tommyb

Believe it was in Campbell Co MS. They rotated years between Holmes, Conner, and CC.

Blasingame played for the '86 and '87 Regional HHS champs - did not play varsity for '85 HHS - although he may have dressed. Also, you mentioned the Scott County Frank Persley-led team. In 1985 - they rolled into HHS gym as defending state champs and #1 or #2 rated in state...and the Birds pulled an upset win on Draud (shocking) last second jumper, only to get THUMPED the very next morning by better Campbell team. The HHS '85 team lost to (3) teams - all season long. Unfortunately, they lost 7 times - no kiddin - to two of them! Campbell and Newport. (including pre-season tourney, famous recipe, home/away season games, districts and regional loss). They lost once to Boone Co. on Boone's floor also - and Boone eventually won Regional by 1 over Newport. In Regional Semi's- HHS had Newport down 10 points - only to lose on a brilliant Newport coaching move to intentionally foul HHS Junior Schuett with about :12 seconds remaining to put him on line with game tied. Brilliant. Never saw it coming...we were stalling out front ...dribblin away...waiting for last second shot...passed the ball to corner - went to retrieve it and they tackled Schuett into the benches - brilliant. You gonna wait for Draud to decide your fate? Nope. He missed front-end of bonus FT - Newport's Commodore grabs it and streaks up court - HHS panicks and Beagle grabs him at half-court. He drains both and Newport heads to finals. Coaching. Discuss EVERYTHING. Especially last minute.

Jack of All Trades, I think the component some folks are referencing is not specific boys...no football/MJ's walking the HHS halls per sey, but simply that there are junior and senior football athletes that played basketball their entire youth lives - including years of AAU hoops & frosh/soph HS basketball, and now they are OPTING OUT. In the eighties & for twenty plus years, until recently those HHS athletes always OPTED-IN hoops. ALL IN. Jeff Kremer, Daugherty, Burkhardt, Maile, Beagle, Smith, Lorenzen and on and on and on. The athletes couldn't wait to get to the hardwood. But now, they opt out. The senior class now, as sophomores, Donovan McCoy, D. Christian, Collinsworth - all dominant frosh hoopsters, then started JV as Sophomores, dressed varsity - and then -OUT. Gone is that experience and minutes, simply gone. Zach Carter - a senior this year - took all his Junior varsity minutes last year and OUT. Seth Hope - out. Gone is all that AAU experience, the frosh year of PT - then OUT. A black hole. The frosh Weyer - OUT. Gone. Some wish to say they are pursuing football. Could be, but also, it's as simple as they have no desire or reason to pursue basketball. Just ask them. Seth Hope is my son's best friend. It's not a pretty answer. The next HHS coach has to provide a ******* lot more than X's and O's. He has to provide a COMMUNITY. A culture. Leadership. CONVERSATION? This isn't a private school program where hoops is king and the players abundant..... What is the current HHS basketball culture? Compare it to football/Dale's approach...enuff said. All I care about is that that kids and players are comfortable on and off the floor and they are having FUN. Watch the games - how we doin? Ask the boys. I have a wonderful junior boy - in his third year of dressing hhs varsity hoops. Third year with Coach Flynn. Flynn and Hunt have been very good to him. He enjoys playing. FUN? LOVE? FAMILY? Not sure. It will take a passionate, intelligent, social & infectious personality that LEADS young men and builds community again and again and again at HHS and throughout Ft. Thomas. Yep - it's real work these days - just ask any high school coach. The X's and O's are the easy part. "Opting-out" is not simply at HHS. It's everywhere for sure, but it is running rampant at HHS and it creates BLACK HOLES that lead to 40 point losses to Cov Cath at home. Ouch. The varsity may be no better with these aforementioned student-athletes, but NO PROGRAM can sustain losing those minutes and experience year after year after year. I wish them all the very best. And finally - in regards to all this HHS Hoops blog/dialogue...as Dave Letterman says - all this story needs - IS AN ENDING! Please.

NCC goes 0 for 11 from three (according to Cov. Cath radio)

