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And DCA advances with a 27 point win over East Jessamine. Semifinals set.

Rockcastle advances.

The Rockets get their first regional tournament win since joining the 12th region all those years ago. And it was a convincincing win over a quality Southwestern team. Got a little chippy at the end but it ended cleanly. Rockets will play the winner of the nightcap between DCA and East Jessamine.

So I am totally bought in on Rockcastle. I think Rockcastle wins tonight. I think it could be by 9 or more. I also think the DCA vs. East game can go in two directions - East never fires up and DCA smothers them and its something like 60-41 or East swings the momentum a few times early just enough that DCA never gets separation and it ends up a toss up right at 50 a piece. I think we are headed for a Boyle County - Rockcastle final.

The first game between the Colts and the Rebels was played a lot like Boyle’s game tonight, though West ultimately won by 3. I expect another tough one for the Colts.

Well night 1 of the tournament certainly didn’t dissapoint. The Cougars commanded a multi-possession lead in the second half but Gavin Murphy put the Colts on his back late. The margin was represented by his and-1 layup with 17 seconds left. Still a gutsy performance by the Cougars.

That was just a dagger of a shot by Webb.

Both hot teams with good resumes but Henry County had a few more clear stumbles this year such as that blow out loss to Owen and that blow out loss to an Oldham team early in the year that South Oldham put away to advance to the regional. I think on paper it is an upset (a fairly big one per RPI), but I also get your point. Certainly not a “weak” team knocking off a “favorite.”

Gosh I knew this could happen but really didn’t expect it. Got to love March.

What a start to the tournament. Boyle hits a 3 with 14 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime. They prevail by 3. Gritty win.

From the ground up. I don't know if this program has ever been in this particular state before.

Final. The Lions move on to face the Butler Bears in the semifinals.

Final. The Chargers move on to face DeSales in the semifinals.

I will answer that question with one of the "slams" this online fervor is pointing out against the current Cooper girls basketball coach - ones without high school coaching experience. I could not imagine a coach leaving a program voluntarily to go to a program at Cooper right now.

And the voices they hear at home. I haven't coached at the high school level since 2019. I got wistful the other day about maybe eventually going back. Then I remembered parents existed.

Does this surprise you? Any specific reasons?

Open per the KHSAA Open Jobs board.

On their home floor, this absolutely could happen. Likely? No. Possible. Yes.

I saw that as well. Does not seem like all is well out on Longbranch. And if that is the case, when is there a reckoning with the year after year turmoil in athletics at Cooper? Over just the past two years alone there as been some kind of uproar around boys and girls basketball, volleyball, and football.

I could definitely see that West Jessamine and Southwestern rotation being on purpose given who coaches there (and who coached there previously).

Did all those teams play Lincoln at home this year?

Shared in another thread by @Bebo. https://youtube.com/@ghpsports?feature=shared

The four district tournaments in the 8th varied in surprises and level of competition but overall the region tournament field is what was to be expected. The first round really has only one game that can be called a toss-up though you can never really rule out the March upset. 29th District One of those rare birds, the three team district, the 29th had the lone semifinal between South Oldham and Oldham County. South Oldham came out victorious 71 to 56. South would make it interesting against North Oldham, falling in a low scoring affair 48 to 38. North Oldham continues to power on even with the absence of Eli Green. North went just 4 from 17 from 3 point range in the title game and were willed across the finish line by Gregg (13 points) and Rondo (10 points). 30th District And we go from a 3 team district to a 6 team district. Spencer County steamrolled over Cornerstone Christian in the 3/6 game then defeated Collins 60 to 45 in the semifinal. Anderson County bested Shelby County in the 4/5 game by 21 points before losing to the mighty Yellow Jackets of Woodford County. Woodford doubled-up Anderson, 50-25. In the title game, Woodford blew right past Spencer 65 to 32. 31st District Now the fun one. Eminence gets the best of Carroll County 64 to 63 in the 4/5 game. Eminence didn't have enough horsepower though to hang with Henry County and lost the semifinal game 87 to 50. Gallatin County ran over Trimble County in the 3/6 game and then got a 6 point win over Owen County to advance to the district finals with a guaranteed berth in the regional tournament. Gallatin's magic seemed to have been all used up by the title game as Henry County dominated 77 to 45. 32nd District The only four team district in the region. the 32nd saw the one seed Simon Kenton easily dismiss lowly Williamstown with a running clock. The other semifinal was the exact opposite as Walton Verona narrowly escaped Grant County 63 to 60. Simon Kenton bested the Bearcats 56 to 51 in the title game. Regional Tournament Preview The top game of the bracket features hosting Henry County face South Oldham. South of course is the team all district winners hoped they didn't draw. The Dragons haven't lost to a team not named North Oldham since January 20th. The next game is the best one on paper in the whole first round. Simon Kenton faces Spencer County. This is again another matchup that wasn't played in the regular season. Spencer nearly beat Woodford this year and has notable wins over WEB DuBois, Evangel Christian, and LaRue County. Simon Kenton lacks any clear marquis wins but did take care of business in their district and lost by just 1 to Highlands out of the 9th recently. In the bottom half, mighty North Oldham starts off with Walton Verona, a team that beat by 20 in the regular season, albeit with Green. Rondo set the tone in that game though with 20 points. Expect a tighter game but North still is the likelier team to advance. And in the first round finale, Woodford County squares off with Gallatin County. Can Coach Jones restore the magic that got Gallatin this far or is this set to be a blow out? Woodford has really only had two devastating wins this year and tend to grind out victories. Gallatin may be able to hang around but you got to think the Jackets advance. South Oldham is certainly setup nicely for a run to the championship and if this first round goes by without an upset, North Oldham and Woodford County will be playing for that last title game spot. That would be a raucous semifinal game.

