Ole Kentuckian

It appears that from the way that Mr. Network has broken down his totals that each school receives credit only for those regional titles won by that high school. If the school merges or splits, then they basically start all over (except in Pulaski County's case where they get to keep what they had prior to Southwestern splitting off, unlike South & North Laurel after they were created from Laurel County. On the other hand, if you're just totaling regional titles won by schools from a particular county, then yes, whatever Monticello won would be included as part of titles won by schools from Wayne County, just as what Somerset, Pulaski County, etc. won would be counted into Pulaski County's totals.

That's an excellent question. I have been following Kentucky High School Basketball for a very long time and it seems to me that we've had these rankings for most of that time. I don't know if the dude is as old as me (or older) or if some member of his family has assumed the responsibility of taking it over or even possibly that the Lexington Herald-Leader has obtained the rights to using and publishing the Dave Cantrell Ranking System on their own.

When I was younger (no comments from the peanut gallery, please) I used to be bothered by other teams scoring meaningless points at the end of a game or when opponents said our team had 'run up the score'. I have since learned that once a game is determined (one team is far enough ahead and there isn't enough time remaining for the other team to catch up) it is OVER. It doesn't matter how many more points the winning team scores, you still lose and they still win. If the team ahead chooses to not substitute lesser players or the team that is behind doesn't either, so what? The team ahead is playing its best players and taking a chance that they might be injured while playing meaningless minutes and the team that is behind has to make the choice as to when to take its best players out and give its lesser players an opportunity to gain some playing time. Bottom line is, we all hate losing and love winning. If you're playing a traditional foe, then multiple the emotional factor by 2 or 3 or more. But in any case, it really doesn't matter. At the end of the day, you either win or lose and the final score only truly matters to Cantrell or Litkenhaus when they calculate their ratings.

Yep, the DOT salt trucks that have kept our roads white (w/salt) all winter have thus far failed to make an appearance and I'm not planning on venturing out until they do. Could be the horrid winter we've thus far suffered through may have depleted the salt supplies and the DOT won't be quite as quick on the trigger putting it down. Meanwhile, be careful out there. Remember, it isn't the "going" that is a problem (regarding accidents) it is the stopping - both you and the other guy. Drive safe everyone.

Unquestionably the biggest question mark of the first round is the Boyle County/West Jessamine contest. Boyle has proven itself as a excellent team throughout the season whereas West Jessamine was thought to be one of the top teams coming into the season but went through a stretch where they lost 7 of 11 games, yet you can't discount their talent. Whichever emerges from this game will be dangerous. Assuming your choices are correct for the first round of play (which are all locks according to the rankings with the exception of the Boyle/W-Jess game), it would mean two semi-final games in which neither of the teams has played each other this season (due to weather cancellations that were never made up). A "learning experience" for all concerned and more difficult to predict with no history of having previously faced off against each other and the games being played on a neutral court with non-12th Region officials.

Due to weather the first two rounds of the 12th Region Girls Region have been pushed back to Tuesday & Wednesday. Assuming no further weather problems the Girls semis and finals will be played on Saturday & Sunday. Correspondingly, the first two rounds of the 12th Region Boys Region have also been pushed back, to Thursday & Friday. However the Boys semis & finals will remain on Monday & Tuesday as scheduled. All game times remain as originally scheduled.

Really? Does the same apply to the crooks on Wall Street or the guys peddling drugs? What an ignorant statement to be used in the defense of playing the game dirty. Better to say nothing to put that kind of defense forward. Wonder if the officials who will be calling the Region will read this and decide that they'd better keep an eye on this kid? The young man is an excellent player. You would be better off to leave the defense of what is indefensible out of your efforts to support him.

Note that "IF" the weather causes the Girls' Region Monday (tomorrow) games to be cancelled then ALL of this week's Boys' AND Girls' games would be pushed back one day. That would mean that the Boys' first two nights' of play would shift from Wednesday & Thursday to Thursday & Friday. However, because the Girls' would play their semis and finals on Saturday & Sunday*, the Boys' semis and finals would still be played on Monday & Tuesday. * With the Girls' State starting on March 12, Wednesday of next week, they have to get their Regional Play completed in order that the KHSAA can get everything arranged & printed with the correct teams from each Region, so they have to push to get the games played.

