UNDERTHEBRIDGE

I'll be there if Lex Cath can manage to make it to Saturday. Otherwise I'm stuck at work Wed and potentially Friday at 12 (of course provided Lex Cath even wins the first game).

It varies, I think sometimes Tribble has started instead. Vee is a good player. Best on the team?? I didn't think so only because his decision making isn't necessarily the best. He definately handles the ball the best as a PG in pressure situations but he takes some poor shots. As stated in another thread, Lex Cath isn't a team of one or two players but a complete team that has multiple players that fit their roles. Any one game a guy can step up. Vee is a huge part of the team, but its hard to claim a best player on Lex Cath's team.

Bummer, guess I need to know where to do my research before I start a thread. However, I figured one school would be bigger than Owensboro but I wasn't aware of the size of Greenwood and South Laurel. Still, it brings a question as to why bigger schools don't seem to be as dominant when it comes to both football and basketball. Male might be the best big school at both sports.

I was looking at a line up of the schools in the sweet 16 and wondered if Owensboro is the largest school in the tournament this year??? If so that is surprising. Even if they aren't, I can't imagine there being too many more schools bigger in this tournament. With I believe someone said 5 All A teams also in the tourny along with many mid sized schools, what is up with bigger schools not being as competitive for the state tournament?? I'm pretty sure this concept has been mentioned in the past state tournys, but just looking at this years I'm just surprised, is there even a 6A school(football wise) in the tournament?

Agreed, I'm not very shocked Mason is leading this right now. The memory of two very close games against Lex Cath should stand out in people's minds also with the two teams splitting.

I'd say he was just stating that with the fan support, Mason Co. will get pushed over the top in a poll like this about every time. With the way Lex Cath blew through the 11th I find it hard to think they wouldn't be favored some in the sweet 16. Of course, Mason does seem to have an easier journey to the final versus Lex Cath so that could play heavily on the Knight's chances.

No offense to Mason because I know they are good but their hype early season really fizzled some late season. The final regular season loss to Bryan Station might have also hurt some in the eyes of outsiders. On the other side, Lex Cath and Bryan Station really were playing on a different level inside the 11th region the past couple weeks. Summary, national rankings are just fun fan site material but not much more. I think anyone in this state knows that Mason Co. belongs at the top with the other two teams.

I can't speak for other programs around the state, but yeah, Lex Cath worked pretty hard. That 1999 Championship team was full of a lot of girls whose younger brother's I was friends with and I remember them practicing and working pretty hard. Throw in Mary Queen, Christ the King, St. Peter and Paul and Good Shepard around the area really worked on their middle school programs. Even girls from the LCA team were involved in some of the middle school programs that were in Lexington.

Bryan Station at 32...

At Lex Cath at least they began to really push the AAU and middle school basketball programs. Many of the young girls were getting worked with on fundamental skills around 5th and 6th grade.

I know Hopson and Edmonson are supposed to be great players and everything, however, I think a lot of people are overlooking the fact that while all year Lex Cath has been talked about having Stewart and Novosel as the stars, yet it was Jordan Smart who was 11th region MVP and it was Vee Sanford who came through in the clutch the first times they played Mason and Scott Co. Throw in Taylor Botkin who really can do just about everything on the court and you have a tough starting five that are all 6'0"+. The bench doesn't necessarily bring the scoring threats as much but defensively the Knights can throw a lot of good players at you. This game can be very close, however I'd take a team with five really good players who can score 20+ on any given night versus a team with two great players who are capable of scoring 20+. Either way, I am bummed that I'll be working all day wednesday meaning i'm gonna miss this first round matchup.

Personally I don't take much stock in comparing one team's performance against a team to another team's performance against the same team. And your logic of the Ballard games seems the most far fetched. All in all, I think its looking at what big wins these two teams have had this year against other good teams and while UHA has had some good ones, Lex Cath has some huge ones. Still, any given night is the motto I like best in sports and Lex Cath can't just walk on the court and expect to win this one in a cake walk.

Really?? I don't believe anybody thought Lex Cath could stop Mack yet a mixture of Vee Sanford, Jordan Smart, and Taylor Stewart really seemed to have him rattled some. I'm not saying Hopson can't drop double digits on Lex Cath however he will need a team effort to help him some. As for Lex Cath, they have to handle the ball well and just keep to their gameplan of mixing inside play with Novosel versus the outside shooting of Smart, Stewart, etc. and the occassional penetration inside of Sanford and Stewart.

I think you are misunderstanding things. No one is getting sensitive or offended here. I just stated my opinion that the game wasn't called as closely. I also went on to say I thought Novosel got away with couple blocks on Bryan Station shots where I thought he actually fouled the shooter. Otherwise, I just disagreed with your opinion of the Combs foul where he got the T. It was definately a foul and afterwards it did appear he was taunting Botkin. Either way, I thought the biggest negative for Bryan Station was that they didn't handle the Lex Cath pressure early on and Lex Cath turned their turnovers into points. This and Comb's early fouls seemed to slow down Bryan Station's tempo some.

