First

And Lincoln doesn't lose any of their top 5....or anyone in their rotation for that matter. Wayne may be 12-0 but Lincoln has spent the last 2 - 3 weeks playing an extremely difficult schedule. And winning. There are those that think Wayne's lack of strength of schedule may come back to bite them. Besides the TN tournament they played in, every game has been at Wayne. And outside of the early game against Lincoln, they haven't played anyone that they can point to as a big win. Of course, we have no basis for comparison for the teams they played in TN. As I said in a post earlier today, I do agree that Stearns (and Blevins) has stepped up when Woods hasn't had the big game. IMO Wayne is clearly a top 2 team but, given Lincoln's resume over the last 3 weeks, I don't think we can still say that Wayne is clearly the best team. I would love to see them play each other at a neutral site right now.

Being a little over a third of the way through the season, it is evident to me that the 12th has the best talent it's had in years. These players are putting up impressive numbers and often against big-time teams. Some comments on each of Purple Pride's top 10 players: Edwards - have not seen him play but appears he's averaging in the high teens while leading SW to a better season than most predicted. Woods - has established himself as a potent offensive force in his junior season - and on a very good team. Just a great scorer. Can do it in a variety of ways. Has height as well as he's listed at 6'3". Peters - coming off a 46 point performance last night. Very athletic and strong. Has improved his shot. Very tough match-up. Taking over where Fain left off. Benefits from playing with Henderson as his PG. Carson - has had crazy amounts of points. Very quick first step. Can get into to the lane at will. Finishes very well. Very good FT shooter. I think he and Woods are clearly top 2 at this point. Stearns - just a sophomore. Very strong and a good leaper. Guessing he's chipping in around 20 a game. Probably 8 + boards too. Seems he's stepping up when defenses focus on Woods which is exactly what they need him to do. Has not disappointed. Tyler - has improved his game in his junior season. Attacks the rim more and handles the ball better. Also rebounding well. When he's hot can put up some big numbers. Probably averaging low 20's and high single digits rebounds. Hager - just a sophomore. Listed as 6'4" and playing PG, is starting to mature physically. Gets to to the basket well. Versatile player that's proven to be a difficult match-up as he has developed a post game to exploit smaller defenders. Per an article, averaging around 19/8/6. Taylor - most under-rated PG in the state. Watched him control games against high level teams while leading his to victories. Very unselfish. The BEST pure PG I've seen, and he can do it against any level. Deceptively quick and great floor vision Conway - per an article, averaging around 19 & 8. Has improved his ability to score off the bounce. Listed as 6'4". Has a nice shot. Has improved his game relative to his soph season. Benefits tremendously from playing with Taylor. Blevins - only a sophomore. Like Stearns, is doing a nice job of stepping up when teams key on Woods. Is the third of 3 very good options for Wayne and they all seem to accept their roles. Would think he'd have to be averaging mid-teens at this point. The pre-season top 10 picks seem to be living up to their billing and then some. The big difference from years past is that I think that several of these kids will play at the next level, whether NAIA, D2 or, in some cases, even D1.

The kid can flat out play. He was good as a junior but not as assertive as he played 2nd fiddle to Chase Fain. What often gets overlooked is just how athletic Peters is. He's also very strong. 12th region region players are scoring crazy amounts of points this year. And those games have generally been against teams from other regions.

You REALLY need to watch Lincoln play. I disagree with each one of your points in your first paragraph. Taylor routinely beat quicker PG's than SW's in that tournament. Bullitt East's aren't slow and Doss's and Catholic's are very, very quick. Regarding 3 point shooting, how do you think they dominated Doss, who is both bigger and more athletic than SW? That's also how they led Carholic for the first 30 minutes of that game. They score in bunches in 2 ways - threes and transition buckets. By the way, they have the best pure (3 point) shooter in the region in Conley IMO. That's his role on that team and he is exceptional at it. They've clearly separated themselves from the other teams over the past week and a half. Wayne and Lincoln, at a neutral site, would be a good one. And what Purple Pride said - SW may have underachieved more than any team in the state last year! Mercer should've won it in 2011 with the talent they had but they haven't been at that level since. Boyle seems to consistently overachieve relative to their talent IMO. Lincoln has achieved what I would've expected given their talent. It's also worthy of noting that all 3 of those teams will be considerably better next year than they are now.

I'm not at all familiar with this region. You have Apollo at #1. How do they compare to the top 3 or 4 teams in the region? I saw them play at the Fort Harrod Classic this past week and they weren't at the level I had expected, especially for a top team out of that region. I'm not saying they weren't a good team but weren't what I expected given that ranking. Is there a lot of parity in that region this year?

