FastForward

Hmm...that comment sounds more like a bitter Conner parent to me!! I'm a true Cooper Lady Jags fan & proud grandpa of 2 granddaughters. I was an official for both basketball & volleyball prior to my granddaughters playing sports. I retired from officiating so I can enjoy watching them play. I offer observation/opinions that no one has to agree with. It wasn't advice but purely observation. This apparently struck a nerve with some & I wasn't looking for an argument. I can happily & confidently say there are no "disgruntled" parents or grandparents found at Cooper, especially when it comes to Lady Jags basketball!!

I don't know the man outside that he's head coach at Conner. My granddaughter plays for Cooper so what goes on at Conner doesn't effect me. I was just giving an observation/opinion about what I saw this game versus what I saw this summer. He may have a legitimate reason for why he played or didn't play certain players. Most coaches base game time by what is done at practice & most practices are closed to the public so who knows, maybe they give 110% in games & not at practice? None of business either way!! What I can say for certain is I saw Bolter play AAU a couple years ago & she was a guest player on my granddaughter's AAU team this summer in Lexington. The kid has talent! So much so that our players & parents agreed we wanted to keep her to play in Nashville tourney, but she wasn't able to due to other obligations. I'm not saying she's the best Conner has by any means, but the kid is an athlete & a very strong competitor. I've seen both Vest & Bolter play this summer with Conner & AAU, so I've seen what they can do & they are more useful on the court than on the bench. Not sure if you saw the game or not, but neither one turned the ball over, got beat on defense & were effective on the offensive end. While they sat on the bench, I saw 6 other Conner players turning the ball over multiple times, taking crazy shots & not rebounding but were left on the court & Coach Levandusky took full advantage of the situation. Like I said, I don't know why they sat. Maybe it's based on practice effort, but neither give me the impression they are slackers so who knows, I'm not the coach and none of my business anyway.

Cooper beat Conner both games they played them last year. Don't count them out, this may not be a great year for them but with all the young talent even without Held they stepped up! Kudos to them and their coaching staff! You obviously didn't read my last post that clarified the meaning!! Cooper has all the tools to be one of the top teams in NKY, plus they have Coach Levandusky leading them!!

I think you interpreted this wrong. Hendricks is amazing & my granddaughter played AAU with her a couple years ago. What I was trying to say is that Conner has talent that could fill a small portion of that void. None are players at her level, but as a team they have plenty of talent left. From our side, it seemed there was no rhyme or reason to what Conner players were on the floor. He had 2 players that were stepping up & brought intensity when on the floor but sat more on bench than on the court. On the court he had players making turnover after turnover, missing shots, not rebounding & getting beat on defense, but he wasn't subbing them out. Coach Levandusky used the players needed to pull out a win missing Held in foul trouble. That is how to coach & win in HS basketball. She plays talent & is teaching these kids the sport they love to play. She respects her players & in turn they respect her. I said it last year & I'll say it again...Cooper hit the jackpot having her sign on to coach!!!

Turnovers for both teams were outrageous & are inexcusable at the Varsity level no matter what age the player is. Cooper killed Conner with outside shooting & rebounding. Conner can't afford to focus on and take the outside shots due to the rebounding weakness. They'll never win until they fix that. What did work for Conner was their ability to penetrate the lane. Gambrel, Dages & Bolter drove the lane for jump shot or layup which seemed to be the reason Cooper was in foul trouble. Those 3 up front on the press defense were also causing Cooper to turn the ball over. Cooper looked better than some people expected & showed a lot of promise. Conner has a lot to work on which really surprised me since they returned 7 players from last year that have Varsity experience. Hendricks is definitely missed, but I didn't think it would make that much of a difference.

She was on fire & took a lot (& I do mean ALOT) of knocks last night!! She has a bright future & played a very tough game!!

I agree this was a very sloppy game & would love to know how many walks were called in total!! Felt like every other minute the officials were doing the "walking" dance! A few controversial calls but as a former official, these 3 refs called a very good game. The fact that Held was in foul trouble early & the others stepped up shows great promise for Cooper. Coach Levandusky always knows how to get the most out of a player & that seemed to be the winning edge in this game. Conner has a very large bench & it seemed like Stamm was more focused on getting players game time and not so focused on keeping players on the floor that were getting the job done. Players in foul trouble is one thing but that wasn't always the situation. You never know what is going on behind the scenes, but Vest & Bolter didn't play as much as they did when I saw Conner at TMC this summer. Both played strong and very effective when they were on the floor so not sure what the problem was. I'm also not sure of the logic behind an 18 man Varsity bench, especially with the veteran talent he returned. They are missing Hendricks, but I get the feeling that isn't the only problem going on for Conner. Great District win on the road for Cooper & Coach Levandusky!! Can't wait for the Lady Jags to take down 2 more 33rd District teams!!!

