devils advocate

Riley was in a tough district with Warren Central. But he was at a school that historically was one of the better ones in the district from a talent stand point. Now he's at a school that currently sits last in the talent department in it's district IMO. The positive is Riley has no boundaries to pull from in a city/county with a large Catholic population. Things could get interesting.

WOW! That's a huge hire for the Aces.

I doubt Bowling Green falls too far in 2015. The machine has been running well oiled for 25+ years now. But I do believe 5A in the west will be tougher with Owensboro moving up. I've posted this before but OHS returns like 15 starters overall. Biggest loss will be at QB IMO. Replacing the 3 year starter in Locher will be key. The Red Devils do return their leading rusher(TJ James),best defender(Jakovey Gardner),& get one of the top WR's in WKY transferring in from Apollo(Rates Lewis) thgh. Owensboro also has a talented Sophmore class moving up. This group of kids beat Bowling Green twice last year in freshman ball. Hopefully Owensboro's rookie head coach knows what he's doing....there's definitely some talent to work with on Frederica St.

Took this one from the football forum. I've maybe given a little bit too much weight to programs that are more relevant today as opposed to 90 years ago....and I also included two programs that consolidated....I didn't rank Fairdale even though they did some great things in the 90's....but here goes.... 1.) Lafayette(6 titles earned in the 40's,50's,70's,&2000's;tied for most ever) 2.) Ballard(3 titles in 70's,80's,&90's;5 runner ups) 3.) Owensboro(4 titles earned in the 40's,70's,80's,&2010's;most Sweet 16 apperences) 4.) Henry Clay(6 titles won in the 1910's,1920's,&1980's.) 5.) Male(4 titles won in the 1940's & 70's;3 state runner ups.). 6.) Ashland Blazer(4 titles won in the 1920's,1930's,&1960's. A ton of Sweet 16 appearences.) 7.) St X(4 titles won in the 1920's,1930's,1950's,&1960's.) 8.) Manual(4 titles won in the 1920's&1930's.) 9.) Maysville/Mason Co(3 titles won in the 1940's&2000's; 2 runner ups.) 10.) Shelbyville/Shelby Co(2 titles won in the 1960's&1970's.)

Lville Eastern's state championship team really only had Ashley Olinger as a sure fire D1 kid. I think he ended up at TN Tech but I believe Notre Dame wanted him too. I just remember they pressed the whole game and regularly played like 10 people all game long! They wore teams down. I remember hoping Owensboro,led by Mr BBall Brandon Davenport, would play them in the LIT. Eastern got upset in the semi's and Owensboro ended up winning it all. The Red Devils had a really good team but didn't make it out of the 3rd Region that year. Apollo beat them in the finals after losing the previous 3 match ups. Apollo had 6'9 Marc Salyers(Samford University Hall of Famer),6'5 Fred McHenry(Northern Iowa),& 6'6 Mario Hall(D2 Brevard(NC) College)

I'll name a few players that should be mentioned. James Douglas(Owensboro/Sullivan Juco/University of New Orleans). Douglas led Owensboro to the Semi's of the Sweet 16 in 1992. He was on the Sweet 16 all tourney team and was a KY All Star. He was an all Sun Belt Conference performer for New Orleans. James Douglas ended his college career with 15 & 7 against UNC in the 1996 NCAA tourney. Bobby Higgs(Owensboro). He is/was the little brother of former KY All Star Dwight Higgs. First cousin of Kenny Higgs(LSU/NBA) & Mark Higgs(UK/NFL). Higgs was a 6'3 swing man who teamed up with James Douglas in 1992. In the Sweet 16 Higgs had a game against Scott Co or Belfry where he had 30+ points and 20+ rebounds. He made the all tourney team. Was invited to try out for the KY All Stars but he gave up organized ball after losing to UHA in the Semi's that year. Sullivan Juco wanted Higgs and Douglas.

Apollo had some gelling issues in Coach Barkers first season. If you take a look at their schedule it seems they played up or down to the comp they faced. Losing to Hoptwn 74-72,Owensboro 62-61. Henderson 65-60. Bowling Green 63-57. Boyle Co & Manual blew them out. Those two are a little more understandable then Daviess Co & South Warren. But Apollo did beat Owensboro in the District Finals. I really think a lot of Owensboro fans sighed with relief when the Eagles were upset in the 3rd Region semi's. Apollo returns almost everybody and I will be shocked if they aren't a top 10 team most of next year.

