ItsSHOWtime

I'm not following, in your opinion he is easy to stop on the block but teams fail to do so for some reason? :confused: If he is so easy to stop and he has terrible post moves then why is he the best big man on arguably the best team in the 9th region? Is the 9th region that pitiful? I would be curious to see who you think is better offensively than McDonald outside of Campbell in the 9th? Let's also keep in mind McDonald is only a sophomore. As I stated Holmes is deeper than NCC's guard play however NCC's starting 5 is better than Holmes starting 5. In high school most teams don't go deeper than 8 or 9. If they do those kids after 8 and 9 hardly have an impact in the game compared to a teams starting 5.

Guard play at the high school level is vital however size plays a much bigger role than you think. Good guard play has proven to give teams a chance to win the 9th region however if you look at those teams and the success they have at rupp, it's minimal. If you take a look at the more successful teams in the 9th region over the last decade or so, the ones that make noise at state all had talented bigs. IMO, a team that has good enough guards along with better bigs is a better recipe at the high school level rather than teams with great guard play and minimal big man presence. Good guard play is important don't get me wrong but in the long run it can only carry you so far. Your better off, at the high school level, with guards who don't turn the ball over and make good decisions rather than scoring guards who can get you 20 a game with very limited bigs.

Your simply not giving McDonald enough credit. In that game Mcdonald is arguably the best big man on the floor as a Sophomore. Offensively he is much better than Schulte and I don't believe there is a big man on Holmes that is better all around then either of the two. McDoanld may not be the quickest, best defender but in all reality who does Holmes have that is going to exploit that match up and be that big of a difference maker on the block offensively? If they go all guards Holmes has no shot at stopping McDonald or Schulte on the block. Obviously your bias to Holmes however you keep focusing on how Newcath has to match up with Holmes. What about Holmes having to match up with NewCath? Then your making assumptions based on the 2nd half of last years game. Mcdonald didn't play but the uptempo pressure bothered Newcath so that means this year it's going to be the same way? NewCath has a veteran guard in Bueter and it's not like Pangallo is some slouch. IMO, the only advantage Holmes has is that they are deeper in the guard area. I would give the nod to Bolden over Pangallo due to Bolden's athletic ability but Pangallo is going to be one of the top PG's in the 9th for the next 2 years. Other than that match up NCC is simply better at every position considering the starting 5. Finally, you continue to say that CCH has a better shot at beating Holmes because they play more of a similar style rather than NCC because there style isn't uptempo defensive pressure and run and go offense. If history serves me right I believe Newcath has had better luck against the Bulldogs the past couple years rather than the Colonels....but then again I may just be crazy for believing Holmes isn't the best team regardless... :confused:

Oh I believe he can. Just curious to see if they guard eachother the entire game or if either team tries other defenders. Both of these teams rely completely on their point guards to do the bulk of the scoring. Feel like who ever wins this match up between the two should come out with a win but is Pendelton's supporting cast that weak? Have not seen them play but seems like they really don't have anything besdies Monroe.

30 on ruthsatz?

Any info on Fessenger? Position and Year? Never heard of him? Seems as if Ryle doesn't have much depth? This surprises me year in and year out for how large that school is.

I know a big emphasis this year for 9th Region refs is "hand-checking". If a defender puts 2 hands on the offensive opponent it's suppose to be automatic. The GCL and Lex/Louisville definitely refs don't call as tight of a game. I wish there was more of a middle ground in the 9th region. I much rather see thee boys play an aggressive, physical style of play rather than afraid to foul.

I agree. I think it should be somewhat worrisome bc this is what plagued them in the districts last year. CCH was able to squeak by HC in the first round bc Pauley stepped up. Ruthsatz didn't shoot well in the districts and they couldn't get by Holmes. I realize he is by far CCH's best player but this CCH team has a much different makeup than most of the successful CCH teams throughout the last decade. It's much different seeing the point guard or one guy for that matter average around 20+ and take so many shots. I can't recall a PG in the last decade or so that did and there were some very good ones at CCH. Usually the CCH teams are very balanced. IMO, CCH team reminds me of Dixie. Both hatton and Ruthsatz are going to get their points however, I think both teams will struggle against teams like NCC, Cooper, and Holmes. These teams are much more balanced and not one dimensional. I'm not taking anything away from CCH bc they have some nice young players, especially a rising star in Schuh but I think the team is going to live and die by Ruthsatz from what I have seen so far.