LOL, would never guess you were a Boyle supporter, but I totally understand. However, it is impossible for Wayne & Southwestern to be on the same side of the bracket (as it is for PC and Casey). District winners & losers must go into opposite brackets.

Corbin, I believe.

I quit worrying about the Cats quite some time ago. We have a number of true-blue fans that travel 100 miles to see them play every time they're at home, one of whom is a photographer who gets to sit on the floor. A majority of them aren't going this year. It doesn't matter how much I love or support a team, if the players don't put forth a full effort and worse, don't seem to even learn from their experiences (touted thought they may be as McDonald's All Americans) I don't consider it worth the emotional investment. Apparently quite a few agree with me voting by not attending. Sometime is going to have to change up there. Don't know what to blame it on but I'd much prefer to "stay at home" and watch high school kids make the effort and go home knowing they did. And sorry, wasn't trying to hijack the thread - congrats to KCC on their victory over Cordia. Must have been a danday.

Well, once the 47th District gets done tonight everybody is 0-0 from that point forward. Let the games begin.

I've been involved with national events (on behalf of National Organizations) who give out MVP, Outstanding Players, Outstanding Offensive Player, Outstanding Defensive Player, etc. MVP is undoubtedly the murkiest award of them all because rarely does the presiding tournament committee (coaches or ADs in this case regarding district or regional awards?) quantify what criteria should be used to arrive at choosing a "MVP". And it IS murky and difficult to quantify - is the most valuable player in the district or region the guy who was most responsible for his team winning the tournament or is it the guy who had the most outstanding statistical tournament - or who "everybody knows" is the best player in the region (or perhaps even the state), but was not able on his own to make his team the winner? On the other hand, some districts and regions have coaches' organizations and at the end of the season they all vote on such things, recognizing the Most Outstanding Player and other top players of the region for that season. Because . . . which players most deserve honors in a district or regional tournament may not be the same players who were the most outstanding throughout the season. Bottom line is that you like to see deserving players receive honors for what they do, but often it doesn't work out where it satisfies everyone. And has been ably pointed out while the individual honors are good & in most cases deserving, they are given out because those individual players were key contributors to their team achieving success. I most often find myself disturbed because some unsung hero of the team who wins the regional championship is overlooked because he didn't have an outstanding season, but he stepped up and made a substantial difference in the region - however, he got short-changed because some player who had averaged XX ppg for a team (during the regular season) that got beat in the first round of the region received an All-Regional Award in his place. I seriously doubt if we'll ever figure out to make all of us happy, but I am most definitely in favor of recognizing those who excel IN THE REGION by being substantial contributors to their team advancing as far as possible with All-Regional Awards and those who excel during the regular season (and not always in the regional tournament) be recognized by the coaches at the end of the season for those achievements.

Yep, it's a 50-50 proposition. However, I don't think most programs hang banners up in their gyms for winning first round regional games, so whether you play an outstanding team the first or the second round doesn't matter a great deal because the bottom line is that you have to win twice to make it to the finals and have your shot at the title. Yep, but by the same token Lincoln could draw into Wayne County's side despite the 2-1 odds against doing so. It is certain that one team (winner or loser) out of the 45th (Lincoln or Boyle) and one team (winner or loser) out of the 48th (Wayne or Southwestern) will be in the same side of the bracket, so for any of these four teams to have a shot at making it to the finals they'll have to go through one of the top four ranked teams in the region (PLUS, West or East Jessamine could well play a spoiler role). For those teams not ranked in the top four, for them to win, they very well might have to play the top three teams in the region (which in the last Cantrell Rankings were 6th, 9th & 15th in the state).

Upsets in District Finals are virtually meaningless, especially if there aren't 3-4 really strong teams in the region. A district runners-up has won the 12th Region two of the last three years. Several State Champions were district losers. We may very well have one of those this year (Scott County?). I would favor an all-inclusive Regional Tournament (no District period) and you could play the first two rounds at the higher seeded teams' home court. This would force everybody in the region to play each other, but that's a thread for another day.

IMO they're no better because they don't report their stats. To me it appears that the coach either wishes to keep his numbers confidential and/or feels that he won't have to handle anybody who questions why he's not playing so-and-so (because the player's numbers make it questionable as to why he isn't). I will always feel that it is the easy way out and not professional. Provide your numbers for the whole world to see. If you are indeed a great coach you should be able to handle the repercussions of doing so.