The '99 class was very solid too. I think all these kids graduated in '99. Rick Jones(Vandy),Marquis Estill(UK),Chris Shumate(Murray St),AW Hamilton(Wake Forest/Marshall),Josh Graham(VCU),George Baker(DePaul),PRP had 3 D1 kids,Chez Marks(Morehead St),Mike Wells(WKU),Tony Johnson(UAB),Tim Barnes(Iowa St),Alonzo Evans,Petie Spaulding(Chattanooga),Jon Bentley(EKU),Nathan Popp(UNC-G),JR Reynolds(Eastern Illinois),Darrell Arbaugh(Furman), & Joe Sykes(LA Tech

This is a great topic btw....I've gotta do some more digging. Without going too far I'd say the 1996 class was pretty strong with Isiah Victor & Lamont Barnes. I'll be back!

That very solid 2001 class also had Brian Thornton(Lville Manual;Vandy/Xavier),Lamar Owen(Owensboro;Southern Illinois),Dewalt(Bowling Green;EKU),& Wardlowe(Bowling Green;Southern University). There was a kid from Barren County,I believe,who played on the KY All Star team then played D1 on the west coast.

Forgot to mention Tyler Brown (Illinois St) was in that 2008 class too. He played in the D-League. He also led KY to the last win against the Indiana All-Stars at the Lville Gardens if my memory is correct. Brock Moorman(Owensboro class of 08) played for North Carolina A&T. I believe a kid from Ft. Thomas Highlands also went to A&T.

That 2011 class was really good. Especially at the D1 level. George Fant probably scored 1500 points for WKU. Hickey started all 4 years at two different power conference schools(LSU&OK St). Kam Woods led the Big East in rebounding two straight years. Remy Abell starts for Xavier and has 2 years remaining. Chane Behanan led U of L to a title. 2008 had 3 kids(Hopson,Miller,&Mack) who have played games in the NBA.

Apollo will have 3 kids with legit D1 offers in Ben Moss(EKU),Eli Wright(Indiana,TN,MIA,etc.) & Trace Young(WKU,Wright St,etc.). If they can get some front court size they could be a treat to win it all.

I'll say 6A because Trinity is in that class. Outside of the Rocks thgh I really think Bowling Green would beat the rest of 6A more then they would lose.

Yep 86. Maurice White(Owensboro) ran for like 240 yards on like 40 carries in the state championship win over Belfry I believe.

Owensboro High School won the 2015 state championship showcasing Aric Holman(multiple high D1 offers),Justin Miller(multiple D1 offers)& Jacoby Harris. What many folks don't realize is Marshall Griffith(Gulf Coast FL CC) was at Owensboro until his Sophmore year. He transferred to Daviess Co. Eli Wright(multiple high D1 offers) & Ben Moss(D1 offer) were in the Owensboro school district until the 8th grade. They decided to enroll at Apollo as freshmen. All those kids could have been on the Red Devils state championship team.

Griffith is going to Gulf Coast CC I believe.

Congrats to Ben Moss. Man the city of Owensboro had a ton of talent this past season.

Pan Handle Conference,which Tallahassee CC is in,is one of the best in Juco. If he does anything there he'll get noticed. Btw Marshall Griffith from Daviess Co. will also play in that conference. Good luck to Mr. Simmons.

Owensboro will need to adjust to their new head coach. Also finding a replacement at QB will be huge. The Red Devils do return a lot thgh. Including leading rusher TJ James. And Area Defensive Player of the Year Jakove Gardner(OLB). I expect them to be a top 5 school in 5A.

Darrian Morrow for Owensboro should've at least been honorable mention. The kid from Caldwell Co,Pepper I think is his name, has signed with David Lipscomb or Belmont. He didn't get an honorable mention either.

Marshall Griffith from Daviess Co got no mention. He's headed to a Juco in FL. I expect him to play D1 ball. I'm wondering why the 2nd Region and 3rd region didn't have any Honorable Mention listings. Surely this had to be an error on the C-J's part.

Coach Franklin at Vincennes is a KY native. He usually keeps a few KY kids on the roster. Personally I'm glad to see Bell go this route. If he produces next year he should get some D1 looks. I remember in the early 2000's the Mathis kid ,from Male, did the same thing. Mathis ended up signing with Creighton.

I was really impressed with this kid at the Sweet 16. Hopefully he gets to go to the school he wants to continue his career.

Aric Holman & Justin Miller have made the team.