IMO, I'm not so sure Tobler is the clear cut #2 option. Schuh can score in multiple ways where as Tobler is limited to the post. I think you will see Schuh become the second scoring option regardless if Tobler is playing.

I'm just making a comparison to a similar type of player regarding height, size, ability at the D1 level. IMO, Hatton is not a high major D1 player. He plays the 2 guard spot and scoring is his best attribute by far. However, to play high major D1 Hatton doesn't fit the prototype. Are there exceptions? Of course there are. Maybe he can be that exception. For example, look at Jordan Hulls at Indiana right now. My point being is that to say Hatton is "too good" for NKU is not true. More than just scoring ability and shooting range factor in college recruitment. He is simply undersized and lacks quickness for high major D1 level, IMO. A perfect example is Elisha Justice playing at U of L and then transferring to Pikeville to play. Justice had the best all around game we have seen in quite some time but he struggled to transfer that over to the level of Big East play.

There is no way Hatton "is too good" to play at NKU. Not take anything away from Hatton, but high D1 basketball is a on a whole other level. IMO, he is better off going to a place like NKU with some familiarity and him being a local kid may give him more of an opportunity. Look at Redford from XU, check out his highlight tapes from High School. Kid could flat out shoot it from anywhere on the floor. IMO, he is a purer shooter than Hatton and Redford's transition to A-10 basketball has made him become nothing but a shooter. He is a great 3-point specialist. With that said I just don't see Hatton going higher than mid major. 98% from the FT line. 92 in a row made. 46% 3 pt 50% 2 pt

I should have mentioned that I took the teams surrounding factors in account. The reason I have Collins lower is bc Cooper is probably the best all around team when u compare these particular players outside of highlands. I have Nuss #1 bc if beechwood doesn't have him, they wouldn't be much without him. He did pretty much everything for them all year. #2 Durham because he was basically Campbell's entire offense. Without him Camels struggle severely. #3 Bir. Without his passing game CCH wouldn't have been in the mix like they were. Their running game was sub par all year. He made their offense go. The reason I don't have Barker higher and Fogle mentioned is because they were on the same team. When you have two players like that its a blessing compared to the top 3 I mentioned who are the only top tier player on their team in the top 5 or so category. Teams have to focus on both rather than just one particular player. Therefore, I went with Barker bc he generates the offense and is the biggest threat on Connor. However, both would slide on my list bc they lost early in playoffs. McCoy slid to #5 because highlands is the best team in NKY by far even without him the birds are arguably still the best around. But he is a great talent. Hayes you could argue should be a little higher bc he rly makes the breds offense go. The passing game is ok however without him new cath struggles to score IMO.

Importance to team 1. Nuss 2. Durham 3. Bir 4. Barker 5. Mccoy/Collins/Hayes Talent 1. Barker 2. Nussbaum 3/4. Mccoy/Durham 5. Bir/Collins/Fogle