Or blocked shots. But if we fear the validity of some of the numbers now being submitted whether due to sloppy statistical work or intentional padding, when you get into assists it can go wild. But it would be nice to have assists and blocks listed, but that would probably be one more roadblock to keeping some teams from submitting stats. In fact, if all stats requested had to be supplied before any could be accepted then it would add to the number of teams who don't or won't provide their team's stats.

I note that Lincoln & Southwestern have not played this season and that Boyle lost to them when they did. My (admittedly personal & prejudical) viewpoint is that Southwestern presents match-up problems that makes it difficult for anyone in the 12th to cope with, more so Lincoln than Boyle. Reverse Southwestern's three losses to Wayne County and they are 26-2. We'll see how it plays out, but I think the rest of the region is overlooking Southwestern at their own peril. I'm not predicting that SW will definitely make it to the finals, but my take is that they will provide an extremely tough and physical match-up for whomever has to play them in the region. Of course as always, how the officials allow the game to be played will and usually is a major factor, especially for teams who play very physical.

Wayne County overcame a nine point deficit in the third quarter playing Southwestern at home to go up 54-50 going into the fourth quarter due primarily to Peyton Woods' 14 pts (that quarter). Then in the fourth quarter they outscored SW, 22-16 knocking down their free throws and led by Trey Blevins' 12 pts. Wayne County: 19-12-23-22 Southwestern: 17-18-15-16 WC: Woods 27, Blevins 24, Stearns 16 & Perkins 9 SW: Edwards 20, Isaacs 12, Butt 12, Fitzgerald 10, Gaskin 8 & Cromer 4 All-tournament for WC were Woods, Blevins, Stearns & Perkins. Wayne County is now 28-1 and SW is 23-5 (with 3 of their 5 losses to Wayne). Very good possibility that the two could meet again on March 11th (Region Finals).

Got any idea of who will be officiating the game? What with it being Boyle & Lincoln that knocks out several of the region's better officials from calling the game.

According to the "KHSAA Audited School Enrollments" (see: http://khsaa.org/reports/enrollments/20132014schoolenrollmenttotalsbyalpha.pdf) Cordia had exactly 100 students in their top four grades this season. The two school years previous to that they averaged 98 students. There is a virtual gold mine of information on the KHSAA site if one can locate it.

Kudos to the 12th Region for having three teams in the top 15 (tie for 6th, tie for 9th and 15th). And the Litkenhous Ratings were almost as good (7th,13th, & 19th). Whomever advances to the State should represent us well.

The "heights" that are posted make you chuckle. ???

It is indeed tiresome that a great many coaches purposely don't post their stats FOR JUST THAT REASON. They don't want anyone else to know who their best & worst shooters are, who their best rebounders are, etc. And yes, of course there could be home cooking in the numbers, but considering how few of our state's teams are posting stats I'd say that's not all that likely. Geez, from the list of teams that HAVE NOT provided stats, there is a who's who of some of the biggest high schools in the state - and they can't come up with someone to keep their numbers? You know that isn't true. Schools that large have a huge number of students & supporters any number of whom should be willing (or want) to help.

True, (that Wayne or Lincoln will most likely win the region), but all it takes is one loss in the region and "poof", a season's work is gone. Most recently remember last year when SW beat Wayne in the District Final and it suddenly looked as if SW finally had everything going their way (I would wage that Southwestern had quickly become the favorite to win in most neutral observer's minds) and then Mercer rudely ousted SW in the first round of the Region. Suddenly Somerset quickly had the upper hand coming out of the lower bracket with SW out of the way while no one was certain who would come out of the top bracket - West Jessamine, Pulaski or Lincoln (as Wayne had lost some of the luster in many observer's minds that they'd built up during the regular season). Wayne edged by Pulaski (last second three) and West Jessamine (by one) and then overpowered Somerset in the final. Everything turned upside down and then back within the space of a week. It will indeed be very, very interesting and this coming week's district play (barring a jarring upset in the first round) won't effectively change that the teams we've been discussing will fight it out for the championship. Normally I would lean towards the team with the senior leadership (as non-seniors often don't usually come as focused as do seniors for whom it is their last shot), but of these four teams, only one's best player is a senior - SW (Justin Edwards). Like I say, interesting.