First

I am with PP on this one. The first time I watched the video I thought it may have been intentional. The more I watch it I lean towards no. There certainly wasn't any malicious intent. I wouldn't have argued had it gone either way.

Same thing I stated before. Less on the floor extracurricular activity than in most games I've seen this year. The only thing I noticed from Bell was what I had heard about him gesturing when playing defense. He puts a hand out towards the man he's guarding (when his man has the ball) and makes a "come to me" motion with his hand/fingers. I believe that has been deemed to be taunting in a previous game and it didn't last long in this game. I'm assuming that it was addressed by the refs (or coaches) because it only happened for a few possessions. I didn't see or hear anything else negative out of the kid the rest of the game.

As far as the best player, all of the above referenced players are very good. Some shoot better; some pass better; some get to the rim better; some are quicker; some are longer; some rebound better; some have better handles; and some are better defenders. It comes down to personal preferences and what you need. I appreciate each of their games.

Bell does much the same. Any good guard is going to be pressured and it's a necessity unless the refs set the tone otherwise with the defense (in the first couple of minutes). Regarding Bell over Taylor as a PG, it's apples and oranges. Bell is a scoring guard and Timmy is a pass first guard. It's similar to the debate over who is Lincoln's best player.

Faulkner did not shoot well from three but often does. Baughman can definitely shoot it. Just so you understand how this works, if you "guard" Baughman at 25 feet then packing it in doesn't happen. Boyle zoned and Baughman made it difficult for them to stay in it. Then they go man because Coach Adams isn't going to a box on Baughman. Four people in the lane is a whole different look than 5; 3 even better. You are right tin the sense that Mercer needs someone knocking down the three each night. If they get that, then the lane opens up and that spells trouble for the other team. Regarding Hager pushing off, or most any guard for that matter, it's the chicken or the egg problem. Sure, guards will push off at times to gain an advantage to get up a shot. However, if the "pushing off" is happening on the perimeter, it's almost always as result of being ridden/bodied/hand checked by the defensive player. I think (offensive) players use that as a mechanism to adapt and, generally, it isn't called by the refs for that reason. They know it's tough to call the arm out on the offensive player when they didn't call contact on the defensive player. It's an accepted part of the game at the college level. Timmy Taylor is one of the biggest "offenders" - if you think that should be called - and he's the best PG I've seen around.

^^Spot on.

All this back and forth between the fans on both sides but here's what I saw ON THE FLOOR last night: No dirty play just two teams competing very hard to win. I did not see a single cheap shot, trash talking, etc. Given how heated the game was, that's a compliment to both programs. That's the exception as opposed to the rule based on what I've seen so far this year. The comment was made to me, by someone I didn't even know, that they had never seen so much talent on the floor in a Mercer-Boyle game. And that's true. Take your competitive hats off for a moment and appreciate the level of talent on the floor on both sides. Expand that to include Lincoln. It will probably be a long time before we see that level again in those 3 local counties. Robbins stepped up for Boyle and Baughman for Mercer. Things both of these teams must have. Elkins played limited minutes but still impacted the game defensively. Dow played exactly half of the game and yet had 10 points and 11 boards. That's at a clip of 20/22. Wow. And I don't blame Boyle for "flopping," that's on the officials. Watch the officials. What call do they get all excited to make? A charge call! You don't see them dancing down the floor demonstrating the block sign. Refs are paid to do their jobs, which means they enforce the rules in an unbiased manner. They should NEVER get excited about or demonstrate emotion when making any call. Perhaps that helps explain the 12th region officials' obsession with calling charges. It's gotten absurd. So, yes, 2 of the fouls were on Dow while the other 2 were "on" the refs. If I'm a ref, I watch the film and realize they made a fool of me and it wouldn't continue to happen. They got punked lol.

At South Oldham. Mercer(16-4) - Hager 41, Faulkner 5, Mink 6, Dow 15, Davis 2, Souder 1, Baughman 2. Hager with 41 points. Dow with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Tough call on who to put 2nd - Boyle or Wayne? Also, as was mentioned, I expect Mercer and West to be a dog fight on Friday. Both teams seem to be playing better and better as the season progresses. I would definitely put West above Pulaski, even before Pulaski's loss to Casey last night. They are considerably better than most give them credit for.

I am surprised by this one, especially given the fact that PCC had those big leads. Maybe it would have been a different result if the game had not been at PCC. I think Clay is easily the better team.

Taylor is no angel but he isn't Charles Manson either. He is a little cocky and talks some trash. But he's a fierce competitor. He probably patted him as alluded to above (in a sarcastic manner I'm sure) but these comments are a little over the top. There are far dirtier players out there. One comes to mind from a team with a fan or two represented on this very thread. Come on guys. Lay off the kid.

Using power rankings as my basis, Mercer would be 11-6 vs Boyle's actual of 13-4 (excluding the out of state team as there's no basis for comparison). Mercer would not have beaten Bryan Station or Cov Cath. Again, per the rankings (as opposed to just simply my opinion). Looking at Wayne's schedule, 3 of their 15 games have been against out of state teams. But they've played a tougher schedule. They are 8-4 in their games against Kentucky teams. Using the same method for Wayne's schedule, Mercer would be 6-6. Looking at Lincoln's schedule, Mercer would be 10-7. As was said, we will see if Mercer can beat any of the 12th region's elite. For the record, I'm not picking them to win any of those games. I haven't said they are top 4 this year. That's next year for them. Just saying they are flying under the radar. The comment that they would be sub-500 with Boyle's schedule demonstrates that point. They are clearly better than that. Likewise for West Jessamine. Don't sleep on them either. Doing well with litte fanfare.

