nkywildcat68

Thrilled to see this. He could be a star there, a huge get for the Norse.

Which one?

Their schedule is pretty good. Henry Clay, South Laurel, North Laurel, Woodford Co, Simon Kenton, Collins, Oldham Co, South Oldham, North Oldham, and Anderson Co are on the schedule. Western Hills is a program they have opened with the last decade, and Lloyd is an athletic program that Owen plays in pretty much every sport, as they are similar in school size. If they are fortunate enough to play in the All-A state tournament, there should be some good opponents there, although that would probably cost them some of those 8th region teams mentioned above that are scheduled in February.

First...the tired old argument about strength of competition. Boring. As I said in another thread that seemed to want to downplay his game/talent, he would excel anywhere in "power" regions like the 6th, 7th, and 11th as well as he does now. His numbers may differ, but it wouldn't be because of competition change, it would be more to do with the personnel he would possibly be playing with. He does it all for Owen. Don't get me wrong, they have good personnel at Owen playing with him, but their games compliment him as they have played together forever. Secondly, what exactly does Carson "get away with"? Its always something I hear from rival teams they play, but nothing is ever specifically mentioned. What exactly does he do? While he may not have the "high major" D-1 offers as some others have, Carson Williams is as good as ANY high school basketball player in the state of Kentucky. Period.

Good player...saw him in the 8th region tourney. Congrats to him and best of luck at Asbury.

Carson's numbers might take a hit on a 7th or 11th region team simply because the personnel on his team may be different, not because of the level of competition. He has help, but there may be better shooters or better creators on another team. He has good players around him now, but their skill sets are complimentary to him, they've played together for years and years, and the gaudy stat lines are what Owen needs for them to win. His numbers are actually better against the bigger schools/better teams on Owen County's schedule. Of course, a lot of the numbers are dictated by the game's pace and tempo as well.

Augusta goes 77-47 over four years, I would venture to guess the best four year stretch in the history of the school....including consecutive district titles, eliminating Mason Co both years, four region trips....and yet he is overrated and it is implied that some in the system were happy to see him go? Yeah, smells like there is an ax grinding, and grapes are souring.

Congrats to Zach...C-N is a very good program.

Part of being a successful coach includes having assistants who can compliment your strengths. Just because a coach isn't an X and O or game management guy doesn't mean he doesn't excel at other vital areas of coaching, such as motivation, player development, and overall program organization. IMO, the most important parts of the job at programs like St. Patrick, Bracken Co and Augusta would be developing the young talent and making them BELIEVE that they can beat the Mason Countys, GRCs, Montgomerys, Harrisons, or at their Class A level, Bishop Brossarts. Until those two things are put into place, X's and O's aren't going to matter as much. Changing the culture!

Congrats to Bracken.

Owen returns everyone, but the biggest improvement that needs to happen to take the next step is from a strength standpoint. Carson is pretty much mature physically, but the rest in the 7-8 man rotation need some bulking up.

The increase of the competition for the disposable dollar is the correct answer. I used to go all the time, but, as time as gone on...I dont have the connection to the local high schools where I live to go as a spectator, so its not really a top priority for me to spend time or resources to attend. I might attend all day Friday, but I just had other things that I preferred to do over the weekend than the Sweet 16. I do cover high school football locally, but if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't see a HS football game very often, either. I don't know if the streaming is that significant of a reason. There may be a small percentage of casual fans that may not attend because its on for free online, but those aren't the fans who are noticeably missing, the people who spent four days lodging and bought 2-4 all session ticket books in the past.

Cochran missed 2 of 3? Stop the presses.

I saw them twice, Monday (live vs Owen Co and Tuesday (online vs Oldham Co) -Guard oriented. They go with four guards and a post player. Kidwell, Cochran, and Test were big against Owen, and the fourth guard, Clarkson, had a big "layup and one" out of an out of bounds that was huge in the last two minutes. -Good quickness. -They grind out long possessions, they don't beat themselves much with TOs and bad shots. -They dont shoot a real high percentage, but those three I mentioned above can shoot from the perimeter. -Fundamentally sound team defense. Not many open looks against them -They press a little bit, but not sure if they will a lot against Owensboro. They don't do it much to force turnovers as just to grind and wear on you if you are not a deep team. -Not overly big, I would guess those four starting guards are all around 5-11 to 6-1, and they'll run a couple of 6-4 or 6-5 kids in to play the "5". BTW, those bigger kids held their own against Carson Williams the other night (he got 17-15) -If you get behind them in the last couple of minutes, you are in trouble. Cochran hits around 90% at the line, and Kidwell and Test are around 70%.

I think it was 53-41, the KHSAA tweet didnt have the right score. Whatever the score was, Collins was impressive.

You see the Q-codes for the programs in Rupp to get the digitized version of the Sweet 16 program, too.

Early in the Grant-Oldham game

Here is another shot of the Owen Co crowd in the second game.

We're guaranteed a Kenton vs Campbell or Kenton first round state tournament game. That should be a fun week up here leading up to that.

It'll be closer than 25 this time, but I think Oldham wins by low double digits. Lets say Oldham Co 62, Collins 52

Not the best pic from my phone, but perhaps an idea of what it was like last night during the Owen-Collins game.

Yeah, it was pretty daggone hot. I am still sweating and the game ended about 2 1/2 hours ago. I dont know about programs. The 10th region had programs at the BOKC in 2009, thats the last time I remember them. The KHSAA Sweet 16 doesnt even print programs now, though...they just have PDFs to download or link to from your tablet.

Grant was solid for almost three quarters. Oldham can score from anywhere on the court, though...and their press eventually took its toll. Collins is a solid defensive team and are athletic enough to cause problems for Oldham, but I dont know if they can keep up offensively, and they wont wear down a deeper Oldham like they got to Owen a little bit tonight. I think the Colonels win by about 10 or so.

What an atmosphere at Henry Co, both Collins and Owen Co brought it on the court AND in the stands. That's what high school basketball is all about. Two well coached teams who battled to the end. It wasn't pretty, but it sometimes it isn't pretty at this time of year. Cochran was nails from three, Kidwell did a very nice job directing the offense and settling things down when things got a little hairy, and Test was clutch at the line to ice it. Game seemed a little too quick for Owen at times, but were able to hang in with guile, grit, guts, and some guy named Williams. He was below his average points tonight, but did a nice job defensively, and made some athletic plays that continue to amaze every time I see him. Not the ending the Rebels wanted, but 26-6 is nothing to sneeze at. School record for wins. Advanced to the All-A semi-finals for the second time in school history. Won a fourth straight 31st district title, eighth district title in school history. With most all of their scoring and rebounding back, expectations will be contention for the "All-A" State and 8th region. Collins will need to be on their A-game to beat Oldham tomorrow.

I like the Augusta HS gym not only because its a throwback set up (like, actual balconies over top the court) because I won a free throw shooting contest there. Bracken's old gym was pretty awesome at district tournament time when the "old" 38th was held there. Stands went all the way to the ceiling. It probably had room for 2,000 people and with the ceiling that low, it could get loud. Anyone remember the old "cracker box" type gyms in the 9th region in the 70s/80s, like Beechwood, Dayton, Bellevue, Dixie Heights, Simon Kenton, or Newport? Probably none of those gyms had more than 800 seats in them (I know Beechwood's gym was REALLY small), but most nights, they were packed and loud.