There is nothing WRONG with Highlands basketball. The school (historically) has won as many 9th Region hoops championships as Holmes (believe it or not) 13. They may now be one behind Holmes – but point being that is many many more than Cov. Cath or NCC or other NKY great basktball traditions. Yep - look it up. Not bad for a football school. And folks - this is a basketball state. Look it up. So I appreciate someone outside of Fort Thomas asking the question - because when this hoops "tradition" generates 8 or 9 or 10 wins for a season - it does beg the question and social commentary. But there is nothing WRONG. Perhaps that is too harsh of word. These kids and families and coaches - love the sport and are passionate about playing and competing and coaching. They are great young athletes. What is DIFFERENT is the era in which these high school athletes are competing. No longer can Highlands roll athletes out there for 2 months and win a 9th Region championship. No longer does every starter on the floor come from a different zip code like when I was the only local starter with a 40175 zipcode in 1985. But the kids and families are all still wonderful and play and compete very hard. This sport is difficult. Like golf, you have to learn how to do some things that is not very simple. Especially when a comparable athlete is defending you. Many of the varsity HHS basketball players that I see on the floor have very limited ball handling skills. Very limited. And in this era - you are going to run into a Michael Bueter or Brossart boy that plays and works at his sport and craft EVERY DAY of the year. That WAS NOT the case in 1985. It is today. Watching Highlands kids handle the basketball is painful. Turnovers? Shooting percentage? Do we keep stats anymore? When Highlands goes one-on-one with Brossart boys or NCC boys, they are playing kids that handle a basketball everyday of the year and work on their game year round. Throw in the fact that the top 6 or 7 players on the opposing teams are doing it together as a team - and then Houston, we have a problem. These kids, playing everyday of the year, get really really good at handling the basketball (imagine that). And when they come together in a beautiful system and a solid coaching framework - yep - they can get down right GOOD. Damn good. In the eighties, we did NOT play 12 months a year at ANY sport. Nope. This is a new era. An era in which Bishop Brossart is capable of beating Highlands by 30. Not 3, or 13 or 20 - but yep - 30. A basketball polished team versus kids doing their damn athletic best. A different time. Scoring the basketball consistently - versus a great defender - is not easy. And it does not require teamwork. It requires great talent. Watching a great basketball talented team against a lesser-hoops talented team is not pretty. It's like watching linebacker Ray Lewis versus Rondo in a one-on-one game. Interesting at first, sure, but then eventually - painful. Painful to watch Ray try to create space and score. You can't bully your way thru anyone on a basketball court – then up to a ten foot hoop with that small of diamater. Nope. It takes talent, conditioning and great teamwork. And you have to work at it and love it - to handle the basketball and make everyone around you better. You want to go one-on-one, possession after possession? Painful. I love the game of basketball - the quickness - the jumping and the talent. It's an individual game, played by a small team in a very intimate setting. Talent and great team chemistry is a beautiful thing to watch. Highlands boys need to work on their talent and ball handlling skills - and shooting. And it's very tough to do that a couple winter months against kids and teams that now have dedicated their year to working on this game. I love all the boys that play and participate and wish them the very best - they are amazing kids with great work ethics. There is nothing WRONG with HHS basketball. WRONG is too strong of word. The time and setting has changed. Please don't talk about football - Boone County and NCC and Trinity and Holy Cross - they all play both sports as do every school across America. It is a problem with a 6'5" freshman decides to take his game to NCC verses play at his parents school. HHS hoopsters are opting-out - and yes that needs to be addressed and should be open to discussion, but there is certainly nothing WRONG with Highlands Basketball. It's a great beautiful sport and those kids are magnificent. These boys are simply putting the ball in the basket less times than their competition - and that's ok. They will continue to work and get better and graduate and pursue life. I wish them all the very very best!

His time will come...he's quick as lightning (ASAP Cov. 3 years) but nothing comes easy to little BB .. He has great work ethic ... Gonna be a GREAT employee one day!!

#82 is man amongst boys out there. Strength, size, work ethic, motor and IQ. He is a GREAT football player and an even better friend to his buds and an outstanding young man. A joy to be around. Congratulations Seth and to all the student athletes on the field!

Highlands has NOT lost....they beat Newport JV this past weekend in the tourney and are waiting to schedule next game... The "tourney" is informal - up to the coaches to schedule the games at convenient times for kids/squads..

No doubt the coaching staff at HHS are fabulously qualified, wonderful people. Although next to Dale in this great city, it will take one Word Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter Violation social politican to win over the hearts and minds of the student-athletes (& community) that trickle into any other sports playing field besides David Cecil Memorial Stadium. Another aspect unique to HHS "hoops program" is that three JV starters from last years basketball team opted OUT for this year - oops - can't get those minutes and experience back....certainly a different beast managing & trying to build this "program" from year to year. And I should never point-out student athletes as better options over another, my apologies. My simple observation and two cents (in this social media, wonderfully connected world) is if varsity basketball teams are committing 30 plus turnovers, while players & athletes are subbing in and out of games four and five times a quarter, the games & flow begin to look like an exercise in DODGEBALL. And is any player really comfortable when playing DODGEBALL? Do the HHS players look comfortable? I don't think they do. What athlete is comfortable subbing in and out constantly? IMO, Coaches have one vital role - to place young players in a position to be succesful - and most importantly - work to make them very, very comfortable. Then, they can go do their thing: be athletes.