I'm thinking when the school team isn't successful as the AAU team, people revert back to something they find more pleasant to talk about!!

Yeah but she was "grandfathered" since played the last couple years at the HS level. She is a perfect example of MS talent that belongs playing up!! She had the full ability to play up both physically & mentally. I think players like her are rare. For the most part, the MS players I saw playing up over the summer stuck out as MS players. If a player is HS ready both physically & mentally, they blend with other HS talent or in some rare cases, stand above HS talent. That of course is just my opinion!!

"The problem we have in this day and age is that too many parents think their kid qualifies as "elite" and if Susie gets move up, they want their little girl to move up too. And it's really getting out of control." In reality, it's the parents pushing and not coaches. If a parent has to sell their kid's talent to a high school coach in order for that coach to take notice, good chance the kid isn't as "Elite" as you think!! I think HS coaches spend more of their time & effort on the players they have and don't "shop" for players in MS. Outside of HHS, NDA & St. Henry, almost every school has at least 1 or 2 MS on the HS roster. Just curious to see how this trend plays out over time, will MS start pulling players from Elementary schools to fill rosters when the MS numbers drop?? Sounds silly but you know there is a 5th grade Dad out there that thinks his kid belongs on MS team!!

I know that this topic was posted on the girls HS thread & seemed to be a very heated topic so I'd like to start one on the MS thread. My thoughts on this topic are if a high school program is low on numbers and there are MS players capable of filling that need then it's fine by me. Not many NKy Varsity teams are low on players, so I'm thinking more of filling a freshmen or JV roster. For me, that is an appropriate move that would benefit both the player & the team. On the other hand, I believe moving players up & sitting a 20+ player Varsity bench only weakens a program down the road. The importance of middle school program seems to be missed by many. Those MS years are about developing players that become all around better player. By that I mean the skill level has improved and the "team" mentality that is vital for success has also improved. If I were a Varsity coach, I would rather keep strong MS teams together as a whole because the longer a team plays together the stronger that HS program will be year after year. I believe one of the reasons you never hear of MS boys moving up to HS rosters is because boys HS coaches know this importance. Sure you can say there's never a shortage of boys trying out and maybe so, but I still think there is also a strategy of developing players as a unit to create a superteam down the road when it counts! People complain about the recent ban on MS playing up at Highlands, but I'll be very curious to see if Highlands will become & stay a powerhouse program season after season as a result of this ban. When that happens be sure to remember this old retired ref knew what he was talking about!!

This young lady plays with my granddaughter on KHA U14 Red and is an unbelievable soccer player. I doubt however that she will give up basketball altogether. She may stop AAU because of soccer conflicts over spring/summer but I bet she still plays bball for school. Great & supportive parents as well...just an all around athlete!!!

Like I said I didn't see the first half, but what I did catch makes me think Summit view/CMS game will be a good one since I know some of the SV kids from soccer (that is if they are still on 7th grade team & didn't move up!) I missed the 3 pt shooting from Conner because I don't remember them shooting many the half I watched. If they can shoot like that then they impress me even more. What I saw was very good defense and excellent ball movement on the offensive end. Assuming that with the lead they had & players playing at the end of the game, I didn't see a weak player on the team. Very quick, no fear, good ball handling & shot selection...hard to believe it was only 7th grade. I will say that it makes a valid argument for the benefits of playing AAU and year round ball. You could tell all these girls play AAU from the maturity in which they play. I know someone said 8 play for Legacy but does anyone know who the other girls play for? I'd say this team is great advertising for the Legacy program!!

I'm sure!! I only saw the 2nd half & didn't really see a weak player in the bunch. From what I saw I'd say they are one of those rare teams that has multiple solid players, not necessarily one or two standout stars. Teams like that are very hard to play with let alone beat. You could also tell these girls play year round basketball from their defensive skills & how well they work the ball around on the offensive end. Conner's high school program has a bright future looking at the talent on the 7th & 8th grade teams!! (Didn't see the 6th grade game last night so can't say anything about them) Question is will they keep the talented young players on the same team & develop the players as a team or will they pull players up & develop individual players instead? IMO-I'd develop the team as a whole all the way up. Over time weaker players will filter out & what you have left is a group of players that know their role on the team which will find more success in the end. Successful teams have more "We" & less "Me"!!!

I caught the 7th grade game at halftime & Conner was winning by 20+ points. Conner looked like a very solid team and I thought that game would have been much closer. I also thought Conner's 8th grade team played a very gritty & intense game. I'm not familiar with MS names but Conner's #20 & #23 were the solid players for me on both ends of the floor. I saw their other players make some great plays as well. For me Highlands didn't match the intensity & being a home game that surprised me. They won so they did something right, but given this was early in the season, Conner could surprise them next time if they don't bring it! Overall it was a great early season match up & glad I was able to watch some MS action!