You say Lincoln is better than Boyle yet you have them at 3rd or 4th. They've beaten East handily and West at their place. Curious to know the 1 or 2 other teams you have in front of them (other than Wayne)?

PurplePride is correct. I'm NOT a Lincoln fan! Lincoln fell to Lex Catholic tonight in the championship game of the Fort Harrod Classic. They led most of the way and even had a 4 point lead with about a minute left but didn't close the deal. They destroyed Doss who was a top 10 team and who had just beaten PRP, a top 5 team according to some. And Bullitt East, who some have in their top 25. And led Catholic, ranked #2 in the 11th in the preseason, most of the night. They clearly demonstrated that they can compete with the elite in those regions. Based on what I saw this weekend, I wouldn't count them out against any team.

If you saw these games, Lincoln was in control the whole way against Bullitt East. And they dominated Doss as it was over 20 much of the game. And don't forget that they started this roll with a win AT West Jessamine, a team that some feel may be #2 in the region. And winning there is always very difficult. West is easily 10 points better at home. I have watched Lincoln the last several days and Timmy Taylor ripped through both the Bullitt East and Doss guards. You try to pressure him and he will make you pay every time. Period. And that's exactly what both of those teams did. The opposing guards simply could not control him. You try to play up-tempo, and you're going to lose there as well. Taylor is the only player I've seen that can have less than 10 points yet completely dominate the game. PURE point guard. Just ask the coaches of those two teams. Lincoln was 2 for 28 from three in their opening night loss to Russell County yet still almost won. I heard that the Wayne game was close throughout but don't know that to be true. And, I believe it was at Wayne and I don't think the Miami Heat could win there! Not sure that Wayne would beat either of the 2 teams Lincoln just beat. Perhaps so but could they in such convincing fashion? If they get them at a neutral site.....

Read where a player was ejected for Knox. What for and if it was due to something directed towards a Wayne player, which Player for Wayne?

From what I heard, going with a 2-3 zone was also a huge factor in Lincoln's win. I believe they had at least a 20-0 lead before East scored, if not more - and that must've been with Carson still in the game.

Where was this one played?

Yo Mama's comment that Mercer is a good team that played a great game is being very generous. They have potential but have a long, long way to go. It was Sims' first full game back and he was Mercer's second leading scorer last year. Faulkner is starting for them as an 8th grader and is only going to get better with varsity minutes. Other than those two and Hager, it appears Coach Britt is still trying to determine who plays and where. The parts are there, but it may take Coach Britt a while to piece them together.

COLLINS (4-0) - Kidwell 11, Stone 16, Winstead 2, Page 5, Cochran 7, Miller 4, Vogel 2. BOYLE (3-1) - Keagan Hinkle 6, Chapman Bean 5, Clayton Ray 3, Zack Leigh 2, Hagen Tyler 12, Colton Elkins 8. Based on Collins' rating and Boyle's success to date, I really was looking forward to watching this one. Maybe it was due to good defense by both teams, but neither team was able to score the ball effectively. Relative to their potential, I thought Boyle played poorly on the offensive side of the ball. They have some players with the ability to score the ball but they seemed to all be having sub-par games yesterday. Yet, Collins still didn't dominate. Most of the game was very close, so the 11 point margin of victory was a little misleading. The surprise for me was that Collins didn't appear as good as I'd expected. Kidwell is a very good floor general but needs to be a little more selfish. Stone is nice as well. And they do appear very fundamentally sound and well coached. I will be curious to see how they do over the course of the season. As for Boyle, they will be fine. Have a scorer in Tyler, size in Elkins and a host of other solid players to go with them. I do think Boyle would have benefitted immensely today from a PG that can create. That takes them to another level. PG play will ultimately determine how good they can be.

KNOX (2-2) - Matthew Barger 26, Jeffrey Adams 8, Dustin Hensley 11, Chad Marsee 9, Nathan Cole 12, Hunter Tye 2. DANVILLE (2-3) - Jakobi Turner 10, Trevin Washington 6, Katon Emerson 15, Jawan Grey 9, Matthew Turner 1, Spencer McKinney 2, John Roney 2, Cody Woolridge 22. Although it never seemed like Danville would win this one, it has to be considered a moral victory for the Ads. Coach McKinney is already making a difference with this team. They played with more effort and discipline than at any point over the last several years. They are going to improve and be a threat to most teams they play. Barger was the best player on the floor. He is a really nice player. Woolride for the Ads also looked good. He will shine in McKinney's system/approach. He will be tough to handle for area teams including within his own district. With McKinney's guidance, I look for the Ads to be one of the surprise teams relative to their pre-season expectations.

