Ole Kentuckian

Accountability is there, but no one outside of the assigning secretaries & possibly the KHSAA will know it. Each team plays in an area which uses certain officials. For instance the 10th & 11th Regions use the Bluegrass Basketball Officials Association so any game in which officials from that association call that either or both of the teams competing are 10th or 11th Region teams those teams' coaches rate the officials according to how they feel they officiated the game. That occurs in every such game (w/Bluegrass Officials calling games in which 10th or 11th Region teams are playing). Thus, you have an evolving rating system of how the officials are doing and I would assume (don't know for sure) that the assigning secretary would address any officials that either have particularly bad overall ratings or any particular game in which the coaches really were negative about the job the official(s) did. And a coach can scratch an official where he won't call any of that team's games. My personal observation is that if the assigning secretary feels that it would be better if a coach and an official didn't get matched up, that they will avoid assigning the official to that team's games as much as is possible. The KHSAA and assigning secretaries (and officials, believe it or not) want to avoid bad officiating and problems every bit as much as the coaches (and fans). But remember that some coaches are particularly difficult to work with (even if they are winning they aren't happy with the officiating) and some games between certain teams seem to be more likely to incur problematic behavior between the players, coaches and fans which has the potential to be an official's worst nightmare if not handled well. On one hand nothing is more challenging than officiating a hard-fought battle between two teams in a packed gymnasium and if you as an official can handle it properly then nothing is more gratifying to that official. On the other hand, if you lose control or the players, coaches or fans make it impossible for you to control the game, then it is your worst nightmare. I don't envy the officials. I admire the good ones and I prefer not to see the not so good ones calling games, but then not all players nor coaches are outstanding either. If you feel that the level of officiating isn't as good as you feel it should be in your area then your judgment may be skewed or there may be a serious shortage of individuals willing to work hard at being a good official. Me, I wouldn't do it for anything in the world and I am thankful for the great officials and feel badly for those who aren't quite up to snuff (but are trying). The bad officials (of which there aren't really that many), if they're simply incapable of officiating well they should find some else to do. If they in any way intentionally make (or don't make) calls properly, then they should be run out - but then, usually the coaches' ratings & scratches will address that problem.

Who were officials? Or can you post that here?

Wayne goes to 25-1 with 97-60 defeat of Somerset.

My very unofficial view is that it is wiped off the books = no game, no stats, no win or loss.

Nick Gillespie. Averaging 3 pts & 5 rebounds a game and blocks several shots a game. He is a sophomore. If he could improve his game as much as the remainder of the starters all have since last season he could take Wayne County to a higher level.

Say what? I missed that. What took place that resulted in Coach Allen being suspended?

Agree with Rez, I would also favor Perry Central this time, but they're both so good that winning this could very well give the losers enough emotional push to make the difference in any Regional match-up.

I don't believe "withdraw" is in the lexicon of allowable reasons not to have to forfeit. I assume they signed a contract and thus made a commitment to the KOB and thus for them to pull out still leaves the tournament and their scheduled opponent w/o a game unless the KOB was able to find a replacement. Were they? I'm sure they tried unless it was too late. If they did then there shouldn't have been a forfeit (unless the KOB was out in some way). If they didn't, then a forfeit should result. For my information, how is it they "had to" play a make up game from district play? I know all district games must be played (unless it is late in the year, dates aren't available and the game doesn't effect the seeding), but does their particular district have some kind of rules that make them have to accept certain make up dates. I'm truly curious and am NOT attempting to be sarcastic.

If the school was closed due to illness then I personally don't feel that the KHSAA should rule it a forfeit. However if the school wasn't closed, but the team had so many players ill that the couldn't field a team, then that would probably be just bad luck. Why? Because there's no easy way to verify that your opponent actually has that many players so ill as to be unable to attend school. That's a great deal like injuries, being ineligible due to grades or suspension or whatever. Now if your opponent wanted to be a good guy, there's no reason the game couldn't be postponed & played later. If the school system has a policy of no travel due to the school being called off that should be 100% treated as a DNP and rescheduled if possible (definitely if a district game that influences the outcome of the district seeding). Regarding a partially played game, well . . . you've either played the 32 minutes or you haven't unless an official calls the game due to so many ejections or technical fouls or the game getting out of hand. JMO. Some of the officials who are on the BGP board can correct me if they know differently.

Actually, the only rule of which I'm aware is that you can't play MORE than 30 regular season games a season. IMO, most coaches prefer games over practices regarding giving their players the kind of actual experience they'd like to see them gain. Going a week (if you miss a Tuesday or Friday night game) or week and a half (if you miss both Tue. & Fri.) tends to drive both the coaches and players stir-crazy plus I'm sure the players reach a point where they're tired of practice and become not quite as attentive to the coaching staff. This winter has been particularly wicked in causing games to be cancelled or postponed, plus we are seeing a lot more of these 4-game specials where eight teams come to one site. An opportunity (especially for the better teams) to play another good team at a neutral site. Well, get one of those postponed due to weather and you have a huge headache (example: the Joe B. Hall Classic being played on a Sunday).

Certainly. And Southwestern's stock should improve after their unaccounted for (in this ranking) win. I was also very impressed by the play of Perry County Central. A lot of outstanding teams at the Joe B. Hall Classic.

Observations: Montgomery County had shed the load of being undefeated and I've read several say that they played one of their better games of the year. They are an outstanding team who played hard and made it extremely difficult on Wayne who went with primarily six players until Blevins fouled out. Wayne County was still carrying the onus of being the only undefeated team in the state which brings pressure and great scrutiny (& scouting). They have not had what I would consider a "good game" (4 quarters of contribution from most of the team) in some time coming into this game. I as others have expressed, am anxious to see how they rebound. Many 12th Region pundits have been calling to see how they would do this weekend and will do against the balance of their schedule (especially at West Jessamine & at Boyle). Now we'll see. I will certainly say that the Montgomery County team I saw play yesterday is an outstanding team and should do very well from this point forward and into the post-season. You play good teams to experience, learn, find out what you need to change and improve. And BTW, congrats to Southwestern on their win. More evidence that the 12th Region has their share of outstanding teams this season.

