Big Fundamental

He isn’t underrated yet. People just haven’t seen him. He’ll have a shot to pop this winter.

I’m not sure they have the scoring guards this season to compete with any team in the state, but they will be a tough game for anyone. Jolly and Lawrence are strong and smart. Wilson has a high b-ball IQ, and is a utility guard that can play 3 positions. They’ll be the class of the 10th again this year with GRC.

Besides the bigs inside.... who will be scoring from the outside? Believe it or not, with a zone defense, you can stop bigs from dunking every time. Who is the outside threat? Will Davin finally show why he crossed the river to be at CCH? How does the depth at the guard position look?

I agree with this explanation of the game. CJ was really good, and I'm not sure a young man understands & plays his role better than AJ Mayer. Jake Walters had a couple of jams with authority, and the oop from CJ was outstanding. The CCH length on defense is tough to maneuver and negotiate. I thought Schreck should have been more of a focal point, and i thought a few of the younger guys forced some shots, but it seems there weren't many other options. When you lose by 43, the opponent is just clearly better (typically). Congrats to Dixie on a nice year, and good luck to CCH!

Who outside of Kelly Niece is more talented for SK than GC? And, he’s a freshman. SK has some excellent young, high ceiling talent, but they haven’t been fully tapped into yet. The SK upper classroom are nice high school talents and pieces to the puzzle, but the GC talent is no pushover. They are tough and disciplined with a good coach. This game was not surprising to me. GC has been strong most of the year.

This year, yes. This year. The staff at CCH is excellent down the line. The head coaches are similar/equal, IMO. The CCH team is superbly more talented from top to bottom this year, imo. One could argue they were more talented last year (and Cooper beat them), even though Cooper was loaded last year too, but cch was younger. Blaming officials is silly and is NEVER the answer. Give kids credit. Hopefully CCH can bring home another title to NKY.

Can we all agree that TEAMS win regionals? CJ is a phenomenal player, but to say HE won 2 of 3, is proposterous. CCH is loaded with talent. For what Cooper was up against, they did a phenomenal job. 2 really good teams, 2 really good players, 2 really good coaches. Last year it was Coopers team beating CCH. This year CCH got them back. Don’t take the bait people. A lot of fake news and shock factor in this thread, and some others.

Exactly. I prefer to think that Holy Cross won the game, not that newport lost it. But, if we are subscribing to that theory, I don’t assume that Newport coach drew up the late turnovers, missed free throws, and foul on the final 3. Though, I could be wrong. Holy Cross played their butts off and won the game. Good game plan, good game played by the boys.

Knochelman appeared to be contesting shots at the rim all night. Contested the last one that ended the game, as well.

Excellent. This has the potential of being a really good game. HC will be riding high in the "Play for Clay" mentality, and after beating a higher seed. Dixie will be ready to roll with Roddy and crew!

Woww. Seems Harrison played them tough. Was Harrison at full strength in this game? Was Campbell?

Are we sure that Wahl just didn't play a great defensive game against his assigned player? He was magnificent last night. As was Knochelman on the interior.

LOL. This is why people say, "hater". You are clearly in this for the shock factor at this point. I guess the coaches just roll the balls out at practice and let the kids do what they want in games. The ol' John Calipari rule: roll the balls out and play.

Last year, Holy Cross lost to Cooper by 12, and Cooper didn't play all that great. I think NCC could give them a run for a half or so. NCC has 2 really nice players in Hall and Luken. They could keep it close. With that said, Cooper seems to be on a mission. I think they win in the end with a double digit victory.

I believe Dixie finds a way. Stainforth has done a nice job in his first year, and Schreck is a high IQ player. This should be a really good game. HC has 3 excellent guards, and 2 that can really shoot it. The rest of the guys play their roles. However, I just see a toughness element in Dixie's game that will overcome HC. I'll be excited to watch.

