ESPNdeux

Murray getting away with a ton of contact the last few minutes.

Fair point regarding the zone comment. Maybe I should've said they play zones differently, rather than more... And honestly I don't think that the lesser shooting has anything to do with the amount of physical play. I think it has to do with the strategy and style of play. I'm not claiming to be an expert. I'm just going off of what I've seen in my personal experiences...

Is my thinking accurate on this one... the 10th was always at the Fieldhouse until the one year it was moved BoKY Center with the 9th? Was that when the decision was made to move it around? Or is that even accurate?

I've watched both games (KY and IN) the past few years, and spoken to quite a few people about it as well. Here are the conclusions that have come up... You all tell me if you agree. 1. Kentucky officials, in general, allow more to go on in terms of bumping, hand checking, and generally allowing teams to 'muck it up.' Freedom of movement is allowed in Indiana. It's more of 'the beautiful game' there, where as you'll get far more 'rock fights' in KY. 2. Indiana has proportionally more shooters than KY. The best teams in Indiana have 4 to 5 kids on the floor that can shoot it from beyond the arc at all times, and almost always the ball handling guards. A premium is placed on shooting the ball in IN. In KY, far more teams have the 'designated shooter(s)' whereas you are more likely to see hard drives to the rim. (This aids in that theory about more physical play in Kentucky) 3. The above lead to some different coaching style changes. A lot of subtle things... Indiana coaches are more likely to play some zone as they want to protect against foul trouble and it's harder to guard without picking up a few. Have talked to a lot of KY coaches that like 'force middle to the help' whereas in Indiana they like to force baseline to avoid the kickouts to opposite side shooters. Basically, it's a lot of things that stem from two basic theories... Indiana has more shooters, and Kentucky is allowed to be more physical defensively. I may be struck down as a Kentuckian for saying this, but generally the quality of basketball is a bit better overall in Indiana, and it can simply be explained by population... More to choose from usually will get you better athletes in the long run. And this rule generally applies to the top and bottom of the spectrum. The best teams are usually a little better than the best in KY, and the lower level teams in IN are just a little better usually than the lower level teams in KY. The key word here being usually. The That said, nothing that Indiana offers compares with the Sweet 16. Though taking in a day of regionals in IN is good basketball, you only see 4 teams, and the format changes the way teams play (game in the morning, game at night).... I actually think the most exciting tournaments in Indiana are the sectional tournaments, which would be the equivalent to districts here in KY. Those of you that see both sides... What do you think?

It's easy to judge from the outside.... Sometimes kids only motivation for being in school, and thus graduating is to play basketball (or said other sport)... It's not always clear cut in every situation... Maybe some kids get too many chances, but some coaches have to make tougher decisions than others...

Villa built a 24 point halftime lead before Dayton came charging back in the 2nd half. Schutzman had 26 for Villa. Spicker had an impressive game. Didn't score much but was all over the floor doing other things. Had a ton of boards from the point guard position. McDaniel had 15 second half points to lead Daytons comeback, and Garcia got hot late for 13. Villa gets a few days off before going to Bellevue Tuesday. Dayton has to regroup quickly as they get Carrol County at home Saturday.

All in all it actually sounds like Dayton was fairly competitive for a DIII school vs a regional contender. Do the Devils have the horses to make a run in DIII this year?

Who publishes this poll?

If I'm wearing the stripes, I have unnecessary roughness on 44 Red. Everybody loves a pancake block but not 5 yards off the sideline.... I don't really see anything from 32 white that warrants anything... That's just me...

How are field conditions Mustang?

Sounds like a lot of momentum for the Breds

Is this one at Bellevue or Brossart? If at Bleelvue, be prepared for an absolute mud pit. Unless something has recently changed, field takes days to drain, and will all that rain it will look like mud wrestling.

I believe they played two years every year for about 20(30?)+ years and in the mid 2000's when Lickert was at Dayton they dropped the second game... If they are going to play twice I do think it should be farther apart... Like the first and last game...

Not to get in the middle of this argument, but... C'mon man... The dude is one step out of the NBA. He's a phone call away from making it at the highest level. But he wouldn't have made a high school team 30 or 40 years ago? Please...

The last few times the basketball game was held they were pulling kids out of the stands to fill the teams and there was probably less than 50 total people in the gym. I believe that contributed to it.

I'm fairly sure they are only a couple years removed from being a Top 10 DIII team in the country down there...

Congrats to NCC on the big W and Kohls on the big day at her former school.... If Dayton had held on to some of the talent that played there when they were young they would be having quite a team right about now. Along with Casey Kohls, Quillen at Highlands and Delaney at Boone I believe all grew up playing in Dayton!

To shed some small school light on this... Ludlow loses Hart which is a big loss, but returns both Mitchell and Gibson. If the Roark kid comes back they will probably unquestionably be the favorite in the conference again. I would say those three, Eads, and draw a name out of a hat. They'll be talented. Dayton loses a lot inside. Grimme and Brewer saw a bulk of those minutes. Sam Brewer and McDaniel will probably start at the guards, and then I'd guess Patton, Matthews, and maybe Gifford would get the first shot in the starting lineup. Have some other young kids that could crack it as well. This is all pending Silver Grove, who I hear it's up in the air whether they have a team or not. The graduate I think 6 guys on a 9 man team. Heard Kuntz could end up at Dayton for his senior year. He would obviously start there. Villa returns everyone from a young team pending the Kenkel kid coming back healthy. You'd expect he and Thomas Schutzman to anchor them, and then McQueen and Martin in the post. Probably one of their JV kids moving up as the 5th. Bellevue loses a ton with Woodyard and Barrett inside and Arnzen at the point. They return Matt Fryman who will start along with Stephenson and then it's anyone's guess... Baker? Hayes? Craig? They'll be pretty young and inexperienced.

Since we're talking talent and size and mentioned that Ludlow team, 6'9" Penick was I think a soph that year. He ended up at Wright State for a short time I believe. That Ludlow team won about 4 consecutive conference titles I believe.

You keep saying this is a minority, but don't have a response when it is brought up that that might not be the case.

How do you figure that? HC has over 400 kids. NCC has almost 400. St. Henry has over 500!

Where do you get this idea?

Were they out of time outs?

Uh... What happened at the end?

It's very easy to say to build a culture at a small school, but you have to have buy in and good attitudes from your players as well. It's not like these coaches can just throw in the next guy if one isn't doing what he should and he will have anywhere near as much talent. In some cases in these schools, there is no 'next guy.' It's a one man depth chart at some positions... When you have 20-25 kids playing a game where you field 11, that's how it goes.