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Nothing irked me more than several years ago when people tried to make case that Whitney Creech was more deserving of Miss Basketball than Erin Boley because HER STATS were better. But even then no one tried to claim Creech was an overall better player than Boley cause just looking at stats says so little. Should POY/Miss Basketball be awarded based on who people think is the better college prospect? Creech's stats were better, bordering on historic. Are you saying she wasn't worthy of being chosen Miss Basketball? For some reason you believe it says so much? I believe it means you've had a great season. You have another player in mind you think deserves Gatorade POY more? I think Meredith from Scott would have given her a run if she hadn't been injured. She posted some impressive numbers as a sophomore. But even though she wasn't in the mix this season I'm sure there's a list of players with better stat lines.

Certain she has these qualities...but aren't they subjective? Sure you could list several others who possess them to a similar degree. Obviously the schools who recruited her consider her elite so I'm sure she is. They know more than I do. My only point is statistics usually are a pretty good indicator and they didn't match up for me in comparison to all the accolades she has received. High School Scoreboards | Kentucky.com &

Have never seen Scherr play but from everything I've heard she is one of the best players produced from this state in the last several years. But when I look at her stats I don't come away impressed. What am I missing?

Like Hester's style of play but he will never win at Walton playing 4 and sometimes 5 guards (all under 6') at the same time. No rebounding or inside scoring at all.

For the right coach it could be a nice small-school job. They will always be in the mix to qualify for the All-A (which is what all the small schools in the 8th realistically shoot for to make their season a success). From the outside looking in I don't think they have anything comparable coming to what they've had the last few years. Talent is cyclical in small schools. The next few years will be lean...beyond that it is difficult to predict.

They have some pieces but their style of play is too controlled and relies too much on isolating specific players for them to knock off SK or Anderson, both of which swarm on defense and try to bury you from behind the arc. They will win the All-A and have a nice season and check out in the second round of the region tourney. Agree. This should be their year. SK lost a lot to graduation so it is time for AC to step up.

We obviously don't otherwise Lexi Held would have been one of the first chosen. She is a power 5 player, ranked ahead of all of Mercer's kids except Robbins. Mercer's coach has three of his kids on the team. Two of them are mid-majors. You are telling me they are more deserving than Held. VERY FUNNY!

If true that's egregious...she was clearly one of the five best seniors in the state this year and the best player in NKY. Agree with the bolded but someone has to coach the team. Coaches should be limited to select one player from their program. The coach from Mercer is a good example...he has five or six kids who are D1 but only the Robbins girl should be allowed on an all-star team he is coaching.

He may be at the high school level...I don't see it translating to college. He is only 5'10". You gotta be really special to have an impact at that size in college.

Unless he plans on taking some of the HC kids with him :sneaky:, very surprised he would leave HC with the talent they have coming back. They should be one of the top teams in the 9th and should have a legit shot at the All-A title next season.

Shouldn't some of the responsiblity for that be on Brannen and his staff? He and his staff knew what they were getting when they recruited them (or should have known). Jay Wright is receiving all kinds of praise right now for the development of his players. Faulkner and Williams stats don't show any significant decline from their freshman seasons. So I don't buy the argument their attitudes were the problem. Think the blame for them leaving goes both ways. It is part of Brannen's job to develop his players.

Williams and Faulkner leaving is not a good look for Brannen. Both are KY kids and were playing a lot of minutes. Other in-state kids should think twice before signing. I think these two leaving sends a message about Brannen's loyalty, that he will recruit over you. I know he is trying to raise their profile but it's not like these kids weren't producing. For goodness sake Williams had 21 and 9 against UK in the NCAA tourney as a freshman and followed that up with a solid sophomore year.

If he ends up there wouldn't that be a step up for him? WKU seems to be more on the rise since Stansbury got there.

Has to be more to this story...he was a solid contributor his first two seasons at NKU.