SOUTH OLDHAM (2-1) - Jonathan Blaire 9, Michael Griffin 14, Drew Greenwood 16, Kyle Young 12, Drew Horsey 10, Zack McWilliams 4, Grant Williams 1, Jacob Roy 5, Drew Bullock 2, Scott Moore 3, Trent Bouvet 2, Isaac Fields 2. LINCOLN (2-3) - Neil Conley 9, Noah Young 9, Jacob Conway 22, Andrew Wilks 2, Wade Goode 1, Dalton Godbey 3, Preston Ledford 2, Kody Cornelius 5. If South Oldham shoots the ball like that, they are going to beat most teams! Lincoln looked lost without their PG (Taylor). They also had another starter in Hoover that was ill and played sparingly (and didn't score). Conley was hard to handle early and led Lincoln with 22. He just didn't have a whole lot of help. Given how short handed Lincoln was, it's hard to read much into this result. However, given the way S Oldham shot the ball, not sure being full strength would have mattered yesterday...

OWEN (3-1) - Tucker Trevary 2, Jarrod Ball 8, Hunter Trevary 13, Blaine Forsee 1, Carson Williams 39, Chad McDonald 3. MERCER (4-1) - Trevon Faulkner 12, Alijah Mink 1, Marcus Warren 6, Russell Sims 20, Will Hager 26, Tommy Craig 6. Mercer beat a previously undefeated Owen County team. Strong showing from two sophomores in Williams and Hager. Hager (listed at 6'4") plays PG but found himself posting up some and even guarding Williams at times. Williams (listed at 6'6") plays PF but aided in getting the ball up the floor against the press and even guarded Hager at times. Guard Trevon Faulkner, an 8th grader for Mercer, stood out as a very nice, well-rounded player as well. Very high ceiling. With the Williams kid, this team is going to be a handful for a lot of teams, especially in a half court game. Very, very strong and a good leaper. When you consider the amount of looks he gets each game paired with the way the game is being called this year, he's bound to average in the 30's - if he makes a decent percentage from the line. Even with the previously mentioned 2-15 performance from the line in his prior game, he still had around 27. And they do have some 3 point shooters that can open up a zone, but don't really have the ball handlers(s) necessary to be successful against full court pressure.

Is he getting any looks, D1 or otherwise?

I am not surprised by the amount of attention it received. Coach Cal is revered as a god. I think it would've received similar coverage regardless of whose fan base did it, so I don't think it was a Boyle thing. It got a lot of attention because Wireman's coverage; he has a lot of followers so a lot of folks saw it. PP made a great point about something that got lost in the mix - Tyler's 28 point game in a convincing victory over a ranked (by some) team. If that had been a Lexington team beating LCA by 20, with a 28 point player performance, I agree that we would've heard a lot more about that!

News bulletin for coaches - you probably shouldn't play man defense against Ronnie Carson. Should possibly consider a zone.... Seriously? Ronnie Carson is averaging 47 PPG after 2 games, including this 54 point outing against a solid Anderson team. I'd love to know how many FT's he shot. I can only imagine he's taking full advantage of the way the games are being called this year, and he's a good FT shooter. He is a great ball handler; is unselfish; a great penetrator; has an uncanny ability to draw contact; and finishes very well. His only real weakness is his outside shot. If he beats you by knocking down perimeter jumpers, you've done all you can. But if you do him a favor by playing him straight up? Well, let's just say that's not a wise choice! For some reason, he's never gotten the recognition he deserves. If you look at the players that get lots of attention from the "gurus," this kid is better than so many of them - especially if you look at it from the perspective of college potential.

There are two priorities in this scenario, IMO. First, from a parent's perspective, it is bigger than sports. Sports teach life lessons and one that needs to be learned is that people are rewarded when they are more talented and/or work harder. In other words, you have to earn it and deserve it. It's not too early to be introduced to that concept at age 13. The second is the program's perspective. IMO, the right way to do this is for the high school coach to be involved with the middle school program. They should work on what he works on and play the style he plays. This instills the system and is what's best for the development of the varsity program. AND he should insist that players are developed. That means playing them at a level that challenges them. If they're 8th graders and aren't challenged in practices and games, then pull them up to JV or varsity. Seems simple to me....

Where's Zac Baxter for S Laurel? Heard he's suspended for a few games? He's rated as a top player in that region and is a very good scorer. Not sure who Wayne was missing but I'm surprised it was a 4 point game without Baxter.

Russell wins 54-50. Lincoln goes 3 for 28 from beyond the arc. Coffey led Russell with 11 & Taylor had 15 for Lincoln.

End of 3rd quarter Russell County 33-25.

22-14 Russell at half. Lincoln 1 for 18 on 3 pointers.