bigmarc78

Regardless if he wins it or not, his career at Covington Holmes has been a success. IMO Mr. Basketball is an award based on the current season, and while Ricardo has been a stud this season, nothing he has done has jumped out at you. His career on the other hand does State Champion last year, MVP of the sweet 16, a career record of 94-10, 2 regional championships and possibly a third, every year he has seen varsity playing time at Covington Holmes he has at least went to the State Championship game, Second team all state last year, Full ride to Univeristy of Ohio, I mean the kid has a long list of accolades, as does Mr. Pittman. And as unselfish as Ricardo is, I think for another trip to Rupp and another run at the Championship, he would trade in all those personal accolades. Mr. Basketball is an individual award, it is a huge accomplishment, but I am sure in March, in the middle of 9th region play that is the furthest thing from Ricardo's mind right now. I guess in closing I will say that if this award is based on current season success I would not be shocked one bit if Ric didn't win it. If it is based on the career's I would be shocked if anyone else got it. But at the end of the day, the region and sweet 16 is all that kid cares about and as long as he is focused it means nothing but good things for Holmes.

If you are going to pay $5 for an adult ticket to get into a game then the $6 advance tickets for these sessions are only $1 more. And if you wait until the day of the the game $8 to watch 2 games wont really put a damper on anyone I don't think. I think the space, the atmosphere, and the kids playing in a smaller version of a college gym help once the champion makes there way down to Rupp as well. I think it should be held at BOKC as long at the BOKC will allow it.

The NCC win over Highlands has already got this tournament off to a fun start... Cant wait to see some of the potential matchups this years tourny could bring us. Great games to be seen at BOK this year!

Elijah has rarely been in foul trouble this season, Ricardo is more likely to wind up in foul trouble out of the big 3 than anyone. Eli has done a great job of that this season I must say

Holmes jumped up early and ran away from beechwood, Holmes had 24 in the first quarter, beechwood scored its 24th point on a buzzer beater at the end of the 3rd. Pittman (4) and Ricardo Johnson (13) scored all there points in the first quarter. Elijah picked up his second foul early in the second, sat until halftime, picked up his 3rd early in the 3rd and sat the rest of the game, Johnson also picked up his 3rd midway thru the 3rd and sat the rest of the contest. Holmes could have won by 40, but after stretching the lead to 28, Henley let Herndon, Hayes, and Rice carry the load the rest of the way.

I would have loved to seen the WC vs Holmes match up

Is there any clue when this one will be made up now or are they just cancelling it all together?

I wasn't there at this one, but every time I am in attendence or read posts on here, Pittman is going off. He dominates night in and night out for this Holmes team and really even though there play has been up and down, his solid efforts every game keep them in games even when others aren't playing well. He is a dominate inside presence and found his outside range tonight. Glad to see that, and hopefully he keeps putting up these kind of numbers and the dogs can reel off some wins here down the stretch to be there mid march.

My thoughts are hopefully the snow stay north of Covington tonight and they can get this one in. Should be a good game, Holmes coming off a good effort tonight at Highlands, looking to build some consistancy down the stretch. Hopefully they are focused and poised to take care of business

Big win for Holmes... Now consistancy has to happen. They can't play good tonight and then slack off against lesser opponets

I am sure it will be made up, but it really doesn't matter

I see this being a very slow, low scoring contest and I think in the end, Holy Cross will be worn down by the size of Thelen and the gang at Cov Cath. I will take CC to win this one by about 10.

I think Ryle has been playing at or above a level I thought they were capible of the last 2 weeks. I know Dixie has Hatton and Pike and just gave Holmes all they wanted, but I think I am going to go with Ryle in this one, in a close game on the road. They sneak out with a 3 point win.

These teams both have "bi-polar" tendencies, so it really depends on which team shows up. If Holmes comes in playing hard, getting the ball in deep to Pittman, avoiding silly mistakes, and playing the type of ball that they have showed glimpse's that they are capable of, they win this one easy. If they come in playing the type of ball that got them beat by Ryle, nearly by Dixie, and that kept Villa Madonna and Beechwood in the game for over a half, and Highlands plays with in there game plan and can somehow crash down on Pittman and make Holmes settle for jumpers or for turnovers then Highlands has a chance to win this one. I however will make my prediction saying both teams play to the level they are capible and I got Holmes by 10.

