Athena

When you pick an all-star team you should pick the very best your state has to offer. The "BIG" problem in Kentucky is: (1) They do not get the best players in the state ( they maybe had 5 out of the Top 12 in the state this year, most of the others were ordinary players (2) In order to assure you get the best players in the state you will need to appoint a Game Director and a girls director that know what they are doing(the individuals involved now are clueless) (3) An independent Committee should then be formed to determine who is chosen for the team, those Committee Members must have a broad and comprehensive knowledge of the Girls Basketball in Kentucky as well as be individuals of high integrity and honesty (4) In no case should any High School coach be involved in the selection of a player for the team where they are the players High School coach (as was the case this year with 5 players making the team) in each of those cases none of those players were rated in the Top 15 of the state. I am not accusing anyone in the process of anything dishonest, however the appearance of independence should always be of up most importance. Active high school coaches should not be involved with the picking of the team other than to make nominations.

Iroquois Monthgomery Simon Kenton Casey County Elizabethtown Rowan County Clay County Henderson County Iroquois Casey Elizabethtown Henderson Iroquois Elizabethtown Iroquois Total Points: 92

I look for Highlands to bring their best defensive game this time around and end up with the victory. If they don't bring their best defense, it will go the other way.

What is the basis for the Division 1; 2; 3? Is it the Top 10; Second 10 and Third 10 in the Region and is it by position?

Hey Dreamland, that is a big win for the Wayne County group. What about the individual line on the players?

Does anyone have the line score by individual points, rebounds etc.?

The Blue Chip All-Stars Scouting Service run by the Underwood family submits players to the committee I know each year. I am sure there are others that provide information like the Adidas Grassroots organization and the Nike grassroots people also.

I respect MS Fookes very much and it is commendable that she would make that comment. You may want to ask SHA coach who the best players she has ever seen play out of Kentucky. I am not sure how many times MS Fookes played against Chrystal Kelly or Arnika Brown( who was offered as a Freshman by Pat Summitt) both were rated # 1 players in the Nation by all of the major Scouting Serivces Nationally in their respective grades each year they played in H.S. They also achieved many of the same accolades as you noted above for Walz. Also to date Arnika has out performed Jamie and been much more dominating in the Sun Belt. Take a look at what Chrystal Kelly achieved while at WKU as well as in H.S. 3 State Titles b/4 going to WKU and everyone's Miss Basketball. Now keep in mind I have never said Walz was not a good player, she was certainly a very good player, I saw all of them play including Jamie Walz, IMO she was not nearly as dominating as Chrystal or Arnika! If Arnika (She was in 3 state tournaments and runner up to Chrystal in I believe 2 of those) had not come along at the same time as Chrystal she would have had multiple state championships as well. Both of those players were much more dominating and again IMO were overall much better players than Walz. I also give Hallman and Booth(from your region) who had multiple MAJOR COLLEGE offers the edge against Walz. Hallman was a lock down defensive player and was also Miss Basketball with other multiple accolades coming out of H.S. Booth was just as good and was Player of the Week multiple times overall and in a row as a freshman at Xavier in the very tough A10. Booth and Hallman both were quicker, more athletic over all better rebounders and much much better on the defensive side of the ball, no comparison there! I guess my point would be in high school if you have someone that can score, they play a lot of weaker teams in an overall weak region, and you take almost all of the shots you certainly are going to score a lot of points but that does not make you the best player. A very good player I agree but not the best, I still like Kyra Elzy and I bet you that Pat Summitt does as well. Sorry.

#32 is Bramblett and she is just 5-9; she is their tallest player. But she is a very good player both inside and out.

