Old School

Congrats to the WV seniors on a great season and making it back to the regional tournament. The WV boys program was set to make a serious run starting 3 years ago at a lot of All A, district, & regional titles. Unfortunately a run of transfers occurred instead and set the program back. Last years seniors & this years seniors need to given a tremendous amount of credit sticking with the program. As mentioned above they took this team from 4 wins, to 14 to 18 and left the talented classes behind them a blueprint for continued success. These kids enjoyed a lot of success as youngsters, it was hard seeing all their teammates/friends leave, going from hardly ever losing to a 4 win season and all the ridicule that goes along with a season like that. I've had the pleasure of watching these kids grow up and coaching some...they are tremendous young men on and off the court.

Just seems more than usual this year, was why I asked about a new interpretation I wasn't aware of.

Hard to make out this quote, wasn't at game, but pretty boy, paying attention to stands more than game, let me guess Mr. Coldiron strikes again.

Clyde, respect your answer, but I have seen numerous times clearly at no point was sole possession and timeout granted.

Loose ball situation, no one has clear possession, bench screams timeout and it is granted. Refs use to only grant T/O if one player had clear possession, has rule been changed or interpreted differently this year?

Congrats Kyle!

As for the game which this thread should be about...first bad loss of the season for WV. Gave up a 13 point lead in the 3rd, had about 7 straight really bad possessions. But give the Gallatin kids credit, they struggled on offense all night, but during late 3rd, early 4th run, they hit about 8 straight shots.

Certainly not trying to be part of game and certainly not looking for YOUR sympathy. I watch basketball all over the state, simply put something has to be done about 8th region officiating. The kids in this region work extremely hard and put in many hours towards a game they love. Then they have to play games in a region where a large % of the refs are simply not basketball wise, knowledgeable enough to give the kids a quality effort. It is just very frustrating to watch as a long time 8th region player and fan. True Blue I have seen some of the most respected fans of your school say a lot worse to the refs, so i'm not worried about being judged by you. But the kids on both Walton/Gallatin gave a great effort tonight & they deserved the same effort from the officials. Officiating is a thankless job, but the kids of 8th region deserve better. Whether it is better pay, better training, or better management something has to be done. 8th region officiating is not only bad but has become a subject of embarrassment for the region.

It was me...I was thrown out for calling an official by his name(Coldiron). He is a decent ref, probably the best in the 8th region, but like stated earlier he thinks people are there to watch him, talking to his buddies in stands during game, just not professional. In the first half he over rules a fellow ref and I said "nice job Coldiron, your hero call of night showing up a fellow ref". He comes over to scorers table, which I was setting about 10 rows behind, and says "he(me) knows better to call me by name". Then proceeds to literally stare at me, a fan, after every call he makes. Then horrible call late in fourth, not made by Coldiron, it was a players 5th foul. As the refs come to the table, I said "Coldiron, calls like that are why 8th region refs are known as worst in state". Thus I got ejected. Never used foul language or said anything personal except his name. Although I don't feel it was warranted I apologize to both schools for being ejected. The officiating did not cost WV the game, bad forced shots on about 7 straight possesions when up 13 in 3rd qrt cost Walton the game, not officiating.

Owen big.

Up 18 at half, wv relaxed against a pesky Williamstown who knocked down their open 3's to make final score look closer than the game actually was. But WV continues to win games they are suppose too. I think the experience and success the kids had playing together over the summer instead of each playing on individual AAU teams had a very positive affect on this teams turn around. They beat some good AAU teams this summer and came into the season expecting to win.

Walton kids have won every game they were suppose to this year, and have beat a very good Woodford Co. The losses have come against other top competition such has Holmes, Owen, McCracken Co., SK, Newport, Boone, Cooper and Somerset and WV played all these teams tough into 4th qrt. Coach Brannen & Sullivan have picked up pieces and have WV headed in right direction. Lets not forget Sean McNeil, Grant Moeves, & Noah McCubbin were part of this group at one time. But lets give the kids who stuck it out and DIDN'T TRANSFER alot of credit. Took a lot of hard lumps last year while being very young and learning a new system. These kids worked very hard over the summer, improved and expected to win this this year. Really wished their hard work would have gotten them a trip to all A state, but just came up short against a very good Owen Co!