Actually, the game didn't seem that closely called to me. There was a lot of hand checking and pushing on defense by both teams in my opinion. Novosel had a couple of blocks that I thought looked like fouls also. However, that technical was on a block and I believe Combs got called not for blocking but for too much body on a block. He then appeared to be taunting, not going after Botkin. That is how most people interpreted it where I sat. Whether it was good or not, I don't know, but he definately said something after the play.

A very true statement. This team is full of role players even amongst their stars and each one plays his part to the fullest in order to keep the team running. I am gonna remain realistic about this team's chances to win state, seeing as any given night a team can step up and pull the upset. However, its gonna take getting this group out of sync and forcing them to play out of their comfort level to really shut them down.

This has been a huge issue I've had with the 11th region of late. No offense to anyone who is a ref as I am certain there are some good ones out there who do great jobs, even in the 11th. I get the job is tough and not one many people want, however, the athletic talent and skill that has come to the 11th region teams has far exceeded the ability of the 11th region refs to follow these games. Many games are called fairly, however when it comes to my opinion at least of how well they are called, I feel that many have been poorly called.

Many people in the predictions thread thought that Mack's greatness would overshadow three good players on Lex Cath, but tonight Smart, Novosel, and Stewart played their most complete games in awhile. I'm not sure but I think all three went for 20+. Mack had a tough time all game with Catholic running many players at him and preventing him from getting inside or getting off an uncontested shot. Marones for Bryan Station was unconscious at points in this game but didn't get much support from the rest of the team. Overall Lex Cath jumped out early like they did against Scott Co. and this time they were able to maintain the lead and not make too many key mistakes. Smart was definately the MVP of the 11th region tournament with two huge games against Scott Co. and Bryan Station. I really think while Stewart is the best overall player on this team and Novosel might be the toughest its Smart who makes this team run. When he is hitting the three point shot like he is capable of doing, this team is near unstoppable.

Ha, sorry, didn't mean anything bad by my comment, I'm only five years removed from my own college choice deal and know its tough. Was just making the simple statement.

Fine, it was pathetic basketball that produced an interesting and exciting game. You are right that it was sloppy but I was entertained. (And yes, I'm actually serious there) Catholic got in trouble with Sanford being their solid pressure ball handler but also horrible when it came to making silly fouls. After that they went to Tribble and he just didn't get the concept of slowing the game down some and didn't handle the disguised trap very well. Scott Co. never looked in rhythm necessarily unless Phares had the ball. They might have been better served to work the game in the half court set. Of course, both teams ran heavy pressure presses and never let each other find a rhythm.

Agreed, I missed the game tonight because of work, however my dad felt that Green had a poor game tonight and she is the one girl that this team needs to have performing at her peak always. Lex Cath sadly finally ran into a game where they couldn't simply just get by with a ho-hum effort and Natalie Novosel. This team on its best nights could have been the best in the state but on its down nights they play too sloppy and without emotion to compete for the title. Bummed I'll miss out on Bowling Green, but I hope Henry Clay the best once again, they proved on the court that you have to play every game your hardest or you can become very vulnerable this time of year.

Its been since 2002 I believe since another 11th region team made it to Bowling Green. Of course, LCA only has one year in that string, aka last year. Woodford County I think was the last team to make it to the Sweet 16. Congrats to Henry Clay. The season has been up and down for this team but they have hit their peak at the right time and pulled off back to back upsets to head into the Sweet 16. Congrats to Natalie Novosel on a great season. I believe my dad said she dropped 23 or 24 points tonight but sadly got little help from her supporting cast.

I agree with most people's sentiment that Lex Cath is going to have to take care of the ball and get Bryan Station out of their game plan to win. Sanford and Tribble for Lex Cath make too many unforced errors in judgement. The flip side is that I think Bryan Station must also take care of the ball because besides Mack I wasn't too impressed with their ball handlers today. Catholic can bring pressure defense when they need to. All in all I think Jordan Smart could be the key to a Catholic win, while for Station its just a matter of who can be Robin to Mack's Batman. If he gets support from his teammates I think Station will be hard to beat. Can't wait for tuesday, its gonna be a good one.

It has to do a lot with the Fayette Co. boycott I'd guess. Until recently Lex Cath couldn't even get schools like Dunbar or Lafayette to play them until the regionals. Now that they are district foes that isn't the case but if some people had their druthers, Lex Cath would never play a public city team.

Like I said all hearsay from my part. I don't know the kid personally or have ever talked to him and his family. Just friends who know people with the high school program. From the sounds of things, his choice of schools change with each day.