In the last few years, Cody Elliot was the best Beechwood passer. The Kid had an arm on him. However, he was extremely quick and a great runner. Also, on that team they had some very good running backs in Bankamper and Tiepel. The offensive play calling has been run dominant over the past few years to a fault. In an earlier thread I proclaimed my opinion how the offensive play calling is sub par. For example, against Newcath inside the 5 yard line there was 4 straight running plays with a result in 0 points. Newcath had just about every player in the box yet we still were trying to run every play. If Nussbaum can't get in, Idk who else can besides Jackson from Mayfield. There isn't any balance and it doesn't help when your O-line isn't your strength by any means. I also mentioned building consistency with particular receivers. A perfect example is Mayfield's #3 who dropped 2 or 3 passes in the game, 2 of which would have most likely been TD's yet #3 still ended up within 2 receiving TD's in the game. The reason I bring this up is because Beechwood hasn't had any issues with receivers dropping passes this year. So why not throw it more often? Why not establish a passing game and get your best receivers involved? It's not like Beechwood doesn't have receivers who can catch the ball? Also, the constant switching of about 7 different receivers, running kids in and out every play is obnoxious. Find a core of 4 receivers and get them involved in the game! IMO, this falls on Rash and Hergott. Cameron Lane starts at QB beginning of the season. First few games Beechwood had a few passing plays some resulted in TD's but majority ended up in INT's. It was pretty clear Lane was going to hardly ever throw the ball if he was going to continue to play QB. Nussbaum returned and then Sucanek started getting some snaps at QB. He became injured and his run at QB was very shortened. Next Nussbaum starts playing QB, which isn't his natural position and it was obvious everything both offensively and defensively was going to go through him. Throughout this 3 different QB offense a respectable passing game was never developed. It made sense to run but the issue was that the competition against the Ludlow's, Bellevue's, Dayton's allowed Beechwood to get away with it. However, against stiffer competition like Newcath it was tougher to pass and Newcath exploited that completely by putting everyone in the box and stopping Beechwood's running game. Fieger pretty much became the QB out of default. It was clear Lane wasn't getting it done, Sucanek never became a viable option, and Nuss provides much more of a threat when running the ball rather than passing or playing QB. Then came the suspensions. I would have loved to see Rash give Fieger a shot much earlier in the season against the Ludlow's, Dayton's, and Bellevue's. If you knew the kid could throw, which he is clearly good at, then why not see what he's got. Instead it comes playoff time and 20 kids get suspended so your forced to start Fieger and then you roll with him during the playoffs. I completely agree that it was the best move to play him at QB in the playoffs but isn't that on the coach to recognize his talent and put the best kids in particular positions. I think Beechwood had success running the football and sticking to a certain style of football for so long that they fell in love with it and don't really look to deviate from it. It almost seems like the mindset that we are going to impose our style of play on you regardless of the circumstances. This brings me to my next point about making adjustments in the second half. Beechwood's adjustment's in the second half have been miserable all year. The offense is non existent and the defense ends up playing the entire half. For example, SK, Newcath, and Mayfield. The only reason Beechwood beat Dixie was because Dixie couldn't stop Nuss on the ground and Beechwood just outscored them in the second half. I think it's clear Rash needs to input a passing game and it's clear Fieger can be that QB. With that being said it shouldn't have taken this long to do so. There is failure to have a balanced offense and over the past 4 years it seems as if Mayfield has caught on to that. The talent is there, as it certainly was last year more so than this year. Should be interesting the next 3 years for the Tigers, because there is no question the talent is there to win State.

I'm sorry but your response to my post doesn't even relate to what I was trying to get across. First off, your comment about saying what I really mean is irrelevant because I said what I mean exactly. I am not sour that 5 frosh are playing up? Why would I be. Moving Fieger to QB is the best thing that ever happened to the Beechwood offense. Gives the Beechwood offense so many options that they didn't have before. I agree with moving up the best kids to play especially during the playoffs, however I believe it was Rash's decision to keep those kids on freshman to play together and get a feel for success such as winning the freshman tournament. I believe there were numerous kids that could have been moved up to play JV, even varsity. The biggest reason kids moved up was injury. For example, against Frankfort Slusher got a lot of snaps at MLB, but that was because Justice sufferred a concusion. Stringer has returned kicks and ran the ball a few times but really hasn't seen enough snaps to make a huge impact. Combs is seeing the most snaps besides Fieger, obviously, and he is doing an excellent job blocking. If you think about it, Beechwood may have never even gotten to Fieger at QB if it wasn't for injuries throughout the season. It was a blessing in disguise and Beechwood is as healthy as it's been all season and peeking at the right time. As for your replacing johnny comments, no there is none here bud. I simply didn't say wrs were getting replaced, well because there hasn't been any wrs to "get replaced" all those freshman you are referring too, none of them are playing the wr position. My comments were directed to the play calling becoming more consistent with particular wide receivers rather than throwing randomly to different receivers. I believe consistency and getting your best receivers more touches is more beneficial than throwing randomly to receivers , I'm sorry if you disagree. But make sure you get your facts straight before you make some generalizations. As for the kick off defense, it is known that Rash puts under classman on kick off defense whether they are playing regularly or not. Yeah maybe some of the under classman who happen to actually play up are on it but there are also, kids who don't even play any other snaps besides on kick off defense. IMO, kickoff defense has been one of Beechwood's weaknesses throughout the season. Maybe you can recall a particular run back for a TD in the SK game to start the second half? Game ended in an L. As you stated in your post the best players will play so get use to it...well please tell me if our best players are on the kickoff defense? If you think so, then you are not watching the same Beechwood games as I am.

