First

Agreed. Bottoms is one of the better officials in the region, period. And he is a high character, personable guy from a good family. I would never be an official either, but these guys sign up for it. Criticism of officials (like coaches) is always going to be there. However, the personal stuff is just plain silly and unnecessary.

I don't know about their talent, I was just looking at some of their results vs teams whose talent I am familiar with. They lost to Bryan Station; loss to Doss by 22; lost to Clay; lost to North Hardin; and lost to Male by 14. Bryan Station is a bad loss. None of the others Teams are bad teams, but the margins vs Doss and Male don't look too good. And none of those losses were to top 10 teams, yet we are saying they are top 5. Point being that those losses, in totality, don't make me think top 10, much less top 5. That said, if key players were out due to injury, they may literally be the 5th best team in the state now. I'm just saying it's hard to justify that in a poll that looks at cumulative results and doesn't factor in injuries or missing players.

That may be true, and maybe they should be in an AP type poll - but not in a poll that's is supposed to be based on ALL results season to date. Hard to understand it.

Are we really supposed to believe that these are based on performance to date? Ballard is coming on as of late and I believe they have some players back from injury. But this ranking doesn't take that into account, right? So, the #5 team in the state is 13-6, has lost to a couple of teams that aren't close to being ranked, and has lost to a couple of marginally top 20 teams by 14 & 22? SMH.

Very surprising.

Nice win for Pulaski! Stats?

I'm certainly not saying they cheat at home. That's not really possible. It's just that they have one of the best home courts in the state due to the environment, both the size of the crowd and the spirit. Referees are human and they get caught up in the environment like anyone. Then, throw in the legendary Rodney Woods and you have a pretty potent home court advantage. Saying that isn't a factor would be like saying Duke doesn't have a home court advantage and get more calls at home. Also, regarding the saddle comment, I would have never brought it up if not for the comment by the WC fan regarding the push-off. Neither played a role in the outcome. I've actually heard refs that say they allow one as a mitigant for the other. I just referenced that to say that door swings both ways.

Just as good of a kid as he is a scorer - maybe better!

Agree to disagree. In addition to various 12th region officials, Mercer has played with 8th, 10th, 11th and 13th region officials and apparently they aren't seeing what you're seeing. And I will reiterate that it's next to impossible to get to the rim that many times and only be fouled twice, regardless of the player. I think it's interesting that you're complaining about officiating you received AT Wayne. I think that'll fall on a lot of skeptical ears. How many times did one of your guards flail in the lane, fall down and get bailed out by going to the line? I don't think he'd have gotten those calls with, say, 11th region officials calling the game. Point being neither side thinks they "got the calls." I hate to even mention that publicly as I don't like blaming officials either way. They are part of the game, period. For what it's worth, bigger, more athletic teams such as Mercer fare much better when games aren't called so tightly. Love them or hate them, 12th region officials call a tighter game than just about any other region's. That does NOT benefit Mercer vs any 12th region team. Forget about blaming officials, either way. Here's the thing. Once again, Mercer had 4 kids in double figures: 25, 20, 13 & 11. That's the norm for them. They are a very unselfish and disciplined team which equates to good shot selection. When a team has 1 player that takes a large portion of its shots, that makes them easier to guard and lends itself to poorer shot selection and thus lower FG percentages - especially when the defensive team is longer and more athletic. While Wayne had an off night shooting, a lot of those missed threes were contested and/or rushed. All that said, it was good to see Stearns back and healthy. He is heady, smart and difficult to guard. He always plays hard. He is a top 5 player in the region IMO. I love the way that kid plays. I'd take him on my team any day. And good luck today against Hopkinsville. I hope you guys represent the region well.

How does a kid that scores 23 of his 25 points by getting to the rim only draw 2 fouls/shoot 3 free throws the entire game? Again, it looked different from our side. The Mercer crowd thought they needed a saddle. Lot of riding going on there. I don't think he gets the calls that other guards get due to his size and strength. Just my opinion. That's ok. Playing through that now will only help him at the next level.

