessee All Stars.... The folks who put this bowl together did a great job, and very little was left to chance. The weather kept a few fans away I am sure, but it was a great day of football. I thought the defense really played well thoughout the game, and the offense really got going in the second half. Congrats to KENTUCKY on a great victory and I look forward to next years game.

TG really did a good job in the Border Bowl. He had great field presence and made big plays for Kentucky late in the game when TN got close. Congrats on a great performance.

Coach Sears joined the program late but has made up for lost time. The players appear to respond well to him and he looks like he is really enjoying the challenge of coaching. I think he has a lot ot offer the kids, both on and off the court.

They are missing a ton of time in the wieght room, is somebody working them out?

3-5 in their last 8 can't be good for a young team. If you can get some wins early for the young team, you need to carry that success over to the middle part, then you can carry it over to the late part of the season and the district. Should a coach be unable to carry the early succes over then things can slide down hill in a hurry. Watts can't carry that team by himself, and if he does not get some serious help soon it could be big trouble for the Raiders. (again) With only 4 home games in their last 11, and 4 of their last 5 on the road, the schedule is not favorable for a young team.

I was not complaining, only pointing out an interesting statistic. This is not a Whitley/SL thread but I will say what cost Whitley the game was the fact that St. John blocked or altered a bushel basket of Whitley shots, that and the fact that when St. John was out Whitley did not take advatage. I would agree with 4chs on Wright. Don't worry about everyone being out to get South Laurel, when you are the defending champ you have a target on your back, hey look on the bright side, you may not have to worry about it next year. I think that Williamsburg matched up well with South, Cunningham is a tough cover, Taylor is quick and offered a good defensive match up, Petite and Teague in tandum could give any "5" fits. I was not overly surprised by the score.

When South played Whitley last friday the Colonels shot ZERO (0) DE NADA, EL ZICHO free throws in the second half and only 6 for the game. Not griping, just pointing that out, I find that very interesting coupled with your stat. Like I said in another thread, when Williamsburg plays together, they could show dramatic improvement, looks like they played like a team tonight. Hope to see this trend continue for the Jackets.

Basketball officials are just like anyone else, they make mistakes, the good ones, the bad ones and the ones in between, they all make mistakes. Some of the officials make calls from 50 feet away when an official is 8 feet away and more often than not it is a wrong call, that makes both looks bad. I have a friend who says there are no bad calls, just bad angels.

"Knuckleheads" as they were refered to in another thread give all the fans from almost every school a bad name. Most of the fans have not played or they are blinded by their not their support of the team but more often than not the support of their son or daughter. I truely believe that the greater percentage of fans are just that fans who cheer for their teams and yes they do boo and there is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes a few cross the line. The 13th region officials are sincere in what they do but unlike a bad mechanic or doctor you just choose another one, we are stuck with them. I think most people state wide would love to see more oversight where officials are concerned. There is no good answer for fixing the problem, and the new assigning secretary is not it, and replacing him won't help either. It is a problem that everyone is stuck with so you may as well make the best of it.

Corbin has the BEST talant in the region, they also one of the most physically gifted teams I have seen in the 13th region in many many years. Sometimes I think they (players) don't understand that pushing a kids with both hands out of the way rebounding is a foul, and beacuse of their size, officials get caught up and miss it when it happens. Officiating in the 13th region has black eye right now due to the incident last season with the e-mails from schools requesting certain officials, but I truely don't think they any of them set out to cheat one team or another. Personally I think that most of them are just bad. Williamsburg has a group of kids who for whatever reason don't play well together. Corbin on the other hand plays well together (although not all the time) and when you are playing together and staying within what the coach dictates then you should have success. If and when Williamsburg does what the coach says without question they will improve dramaticly. Corbin and South Laurel and even Whitley are teams that are doing what the coach says. the difference is that Corbin and South have had consistancy over the years at the head coach position and understand what it takes to be successful while Williamsburg and Whitley have not.

Whitley led by as many as 15 in the third quarter. Storms had 18 and Lowrie had 14 rebounds. Whitley came out and played hard after a tough loss to South the night before. Butcher, Ponder and Akins (three sophs) came off the bench and gave the Colonels a lift in the second quarter. The guard for Jackson Co is pretty good but he should get his teammates more involved, I thought that he took his team out of the game when it was close with some bad shots, although the kid has great range and can handle the ball very well.

South was terrible from the FT line only hitting like 3 of 12 so the margin could have been bigger. BUT has much as that was a factor, in the second half Whitley had way over the 10 foul limit and South only had 3 fouls total. Now Whitley was terrible from the field but to have only three fouls when the Colonels were attacking the basket was an interesting stat. In fact Whitley dd not attempt a free throw in the second half and only 6 in the game. If South did not have St. John they would be middle of the pack. He is a tremendous player and gets some favorable calls especially on the defensive end. But that unfortunately is part of the game in the 13th region. Both teams were very good on the defensive end and it was a fun game to watch. Although I would have like to have seen the Colonels win in the great scheme of things it really makes no difference, they will still face each other in the district, and had the Colonels won it would have made it tougher to win in the tourney. Nice game by both teams

Man that is just an ugly score.......

I think Corbin (1) is way ahead of the rest South (2) and Knox Central (3) present match up problems for most teams Clay (4) plays hard Whitley (5) gets over looked by many plays hard and has some kids really stepping up, plus schedule has been tough Middlesboro (6) is just ahead of the next few teams Pineville (7) has a great coach and a great player in James David Strange Barbourville (8) has a great coach who gets the most out of his players Harlan Co (9) coming together and going to better as the season plays out Bell Co (10) Lewis Morris makes them the best of the rest