The play calling since Fieger took over at QB has been good, however before then, the play calling wasn't very good, IMO. One particular series against NewCath comes to mind. 4 straight hand offs inside the 5 yard line and Bwood fails to score? With that being said, the passing play calls against Frankfort were great! Tigers receivers were wide open on the TD passes. (Nuss and Lightner) But the one thing I don't understand in Bwood's passing game is consistently using wrs. They will throw to a particular receiver one game and have success and then that particular player/receiver won't see another pass for a few games and then all of a sudden they will again in another game. I believe Bwood has some solid receivers however I don't think they have utilized some theirbetter receivers enough. To develop some confidence in the passing game it would be nice to see the Tigers build some consistency with receivers. I was surprised Frankfort wasn't picking up on who to guard on these pass plays. If your playing the Tigers and they throw, key in on the TE or Nuss/RB because about 90% of the time its the RB leaking out or tight end across middle. I have yet to see a quick screen pass all year or even 5-10 yd slants. Also, I understand using under classman on kick-off defense to get them playing time however, I don't understand this move by Rash. Majority of teams at least get to the 40 almost 50 every time on kick off returns unless Sletto gets it to the end zone. Don't like this move because it's much tougher for a team to drive 80 yards to score rather than 50 to 60 yards.

starting 51.Pangallo 2. Bueter 3. Siebert 4. McDoanld 5. Schulte Off the bench: Franzen Another big kid from football, can't recall his name The rest will get sparring minutes, could be a number of players just depends. The Newcath will primarily play their starters barring some injury or foul trouble.

What 8th grader? Nuss will play basketball.

I don't think he is at 6'7'', I would say closer to 6'6''.

Beechwood will win this game. Nuss will have a big game running the ball anywhere from 150 - 200 yards rushing and a couple tds.

Very fair assessment. I would give the edge to Cooper on coaching standpoint. Sullivan > Brannen, as well as the bench. That is NewCath's biggest concern is their bench players. If we are comparing starters I think the edge goes to NewCath in terms of experience and height.

Very much agree with this.

In the 9th region it is hard to find size and when the 9th is at it’s best is when there is size. I’m all for good guard play because you can win games that way. However, naturally down state there is usually better guard play from Lexington and Louisville areas. If you look at past years when the 9th was very strong there were players like Doleman and Fagan at Ryle, Votel brothers and Lewin at CCH, Neltner from HHS along with Smith and Lorenzen, Brock from SK when they were in the 9th , Pittman, Rice, and Johnson brothers from Holmes. Sure the 9th has some exceptional guards here and there but matching up with a team that has 2 or 3 players over 6’5’’ is just hard to do in the 9th region these days, especially when they are the teams best players. That year Holmes won the title they had a perfect combination of great guard play along with size at every position. As for Boone winning last year, they were able to pull off the upset but realistically going into the State Tournament they didn’t have a good enough team to win state. I’m not saying you NEED a bunch of 6’5’’ guys to win the 9th because you don’t however, the best teams to play in the 9th and win the region outright rather than an “upset” actually make some noise down state. So your telling me that you would prefer to take a team full of 6 ft and under guards? If so, your crazy. As for your guarding assessment, well coaches do make changes in their defense (it’s not always one on one man) and I’m not so sure Coach Brannen is going to have Schulte guarding a 6 ft guard out on the wing. Siebert is 6’3’’ish and long, I think he can hold his own guarding on the perimeter. But you ask how is Schulte or Siebert going to guard McClendon and Coston? But my question to you is how is McClendon and Coston going to guard Schulte and McDonald on the block? I think it’s safe to say that Holmes bigs will guard NewCath’s bigs and vice versa. And I think your forgetting that Bueter was ranked 4th in the 9th Region player rankings ahead of both Coston and McClendon…. Only losing 2 or 3 game sin the 9th Region isn’t too shabby when Holmes won state, they lost one game in the 9th to Boone and the year before Holmes only lost one 9th region game to NewCath. If NewCath is only going to lose 2 or 3 games in the 9th I don’t understand your logic? Also, you said you don’t think NewCath is the clear cut favorite, well my point was GOING into this year they are definitely the clear cut favorite which in one of your posts you said you agree and that it is theirs spot to hold. So many things can happen from now till the region.

I have seen him play in middle school, throughout high school, and AAU. Whether its dribbling or a post move, he prefers going to his right or finishing at right side of the rim. I have not seen him use this left handed jump hook you are referring too. The majority if his post moves, especially this summer on AAU circuit, were power moves finishing to right. He plays as hard as anyone and rebounds with anyone in the region but his offense game is lacking to the weak side. This is just my basis why he I wouldn't put him in my top 5. I believe Campbell, Maniacci, and McDonald are better offensive players. Campbell is a special talent with his size but I think you will be surprised on McDonalds ability to score this season, may be more polished back to the basket player than Campbell.

I have watched him for many years.....