devils advocate

Went to Lake Lands official website and their coach said Perrin is the most gifted athlete he's ever had! Pretty high praise to me. Hope he lands somewhere that I can see him play. Root for all Kentucky kids.

Bender won it all as a soph. Killed Scott County that was loaded, I think. All the greats have been dunked on true but evidently you didnt see it cause it showed he was soft! Tried to take the charge! Hello!!! You're Six-ten! Toss it back in his face! Thats why UK didnt recruit dude. Wouldn't have got him if Ricky P was there either. But I could've seen him excelling at Vandy or Notre Dame. Very good in high school against six-four kids. Just didn't have that oomph for the big boys.

Man I hope we get some folks crashing the boards or its going to be ugly! Heard OH killed us underneath. I know it was a different team but the people we added arent really low post players. Kinda nervous!

Watching Rajon Rondo(Eastern) play right now!

VanHoose was soft! Bender was to athletic and physical for him. Lamont Barnes to athletic and physical for him. Harold Swanagan was too physical for him but very limited offensively. Did you see when the kid from Indy Pike dunked on him (VanHoose) in the KY/IN game? Never happens to the other guys. Van Hoose had a solid career at Marshall but he was overrated on the state level. As far as Bender in college, he had issues. I've already acknowledged that, but head to head he eats VanHoose. Bender probably avg. about 8 in a limited role at UofL. Just like Caracter though as far as the 'tude! And DC tears up every big man in the state but Barnes,Bender, Estill and maybe Brian Thornton IMO. Thornton (Vandy & Xavier) was slept on majorly by the way.

Congrats to everyone that made the team! And to the invitees too its a heck of an honor to even be invited. Glad to see Tyler Brown made it! Hope to see him starting or at least contributing. This game is so big! Only All-star game that is SUPER competitive! Well from the standpoint of playing hard! Indianas boys have been owning us. Wish KY would put more infasis(?) on this game. Have a good showin in this and you're a player. Was at the game when Lofton dropped 42 and couldnt understand how he was headed outta state! Courtney Lee was in that game too and I couldn't understand how he wasn't Mr. Basketball. OOPs, forgot AJ Ratliff signed with IU!

Let me star by saying I loved Larry Obannons game. Humble hard worker from what I saw. Couldn't understand why it took U of L so long to offer! Carlos Hurt was a Mcdonalds but he was a transplant. I saw Bender play like 10 times in high school and he was the most dominant big man in the state in a while. Head and shoulders better then Van Hoose, Marc Salyers, or Estill IMO. Chiles, Knight, and Wilkinson (all at Ballard) were all good DI players but not better then Bender. Also went to both games of the KY/IN all-stars that year and Bender showed me his heart! Will Caudle(Xavier) caught a nasty tip dunk in traffic and on the next trip down Bender called for the ball and posterized his man on the next trip down! A lot of folks liked Chiles but most of that came from him signing with UK. He really was just a dunker to me. They threw a lot of alley oops to him that looked good but wasn't overly impressed with his game. Didn't do much on that loaded KY all-star team. Sparks(best showin), O'Bannon, and Bender were the players! Too bad he couldn't control his additude. Huge unused talent.

Kentucky(Indiana too) have a lot of politics behind their post season awards IMO. A lot of kids from Louisville are overlooked every year! Kids from a less talented region get the accolades when if they played in the 6th or 7th regions they wouldn't stand out as much. Plus if a kid signs with UK its almost a guarantee he's heavly hyped (deserving or not). Another example is that if you do anything at the Sweet Sixteen as an underclassmen folks are checking for you(Unless you play in certain areas). One or two good games could have you crowned the next Rex Chapman. Even if you are marginally talented! All your coach has to do is make sure you tour the state so that your not forgotten. Brandon Bender is one player that kinda went against this trend. State champ as a Sophmore and shouldve been MVP of the tourney. Had a national reputation and played a national schedule at Ballard. But folks in the state didnt like his additude so it hurt him being Mr. Basketball. (A LOT like Hopson) Any other state the award is his by a landslide! Josh Carier got it by the way. (WOW)

Andre Miller(Central Hardin) and Spencer Perrin Jr.(?) at juco's. Any updates on these KY kids?

As far as the Johnson kid (Cumberland High) goes what does LMU stand for?

If he plays in the KY/IN game it'll tell a lot! Very competetive game.

OK well what I meant was folks are complaining about these transfers when no wrong doing has been uncovered. If these kids were being adopted by Scott Co. boosters then I could see the argument. But if a familly decides that Mayberry's economy, climate, or crime rate no longer fits them then there shouldnt be a problem finding a school that your children are comfortable with. Whether it deals with the drama club, math program, or cheerleading team. As far as "thinking national" most programs are content with dominating their area teams year in and year out. Your program should be grown to the point where kids aren't even considering another school. Why arent kids running from Scott Co.? Like Henderson Co. played Cincinnati Moeller in football a few years back. Now they got drilled but it showed where their coach and AD aspired for their program to be. I bet their kids will talk about that game forever. The game now is exposure and travel! And I remember small schools playing a national schedule. In the mid 90's UHA and Paintsville played big name schools. Paintsville came to Nashville and played Pearl-Cohn with Ron Slay(UT) and John Henderson(NFL) among others.

