Swishenator

Cole Smith from CCA for sure but have heard rumors of a couple more. We'll see.

McCracken is coming off a highly successful first year in which they reached the Final 8 of the sweet 16. Following that up this year will be difficult with the loss of Chumbler, Burnett and Rodgers but not impossible. Stonecipher will score a ton of points this year and Armstrong is a really strong anchor in the middle. Telfair provided key minutes off the bench last year and he will be asked to score this year. The challenge will be replacing Chumbler and Burnett in the backcourt. There is also talk of some transfers in that could help and super athlete Hughes from the football team is said to be rejoining the Basketball program also. Their games with Tilghman should be epic in the 2nd District this year as both teams contend for a Regional title.

I think Marshall is the team to beat in Region 1 this year. Calloway will be very good again but Marshall had some players really come on late last year and nearly beat McCracken in the Regional final. Wooten will be one of the best players in the Region and Pigg can light it up from the outside. Travis is a big body and can help with the difficult task of replacing Rentfrow. Also hearing good guard Solomon will be returning to the team this year. Really any of Marshall, Calloway, Tilghman, McCracken, Murray, Graves and Mayfield will be capable of beating each other on a given night. Should be fun.

Region 1 is pretty wide open this year too. All of the top teams have flaws and can be beaten. Mayfield will be in the mix. Graves will take a big step back as well as St Mary. Mayfield has real chance to win that District.

St Mary lost their top 7 players to graduation and so this will likely be a rebuilding year. Greg Overstreet is one of the best coaches in Region 1 and so I expect the to be competitive as always.

Former Coach Bruce Lane resigned to spend more time with his family. Calloway actually just hired Graves County's head coach Terry Birdsong. He lives in Calloway and is going back home where he coached for several years before taking the Graves job. Birdsong is one of best coaches in Western Kentucky and so a talented Calloway senior class will be very difficult to deal with next year I would imagine. Graves is now obviously looking for a coach.

I think you mean Calloway and Marshall are away from the field. McCracken and Tilghman should be pretty interesting next year. I wouldn't argue with switching them.

Played with this some in my head and here is the way I see the pre-season top 10 in Region 1 for next year barring transfers, etc. 1 Calloway County - Although they struggled at the end of the season they still return almost all of their key players besides All-Region Center Michael Arnett. Parker Adams will likely be rated the number 1 player in the region pre-season and Skyler Hunter, Wade Carter and Connor Wagner have all been at least two year starters. 2 Marshall County - They lose arguably the most important player in the region in Austin Rentfrow but they return some very good and experienced players. Mason Wooten returns and was one of the best players in the Region at the end of the season. They also return starters D.J. Pigg and Collin Travis. Their District battles with Calloway will be huge. 3 McCracken County - the defending regional champion will have to replace All-Region guards Kam Chumbler and Jared Burnett as well as inside presence Bryce Rodgers. They will return sharp shooter Caleb Stonecipher and center Jason Armstrong who should both have big seasons. Nathan Telfair was also logging big minutes off the bench at the end of the season. 4 Paducah Tilghman - returns starters Sayveon McEwen, Devon Hart, Brannon Warfield and Jesse Dunigan and will be helped by the addition of freshman Jerome Reed who was hurt most of this season. Remainder of Top 10 5 Graves County - loses a lot but always strong 6 Murray - returns most of their contributors and will be All A favorites. 7 Mayfield - loses Love but returns several starters and contributors 8 Carlisle - returns everyone from very improved team last year 9 Ballard - looks to challenge in District 3 10 St Mary - loses 7 seniors but Overstreet will make them competitive

McCracken will be good for years to come. Next year they will have to replace some talented seniors who are strong leaders but there is still a lot of talent left. How easy will it be to replace the senior guards will be the question. The freshman and 8th grade classes are really loaded. Get used to seeing McCracken at the Sweet 16. They will be back a lot I believe.

But just as Trinity went down after big win against Hoptown I kind of have a feeling Scott will go down tomorrow. They just seem beatable to me.

Trinity is winning this. Best team by far that I have seen.

I said in the prediction thread that people that thought McCracken would get rolled over were in for a surprise. First and foremost in order to beat McCracken you better be able to protect the paint. McCracken is just a very physical team period. Bowling Green will have rim protectors and likes to play physical also. Not nearly as good a matchup for McCracken as Wayne. McCracken struggled against athletic teams like Holmes this year. BG and the Mustangs did play a scrimmage game before the season and I believe it was pretty even although BG was missing some football players. I think it will be a good one.

This is a "possible" advantage McCracken could have, although I have no idea what kind of gyms Wayne plays in. McCracken's home gym is very big and spacious and they adjusted well to the bigger CFSB Center where Murray State plays. I realize Rupp's size is a completely different category though. I think anyone expecting McCracken to be rolled over may be in for a surprise.

After Marshall struggled early in the year they slowed things way down and forced teams to play a half court grind it out game. They had the best big man in the region and they used him to control games. This game was played at a really slow pace and that kept the score really low. Was actually a pretty well played game just low scoring.

I'll take McCracken here. Actually will be quite an accomplishment if they win to have beaten St Mary, Calloway, Graves and Marshall in consecutive games. Marshall does have the best player in the region in my opinion in Austin Rentfrow. He is a load and could present matchup issues for McCracken.

As expected Marshall moves on but not without a fight from a scrappy Mayfield team. Marshall plays McCracken in the finals tomorrow night.

Marshall will win but Mayfield will make them work hard for it. Mayfield is just the kind of team that won't go away.

I'm taking McCracken but could definitely go either way. Hard to beat a team as good as Graves 3 times.

McCracken avenges two losses from earlier in the season. Now faces Graves County in monster semifinal game on Monday. McCracken beat Graves twice during the season.

First Region first round games have now been moved back to Thursday and Friday due to weather.

The winners in this draw are Marshall and St Mary. A first round win will most likely mean a trip to the finals and the ability to play a team that had to max out the night before to win. Hickman and Mayfield are also winners. They are fine small school teams but are not regional semi-final type teams. One of them will get there. Mayfield has the ability to cause problems but it's hard to envision a scenario where they would beat Marshall or St Mary. The biggest loser would have to be McCracken. Win your District tournament and get rewarded with the team they had matchup problems with in Calloway. Win that game and they will have to beat Graves for a third time in the semis. Win that and they would have to beat St Mary or Marshall on the next night. Pretty tough. Not a great draw for Graves either in that to get to the finals they may have to beat McCracken in the semis. At this point Marshall has a great chance to win this region. Wouldn't have thought that even three weeks ago.

McCracken vs Calloway, Wednesday at 6 Graves vs Carlisle, Wednesday at 8 Hickman vs Mayfield, Thursday at 6 Marshall vs St Mary, Thursday at 8

Calloway vs McCracken Graves vs Carlisle Hickman vs. Mayfield St Mary vs Marshall

Just an unbelievable high school Basketball game. Two really good and pretty even teams. Both will be tough outs in the Regional tournament. St Mary missed some free throws late in regulation and then McCracken took control in OT.

I believe the draw is on Saturday.