HoopDreamsCoachQ

Brief Final Rankings before heading into postseason play. I’ll offer up my predictions for the district at the end. Rankings 1. Dunbar (24-6, 15-2 in region) – It appears they rediscovered their killer instinct and throttled Scott County by 30 in Georgetown. Also beat West Jessamine by 30 before that. They are the favorite to represent the 11th at Rupp. 2. Henry Clay (25-5, 12-3 in region) – Closed out the year by winning 9 out of 10 and are peaking at the right time. Beat Lafayette and GRC last week and have a showdown with rival Bryan Station on Tuesday. I wouldn’t mind to see a rubber match between Clay and Dunbar with the winner punching their ticket to Rupp. 3. Scott County (26-4, 8-2 in region) – I’m sure Cardinal fans will be upset with them landing behind a Henry Clay team they have beaten twice already but Henry Clay is probably the hottest team in the state and the Cards lost their regular season finale to Dunbar by 30. They should advance past Sayre to set up a third game with Clay in the district title game. 4. Madison Central (18-11, 7-3 in region) – Wins over South Laurel and Lexington Catholic in double overtime and a narrow 2 point loss to 9th region favorite Covington Catholic make these Indians winners of 4 out of 5 heading into their district matchup with Model. 5a. Lexington Catholic (14-12, 8-5 in region) – These Knights lost by 3 in double overtime to Madison Central and by 1 at Wayne County but Lafayette isn’t exactly setting the world on fire down the stretch either so I took the easy way out and put them both at 5. They can decide it on the floor on Tuesday. 5b. Lafayette (18-9, 8-6 in region) – Lost 6 of their last 9 down the stretch and barely defeated Boyle County on Friday. These senior dominated Generals find themselves in a 1 game season on Tuesday night in what is probably the biggest game in Kentucky that evening. 7. Lexington Christian (17-12, 8-8 in region) – A win over Bryan Station will propel them into a district play in game with Tates Creek. Barring a massive upset, they’ll take on Dunbar. Dunbar has beaten them twice by 15 points and although LCA has won 5 out of 6 down the stretch and ride some momentum into the postseason. 8. Madison Southern (17-13, 6-5 in region) – Lost twice last week but get to play Berea this week in the first round of the district. I like their chances to advance to the regional. 9. Bryan Station (10-18, 5-12 in region) – Easily the biggest disappointment in the region, the Defenders took another loss in their season finale. They only way I can justify keeping them this high is that I think they have a puncher’s chance to upset Henry Clay. But, based on their regular season, Clay probably wins by 30. 10. Woodford County (13-15, 8-5) – The Yellow Jackets have dropped 5 in a row and are limping into postseason but I give them the edge over the teams below them based on overall body of work. 11. Franklin County (13-13, 8-5 in region) – Lost to Harrison County and beat Anderson County to end the regular season. A showdown with Frankfort looms for the chance to advance to the regional. 12. Frankfort (15-15, 9-5 in region) – Defeated Berea and Madison Southern to get to .500 on the season. The senior laden roster of the Panthers will play rival Franklin County for the chance to get to regional tournament. 13. Model (14-15, 3-4 in region) – Beat Jackson County by 9 to finish the regular season. They’ll need a great effort to keep Madison Central from advancing to region for the one millionth (approximately) consecutive year. 14. Tates Creek (6-21, 2-16 in region) – Winners 2 of their final 3 after a rough regular season, these Commodores suddenly have a tiny bit of momentum going into their district game against LCA. They’ll try to pull the upset over the Eagles. 15. Sayre (9-18, 2-8 in region) – Beat Western Hills and St. Francis to get to 9 wins before their district game at Scott County. If Sayre beats Scott County, it would be an upset of David vs Goliath proportions. 16. Western Hills (7-21, 2-10 in region) – losing to Sayre and Tates Creek back to back is about as close to rock bottom as you can get in the 11th. Except for Berea. The Wolverines face Woodford County in the first round of the district. 17. Berea (8-19, 0-8 in region) – Lost to Frankfort and Paris to end the year and will have to beat Madison Southern (who has beaten them 20+ twice this year) to extend their season and reach the regional tournament. District Predictions 41st: (1) Woodford County v. (4) Western Hills – At one point I thought Western Hill could compete with anyone in the district but they have really stumbled down the stretch. Prediction: Woodford County by 14. (2) Franklin County v. (3) Frankfort – Frankfort has underachieved and Franklin County has overachieved. I think Franklin County has the advantage on the sidelines but Frankfort has the better and more experienced players. Prediction: Frankfort by 4. District Champion Prediction: Woodford County over Frankfort 42nd: (1) Scott County v. (4) Sayre – Unless Jake Duby can score 70, I’ll take Scott County. Prediction: Cardinals by 35. (2) Henry Clay v. (3) Bryan Station – I think this is our best chance for a big upset but Henry Clay has been one of the best teams in the Commonwealth since the calendar turned to 2016. Prediction: Henry Clay by 18. District Champion Prediction: Henry Clay over Scott County 43rd: (4) LCA v. (5) Tates Creek – I think Tates has been looking forward to the end of the season since late December. Prediction: LCA by 25. (1) Dunbar v. LCA – Dunbar is the best team in the region according to most and LCA has been up and down all year, proven by their 8-8 record against region foes. Nate Valentine is an excellent in game coach but I don’t think he has the horses to compete yet. Prediction: Dunbar by 9. (2) Lexington Catholic v. (3) Lafayette – Lafayette has stumbled down the stretch and Lex Cath is playing better of late. Lafayette is the better team but Lex Cath has the best player (Luke Johnson) in the game. Donovan Morris is the X-Factor here. If he shows up to play, Lex Cath wins. Prediction: Lex Cath by 4. District Champion Prediction: Lexington Catholic over Dunbar in a big upset. 44th: Madison Southern v. Berea – Berea has lost to Southern by 20+ twice. I see no different result here. Prediction: Madison Southern by 32. Madison Central v. Model – Model has had a great year but are victim to a bad draw here. They have already beaten Southern once and would have drilled Berea. However, the Indians have been to eleventy billion straight regional tournaments and I don’t see that streak ending. District Champion Prediction: Madison Central over Madison Southern Check back next week for postseason awards and recognition to go with a regional tournament preview!