Raleigh did have him first, he picked up 2 quick, they then switch to Pike, and once he picked up 2 they put the other kid on him. They used alot of fouls on Pittman and I think that was part of the game plan.

?????? He never touched the ball, the ball actually got to the rim although it was about 3 steps after the foul was called.

Dogs were down 3 at that point, and whatever happend was a spark, because they went on a nice little run to go up 5 right after that. I wasn't down there, I am sharing what my mom saw, she was taking my nephew to the RR at the time and was right there. I did from where I was sitting see JJ get in the Dixie players face, I also seen Ric pull JJ back nearly immediately and attempt to calm JJ which appeared to be working, then words were obviously exchanged both ways because JJ got fired back up and Dixie coaches came running on the court to get the players back over to the bench area and away from the situation. If it was all JJ I am sure there would have been more action taken regarding his reaction. Bottom line there were 2 players that the situation started around and 10 under the rim as the situation went on, if they were all just getting closer to hear what JJ was saying and not involved at all I would be shocked.

There was alot more going on than a push in the back, elijah coming on the floor and JJ yelling. My mom was by the door with my nephew and she said that there was a ton of pushing and shoving, yelling and cursing from both sides. JJ would have took a push with a grain of salt, it happens all the time to these Holmes kids when they get break aways, nobody wants to see a dunk when they are on the floor. After the push JJ nonchilantly took a couple steps and went to throw the ball up at the rim well after the whistle and the kid from Dixie swiped at the ball hard, missed, and struck JJ in the face. Thats how the situation started.

I was in Dixie's cheering section, top row, I didn't see a foul or really even here any of them complaining, I think they errupted as soon as he got the shot off. As far as Pittman, yes he shouldn't have came off the bench, he took 5 steps off and once a coach shouted for him he came right back to the bench and sat next to coach wimzie. The push in the back is not why JJ was upset, it was the smack in the face that happend 3 to 4 steps after the whistle was originally blown. He did get in the kid from Dixies face but there where kids pulling both of them apart and the only Dixie's coaches had to run out and get Dixie back to the bench. It was a bad play all around and alot more could have resulted both way other than just a simple foul. Im talking ejections, techs, ect if they really wanted to take it that far, but I think it was handled well. Pike's last foul was a nickle dimer, and he was just starting to get hot, but after he left is when hatton began to score, so if Pike was in you'd just be taking the ball out of hatton's hands IMO

Sounds like a great game, Ryle has been playing well lately but just fell short in this one. Good win for Boone vs an improving Ryle team

The second player to foul out was #45, he went out on an offensive foul with under 2 minutes to go. His foul sent Pittman to the line in the bonus to put Holmes up 5 just before Hatton's 4 point play.

Dixie hit a 3 to take the lead right before that Pittman missed dunk. He was obviously frustrated and wanted to take it out on the rim, he just went at it too hard. Hatton is going to be really good, Ricardo is one of the/if not the best defender in the 9th region, so yea he had the clamps on hatton early but Hatton kept hoisting and playing hard, I think he got 6 of his 10 in the final 2 minutes. Dixie played really well, probably the best game they have played all year, it was an awesome game to be at. I actually was behind that Dixie cheering section, and everything was fine until that 5 minute mark, then I had to stand to finish the rest of the game lol, they errupted. I still say Holmes lack of focus cost them alot in this one, but I am not taking anything from Dixie.

I missed #32 and #15... did those come in the final minute when they were fouling to attempt a comeback????

Hoosier, The reason I say Holmes wasn't focused was because of the amount of unforced turnovers, several passes that sailed out of bounds, 3 traveling calls on Pittman, just alot of things that were there against Ryle but not vs. Majority of there schedule this year. Dixie played there best game of the year tonight, I agree they showed up, they had a plan, and it was executed very well by the players and staff. They deserve credit for how they played and I will not take that away from them. As far a Pittman, I feel that he could have gotten another Tech when he came off the bench, it is supposed to be called I believe. I think in that situation though the ref's didn't want to disqualify him from the game, he never got within 30 feet of the scuffle, and when the ref looked his way he immediately returned to the bench and sat next to his coach. I think he got away with one there, but I also think the kid from Dixie that came across the bridge of JJ's nose got away with one too... I think the ref's sorted everything out well and got the game back under control quickly.

Looks like they were going all out tonight, nice pics.... Good win for Scott