Reality Check

I look for Grote and Kowolonek to take over this game. Highlands by 5

My predictions- Winners: Holmes, NCC, Boone, St. Henry Runner-up: Beechwood, Highlands, Ryle, Dixie Draw: Holmes vs. Dixie Boone vs. Highlands NCC vs. Ryle St. Henry vs. Beechwood Of course it is a shot in the dark on the pairing but who knows! We could see the powerhouses meet a little earlier than the region final.

I have seen many games where I feel the officials are "catching up" with calls due to the disparity of team fouls. But you may have some teams that just do not play aggressive or teams who play very smart and do not commit a lot of fouls. Other teams may play very physical or aggressive thus creating more fouls. I am not a believer in all things need to be equal because it is unrealistic. Some teams foul more than others.

Boone will prevail, overall they are a better team. I will take the Rebels 59-45 over the Raiders.

I would be suprised to see the margin over 20 but I think Holmes win's easily. Beechwood has a solid team but just not in the same class as Holmes.

I would agree, I would say that most teams would want to draw the 34th, but he careful what you wish for! Anything can happen in the tournament. I would obviously give Holmes and Boone County the advantage, but they could easily draw on the same side of the bracket.

No!

I think the folks over at Calvary knew for a long time that this would be a special group of players. Congratulations to the seniors of Calvary Christian and what they accomplished this season. Scott has that team that can make a run in the regional tournament, good luck to the Eagles.

:ylsuper: :ylsuper:

Thoughts and prayers from NKY

Boone over Conner, Boone has the home court advantage and some momentum coming into the tournament. Conner finds a way to squeak out a victory against Ryle.

Fair enough! Maile did make some ridiculous shots that left me scratching my head. It never fails when you deal with awards there will always be people who feel snubbed. You can make an argument for many different players for awards but the fact is you only give one. Maybe they could have gone to other players but personal awards should not overshadow the team. Beechwood should be proud that they are going to play in the Region out of the 35th. If I were playing that would be a better award to me.

It's hard to say that Romes allowed Maile to drop 26 on him. Romes did everything that he could to defend Maile. Luke made some incredible shots that were all contested.

I see Beechwood running a lot of man to man defense and trying to play in an uptempo game with Holmes. Beechwood is not a team that I have seen that likes to sit in the half court. I think Holmes will pull away in the end. It was Riley that lit them up during the first game.

I honestly believe that this team will have the ability to turn it on when they need to. You play a little differently when your back is against the wall. They just beat a top 15 NKY team by over 20. No need for panic mode yet.

I agree that the boys from Beechwood should have received some recognition, but that is how it goes sometimes. Flannigan is a very nice player and deserving of any awards that he receives. But take Blake Bryan off of Villa and they might not win a game. Like him or not the kid has talent and put up amazing numbers this season.

I think you will see a different Holmes team tonight. I think their mentality will be completely changed. It's hard to keep a team motivated throughout the season and during the grind. But when its tournament time and its win and advance or lose and go home it's a completely different story. Same can be said for last years Holmes team.

I completely agree, I thought the Tigers might struggle with the pressure and the crowd. Shumate really seemed to have them prepared to play.

Newport is that team that can sneak up on you. Willie will do his best to slow this game down and sit in the half court and grind it out. But be careful with Newport

Great atmosphere for a high school game last night. Beechwood showed a tremendous amount of poise for a school who has not played a lot of games in that type of atmosphere. Maile for Covington Catholic is a great athlete, he made some amazing plays. Romes guarded him very well, there was not much else he could have done to stop Maile. Maile did a great job of creating shots. Beuttel for Beechwood was being completely face guarded but still managed to get open for some big shots. Great win for the Beechies!

Reality is most DIII schools have seen waves of talent come through and other years they will struggle. It is tough to forecast when you are going to have a good year. Beechwood's non-conference schedule was very strong this year with playing in the Ashland Invitational, Conner, Ryle, Highlands, Dixie Heights,etc. They played the schedule they had to and added strong competiton in the spots that they could.

Coach Faust is one of the best coaches in NKY. I will be interested in seeing his gameplan to stop Blake Bryan. There are some major differences in this match up compared to last year. The biggest difference being Stephen Love. Bryan is a one man show at Villa with an occassional help from Schue spotting up. I don't think Villa will have the gas or manpower to pull an upset, even at home.

Holmes