HoosierDaddy

I still think Trammell is the key to the leadership on the floor.

I totally agree, Trammell is the engine that makes the car run smooth. He is a very smart and fun player to watch. Trammell and Hatton play very very well together. Without Trammell, Hatton would not be able to do wat he does.

The blue Colonels travel to Dixie Heights Thursday nightfor a rematch against the red Colonels. Their first game ended with Dixie getting the win with a 20+ margin. Will Cov Cath be more prepared this time? Any thoughts about the outcome of this game?

I've noticed Coach Chevy is starting to go deeper into his bench. He was just going 3 deep with Cohorn, Muntis and Evans. I was told Cohorn has been out the last two games with flu like symptoms. Waller and Bruns were on the floor last night also. Dixie will need a deep bench to win the region IMO, and it looks like that's what the coaching staff is doing. Their bench has to be able to step up, especially if Pike or Stansberry get in foul trouble, or if Hatton has an off night scoring.

I have noticed the same. The bench will be a vital part in making it through the region and winning the 9th region title this year. I heard Cohorn was out today as well, hopefully he will be back for Thursday's game against Cov Cath. There has to be that option open for a team. If not you are going to struggle. Your five starters are not going to be one every single night lighting the boards up no matter how well they play, someone is boung to have a bad game here and there. Lets hope Coach Chevy can prepare that bench to make that step when needed. Evans and Muntis have been contributors when coming off the bench offensively and Cohorn defensively, but they may need to go much deeper than that with this year's ninth region teams. As we have all seen there are about five teams that could win on any given night.

Really I am surprised. I guess that shows why coach Mullins plays a lot of zone, they apparently are not quick enough to play man. Who was tasked with guarding Hatton? The Perkins boy is a real hustler and I would expect him to try to play Hatton in a man-to-man scenario.

Perkins was guarding Hatton the entire game except on a few plays where other kids had to pick Hatton up in transition.

I am curious since I was not at the game. What kind of defense did Ryle deploy against the red Colonels? Pike only scored 2 points and Hatton went off for 31? This would make me think that they went with zone defenses?? I know Ryle likes to play zone and keep the score down but obviously they couldn't do that when down 20 + points.

They played man the whole time, they never went with the zone. Dixie took a huge lead by mid second quarter. I believe they hit all of their threes in the first half and that was ten total. They were an offensive machine last night in the first two quarters of the game. Dixie came out in the second half alot less focused. Ryle came back much stronger in the 2nd half but could never get close enough to gain on Dixie.

Despite Hattons 31 points I would have to say the highlight of the game for me at least is when Juwaan Evans for Dixie stole the ball and slammed it right over a Ryle player. That had to be one of the best dunks I have seen in awhile at any level. Definately the best I have seen in high school.

I would have to agree Sportsfan 99. The better part is that Stauffer was trying to block it. Anytime you can lay a dunk down on a kid of that magnitude it makes for one of the better dunks. The crowd went nuts. A very exciting for Mr. Evans and the Dixie basketball team.

Link to article

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20110207/SPT0302/102080359/

Box Score:

Ryle (15-11) - Stauffer 8 6 23, Mullins 7 2 18, Perkins 5 3 14, Vollet 5 1 11, Stinson 1 0 3. Totals 26 12 69.

Dixie Heights (21-3) - Hatton 13 2 31, Trammel 6 3 18, Stansberry 6 0 15, Waller 1 0 3, Evans 1 1 3, Hassel 1 0 2, Pike 1 0 2. Totals 29 6 74.

Ryle 17 9 20 23 69

Dixie Heights 26 16 14 18 - 74

3-pointers: R 5 (Mullins 2, Perkins, Stauffer, Stinson). D 10 (Hatton 3, Stansberry 3, Trammel 3, Waller).

They pushed the lead out to 20 or 22 and I think they prematurely put this one in the win column. You have to stay focused for 32 minutes.

Your right Solomon I might want to brush up on my mathematics. I would agree they did prematurely put the win in their back pocket. You have to stay focused, especially when playing a team like Ryle. Stauffer is an amazing player. I really enjoyed watching him play tonight.

Good comeback by Ryle....Dixie had a 16 point halftime lead but Ryle had a very nice second half.

Dixie was up 18 at the half, the score was 42 to 26. I was really surprised how Dixie slowed things down in the second half. I believe if they would have went with the momentum that this game would have never been close.

Does anyone have the box score?

Congrats to Holy Cross.

Nobody is questioning his talent thus far. When I said a long way to go I meant 3 years for him to graduate. He will get a lot of opportunities to showcase his talents but he may not get any better over those 3 years. There have been other players who have peaked at a young age. Hatton is a very mature 15 and I am sure that a lot of the kids that he has been compared to were not as physically mature at 15 as they will be at 18. I hope he does but let's not be too quick to make him the next Damon Bailey. Imo he will have to improve his quickness to play at a high D1 level. Here's hoping he is able to do that but let's let him grow up and allow us all to enjoy his talents.

Totally agree EZ Living, definately needs to improve his quickness and I definately can see your view point. There is alot of young talent floating around NKY and I hope to see all of them improve and continue to be successful.

Very nice article but there is still a long way to go for this young man and he will have to prove that he can play with the best talent in the country to elicit a scholarship from some of the schools mentioned in the article. His ability to get the shot off against bigger, stronger and quicker kids will be the key. I will admit he is a tremendous talent at 15 or 16 years of age whichever he is now.