The regional bracket is now out and the table is set for another fun March in the 6th Region. The district tournaments included some thrilling games and the parity of this region has become clear. There is an easy argument for 3 teams to be contenders for the title but you can definitely extend that argument to two additional darkhorses. 21st District The two teams most likely to escape the district did so as Fairdale defeated Holy Cross and PRP rolled over Valley. The Fairdale Bulldogs repeated their regular season over Pleasure Ridge Park, though PRP kept it closer this time as they fell by 2. 22nd District The opening game featured long-suffering Iroquois get just their fourth win of the year and their first against a regional foe. The Raiders defeated Wesern by 7, a team they previously lost to by 11. Their road ended after that as they were blown out by Butler. Butler faced DeSales in the title game after Desales cruised past Doss. In the title game, Butler was able to secure a very comfortable 81 to 54 win over DeSales. 23rd District A 4 seed emerges from the 23rd district as Bullitt Central was able to make it to the title game with wins over Southern and North Bullitt. They tested themselves fairly rigorously compared to some of the other teams in the district, most noticeably North Bullitt. That paid off. They weren't able to take down Moore in the district title game though. The Mustangs got there via a close win over Bullitt East. 24th District WEB DuBois took down Evangel Christian by double digits to advance to the title game. Jeffersontown nearly beat Fern Creek by 20 in their district semifinal. Fern Creek had defeated Whitefield Academy to get there. In the the championship, the Lions of WEB DuBois knocked off Jeffersontown by 1. Regional Tournament Preview PRP faces Butler in the top game of the bracket. The Bears won this matchup 51 to 45 on February 13th. Even though they lost, PRP outrebounded Butler in that game 31 to 22. Neyko Jenkins had 16 points for PRP and Santana Anderson had 16 for Butler. This should remain a competitive game though Butler enters the tournament as a contender to win the whole thing. Bullitt Central takes on WEB DuBois as the Lions are fresh off those two huge district tournament wins. These teams have not met this year. The Cougars certainly are capable of pulling off the upset, but the likely result is WEB DuBois continues their impressive run. In the bottom bracket, Fairdale is awarded for their district title with hosting Jeffersontown. These teams have not met this year. Michael Ray Stinnett Jarel Butler, and Kamari Roberts make up the three-headed-monster for Fairdale. Can JTown limit their production and bounce-back from their district championship loss? The last game features DeSales and Moore. These two teams have not met but both have tested themselves this season with tougher schedules. Moore is probably hitting more of a stride right now but no reason DeSales cannot compete.

The bracket for the regional tournament has just been drawn and teams will now be scrambling to gameplan for their opening round games at Pulaski County. With two of the top teams in the region already knocked out in their district semifinals, this should be a wide open tournament. Let's start with a recap of the district tournaments and then take a look ahead at the regional tournament. 45th District Tournament With as competitive and exciting as this district has been throughout the year, the results came out pretty much as expected. All lower seeds won, resulting in DCA, the 1 seed, pulling it out in the fourth quarter of the title game against Boyle, the 2 seed, after Boyle had taken a late lead. We got there by Lincoln County beating Danville in the 4/5 game and DCA beating Lincoln (already speculation that the loss may be the last game in Coach Jeff Jackson's illustrious career). Garrard County defeated the Kentucky School for the Deaf before falling to Boyle County, a team they had defeated in the regular season. Still got to think it was a successful year for the Golden Lions. 46th District Tournament This was by far the most exciting district final, a rock fight between arch-rivals East Jessamine and West Jessamine. The Colts pulled it out 43 to 42. This was the rubbermatch between the two teams and really these games have been extremely tight given that on paper there should be a talent disparity in favor of West. West really hasn't met expectations this year but they still have a chance to change that in the regional tournament. We got to that title game by way of West dispatching Burgin with ease after Burgin defeated Trinity Christian in the 4/5 game and East winning their rubbermatch game with Mercer County. 47th District Tournament The semifinals of the 47th featured one of the two significant upsets in the 12th this week as Rockcastle County defeated Pulaski County. To be fair, this totally wasn't unexpected as Pulaski had already defeated Rockcastle twice, and it was always going to be tough to beat as solid of a team a third time. In the other semifinal, Somerset blew out Casey County. Somerset took care of business in the title game and will enter the regional tournament as one of the two favorites to win the whole thing alongside DCA 48th District Tournament And ths was the upset heard 'round the state. The Cougars of Somerset Christian School took down Wayne County, the most recent number 1 in our regional rankings and the hottest team in the region. Jack Baker had 21 points in the 49 to 46 victory. Southwestern took care of business against McCreary Central and then proceeded to defeat Somerset Christian by double digits. Regional Tournament Preview Starting at the top of the bracket, the West Jessamine Colts will face the upstart Cougars of Somerset Christian. These teams did not meet in the regular season. West has underperformed this year based on the preseason hype. The Cougars have had mixed success with definitely a rougher second half of the season. However, they of course pulled off the biggest upset in the region so far. The other quarterfinal on the top is Somerset against Boyle County. Just a couple weeks ago the Briar Jumpers breezed past the Rebels. However, Boyle should never be overlooked with Owen Wheeler, Seneca Driver, and a whole lot of physicality. On the bottom, Southwestern takes on Rockcastle County. These two teams are extremely close in talent with Southwestern starting out the year well but falling off towards the end while the Rockets built up through the year into good enough form to take down Pulaski to get here. With all that said, the Rockets did crush the Warriors by 26 at the start of February. And the finale of the first round features mighty Danville Christian against East Jessamine. These two teams didn't meet this year. DCA should control this one but East has shown a tendency to be bothersome.