titan101

Congrats to Baughman winning player of the year. Who were the other contenders? Baughman averaged 21 points and 2 rebounds. Reyes averaged 24 points and 8 rebounds. Smith from Lincoln 17 points 3 rebounds. Weaver from Wayne averaged 16 points 7 rebounds. Obviously KHSAA doesn't keep track of steals and assists but Reyes was the best senior I have seen all year and the 8 rebounds a game are very strong for a point guard.

Mercer had a bad week probably ranked a little high. Against Lincoln it was a case of Lincoln packing their 2-3 zone in and Mercer not being able to hit shots. Lincoln could not in any scenario guard Mercer man to man. Give them credit they had scouted the last few Mercer games. Mercer's turnovers were unforced as Lincoln played nothing but 2-3 all night.

KHSAA wonders why players, coaches, fans get frustrated with officials. 55 fouls in a 32 minute game. Let that sink in for a minute.

Better catch Mercer this year they may go on another run in the next few years.

Guys please don't question the integrity of 12th region officials LOL. They can do no wrong according to the KHSAA and should never be questioned.

Mercer has some guys capable of shooting the ball well from outside they just have not shot great this season for various reasons. Tatum missed all last season with an injury, Isaiah Smith is playing his first year of high school basketball with Mercer, Drakeford had a high ankle sprain missing several games to start the season just starting to get healthy. Lewis had surgery on his ankle during football season and is still not 100% healthy. Luke Dean is getting significant minutes for the 1st time in his varsity career. Mercer can be a dangerous team when they share the ball and hit open shots like this. Would love nothing more than them to go into the region tourney still ranked as the 6th best team in the region.

LOL don't get your feelings hurt. I am giving my opinion. I never said I knew more that college coaches. I have seen a lot of high D-1 players play for the last several years. King is a great player not taking anything away from her. Just my opinion of seeing them both play in person.

In watching both King and Wheeler play to me the only advantage King has on Wheeler is height. Other than that Wheeler looks like a better player.

For mercer Lewis and Drakeford scored 11 of Mercer's 13 points in the 4th qtr. Against Bourbon the game before Lewis lead Mercer with 20, Baughman had 15 and Drakeford had 14. They have had balanced scoring lately not sure it is accurate that they don't have scoring outside of Baughman. Interesting also that teams ranked 2-5 went 2-9 over the week with only two wins coming over Garrard .

LOL. Maybe you all have great refs in NKY. Come spend some time in the 12th/13th region you may have a different perspective. I would take AAU refs any day over these two regions.

I agree with that too. But I am talking abut refs saying things to players and fans that they would never say in person outside of gym. In small towns and after years of being around you know refs outside of the games. Too many refs with huge egos on a power trip because these games are the only place they are in control. In real life they don't have the type of control and importance that they do in these games.

There are some people saying fans wouldn't say this to a ref in person outside a game. I agree with Scott Padgett that it is the other way around. The refs do a lot of things in the these games they wouldn't do without that shirt on in real life face to face

Might be some refs taking up for each other on here. I got to agree with my man Scott Padgett on this.

Last year Pulaski and Mercer seemed to be head and shoulders above everybody else. Mercer was undefeated in the region. Southwestern was ranked 6/7 range going into the tourney and probably beat the top 3 favorites. Anything can happen in the region tourney. A good indicator of who can win region is a really good half court defense and balanced scoring which Danville and Wayne probably the best in the region with both of those with Lincoln a slightly below them. Mercer and Pulaski last year weren't great defensive teams and did not have balanced scoring.

Yeah he has a nice shot. He has scored 30 of his 51 points from 3 and all 12 points last night were 3's. Seems content to stay outside the 3 point line for the most part. Danville has balanced scoring which is also what is needed to be a region contender.

I was impressed more with Danville's defense than offense. I think that is what would make them a region contender. Thornton seemed to be the only one that could create his own shot. St Martin scored mostly with put backs or getting dished the ball on uncontested layups on the block. I have not seen him make a move to score much. He has a decent outside shot. Credit to Danville they scored a lot of points from offensive rebounds.

Barring any setbacks he should be ready to go for the season opener. He is a guy that not a lot of people know about but he is really fast, good defender and scorer. He is small but plays bigger than his size. I am not sure anybody else in the region will have 3 better perimeter players than Lewis, Drakeford, Baughman. A big question mark for Mercer as with a lot of teams in the region will be inside play. With Baughman and Lewis great on ball defense teams better have a few guys that can handle the ball.

I agree with you 100% about every team has holes to fill without a doubt. I just think those top 7 have good point guards and ball handlers. Without that its hard to build from there and win championships. If Garrard develops that they have some other pieces to build around.

I think with the region this year there will be a lot of head scratching games this where teams beat each other and there isn't a rhyme or reason as to why games play out like they do. I would put Pulaski above Garrard at 7 and say that any of those top 7 could win region. Until I see that Garrard has someone to handle the ball I just can't put them in that category.

My point would be Mercer held them to under 3 yards a carry in the 1st half and Boyle couldn't move the ball except through the air. If a team can stop them through the air I would say they would have a good chance of beating them. My other point is I would think that Central and Belfry have a better defense than Mercer. I don't consider a pass to the sideline with a defender 10 yards away from the reciever the same as lining up under center and running the ball but maybe I'm missing something. There may not be a team in the playoffs that can stop their passing game but I am pretty sure they will face a better run defense than Mercer's and they could not sustain a drive on the ground against Mercer.

Mercer has a good run defense but I am pretty sure Boyle will face better run defenses in the playoffs than Mercer's. Boyle ran for 26 yards in the 1st half and to me had trouble running all night. Either Mercer didn't try to rush the passer or Boyle did a good job pass blocking but Mercer never came close to touching Boyle's QB all night. He had as much time as he needed on every pass attempt. The Boyle receivers never had anyone within 5-10 yard of them all night when they caught the pass. A lot of the passes were near the line of scrimmage without a Mercer defender within 10 yards of them. I think a team like Belfry or Central will shut Boyle's run game down without a problem. The key to beating them will be getting pressure on the QB and being able to slow down their passing game.

Franklin's QB has some impressive numbers. What is his story what are his measurable with size. What year is he?

This will be a tough one or Marion. They like to pass and have a good QB but I am not sure if he will have time to pass as Taylor has some good D lineman and a good secondary.

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Yes Mercer was surprised also as they fully expected to win. Mercer out played them in the 1st half and was up 14-6. Taylor has the #1 ranked defense in 4A giving up 9 points a game and we had 14 in the 1st half. Mercer has to figure out how to play the 2nd half with the same intensity and make adjustments for the 2nd half. Mercer has been outscored in the 1st half in only 2 games this year.