Haven't read all the posts on this thread so I may be repeating someone. As stated earlier, the cost and the KHSAA leadership are definitely issues that need resolved. This may be an oversimplification but I think the biggest problem is the quantity of D1 caliber players whose teams make it to the Sweet 16, especially ones good enough to be recruited by the CATS & CARDS. Kentucky just doesn't produce the amount of talent it used to back in the 20th century. The Sweet 16 doesn't have any buzz surrounding the best teams or players like it used to. How many of you were around when Rex Chapman's Apollo team made it in '85? There was such a buzz about him during that tourney. I don't know how you fix that in today's climate. KHSAA can't force UK or U of L to recruit in-state kids. Look back at the year Madison Central won it with Hawkins and Holmes had Bolden. That tourney had buzz because Cal was looking at both. There is no magic formula...you have to have player(s) that people want to come see. Was there anyone in this year's tourney who created that kind of excitement from fans statewide? CJ Frederick was MVP and he is going to Iowa. No slight to him, but who cares about watching kids that are going to Iowa to play their college ball? It didn't used to be that way. Kentucky and Louisville used to regulary sign a kid or two from in-state. Until it gets back to that the Sweet 16 is going to suffer.

Agree. They are impressive. Beating two power 5 teams on the road is no small feat.

If WV was over-hyped it was due to the size on their roster and the addition of Stanley over the summer. Similar to Carson William's Owen County teams from a few years ago, it looked like a small school had a legit shot at winning the 8th. That doesn't happen very often. Lot of fans around the region would like to see the status quo (Oldham/South Oldham/Anderson/Collins rota) broken. WV wisely beefed up their schedule and their performance in the KOB and Lex Cath tourneys validated expectations. Some will say losing Miles ruined their chances this year. Hard to argue losing a 6'10" kid that will play on the next level doesn't hurt. For me the few games I saw them I didn't think they played fast enough relative to their talent. South Oldham isn't as talented but when they hooked up in the regional their shooting was superior and they played much faster. As simple as that sounds that was the difference. The rest of the coaches in the 8th ought to pay attention to what Oldham/South Oldham's coaches are doing. They play extremely fast...pressure you all over the court on defense and shoot an unholy amount of 3's on offense. If you can't play that way you will continue to get steam-rolled by them. Plus they do it without elite size or athleticism.

That is exactly what happened. WV's kids outplayed Anderson for 3 quarters and then their coach tried to take the air out of the ball. The L is on him, not his kids.

Sorry I couldn't resist.

Which means for most of the SK people her performance should be totally disregarded when considering the 8th region tourney MVP...they already have a designated one. :lol2:

The margin of victory of some of these girls games questions your faith in the basketball gods. You rarely see it on the boys side. You see blowouts sometimes by 50 or more...but I have seen many girl's scores this season where the losing team barely gets to 20 points. And many of these scores come from schools located in urban areas.

Should be an SK/Anderson final with SK moving on (since they have home floor). Those two are the best in this region with WV a little farther back in third. WV got a good first round draw. Be interesting to see what strategy their staff comes up with to try and get by Anderson in the semis.

I say SK in a rout. Spencer is big but not athletic enough to keep up with SK's pace.

If it doesn't matter then why give the award? It matters to someone doesn't it?

I didn't think Niece stood out enough to warrant MVP in that game. Imo no one on either side stood out until Harmeyer got going in the 3rd and broke the game open. It was 19-17 SK at half (ugly 1st half to say the least) and at the end of the 3rd it was SK 43-29. Pretty much all of that was Harmeyer. The game was over at that point. Whether 33 was in the game or not wouldn't have made a difference for WV. I said in the prediction thread if SK stopped WV's PG they would win. And they did. SK kept her from getting to the basket and forced her into several TO's. WV runs a lot of their offense through her. She is a ball-dominant PG, which leads the other kids to stand and watch. They had a difficult time just getting shots off on most possessions in that game. I agree with you on Stamper. Usually the all-tourney team is set after the opening games, except for MVP. SK's starters played only a quarter and a half against Williamstown and she played the best. But they didn't look to get her the ball much last night. Sure Niece coming back has changed the chemistry of that team. Playing without her most of the season I'm sure the other kids have had to adjust with her being thrown back in the mix right before tourney time.