bulldog77

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything like that. Just seems like a good place to ask this question. First congrats to the Villa Lightning. I truly enjoyed their kids and their coaches when we played them this year. Great guys and proud of them for making it to the regional. My question then is this? Why all the love and affection shown toward Villa, a team that clearly benefitted from the fact that their District is a blind draw district (no offense intended Ludlow guys, back off), yet Bellevue has been absolutely villified for doing EXACTLY the same thing? All this while the following are true: Bellevue and Villa Split their conference games this year. Villa was picked pre-season to be runner-up in the conference and ended up third. Bellevue was picked no higher than fifth pre-season and finished second. The Tigers expected to struggle to win 10 games yet won 15. Holmes blew out over 2/3 rds of the Regional field and would and will do the same again given the chance. they ARE among the elite 4 or 5 teams in this state. Yet, because of a BLIND DRAW Bellevue gets them in the Regional. again, not anyone's fault, the luck of the draw. Remember it takes a MAJORITY of the members of each district to decide on Seeding. The MAJORITY (that's three schools) choose not to seed in the 36th but it seems as if the whole issue is being laid at the feet of the Bellevue program. Just wondering why? Again, props to the Blue Lightning, way to go gentlemen!! I'd just like someone, anyone, to give credit to the Tigers for doing what they had to do to get where they are. THEY DIDN'T VOTE TO HAVE THE BLIND DRAW ALL BY THEMSLVES FOLKS. These are kids and I think some folks on here have forgotten that.

Generally helps to know some whys before deciding on hows, but point taken.

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything like that. Just seems like a good place to ask this question. First congrats to the Lightning. I truly enjoyed their kids and their coaches when we played them this year. Great guys and proud of them for making it to the regional. My question then is this? Why all the love and affection shown toward Villa, a team that clearly benefitted from the fact that their District is a blind draw district (no offense intended Ludlow guys, back off), yet Bellevue has been absolutely villified for doing EXACTLY the same thing? All this while the following are true: Bellevue and Villa Split their conference games this year. Villa was picked pre-season to be runner-up in the conference and ended up third. Bellevue was picked no higher than fifth pre-season and finished second. The Tigers expected to struggle to win 10 games yet won 15. Remember it takes a MAJORITY of the members of each district to decide on Seeding. The MAJORITY (that's three schools) choose not to seed in the 36th but it seems as if the whole issue is being laid at the feet of the Bellevue program. Just wondering why? Again, props to the Blue Lightning, way to go gentlemen!!

Appreciate the sentiment but to put Newport in the top three, even the top 5 is quite a stretch. AS I recall Hioghlands beat Newcath in the exact same tournament by 20 plus so the score should be no surprise here. Holmes, CovCath and Highlands have proven to be on a level abouve the rest of the field so why begrudge a small school a taste of the "big time" once every 22 years? And by the way, the Tigers will play hard. They always do.

Final ended up being 75 - 37

Then you better go back and change all those old banners at CCH because until about the mid 90's or so, ALL districts had blind draws every year. Back when I played (Holmes) we routinely drew CovCath or Holy Cross in a district that included CovLatin and Ludlow at the time. As for the game, I think it will be much tighter than folks expect. Highlands in a squeaker.

NCC plays Bellevue annually. Highlands does not and has not for some time play either Bellevue or Dayton in Boy's basketball. Amazing how "unjust" it is for the "Big two" to have to "play their way in" as opposed to the smaller schools every year. This draw has happened TWO times in 22 years. You'd think it happens every other year by the way some of you are howling. You guys are great at telling other schools how they should just accept being smaller and less "attractive to potential transfer students" and just allow the bigger schools their "rightful" place in the world of District 36 (aka the top two seeds). Take a dose of your own medicine for once and play the games as they fall. We've been doing it for decades.

If we see our field this week or even next I'll be shocked.

Actually a ball just above the beklt is a strike and should ALWAYS be called a strike if over the WHITE part of the plate. Here in the Ninth REgion our guys tend to be low ball strike umpires while when we travel we tend to see a higher strike zone.

Attendance at baseball has more to do with the fact that you play nearly everyday instead of the once a week "event" of football. You'll never draw "Football" size crowds when they can come the next day or the nest, etc. Early game time also are a problem. We get good crowds at our games depending alot on who the opponent is.

Wanna bet?

Correct. The final of that game is by no means indicative of how good a game it was. For a frshman team to put up 60 and lose speaks well of the opponent. Newport has a nice freshman team. Two other very good games were Walton versus Newport with the Wildcats coming out on top by 4 and the Calvary/Augusta game.

