systemqb

I'm asking this question out of genuine curiosity: is there a reason why Landen Bartleson doesn't play 90% of the snaps on offense? I watched my first Boyle game of the year last night on Prepspin, and he's a game-changer. He had a long run, they went right back to him after that run, but then I didn't hear a lot about him after. I would also think you would want him and Reese Smith returning kickoffs. Is he too young to carry the load? Not fully able to learn the offense? Something else?

I'm interested to see how Coach Cook affects GRC. Obviously a very good coach, and I think that he will have them in a position to be as successful as they can be.

Only problem I would have had with the rankings is if Trevon wasn't at the top of the player rankings.

It's his second year at Mercer. Was an assistant for boy's basketball and baseball last year. Think he came from the Bowling Green area.

At some point Shope was "someone with no experience and someone that nobody has ever heard of" and look where that took him. Interesting to judge someone's coaching ability before you even give him an opportunity. I don't know how good of a coach he is, but I'm not going to assume he's terrible. Good luck Coach Shartzer.

Hope this isn't true. Mercer will be looking for a new coach in two years (after Treyvon leaves). Maze would have shown that he's always looking for the next best coaching job, and Turley, while a good coach, has hopped from job to job. 11 stops in 34 years.

My thoughts exactly. 10 minutes as opposed to an hour and 10 minutes is a big difference.

Although I don't like the number of transfers I'm seeing around the state, I would not want to keep a 15-18 year old kid from playing a sport because of it.

Too much talent and well coached... Mercer gets it done.

I completely agree with that. To me, if they take care of the ball, they will probably play a good game. They generally shoot the ball well enough. The issue generally comes with getting up a comparable amount of field goals as the opponent. I believe the loss to Pulaski is the only game they won the turnover battle and didn't win. While it's important to all teams, turnovers is such a critical stat for this team

I'm assuming nothing. Boyle's bad games have been struggling to score and turning the ball over a lot. That's a losing recipe. They don't cause enough turnovers to offset their own turnovers. I've seen the point made about tempo playing a big factor in who wins this game. I happen to agree. If Boyle is missing shots and turning the ball over 18+ times, that lends itself to an uptempo game and easy baskets for Casey. I'm willing to say, regardless of how Casey plays, if Boyle plays poorly they will more than likely lose. If Boyle takes care of the ball and takes smart shots, I think they will win.

If they don't put back to back good games together, they won't survive and advance. Their margin for error is too small to not play well at this time of the year.

After last week, I'm not going to pick against Casey. It's been a while since Boyle has put back to back good games together.

Don't see Mercer having two bad games in a row. Mercer by 9.

Congrats Bounce. Impressive showing. You tried to tell me.

That's why they play the game. Upsets make the tournament much more fun. I'm hoping for a couple. It's fun to see the underdogs get support from the fans of the other teams in the tournament.

I assume you're including me in this statement since I'm the main antagonist. I don't have a dog in this regional tournament fight. I simply mentioned how they must like this draw considering they have beaten all three teams on this side of the bracket. It doesn't ensure that they will beat any or all of them again. People took offense to the comment of West liking the draw for some odd reason. There are multiple teams that can like the draw they had. I agree that their chances of making it to the state tournament are slim. I'd be shocked if Mercer didn't win the 12th. Don't know how we got from "I can see them making it to the finals" to me being a "west jessamine faithful on here praying to the moon" they win the 12th. Praying to the moon? With the exception of 2 or 3 passing conversations with Damon Kelley, I haven't had any significant interactions with West people/fans. Just calling it how I see it.

I believe Boyle can play with anyone in the state if they take care of the ball. They haven't been able to correct that issue all year. It's a fatal flaw that's liable to rear it's ugly head at some point. They generally don't give up a lot of points, in large part due to Colton anchoring the defense, and that will keep you in the majority of games. Should be interesting to see which style wins out in this first round match up. I'd imagine if the score gets in the 70s or 80s, Wayne will prevail. Boyle would probably like a game in the 50s or low 60s.

I'll answer your question, but I doubt you'll answer mine. LCA would be West's second best win behind Wayne. Outside of North Oldham, Madison Central and Bryan Station (the last two play in the tough 11th) West's losses have come against teams with 6 or fewer losses. They were blown out in a couple, but represented themselves well against most of those good teams. They have as many good wins as bad losses. That's assuming North Oldham and Bryan Station are bad losses.

You've got to have the players to sub. Guess Coach K doesn't know what he's doing with his 7 player rotation either. It's strange how people outside a program question competent coaches who have more information about their team than they do. If Adams thought he could play more kids without it hurting the team, I'm sure he would. I'm guessing he's not stuck on 7 as his magic number.

That's fine if you want to know who West has beaten. Maybe next time don't make it a direct response to a question of "who has Rockcastle played and beaten?" That way it's a one for one conversation. West has played Mercer 3 times, Scott County, Newport Central Catholic, Southwestern, LCA, Madison Central, South Laurel, Wayne, and Dunbar. I'd say they have tested themselves. So besides the Wayne anomaly and South Laurel (Rockcastle lost by 46 and West lost by 2), who has Rockcastle played and beaten? West's 18-13 is more impressive than Rockcastle's 19-12. Just my opinion. Doesn't make it right.

And my question about Casey was "who have they PLAYED and beaten"? West has played Mercer twice, and if Casey had played Mercer twice after they played West then they'd have two loses. West gave Mercer all they wanted at West, and they probably should have won. West and Southwest gave Mercer the best games of anyone in the 12th.

I'm not try to convince anyone that I don't know who will win. You want me to predict what's going to happen with a bunch of hormonal high school kids? I could try, but my opinion would be every bit as flawed as anyone else trying to do prediction threads. I THINK it will be Southwestern/Mercer and West/Wayne, but who knows who's girlfriend will breakup with them, who turns an ankle, who gets sick, ect. It could very well be the other four teams that advance. I've tried to move away from prediction commentary. It doesn't do much for me. Sorry. I think I mentioned that Mercer is at the top of the region on their own. That doesn't mean that there aren't other quality teams... More flawed, but still higher quality than the middle and bottom of the region.

Not saying Casey can't beat West or even come out of that side of the bracket. Anything can happen at this time of year. Rockcastle could upset Mercer... reeeeeally can't see that happening. I think I prefaced my earlier statement by saying West wouldn't have an easy game on that side of the bracket, but if they had to choose a route to the championship, I think they would have chosen this draw. They could very well lose in the first round, but that would be more about them playing poorly than getting a bad draw.

They're more than welcome to, but it still doesn't make my statement false. Casey won't be playing those caliber teams in the region. Pulaski limped to the finish line. Outside of the Wayne anomaly who has Rockcastle played and beaten?