Ervin Stepp was a dominant scorer and is still a legend in eastern kentucky just as Jamie is in northern kentucky, he put up more numbers than her, 50 plus points a game. So was King Kelly in high school put up big numbers over 50 per game his senior year. When Stepp came out everyone complained about Joe Hall not recruiting him, as it ended up he could not even start at Eastern KY U., Kelly bombed out at Kentucky Wesleyan! Now with Jamie, her high school career was pretty much the same, she took significantly all of the shots for her team and like Grigsby played against a lot of weaker teams in Northern just like there is now. IMO You have had 2 better players than Walz out of that area in the last 10 years and both of them graduated the same year; Tara Booth and Erica Hallman, IMO both were much better complete players in High School as well as in College, Check it out. Either one of those players could have scored 50 points a game if their coach called on them to do all of the scoring. No one could stop them. ELZY was a more complete and better player than WALZ, it is just that simple. Too many people get too caught up in the number of points scored, that is a fact. Sorry no disrespect to Jamie, she was a very good player and is a very good coach, without her NH would have beaten them by 20 even with a bad game. She will IMO have your team in the Sweet 16 this year and I predict again next year, you are lucky she may be the best coach up in that area after Nell Fookes, Boone County; Brian Neal, Thomas More and Coach Wentzel-NKU:p

Hey Henry, You may want to get back on the sidelines, I believe I have complimented Highlands as a good basketball team and their little point guard played an excellent game. Check my post I have complimented your coach Jamie as well, she is a very good coach and was a very good high school player, excellent high school scorer (took most of the shots for her team), which I compliment her on. The problem you are experiencing is you need to recognize she may not have been the best player in the state during her career. Check it out, KYRA ELZY, 2 National Championship Rings and 1 Gold Medal, she was the consummate team player, defense, offense and understanding of the game, recruited heavily by Pat Summitt, most wins in history men's or women's coaches, also had offers from numerous other Big Time Colleges! I was just merely recognizing a Super Team Player in KYRA ELZY that in my opinion was just simply a better all around player than Jamie and her total career IMO proves it! You may also want to check where the North Hardin vs Highlands game was played, check it out, JOHN HARDIN! I do not believe in the past the 9th region year in and year out has the quality of teams you find in other parts of the state i.e. 5th, 6th, 7th and 11th to name a few. I do agree with you in that NH played a very poor game, yet won. Also for another poster that stated who is coming back for Highlands next year, NH has their 3 Juniors back and one of the top 8th graders in the state in the Roberts kid! Should be a good game next year!:dancingpa, Also as to Most Illustrious Basketball Careers in History; have you ever heard of King Kelly Coleman or Ervin Stepp(I believe both had great Illustrious high school scoring careers but bombed out in college, I believe they averaged over 50 per game for their careers but their careers in High School was legendary the competition and number of shots they put up has something to do with their awesome point totals but they were not great players:p!)

GPFAN, First of all no one is kidding you, you got a fair called game, not sure what your are referenceing about all 3 being horrible? Are you talking about Smiley, Edwards and Bramblett? If so you should get checked out then apologize for that remark, all 3 of those kids first of all are very good kids and secondly all 3 will be playing Division 1 basketball eventually, the 2 Juniors I believe have already been offered and the Sophomore is being recruited heavily by several D-1 schools. Thirdly there was no home cooking your team just simply got beat and lucky it was as close as it was! You may want to answere the question of how your team did against Iroquois, Manual, Dunbar and on yes we know about North Hardin, most of us know the answer on the others as well. I am sure the refs took those games away from you also. To be the best you have to play the best and WIN! Your team has not done that, live with it! Highlands is a good team and well coached.

I though if you were a middle school player and played up with a varsity team at the High School level and decided not to go to that school when you go to High School, they would have to sit out 1 year? Is that correct?

Does anyone have the stats who was doing the damage scoring and rebounding?

bjim, How did Highlands do against those teams you listed? Iroquois, Dunbar, Manual and North Hardin are all very athletic with some very good players, did Highlands beat those teams? Sacred Heart is a very well coached team, but I would not put them in the very athletic category. Highlands is a very good team and well coached, I believe they have a very good chance to be in the sweet 16 in Bowling Green. I noted you played Iroquois & Dunbar in Scrimmages that may be a little different than in a regular game but would qualify as playing against some very good athletes and players, did Highlands beat them? The game with NH was a good game very competitive both teams gave a very good effort. I was particularily impressed with the Allen kid, very good player who came to play.