I would say a "long way" is stretching Hattons talents and abilities a little thin. At this point I believe Hatton has faced the top talent in the United States at his age level. As the article stated Hatton was present for the Fab Frosh camp that was suppose to be the top kids in the United States, Hatton was ranked somewhere in the top twenty. I would say thus far he has already faced and been compared to the best in the country(at his age, which is 15). Obviously I am a Dixie Colonel and Hatton fan all the way, so maybe I am a little biased.

There was also a nice article on Zeke Pike but that would be for the football forum.

Brandon Hatton bursts onto scene

ScoutKentuckyPreps.com(posted 2/1/2011)

by:Tyler Adkins Basketball Analyst

Here is the link: http://hskentucky.scout.com/2/1044707.html

I think this one will be a close game. I take Dixie by three.

Hatton and Smith are two different players.

 

Smith is a true PG. Hatton is a 2. Smith's handle is the best in NKY. You can't check him with one kid.

 

Hatton shoots better and plays under control more than Kellen especially when going to the rim.

 

I'd take either of them.

Clyde, I think you summed it up best! They are both excellent players and again wish all these boys continued success.

1st game Kellen had 32. Hatton had 19 with 9 points coming from the ft line. Kellen had the better game! 2nd game Hatton had 11pts with his first basket coming with 2 minutes left in the 3rd qtr. Kellen shut him down plain and simple. Hatton's a very good player, Kellen Smith is better.

At this point we will agree to disagree. Apparentely you are a Smith fan and I am a Hatton fan. You can have your opinion but no one would ever be able to convince me that Kellen Smith is better than Brandon Hatton. Hatton is on a team with the best starting five in NKY, so when he has nineteen points, that is huge. So how can you say Kellen had 32 and Hatton has 19 so he is the better player? If that was the case and we decided our POY by who has the most points, Smith would have already lost out there. Thelen is currently leading the NKY area in scoring and Hatton is above Smith in total points scored for the year, so that argument is pretty loose. Kellen is on a team where he is the only wow factor and Hatton wasnt guarding Kellen in that game. Also you apparently didnt look at my numbers from either game. Smith didnt shut Hatton down by any means. (You can check the stats on NKY.com). However I dont believe that would change your mind as well as you wont change mine.

I thought the article was a good reflection of Coach Booher. It is nice to see what type of message he is sending off the court to prevent further tragic events such as the one he survived.

Does anyone have the box score?

Congrats to Ryle. I was expecting the Bulldogs to pull a win out of this one.

This indeed was a very sluggish game. Really no flow to the game...too many whistles and both teams looked out of sync.

 

Hopefully NKU19, you get to see the real Dixie team in the future....this may have been their worst effort of the year.

I have to agree completely Solomon. This was definately Dixie's worst outing of the season.

This one's easy. Kellen Smith -PG- Scott.

 

From the looks of the Scott crowds, I can tell many of you haven't seen him play. To put Hatton in front of him is silly. Head to head in 2 games this year, they weren't even close. Also in the 2nd game, Smith held Hatton scoreless until 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter and to be fair to Kellen, when Hatton scored his first bucket, Kellen wasn't guarding him. Maybe Hatton will be a better player than Smith but he sure isn't right now. Kellen Smith is the best player in NKY period.

I dont think there is anything "silly" as you put it about including Hatton in the same category as Smith. Hatton is a tremendous athlete and deserves to be on the same level with Smith, as well as Thelen, Geisler and Brown. As far as the head to head play , you might want to rewind the first game because Hatton was not contained by Smith , he shot 66% from the floor, was 100% from the free throw and three point line. He also added six rebounds and three steals. As far as the second head to head game, Kellen definately had the better game of the two. This is not because Smith shut Hatton down, Hatton shut himself down. He was 26% from the floor which is less than half of his normal average. I think to have a clear cut decision for POY at this point would be premature. There are five or six boys in NKY that are viable contenders. I think it will all boil down after the regular season ends and all the teams head into their regional competition. I hope continued success for all these young men, they are all exceptional atheletes.

So you are saying that Smith doesn't even belong in the conversation at this point? Thats a little 9th Region bias there....averaging 20 ppg, 8 apg and if you are talking about a straw that stirs the drink for their teams??? Has led his team to upset over #1 ranked Dixie and victory over a higher rated Boone County.

 

People are also forgetting about the season that Nate Losey is having for Campbell County. Get the feeling that if Scott and Campbell were in the 9th they would be getting a lot more consideration for POY awards.

Your right, I was taking my ninth region players and forgetting about Smith. I do believe that Smith is also a definate contender. My whole point is that there is not that much difference between #1 to #5. I believe all these young men have a shot at POY.

Hatton is my favorite player to watch in NKY.

 

However, I'd side with Geisler because of the fact that he has to carry that team. Dixie has the best starting 5 in NKY which means Dixie has more weapons to stop. NCC doesn't. Yes, it inflates his stats but it also makes it easier for a team to know which kid to put an emphasis on.

If you watch a Dixie game you will clearly see that almost every team puts a chaser on Hatton. The defender stays right in his face the whole game and does not help off of him at all. If that is not putting sole emphasis on Hatton I don't know what is. There is still a lot of games to be played. Should make for a very exciting final month or so of the season.