I saw Hopson play as a junior and really saw how people talked about his additude. He was in a rage about his teammate taking an open shot! I mean visibly displeased. Really cant defend the young man about the lack of all out effort but has anybody noticed that he turns it on against better talent/comp? Heard he lit up the GA school in the KOB and nationally he's played well. Maybe the college game will challenge him more then KY high school basketball did. Talent wise he was head and shoulders above everybody except maybe Miller(never seen him in person). Wish he'd went to U of L.

Yeah if its strictly based on the week-end I guess he's out.... But really its not based on just the weekend! The week-end is really to see who's been overlooked or overhyped if you ask me. They have an idea who's on the team 2 yrs. ago but they have to dig a little bit deeper. Tyler Brown is a perfect example. If he doesnt show out at try outs he doesnt make the team just on state wide reputation in my opinion. But to have a legit chance to win KY would be nuts not to have Hopson! And you have to excuse someone for Jordan! That's huge exposure for KY basketball!!!

I hope they choose based on the weekend too. Even though had folks paid attention to his sr. year he wouldn't be such a surprise. Most rankings had him as a top ten sr. but it just seemed like he was forgotten about. Least talked about DI senior on a state wide level. Strangest thing i ever saw to be honest. Most folks never mention his name as far as making the KY team. Funny thing is that Moorman for Owensboro has got a lot of love after the state(rightfully so) but before that his name was never mentioned. Wouldn't be surprised if they both made it!

Would've loved to see Apollo there. I know they won it twice with Micheal James(Florida International) and Bubba Long(EKU & Campbellsville) a few yrs. back. Brown's the best player to come out of Apollo since Marc Salyers(Samford then the NBA pre-draft camps and over seas). I gotta lot of respect for coach Hopper. Remember him at Central Cty. and from the great slow down Muhlenburg North teams (averaged like 40 pts.). Was at a classic game with North and Owensboro at the Sportscenter's christmas tourney back in the early 1990's! James Douglas(OHS & University of New Orleans), Bobby Higgs(OHS; ridiculous unused talent), and Brad Devine(EKU & WKU)! North had a great team that would've made some noise at state if it wasn't for OHS. Eventual state champ UHA knocked off OHS in the semi-final of the Sweet Sixteen at Freedom Hall.

Good to hear about Tyler Brown. I posted a reply on another thread about how overlooked he is! If all these other players are better then Brown Kentucky wins by thirty!(LOL) Really he is as good as anybody in the state, just nobody saw him play. Can't believe that after he ripped up Rupp his soph. year he wasn't at the KOB, LIT, 5th 3rd, or any of the other events. He could easily do the same as Beckham(Ballard) and go to a prep school and be in the Big East or SEC! He's that good!!!

Personally I think it's great that Scott Co. has built their program to the point where folks want their kids there. They play a national schedule, have great facilities, and get their kids recruited. Whats not to like. You can't be mad if a family decides to move from Paducah to Scott Co. and their child can play ball. Parents are going to do what's best for their child's future. No different then a child playing an instrutment and a certain school having an outstanding band program. Now if someone showed me where a player was getting paid or was receiving some type of benefit then I could see being upset. I just think schools need to invest more into their sports programs. Make kids wanna play for their home schools. Stop being content with winning your district, region, and state. Think national!

Look out for Amashi Kendall of defending girls 3A state champion Owensboro Sr. Just won the Hopkinsville Invitational with a 39-10. Owensboro overall has another great team! Should compete for state again.

Can anyone who went to the KY All-star try outs give us an update.

A lot of Owensboro fans had been waitin for the drought of losing the first day at state to end. Personally I under estimated OHS! Huge exposure for Brock Moorman! Folks around the state got to see a looked over talent. I think after 2 yrs. at a juco he'll play in the OVC. Have a lot of family at Central that felt they had more talent (which may be true) but I think Owensboro had better basketball players. Can't take anything away from the year Central had though, the 6th region is no joke. Congrats to the Red Devils on a great season!

Man, so glad to see someone give Tyler Brown his due. He is the one of the most slept on players in the state. He's this years Preston Knowles. He had 20 points in the KABC All-star game but nobody really talked about it. There were some good players in that game too! A lot of people talk about Hopson and Edmondson but I saw Brown drop 25(20 in the 2nd half) in an Apollo victory their jr. year. And he caught a ridiculous tip dunk in traffic on UHA's 6'10 ctr. Langhi. Had many 20 pt. games against a good defensive Owensboro team.(held Madisonvilles Hood 2 12 pts) Dropped like 35 on Henry Clay this year.(without Boyd and Moses but hey)Not playin AAU ball really hurt his exposure going to his sr. year but Morehead's smilin about it. I thank he's the best player in the state not named Miller or Hopson! Hope he makes the KY All-stars so the state can see his game.