JDEaston

It's a tough draw for both regions to be honest. If those teams look at film when Ashland has played it's best I imagine they're rooting for anyone else to win the 16th as well. JH has already seen them prior to the season and won by a point.

You're right. Ashland did scrimmage JH prior to the season so they know what they're up against with them. Etown would likely be a better matchup for Ashland due to being more similar in size and length.

Yeah, there was a lot of standing around on offense late in the game that is uncharacteristic of this Ashland team. Coach Mays was visibly frustrated due to the lack of movement. It could be a combination of things honestly, the two weeks off, injuries, kids battling illness etc. But honestly this is not all that uncommon for top tier 16th region teams at this point in the season. The region is never strong top to bottom so most teams schedule tough out of region teams early in the season then seemingly lose focus after weeks of running clocks and 20-40 point victories against the weaker regional opponents. Coach Mays seems like a coach that can get them to regroup and light the fire back under them though. Close games like this or even an unexpected loss at this point in the season can be used to reiterate to the kids that if you play lazy basketball in a lose and go home type tournament setting, you're gonna go home without bringing any hardware back with ya. Hopefully these kids figure it out.

This one is kind of surprising but I get it. Mason has been up and down all season until the recent stretch where they have been playing really well. This seems like another one of those playing down games that ended in another close loss. It's a bad loss so to speak, but I wouldn't look too much into it. Mason is still one of the favorites to win the region, imo. That said you never know what you're gonna get with them which is one of the reasons I feel like the 10th is wide open. Bourbon County seems to be the favorite but I could see several teams winning it if they sting a few good games together.

I'm not taking any credit away from Russell, they're playing good ball at the moment. But Ashland looks tired and this is a bad time of the season for that. Hopefully it's just due to the nearly two week layoff and then playing 3 games in 4 days. They gotta get it together though or they may not make it out of the region.

I wonder why? That seems really odd.

True.

I agree and I hope I'm wrong, I just don't see him doing any jail time. But I'm not really familiar with Illinois judicial system and how strict they are and I know nothing about his past criminal record, or whether he even has one. That said, his recent indictments are getting no where near the attention that the alleged hate crime on him did, so I really don't see much coming from it other than whatever they decide he owes them for tying up resources. I hope it doesn't play out that way because innocent people could have been accused, tried and convicted for his fabricated story. Which could have put innocent people in prison for a long time.

I don't disagree with you there, I feel like jail time is deserved as well. I just don't see that happening. I feel like he will get a diversion or probation and have to pay restitution for resources used in the investigation. Assuming he doesn't have anything serious on his prior record, I honestly haven't heard anything about that.

Ah I missed the part where he said he wouldn't ever be found guilty lol. I don't really see any way that he gets a not guilty verdict or the charges dropped. I'm curious what the punishment from a plea deal will be though, I doubt it will be much. He should be hit hard monetarily though, imo. As I imagine there was a ton of money wasted on this investigation considering how high profile it was.

Technically you are right. However in most instances something like this will mostly be handled outside of the courtroom, in the sense of a plea deal, diversion, etc. I don't see any way he doesn't take a plea deal that admits guilt rather than going to trial. Going to trial and risking possible jail time would be a bad move on his part. The plea deal would likely be some type of diversion that will be removed from his record once completed and probably some restitution to be paid back for the resources wasted during the original investigation.

The job coach Mays has done at Ashland in such a short time is remarkable. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were talking about the worse season in Ashland's history.

Freshman Colin Porter had 28 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. I don't wanna negate the team effort but that kid is a special type of player.

They are. What they're doing is for the last part unprecedented, yet they remain humble and seemingly taking everything one game at a time. There have been several games that I thought they may lose and they have proven me wrong every time. It will be fun to watch these kids progress over the years. They're a really special group of kids and understand basketball. They may not win games due to their size or athleticism (though they are athletic) but they all have a very high level of basketball IQ.

That wasn't the reason for my "ugh" lol. It was more me being selfish and wanting them to lose a game prior to the tournaments and I don't see that happening now. Rowan has a really good team and I really thought that with nearly two weeks off that Ashland would drop this one with Bradley out and another kid battling illness. But they continue to surprise and I have to give them credit for that, especially after hearing the kids talk post game and saying they're taking everything one game at a time. They're very humble in what they have accomplished so far and I have faith in coach May's to keep them focused.

Ugh...

At least one starter out. Another player will likely see limited minutes. Hard to tell who wins this one. If you can't tell I wouldn't be disappointed with Ashland picking up a loss prior to the tournaments hah. This is the perfect game for that to happen.

Ashland still isn't 100%, even with the time off. It's hard to tell how much that will effect this game at the moment but I feel like Rowan gets the win.

A potential John Hardin/Ashland matchup in the first round would be two top 5 teams.

Greenup County has made it official. Zack Moore is the new head coach.

I only did football years ago so I would be speculating on the basketball side of things.

This one is really surprising to me.

I get it. Seems like most schools that want the college length courts do so to host regional tournaments. In my area (16th region) there isn't alternate tournament sites, it's at Morehead State every year. But I do see your point. It makes sense to have a college length court if you have the opportunity to host a regional tournament or even like you said for practice for a regional tournament or the sweet 16. I'd imagine there is a bit more cost as well though unless they sacrifice space along the baselines.

I highly doubt it. There would be a lot of assumptions to think they will be playing each other again in three weeks. Coaches typically don't plan that way.

Committee, same as football. There is a lot of thought an discussion among the voters that you don't see in the AP or computer rankings.