Excellent observations by Rez. Wayne has three offensive weapons in Woods, Blevins & Stearns (25-18-18 ppg) not counting Perkins who could score more but seems content to contribute in every other way. T's for hanging on the rim in high school seem kind of archaic to me. Rarely have I seem instances where they need to be called. I think officials sometimes just get caught up in the game and blow their whistles too quickly and likely regret it later. Knott also has their share of outstanding players, most notably in Justice & Hall. Justice has proven his skills and Hall is a monster around the basket. KCC's players would average more ppg but they prefer playing a more disciplined game usually holding their opponents to less than 48 ppg. In the first half Knott possibly got away with driving to the basket leading with their arms & elbows out, but the officials started calling it later and KCC didn't adapt to the inconsistent officiating. Yes, that's kind of a backdoor slam at the officiating since most all coaches will tell you the single biggest thing they look for from officials is consistency. Had the officials called them for charging more early then they might have avoided fouling out later. Wayne deserves credit for never quitting despite being down by 16 with less than 4 minutes to go. They were forced to go to their all-court press despite the foul trouble that had kept them from doing so earlier - and it obviously paid off speeding up the tempo and allowing them to score a LOT of points in a very short span of time. Very good chance these two will see each other again at Rupp. I hope so as it would be another war that they fans would love. Now on to Montgomery County this afternoon for both Wayne & KCC. Wayne will see if they can continue their undefeated streak against Montgomery and KCC will attempt to rebound against Fleming, possibly the best team out of the 16th Region.

My guess would be that except for the multiple-game setup (like Jock Sutherland), teams are making up games and are purposely scheduling in the afternoon so as to avoid having to get the team & fans home in the dark if the weather is bad or turns bad.

Wayne County gets to 23-0 by defeating McCreary Central 83-36. Halftime score was 59-14. Wayne's top four players did not play in the second half. Partially perhaps to avoid making the game any worse than it already was and partially likely to rest up the starters in anticipation of two more upcoming games in just slightly over two days - started tonight (Friday night) at 7:30, play at 4:15 on Saturday and play at 4:00 on Sunday. Woods got 18, as did Blevins - Stearns, 7. We'll see if they're still running full speed come Sunday's game. Will fatigue catch up with them?

I would hope that whichever schools can participate would be allowed to come and play whomever makes it there. If scheduling a four-game eight-team event means it is all called off if any one of the teams can't make it then I don't foresee many of these things being attempted in the future. The Jock Sutherland (at Lafayette) could very well suffer the same fate.

Did it get played or not? I've seen nothing anywhere on it?

That's 100% true. Those who occupy the seat that must decide whether or not to put these kids on the road (sometimes in the very EARLY a.m.) have a difficult task. I would not want to be in their shoes.

Dang, this winter's weather is flat playing havoc with everyone getting their schedule played. Hope they get this one in. Also worried about this weekend's play at Lafayette (Jock Sutherland) and Montgomery (Joe Hall).

I'm extremely interested in this one as it puts two of the top teams in the Region against each other. With the game at Lincoln I'd have to favor the Pats plus I'm not sure how SW will rebound after their Friday night loss to Wayne. I'm thinking they'll be ready, but we'll see.

:up: True, that. I would venture that their home court record over the past half century would match up against most anybody's in the state.

And me :taz: :taz: :taz:

If the Laurel County School System had wanted "South" Laurel to maintain Laurel County's carry-over of tradition (since '70 or was it '71?) then they would have allowed them to keep the high school name of "Laurel County" and the second school would have been North Laurel or whatever (but not sure that the KHSAA would recognize that as such). "Laurel County" was composed of all high school-age students in the county of Laurel whereas North & South Laurel are composed of two different halves of the county. Two new different high schools, neither totally based on the student base that Laurel County was. Laurel County was a merger of Bush, Hazel Green, Lilly and London, but you didn't see Laurel County claim whatever achievements that those high schools had accomplished prior to the merger (and this circumstance has been repeated over & over all over the state). Looking back it is surprising how many counties have merged their schools until there was only just one school and then 20-30 years later they ended up splitting it up because the one school became too large and difficult to manage (LOT of students, teachers & administration in one location which in turn means lots & lots of buses & vehicles). I note that many of them are counties through which Interstates were routed which brought about growth of all types which in turn increased the need for more school facilities to take care of the children.

I don't consider the collegiate or professional levels to serve as good examples. That's an entirely different level of play (if you don't think so I reference UK this year with their high school McDonald's All-Americans who haven't come close to elevating their level of play as is necessary) or some of the players who have gone to the NBA too early and ended up having very little or no career there. At the high school level I think that the team that is having the ball held on them must force the action and I think it fair to assume that team has superior talent or the other team wouldn't be holding the ball on them. Not to say that I don't absolutely HATE IT when somebody does it to my team (LOL).

Remember old saying, "You get what you pay for." Actually I have no way of knowing what most wireless shot clocks would or should cost nor how reliable any particular brand might be. Somebody who had experience in that could better speak to this issue. I do know that if you go on Amazon.com you'll find: Amazon.com: BSN Wireless Shotclocks and Controller: Sports & Outdoors or $663.00. I know I would be nervous about a wireless setup since anybody could buy the control and perhaps sync it to the shot clocks you have and . . . well, we don't want to go there do we? Moreover wireless gives me concerns about problems in any case - too many things that can go wrong.