Hard to disagree that Lincoln would be undefeated against that schedule but you never know. On the other hand, Wayne lost to Bullitt East who (at the time and I believe still) was not rated as highly as DeSales (same region). Boyle lost to Whitley who is weaker than all 3 of Mercer's losses I referenced above. And Whitley is on par with Mercer's "bad loss" as Whitley and Harlan are in the same region and are rated similarly. Would Wayne or Boyle have lost 4 with that schedule? Probably not. Would they be undefeated.? Not likely.

I agree that they don't have a win against an elite team. The comment that their losses aren't to world beaters is a little misleading in my opinion. Three of their losses were to teams rated highly in their respective regions (at the time). A lot of teams would have trouble on the road against Shelby (when at full strength), North Hardin and DeSales. Harlan was the one "bad" loss. I believe they were rated 4th or 5th in their region at the time but the 13th isn't that strong. To be clear, I'm not saying Mercer is a top 20 team. I'm just saying that they are now 15-4 having played a "solid" schedule. And that they do have the pieces/talent.

^^Yeah, not really comparable. Still pretty impressive coming off an emotional win over Boyle last night. Heard Conway had another double-double.

Mercer continues to fly under the radar in improving to 15-4 on the season. Anderson-Mercer is always an intense, physical game. Always. I believe the final score was as close as it was the entire night. It was a 12 point game at the half. Anderson closed the gap once they started putting Mercer on the line over the last 4 minutes. Mercer probably shot 50% from the line during that span. Gotta make these to have a chance to beat the really good teams. Mercer had 4 in double figures: Dow 20, Hager 15, Mink 12 & Faulkner 12. Anderson went to a box on Hager the second half and Dow stepped up big. What makes this team dangerous is their balance. They have 4 players that are legit threats to score 20+ on any night. Makes it very difficult for teams to focus on one or even two players.

Regarding Lincoln, as was stated above, this senior class has owned every team from the surrounding counties since their 6th grade year. On paper, it probably shouldn't have been that way back then and really shouldn't be the case now. But, they've been playing together since third grade (with the exception of Pittman who came on board as a freshman). They have a really good PG and a really good SF. They have limited size and aren't overly athletic. But those 2 talented players they have are supplemented by a top-notch coach and role players that understand and are willing to accept their roles in order to win. Great, great chemistry and superb basketball IQ. That last aspect isn't given enough weighting by most folks. Love or hate Lincoln, but you have to respect them. As for Boyle, they have more talent but they don't have Lincoln's chemistry and, at least overall, their level of basketball IQ. That's not meant to be an insult to Boyle as they are by no means alone in this. Great chemistry and a high basketball IQ are things that teams should work towards. The degree to which Boyle can make strides in those areas will determine how far they go this year.

Casey lost a district game last night then loses by 19 to Danville. Tough 2 days for them.

Per Twitter, the score was 71-47 after 3 quarters. Mercer had 5 players in double figures. Dow 29, Hager 15, Baughman 14, Faulkner 13, & Mink 10. Dow had to have close to 15 boards and 6 to 8 blocks. He had 4 dunks including an SC Top 10 tomahawk dunk over a defender. Hager probabably had around 10 assists and Faulkner had to be close to double digit rebounds. Mercer improves to 13-4.

^^Agreed.

You can't tell me he that he isn't good enough to play at that level, arguably higher. I know his size is a drawback but he is so quick. Very, very good in transition.

A few stats that didn't show up in the analysis: Timmy Taylor is averaging close to 9 APG to go with his 14 PPG. Will Hager is averaging nearly 8 APG to go with his 17 PPG. Also, does anyone know how many blocks Colton Elkins is averaging? Based on some of the numbers that I've seen, I'd say 6 to 8.

Per Twitter Mercer: Faulkner 27 points Hager 20 points and 8 assists Dow 13 points and 8 rebounds Danville: Hendren 19 points McKinney 14 points

I was going to ask about Bell. Is he getting any serious interest?

Quote: "Of course I was being flip. You're quick to say "on any given" night. I think that was "any given night". At best West Jessamine is #6 right behind Mercer County. Last night's "Boyle County/Clay County" game has nothing to do with how the 12th Region stacks up against each other." The stats for the WJ-Clay game don't appear to be very different from WJ's stats for the season. FG percentage was comparable and they shot 66% from the line. They made 2 more threes than their seasonal average. West did out rebound them 40-24. As for Clay, they shot a little higher FG and FT% vs WJ than they did against Boyle. Point being that nothing points to anything out of the ordinary for either team - other than Farmer not playing. Not an "any given night" performance. As I said, I wasn't implying that WJ is better than Boyle. Or SW or Lincoln or Wayne. My point was that perhaps West is better than they are being given credit for. The results of the Boyle-Clay game only served to add merit to the fact that was a quality win by West - even though Farmer didn't play. Especially when you realize they didn't do it by hitting 15 threes.