You can have as many in practice as you want but postseason rosters are frozen at 15 players as of the first game of district.

Awesome that Hoptown offered to play Christian County tomorrow since Christian had to cancel their senior night earlier this week. Haworth will keep trying. Dude is a competitor.

7 - Covington Catholic 5 - Lincoln County 3 - North Laurel 2 - Madison Southern 1 - Burgin TB - Lincoln County

tall

Gold division has the top teams and players, is played at the main sites (feature courts) and have full sponsorships. Silver is played mainly off-site (with a few exceptions for sure) and is more like Hoop Dreams was a year or two ago when we had a small sponsorship and had to work to get a better deal. Agree that Silver will draw coaches eyes but if you have ever been to a big AAU tournament you know that coaches like to be able to stay onsite all day. They're more likely to watch a Hoop Dreams v. Indiana Elite game at the main gym than they are to drive 15-20 minutes away for a game between the Colorado Chaos and Manimal. Obviously a kid like Peyton Broughton will have plenty of coaches to come and see him play wherever he is but the kids who benefit most from Gold Division is a kid like a Pedro Bradshaw who is largely unknown right now but could see plenty of scholarship offers if he has a good April in front of the right sets of eyes. Hope that makes sense.

Dontaie Allen has been claimed by several AAU programs over the past year or two. Will be interested to see where he actually plays.

The unfortunate thing is that 4 of the top 7 are in the same district. While teams like Western Hills and Madison Southern can get in the regional by playing weaker teams. I suspect whichever district winner draws the 43rd runner-up will be pretty disappointed. Could see Scott County or Henry Clay against Dunbar, Lex Cath or Lafayette in the opening regional game. Crazy.

Completely agree. I think there are a couple of teams that could surprise people as well.

Still putting the last few pieces together. All will be revealed in time.

Why wouldn't we have post presences? Last year's team didn't. This year's version definitely will. Have to have post players to play in the GOLD division of the Adidas Gauntlet. Magic also will start 6'10 Chris Vogt, 6'8 Trace Young, 6'7 Jaylen Sebree, 6'4 Tony Jackson and 5'10 JR Mathis. That's probably the tallest/longest roster you'll see in the Silver Division of the Gauntlet. Do agree the class of 2017 is very good statewide but I hate that several players play out of state for AAU.

Averages a double double and really developing this year. Nice player.

I suspect they will go as far as Broughton takes them. Any word on their 16u team? I wonder why more people haven't posted rosters here by now. Most programs have to be close to finished with their rosters by now