Wow, the game looked a lot different from the Mercer side lol. It was the consensus of the Mercer fans that one of those ref's calls played a big role in Wayne's third quarter run. I only say this to point out that it depends on which color glasses you were wearing as to who you felt got the calls!

In looking at the stats, this ain't your typical Wayne team! Mercer has shot several more threes and is shooting them at a 10% higher clip than Wayne. Also, presumably due to their size, Wayne is playing a lot of zone this year. Two facts that are shocking to say the least. Wayne has a big size advantage in the frontcourt but Mercer has one in the backcourt. Mercer has the advantage athletically. They are just very different teams with different styles and different coaching philosophies. I think it will come down to which team shoots the 3 well. Wayne is very, very tough on their home floor. I will be happy if Mercer walks away with a W, regardless of margin!

I told you all they were legit. And they keep showing it. They have an unstoppable big, athleticism on the perimeter and some kids that can shoot.

Perhaps if Trinity or Bullitt East were undefeated with their respective schedule, they'd be the undisputed #1. But they're not. Regarding out of state teams, as has been stated, there's no way of rating them to determine their relative strength, thus the reason they aren't included. Also, the fact Mercer has played 17 in state opponents to only 15 for another team does not (in and of itself) give Mercer an advantage in these rating systems. The volume of data (games) only serves to enhance the probability of the outcome being correct. I'm not saying Mercer is the #1 team in the state. Maybe, maybe not. The point I'm making is that it shouldn't be lost on anyone that 2 systems that rank teams based on strength of schedule, along with performance against those teams, is spitting out that Mercer is either 1st or 2nd. Is it better to lose to a top 10 team; or to beat a top 15 team by 4 points; or to beat a top 30 team by 25 poimts? While we can disagree on this all day, the CJ and HL polls do this analysis for us using mathematics/statistics. They are objective equalizers.

BEEEEEZOLD!

All this talk about Mercer's strength of schedule. Funny thing is strength of schedule, and the results of those games, are exactly what determine the rankings for the CJ and Herald Leader polls - where Mercer is 1 & 2, respectively. Numbers aren't biased.....

Boyle shouldn't have that much difficulty in this one. I say they will win by a solid 7 - 9 points. Lincoln has already won at Danville. Honestly, Danville just isn't as good this year as I expected. At this point, I think Boyle is in the mix for the 4/5 spot in the region. They should win district this year.

On a more important note, is the score indicative of how close the game was? Anyone have the scores at the quarter stops?

Treyvon is going to be a GREAT PLAYER. I'm talking another level. I've seen both of these kids play many times. And I don't mean this to detract from Fitzgerlad at all. He's probably a top 5 to 7 player in the region as a sophomore and will only move up the next two years. Also, keep in mind that Treyvon isn't close to being fully mature at this point. He's a year and a half to two years younger.

In hindsight, that Madison Central game may have been a good win for Mercer. Madison Central shot 75% from three and very well overall, yet Mercer still found a way to win. Don't forget that they are the same team that knocked off Dunbar earlier this week. Hard to beat an athletic team that is shooting that well.

I'm already fast forwarding to the last regular season game. Oldham at Owen. I think that's the game between the top 2 teams.

While I appreciate the confidence in the Titans, I would be shocked at that outcome. They're not going to lose to anyone by 20 on their home floor.

My prediction? A hard fought battle.

The team that Hager signed with recruited him as a point guard. They said that they also liked him attacking from the wing and that he would play all 3 perimeter positions on both offense and defense. That was consistent with most schools that were recruiting him.

Which kid's dad coaches? Here is what the stats say: Sharpe 189 FG attempts at a 39% clip and 96 threes attempted at a 31% clip. That's 29% of the team's total shots and 42% of their threes. Rakes 101 FG at 44%; 39 threes at 44%. That's 16% of the team's total and 19% of the threes. Farris also takes 16% of the team's shots. Sharpe has also shot 41% of the team's free throws compared to about 10% for each of the other two.