Newport was 24-7... explain how they are inconsistent? Of course if they lost a game, they probably didn't play as well as normal. However, Holy Cross was 13-16, so obviously, they were also wildly consistent this season, as well. So, how can you pick Holy Cross to beat Newport based on the "you never know what Newport team shows up" theory, when you also don't know what HC team will show up. Just curious. People say you are a hater of Newport, because you talk ill of the coaching (24-7, District title, 5 straight region appearances), and because you picked against them all year and were 2-3 in your selections. I have not seen you post so critically of any other team. So, maybe, there is a personal vendetta there (potentially?).

Excellent game to watch, albeit a slower, more defensive game. Holy Cross played confident and poised in all the big moments. Newport missed free throws late, and had 2 crucial turnovers in the last 2 minutes. Holy Cross took care of the ball, and hit FTs. That was the difference in the game, imo. Great season by Newport and Coach Snapp. Cant argue with 24 wins and the first district title in 30+ years. Look forward to seeing what Schrand and the Cross can cook up for the semi-final. They have some excellent guards.

Any love for Ryle in this first round matchup? Can they beat dixie? Will they?

If they are the 2 prohibitive favorites, they will still play each other with a chance to advance to state. It will just be one game later, in which they’ll be favored over the opponent.

If you were to seed the district winners based on regular season record, there could be more incentive to play weaker schedules. Also, then you have to keep the district runner ups out of the same side of the bracket (as usual). There is no ranking system for sos, rpi, or this new quad system that’s out (bs, lol).

Newport won by 1 in OT. Newport was coasting for 3 quarters. NCC came roaring back and dominated the 4th quarter. Newport escaped late.

Newport is 24-6 on the season. If that isn’t consistent, I don’t know what is. I guess if they were 24-5 like Cooper, they would be the model of consistency. I’m not putting Newport on the same level as Cooper or CovCath at this point, but they have been the 3rd best team in the 9th Region All season. What is consistent is your clear bias against Newport. Which is fine, your merely a fan of another team and I’m cool with that. What has been really inconsistent have been your rankings and your picks of winners and losers. At one point you had Beechwood, NCC, and Boone at number 3, even though Newport was 4-1 against those 3 teams, and had to lose on a buzzer beater to lose to Beechwood, on a night when Makhi McGuire, one of the regions best shooters, didn’t play. You also picked NewCath to win the district all year. They lost. You picked Bellevue to beat Newport. They lost. You picked NewCath to beat Newport in regular season. They lost. You did pick the Cooper game correctly, but so did most of BGP nation. Not a tough one to pick, especially at Cooper, where they haven’t really lost in a couple years. I’m fine that as a fan you have a bias towards one team, but to have an odd dislike for another is baffling. Always sad when people choose to root against others more than they just root for their own teams. As for bulletin board material, Holy Cross is tough minded. Good, tough kids, with a good coach, and they won’t need bulletin board material. Same for Newport. At the end of the day, I think both sides will be ready to go because it’s win or go home. You’ll see the best of each of the 8 teams in the region.

An awful lot of people counting out Holy Cross and NewCath it seems. You play the games for a reason. I believe any of these teams could win a first round matchup. They all have a talented player or two that could have a great night and carry a team. St. Henry is about the only team I see that is going to really struggle with CCH. But, even they get a chance to play the game.

Don’t count out Holy Cross on that side of the bracket. With Niehaus back, they’re healthy at the right time, and they have some big time shooters/scorers as well. HC and Newport could be a dandy. Dixie and Ryle could also be a good one. Rankin is tough, and I really like Schreck and crew. I think Hall and Luken would have to combine for 45+ to hang with Cooper, which could happen, but not sure it will. Cooper is just more talented 3-7. CCH will be looking ahead to Saturday night, but I hope the CRU kids bring some toughness and confidence.

Why does there always seem to be so much Newport hate on these threads? The previous post is correct. If Cooper and CCH are indeed the 2 best teams, which they have been all year in the 9th, they’d have to play each other at some point. Sheesh. Just enjoy the games and see what happens.