1. Scott County – The Cardinals move up to #1 after 2 losses by former #1 Dunbar. I really wanted to move Henry Clay up to #1 but you can’t justify them being ahead of Scott after losing to Scott County not once, but twice this season. They go to Eastern on Tuesday before hosting Dunbar on Thursday to end their regular season. 2a. Henry Clay – There may not be a hotter team in the Commonwealth right now than these Blue Devils. They beat Dunbar in OT and walloped North Hardin on Saturday. They have won 7 of their last 8 and are peaking as we get ready for postseason play. They go to Lafayette on Tuesday before hosting George Rogers Clark to close the regular season on Thursday. 2b. Dunbar – The Bulldogs narrowly defeated Lexington Catholic after Catholic led almost the whole game. PLD then lost to Henry Clay and Taylor County. They still factor very heavily into the region title discussion but they suddenly look more beatable than ever. They host West Jessamine on Tuesday before traveling to Scott County on Thursday. 4. Lafayette – Split the week by beating Bryan Station and losing to Louisville Trinity. Losers of 5 of their last 7 and a district date with Lexington Catholic looming, these Generals need to right the ship quickly or risk watching the region tournament from the stands. They will host Henry Clay before ending regular season play at Boyle County Friday. 5. Lexington Catholic – The Knights should have beaten Dunbar on Tuesday but salvaged their week by blowing out LCA and beating Clay County. The emergence of Zan Payne as a consistent second scorer has really helped the Knights down the stretch. They host Lincoln County and Madison Central before traveling to Wayne County on Friday night to close their regular season. 6. Madison Central – Beat Franklin County and beat the brakes off of Wayne County. They face a brutal week ahead as they travel to South Laurel and Lexington Catholic before hosting Covington Catholic to end the regular season. 7. Lexington Christian – They toppled lowly Tates Creek before getting run by Lexington Catholic. Bounced back with a big win over Boyle County without Sophomore post Tre King. If he can’t get academically eligible in time for the District against Dunbar, I don’t like their chances. The only game on their schedule this week is on Thursday against Bryan Station. 8. Madison Southern – Big wins over Western Hills and Bourbon County brought their win total to 17 on the year despite no really notable wins. They host Russell County and Frankfort this week. 9. Bryan Station – Split with wins over Tates Creek and a loss to Lafayette. Their only remaining game is a showdown with LCA this Thursday. To get to region they’ll have to beat Henry Clay. 10. Woodford County – Losses to West Jessamine and Mercer County brought them back to .500 on the year at 13-13. They’ll go to Bullitt East and host South Oldham to finish the regular season. 11. Franklin County – Lost to Madison Central in their only game last week. They close out the year hosting Harrison County and Anderson County this week. 12. Frankfort – Beat Collins before losing to Pulaski County this week. Need to win games with Berea and Madison Southern this week to get to .500 before starting postseason play. 13. Model – Blew out Danville and Robertson County to get their 12th and 13th wins of the season. They end the regular season by hosting Jackson County on Thursday. 14. Western Hills – Dropped both games last week. A 3 point loss to Nelson County was followed by a 34 point loss to Madison Southern. They have 2 winnable games with Sayre and Tates Creek this week before heading into the postseason. 15. Tates Creek – They got their 5th win of the year by beating Ryle. They finish the year hosting Western Hills before a district date against LCA. 16. Sayre – The Spartans have lost 11 out of 12 heading into the last week of the season. Today’s games with Western Hills and St. Francis present what are likely their last chances to get a win this season as Scott County awaits them in the district next week. 17. Berea – Claimed their 8th win of the year in a barn burner against the Kentucky School for the Deaf. You don’t see too many final scores of 30-28 in this day and age, but Berea found a way. They travel to Garrard County and Frankfort before hosting Paris in their regular season finale. District Matchups 41st: (1) Woodford County v. (4) Western Hills (2) Franklin County v. (3) Frankfort 42nd: (1) Scott County v. (4) Sayre (2) Henry Clay v. (3) Bryan Station 43rd: (4) LCA v. (5) Tates Creek (1) Dunbar v. Either LCA or Tates Creek (2) Lexington Catholic v. (3) Lafayette 44th: Madison Southern v. Berea Madison Central v. Model

As a Manimal parent, you think they have the size to compete with the bigger teams on the Adidas Silver Bracket?

Can they win their region?

I believe Quentin is going to be a Remy Abell clone at Xavier. Big strong guard who can lock you down defensively.

Based on what I was told, Manimal and Louisville Magic are playing the Silver Division of Adidas while Hoop Dreams is the only Kentucky team playing on the Gold division. As for bigs on the Adidas circuit, last year Bam Adebayo was on Team Loaded. But aside from that I don't recall any dominant bigs on Adidas rosters. But every shoe circuit requires legitimate post players, especially at 17u. It's a grown mans game in those leagues.

Hopefully everyone realizes that is some fake account messing with you all. The account name is @DrunkWrightSWHS after all.

I was told likely a Junior College kid. Maybe Slim859 or MooreMiller can tell us?

5'11 (maybe shorter) PG. 44+ inch vertical. Won the "highest vertical" contest at AAU nationals in July. He's the one who makes Dunbar go. Numbers won't blow you away but he runs the team. Like i said earlier, high IQ kid. Makes winning plays.

As I sat at the Dunbar game last night I found myself wondering how it's possible a kid like Jordan Lewis, who is an elite athlete with a basketball IQ through the roof, could not have a single college offer at any level right now. Lots of kids across Kentucky are under-recruited in my opinion. Why do you think this is and who are some of the most under-recruited kids in the state in the class of 2016?

Really good game. If Donovan Morris had given Catholic much, they probably win. Zan Payne with a good game. Love Jordan Lewis. He will be a steal for some NAIA school who takes a chance on him.

Several states play their state very early in the AAU calendar. I'd like to see KY do that also. Why not make it April 1 weekend?

7 - Lexington Catholic 5 - Wayne County 3 - Henry Clay 2 - Southwestern 1 - Burgin TB - Lexington Catholic