365 days a year

Great week of games at Mercer County! Fort Walton Beach out of Florida of course defeated Oldham County in the final. The tournament should get better and better each year! Have a great Christmas basketball fans! Great championship game by both teams, both played well all week!

This was a great game to watch. Both teams battled and it reminded me of the old days in the 8th region. Bullitt East has the weapons to win the region this year, they have shooting and size, with experience at the guard spot. Oldham County has a chance to win the 8th for those same reasons. Would be nice to see these 2 in Rupp. I think that Oldham still has 3 players out that get to return soon, they sure needed the big kid tonight to help with Willis, and Washburn. Great game both teams

I think North is a little to high, losing their 2 guard who was an all region player, will have a huge impact. South should be a little higher, and Collins losing Hicks I think drops them out of the top 5 . I don't think Shelby County will be in the top 10, Owen definitely should be higher. Spencer hosts the district this year look for them to be a sleeper in the regional tournament.

The bigs kids from Owen really hurt them in the regional last year, and with North Oldham having Rowan about 6'8 and Odlham having 3 bigs going 6'6, 6'5, 6'4 they better have improved and got alot stronger.

Uk fan how are your Raiders going to be this year?

Sounds as if Simon has an all region team, did they not get knocked out first game of the region last year, and almost lose to W-twon in districts? I know their JV team was pretty good. South has the best young talent in the region.

Always wanting to hear about the young talent, also the Foree kid form Eminence is a solid youngster, his brother signed with EKU from Eminence several years back. Levithch is just a sophomore I think from North, Gruber from Oldham, and Sherry from South are all solid sophomores.

For Shelby all of their best basketball players went to Collins and after watching Shelby this summer they may be #5 in that district, however Collins will be solid and well coached with Curtis Turley being there. South will be young but dangerous if hitting all of those 3's they shoot. Someone mentioned it earlier in a post, that on a particular night some of the sleepers can knock off a favorite and I could not agree more, its winning and beating 3 good teams in a row where it becomes a struggle. Some playes to watch are listed below . With that being said I think that Simon, Oldham and North are a little better than everyone else "BUT" can lose to anyone else! North Oldham-Rowan, Steinfeld, and Levitch Oldham- Smith, Payne, Wesley, and Denise South- Fields, Sherry Collins-Elzy Simon- Chambers Spencer-Dunbar Owen-Williams Gallatin-Davis

Should be these 4 but region is wide open. Simon and Oldham have size and guards! Return everyone from last years team. Saw them both this summer and was impressed Simon Oldham North Gallatin Sleepers Collins Owen South Spencer Anderson

They will be very young inside but talented. Probably will start 2 freshmen and a sophomore in the paint, all over 6'3. They will struggle handling pressure and scoring as their guards are undersized. They did get a transfer in I hear that should help them. Hartlage kid has a lot of heart, they do host the district tourney this year and in the SHOE anything can happen

Hickey from Christian County, second best b-ball player in the state, and football stud!

Wow! I would hate to sit out when I was a player that is a huge decision.

Devon Rowan at North Oldham and is only a Junior as well, should be one of the top 2 players in the 8th region!

Lets dont leave out a very good Paducah Tilghman team. Eastern and J-Town are in classes by themselves. This is what makes basketball so great in our state! Christian County has the second best player in the state and is very good as well. Clark county seems to always be in the top 10 but they never seem to get by Mason County.

With the loss of their best player from last season (Sorrell) , and getting knocked out by Owen in the regional tourney I would say they struggle early and improve toward the end of the season. Chambers is fun to watch play!

After watching them this summer they could be the team to beat, and most of the coaches I have talked with have them at pre-season #1. They looked incredibly stronger and faster, and got some production from a lot of different people. Absolutely right in Holland's teams get lots better, this one seemed to do it quickly. They were getting better at the end of the year, looking forward to watching this district this year.

Mustangs would have been the team to beat, but with a coaching change and the loss of Foley I would say a district counter part will be a little better. They have some great players in Levitch, Rowan and Steinfeld but really struggle guarding any one, watched them this summer and it was a struggle for them at times. Great coach coming in but transition is tough!

Eminence had a good showing in the Varsity B level. They are getting better under Coach Nethery, very young players but they have some talent. Cooper got better as the week went on they got beat 30 by Oldham the first day at camp but also beat the team that won the camp. Good showing by Oldham County and Louisville Eastern, they were in a battle the night before with Eastern winning by 2. Great competition at the camp and another good job by Old Happy!

That would be Norman Dale, the famous head coach of Hickory in Hoosiers!:clap:

Definitely a great hire for North with Coach Henley. The transfers would not be leaving because of that, I think it is internal issues, mostly parents.

We are hearing that alot of the players at North are transferring to other schools?

Best atheletes does not mean best team! Just ask Ballard and Scott County:ylsuper

You are right on with Spencer, they return evryone, if they are wanting to get better they have to make their schedule a little tougher and play in some competitive Christmas Tourneys. Making it to the region is a definite possibility but they have not been there in a long time, handling that makes it a tough task. One of the reasons I thought that Shelby won the 8th this year. They were more experienced in the final than South. When the 4th quarter rolled around Shelby was calm, and South paniced.

Simon Kenton, Oldham, North Oldham, and Gallatin return alot. Oldham returns everyone, Simon lost Sorrell, North lost Foley, Gallatin lost Jones but has several good young players. Also Owen returns some good players, along with Walton Verona. Wide open region next year.

What about Hicks not attending either Shelby school? 8th region as a whole should be wide open next season.