nkywildcat68

Wow, that brings back some memories. Spent many a night during basketball season watching the BCHS teams, and many afterschool and weekends playing on that court. The sign with the famous Grantland Rice quote (cant remember it all), did they move that to the new gym?

No, you didnt "get this straight", obviously. Where did I say that the parents start the feeder program and oversee it? I just pointed out that its just as important for there to be a strong community effort backing these kids as there is to have a strong adminstrative team (AD, coaches, etc) in place at the high school level. Of course they should be accountable for the results of their programs....but it could be a no win situation before these kids get to HS. I dont know, I was posing a few thoughts on how things could be breaking down.

As a former resident/student in my younger years of Bracken Co, the later part of this thread has certainly been interesting. So, allow me to chime in. For starters, Bracken played an early middle school season even as far back as the 70s when I lived there and my folks were working in the school system...so its hard to blame their problems on just that. Its all about the feeder programs when you are talking about a Class A school like BC. It has to be organized, instructional, yet competitive. You have to have a community involved, and not involved as griping parents or critical anoymous internet message board posters. They have to be involved by donating time, supporting the kids' schedules, and having talented coaches in the system. And, by that, I am not talking about the high school head coaches. I am talking about parents, people in the community who have an athletic background. Is this happening presently in Bracken County? There used to be. Based on BGP, though, I believe the griping parents/anonymous message board poster thing is very prevelant in Bracken. Junior high w/l records are useless when trying to project at the varsity level....and that goes for coaches, too. I've saw a middle school team in another district go undefeated, and then win only 10 games when that same group were seniors in HS. How many 8th grade starters on that undefeated team ended up starting for their same respective varsity team four years later? Try ONE. How many of those starters were even on that varsity team? That same ONE. Also, I was a part of a 8th grade middle school team that went 3-15 (I was a seventh grader), and when those 8th graders played varsity ball as seniors, they were like 17-10 and went to their regional tournament. Why was one somewhat successful, and the other wasnt? Because the first example played kids who were never going to be eligible in HS, they had been held back/failed a grade in elementary school, so they were more mature than their opponents in middle school. By the time they were in HS, they were no longer bigger or more mature physically. Most of the kids got discouraged and quit the sport. As for the school that went from 3-15 to a regional tourney berth, those kids played year round. The community was more close knit when it came to their athletic programs, they stayed the course, they played kids who they knew were going to be around as seniors. Plus, a couple of kids in my class were talented enough to help out, and you had a nice little team. Someone brought up an intersting point earlier about kids not getting experience during the middle school years. BCHS had pretty competitive teams most years in the 70s, and in the 80s. In fact, if they had the All A Classic in those days, Bracken would have battled the Maysvilles/Parises/etc for the All A crown most seasons. Sure, they had some rough years, but schools with 3-400 kids are going to experience that. Now, they struggle. I dont know what the current setup is (other than you all talking about the BCMS team playing in this Ohio River Conference), but back in those days, the middle school feeder programs were at the respective elementary schools in Brooksville (Taylor), Western Hills, and Germantown. They mostly coached by native Bracken Countians, former BCHS players who came back to teach. The current superintendent was one. By the time they reached their freshman year, they had 15-20 kids who had extensive playing time at the middle school level, and at a decently high level (they played teams from Maysville/Mason/Pendleton/etc). How many kids reach their freshman year at BCHS playing a lot the previous two years in middle school? I take it there arent many since there is only one school. Is there an AAU program in Bracken Co? Do they play year around? I think those are the questions that need to be addressed rather than the tired old "the admin sucks, the AD doesnt know what she is doing, blah blah blah". That may be why the coaches dont stick around, they know that they are not going to have many varsity ready players coming up through the system.

No doubt....and I am not sure what the number was for Mason and Clark fans, but they brought big groups last night. Reason I was asking was because I am sure there were a lot of local, neutral fans who just enjoy basketball who came out to the game because they were more familiar with Holmes and Boone Co schools, or may have had some connection with the schools in the past, and not so much GRC and Mason? I have indirect connections (where I atended school, parents taught, family attended, etc) probably with 8 schools spread out over the 8th, 9th, and 10th regions, so I would have been interested in all three of those....but I might not have been so interested in another region? Just a theory.

If the camera adds 10-15 lbs, then it also moves back receding hairlines by about 2 inches. Because I dont recognize the guy sitting in my seat of the shots I am in. :lol:

Then, if you believe in that stuff, wouldnt it go both ways? I am sure GRC heard about how they won on a phantom foul in Winchester last month. I figure they had that extra something to prove, too, whether it was a regular season game or not. No offense, but I just dont buy all this "extra motivation" stuff once the ball is tipped off, except amongst the fans in the stands and, in this day and age, on message boards like this. Once the ball is tipped off, they both are wanting to advance to Rupp.

You think they tried harder and wanted to win more at Montgomery and NKU than they would have at the Fieldhouse?

Nothing against GRC and Mason, who both ALWAYS have had fantastic crowds in all the years I have attended 10th region tournaments and were fantastic again last night, but does anyone think the 10th title game atmosphere would have been better if one of the 37th district teams, or even Pendleton Co, would have been playing last night?

Oldham, led by Jeff Griffin, won the 1985 8th region title, upsetting a Top 5 Scott Co team in the finals ...Anderson (with Gritton) lost to Scott on a Frank Persley buzzer beater in the semifinals

Based on the way the teams have played so far in the regional, you would think Mason. So, I'll take Clark to rise to the occasion tonight.

audio is cutting out..both teams emptying their bench..Anderson up 44-27 I think

Anderson 43 Owen 27 1:44 4 Q

Anderson 42 Owen 28 under 2 to go in the 4th (I think)

Anderson 38 Owen 25 3:20 4 Q

Anderson 33 Owen 21 end of 3rd Anderson currently on a 19-2 run

Anderson 29 Owen 21 3:30 3Q 15-0 run for AC before Owen scores

Anderson 17 Owen 19 Halftime Anderson w/ a trey right before half to cut to 2 Owen ends the half on a 19-7 run.

Anderson 14 Owen 19 1:10 2nd Q

Anderson 14 Owen 13 3:53 2nd quarter

I'll be interested to see what the atmosphere is like on Tuesday night with two championship games. It was somewhat dead for Saturday, but I dont know how you can expect it to be otherwise. But I would say that if the matchups happen Tuesday that everyone thinks that will (and one is already set with Boone-Holmes), it should be a lot better. From just facilities wise, EKU has a solid OVC-level arena that seats 6500 or so, built in the 60s. It serves them well, and when I went to school there in the late 80s, and watched the Colonels play teams like WKU, Morehead, and a game against Auburn in 86-87, they filled the arena to capacity the atmosphere was very exciting. The BOKC is a state of the art facility that was built in 2008 and seats 9400. Now, tell me which one is going to be nicer or better?

I'm not that familiar with Anderson Co as I dont live in the area anymore, but I would venture to say that I've witnessed Owen Co pull bigger upsets than what tonight would be. Beating Lexington Catholic 58-54 in the 1996 All A first round when the Knights were #1 comes to mind immediately, as well as a 64-43 pasting of region co-favorite Shelby Co later that year in the 8th semifinals, after losing to them by 20+ earlier that season. I know that means nothing tonight, but this is high school basketball...almost anything can happen. I guess we'll find out around 6:30 tonight! Go Rebels!

I remember those days....I moved away from BC in the early 80s, it was always a competitive district tourney, great crowds in the gyms for all the district tournament games despite the fact that Deming and August probably had enrollments of 100, Bracken around 300, and Pendleton at around 6-700.