Turnovers...hhs...thats all i hear. What is the definition of insanity?? Keep doin same and expect different results? The beatings will continue...with same style same players. There is a pretty good little point guard sophomore for HHS watching the beatings as well..nice handle and set up specialist ...high IQ always makin teammattes better for years...sets others up....IE point guard. and he can bury open shots... AND yup, 3 years of eligibility....When do u turn the page on juniors and seniors that when they were Frosh players, could not get off the Freshman bench? Program? Or extra currucular for upper classman? There is plenty of talent and positiion players at HHS...plenty. The Record will speak for itself....

What's wrong with HHS hoops? Nothing really - just a shortage of basketball players. The program simply lacks a diversity of zip codes. When I played there in the mid eighties - we had many, many kids playing from different counties and communities. My senior season, I was the only starter on the hoops team from 41075. Any championship team in virtually any team sport today, is going to require a "stud" or two from a nearby community. Or at least a few that move to the community to lace them up. The best kid from a couple communities to reach a championship caliber team. NCC - where are their best 10 players from? All from Newport? Or perhaps they have the best kid from Highland Heights, Alexandria, Southgate, Ft. Thomas, Newport, Bellevue and on and on and on. Cov Cath? Dixie? Campbell? Brossart? Same thing. Not rocket science. Diversity of zip codes. Derek Smith/Lorenzen's 3 championships - were they Fort Thomas kids? Nope. Football athletes can spill over onto the hardwood - that's not news, it's high school sports. True, HHS football studs are choosing not to play a few other sports - to focus on their year long conditioning and spring practices... no matter, other campuses have similar experiences. The smaller the school enrollment, the larger issue I have with 11 months of football practice for student athletes - the bodies just aren't there for other sports to be successful. If you field a football team in the state of KY, you have a chance to win in this state. Not the case with hoops. It's Kentucky - basketball is what this state does, not football. The simple point i wanted to make, was that when HHS played in all those 9th Region finals, from 1979 to 1988 - and then again with the Smith/Lorenzen run - they really enjoyed a diversity of talent from all over the region. Not the case today and pulling from one community pool of talent, may produce a very nice team, but not a championship caliber team. Nope. Add it all up: the lack of diversity of zip codes, a year-long football commitment, some kids opting out for football only, and new basketball coaching personalities every few years - and you have a dwindling talent pool of bodies and a very average hoops program. Basketball requires basketball players - not just speedy, fit athletes. The sport requies great hand-eye coordination. Eventually someone has to have the talent/ability to put the ball in the basket. This is usually a god-given talent, now polished in high school AAU off-season....NOT learned during your high school years after sitting on the Frosh team bench behind the football players......

Those national polls are a joke. Highlands is not one off the top 10 teams in OHIO - let alone Texas/Florida/California/Michigan... Lets see...they will play the 6th or 7th rated team in just Cincinnati (Elder) in October...which based on the United States Of America high school polls would pit one of America's best against a mediocre Cincinnati team...hmmmmm interesting matchup.

Classic high school basketball. Kentucky high school basketball in an intimate setting. Does NOT get any better in sports competition..so close u can feel the emotion - see it on their faces - feel it in their bodies...i was shaking watching the entire battle. Kentucky high school basketball - Kentucky basketball..it's what the commonwealth does. I know folks say Highlands is a football school...sure whatever -FOLKS we are in KENTUCKY. Kentucky football - is an oxymoron. If a trailer moved Highlands a mile across the big mac bridge - we would NOT be considered a "football school". Sure - great program - great coaching - great kids - great work ethic...it's amazing what Dale is doing up there - and they compete in Kentucky. Its the commonwealth. We do BASKETBALL- and last night was why everyone loves the game of basketball...the proximity to the players...the way those kids, coaches and fans - were so passionate...leaving everything out there. There's nothing "wrong" with Highlands baskeball...thats ridiculous. It's the 9th Region and Kentucky - and that school and hoops program simply doesn't have the sprinkling of zip code players- it had in the eighties...that is required iin any sport at any high level. A diversity of zip codes. HHS is 40175 - exclusively right now. No other high level program - in any sport - has one exclusive zip code...it just takes the best athlete from a sprinkling of communities - not one. Nothing wrong with HHS hoops - or the great sport of high school basketballl - please - these are All great kids - great families and great hoops - all across the 9th Region and great commonwealth of KY. I'm still shaking from last night's performance and energy in that beautiful Bellevue gym... Congratulations to all constituents involved in last night's District final - NCC is a wonderful program and coaching staff and fans - and so is HHS - and the rest of the great teams competing next week at NKU and good luck to all the team's and boys pursuing - a lifetime of memories - a 9th Region championship and a trip to RUPP ARENA - KY BASKETBALL - the greatest show on earth!!!