Blue Collar, is an excellent way to describe Carson, extreme athlete & no one plays harder. A kid like him is going to dominate on any AAU level because of his athletic ability & lets admit not many kids will work that hard on AAU circuit. But major college basketball is a totally different animal. At this point Carson has a very limited offensive game. I have probably seen him play 10 times and besides one 12 footer, he has only made layups & dunks. His jump shot is just very limited right now. 6'4 power forwards or wings that cant knock down 17 footers struggle at next level, no matter how athletic or blue collar. Right now he is low mid-major, NKU type, and without much improvement in his jump shot will struggle at that level. If he develops a consistent jumper a step up from that level is possible. Having said that, he is a great kid with a tremendous work ethic, the way he has improved other parts of his game, like ball handling & ft's, it would not surprise me if next year he has a consistent jump shot!

After beating Woodford and getting in a very tough winners bracket in the Lloyd Invitational and playing 3 tough games against Holmes, Newport, & McCracken....this is a huge bounce back road win for bearcats against a good Trimble team. Especially without Townsend.

As a Walton fan didn't expect Holmes to shoot that well from 3 without Bolden. McClendon very impressive, seemed like everytime Walton had some momentum he would hit a big 3. Proud of how the Walton boys competed, cut it to 5 in 4th, but Holmes made plays down the stretch.

Bearcats are growing up....down 13 early...last year no shot at winning this type of game...today win by 9. Tough matchup with Holmes tomorrow.

Strong 2nd half leads Walton past Highlands After the unthinkable transfer of talent over last few years Walton program again headed in right direction with coach Brannen and Sullivan.

Solid road win for the Bearcats.

This game much closer than score would indicate...wv cut it to 4 mid 3rd qrt...huge momentum swing with last second 3 at end of 3rd by SK. Question for SK fans, what is Racke's jersey #?

Two fairly evenly matched YOUNG teams, played hard, entertaining game. I do realize probably 10-15 of Trimble's FT's came at end of regulation & ot but 47-16 FT attempts hard to overcome in matchup of similar teams. I think the WV kids are growing up, in every game, but with basically no varsity experience the kids just still get a little rattled at winning time. Last night got back in game by attacking the rim, but on a couple of key possessions in ot settled for long range jump shots. I know not showing in the Win column, but considering lack of experience & injuries, kids are battling hard. Congrats & best of luck to Trimble Co., they play extremely hard, and have a legitimate shot at representing the 8th in All A state.

Congrats Zach! Top notch kid also!

Kid is incredible athlete! Would love to know coach Duvall's conditioning program over there, has to have some emphasis on improving verticals. I remember a couple of years ago had about 8 kids throwing down in warmups.

I will say this, guy seems to be coaching his heart out for Walton. Very refreshing watching kids play through mistakes, build confidence, jv kids being rewarded for playing well with spot varsity minutes, and some nice x & o game adjustments. Outside of Wtown game, all the rest have been very encouraging. Wish he had a little more Assistant coaching experience on bench to help recognize mismatches, opposing teams foul trouble, but that will come. I really don't know him, but it speaks to a mans character, to leave talent he did for betterment of his family, takeover a far less talented team and coach as hard as he is. Also I think he had respect of his former players because many of them have showed up at 2 of Walton's games already.

I do agree with you to a certain point as long as kids are getting it done on academic side, do it at early age, stay at that school, basically as if they were born in that system. Or if family has to relocate for betterment of family when kid is in high school absolutely, but I don't think you can just have unrestricted free agency. The kids who came to Walton, were great kids with tremendous families, became part of school system and communities at early ages and I know none of them wanted to leave Walton and wish that team was still together. I don't blame any of them for leaving, was just a bad situation. But you are looking at it from top talent perspective which is basically recruited. That next level of talent, good but not great high school players are the ones who suffer. In the Walton situation, a lot of players quit basketball or moved to other districts because of playing time. For the ones who stuck it out, just think of all the game experience lost to kids now representing other districts. I just said it was refreshing watching the homegrown talent, get to play through mistakes and improve, not necessarily always top notch basketball, but refreshing, lol. But I would have also enjoyed watching a very talented team make a run at the all "A" state and 8th region titles this year. So I see both sides, but as one of my friends likes to say..."it all fell apart like a soup sandwich"!

Not necessarily bad decision, kids & parents became part of the community, as evidenced by how close some of the kids & parents remain.