Some other names you might want to watch for: Villa - Steve Hamilton Bellevue - Roger Babb Thomas Barrett David Combs Hunter Jones Ricky Buckler Dayton - James Jones Richardson Schwierjohann Ludlow - Hammons Dunn Newport - Klaas (2 brothers) Kyle Shoopman Heritage - Nick Elwert

By the way, this IS NOT a true "Regional" tournament. This is an invitational tournament run by CovCath that has been "ASSUMED" to be the regional. Some 8th and 10th region teams participate while many, if not most, smaller 9th region schools are not even invited. Also, you do understand that the concept of "seeding" teams requires that teams play similar schedules and like opponenets, otherwise the comparisons are simply subjective opinions which are far worse than a simple blind draw. For the umpteenth time in these type of discussions, a person'r opinion as to how good or how much better one team is than another has absolutely no bearing on how "seeding" is correctly done. Records don't mean squat unless they can be compared directly and they NEVER will.

If there is a better sophomore in DIII than Shawn Easton from Dayton I'll be surprised to see him, and yes, I have seen all the DIII teams so far this year. Bryan is good but didn't have a great night the evening I saw him. Pohlgeers was overshadowed by the upper classmen the night we played them. Another name I'll throw out to look for in the future is Mike Young from Bellevue. While he is not yet in the absolute top tier of sophomore players, by his senior year I'd expect him to be among the elite in his class. Same goes for Pelle at Silver Grove. Not quite there yet, but I'd expect to see him rise to the top as well.

Thanks for the info. Any good restaurants or places to entertain a dozen players?

Looking for some information about the Whitesburg area. We're coming down for the tournament and have never been in the area before. Got a map that doesn't show where the school is located.

Clearly CovCath has the lead when it comes to maturity and experience to go along with talent. I'll give Beehwood the two slot by just a nudge over Ryle with the caveat that Ryle's pitchers should develop quickly as the season progresses. Of course, so will Beechwood's and CovCath's. However, the old "any given day . . ." scenario can jump up and bite any one of these teams in a one-game district or regional game. I'm looking forward to a real fun and entertaining season this year.

You are quite right here. Eveerybody likes to play the "I've got three kids throwing 80+" game but the reality is that less than 5% of the pitchers in this region break 80 and a good percentage of those that do have some degree of location problems. You guys have named the real deals here several times and yes, there are some periferal guys knocking on the 80's door. The traditional powers and the schools with the big numbers will all be in their traditional spots in the top ten. Here's hoping some other teams can join the party this year.

There's a young man from Dayton by the name of James Jones who could be dominating if he can gain control over the fastball and his emotions. Two kids from Bellevue, senior Roger Babb and Junior Jimmie Scott could become top notch pitchers this season. Michael Walters from Williamstown had a very strong fall season and is developing very nicely. Adkins from Scott will definitely be among the better pitchers form the No. Ky. area as well. Cummins form Grant, Thompson from Lloyd also should be good hard throwers that have developed nicely. AJ Smith and Steven Hadden make Beechwood strong even without Elliott on the mound. Pitching will be a strong suit in No. Ky and the surrounding areas this year. Ryle, CovCath, Beechwood all have good, deep staffs but lots of teams have great #1's and even some #2's that can beat anybody on any given day. Looking forward to a great season this year.

Well said. Ditto

You are absolutely 100% correct. But may I also add, what is wrong with having your players (and your FAN base) believing in what appears to be impossible? According to a few of the exceptional thinkers on here, the Bellevue boys needn't even show up. "Aw shucks boys, just show up and take your beat down and we'll all say ya done a good job." Sorry but the kids and fans don't think that way and never should they. Believeing is what got Dayton to their outstanding record, and believing is what gor Gardner-Webb past the wildcats. Sure it may seem improbable, but who are you folks to tell fans and players alike they have no shot? I think we'll show up and play the game for ourselves. Win or lose Friday night, the Bellevue Tigers have proven their metal.

Senior Offensive Lineman Scott Sanders.

Aren't you exactly the person who was taking other people to task for making similar statements earlier in the year? Why I believe so. And don't hide behind the "this is the playoffs" excuse, it's the playoffs for Beechwood too. You want to be a fan, go right ahead, but next time, afford fans of other schools the same courtesy. On the game, wouldn't we all love to see a gigantic upset here, but I fear it just isn't in the cards. Beechwood rachets it up this time every year and I really don't see them calling the dogs off for at least a half, just to keep those starters in game-ready condition.

I always thought that was a pity thing on her part, gee, who knew? But on topic, Dixie by 10