GoHardITP

His rankings are biased towards those who pay for "recruiting profiles" on his site. Paying $50 for a profile can get you ranked in the top 15 in your class.

I can appreciate shining the light on what could very well be a practice of this site or even others, when it all comes down to it the desire to make money trumps being unbiased in this basketball business. The money part of basketball business creates a multitude of "shadiness".

With that said, many kids do not pay the $50 and get ranked also. I suspect to merit any credibility the top players that are consensus Top 10 guys are going to crack everyone's list. All the more reason for kids to not justify their basketball worthiness from rankings.

What I really love about CVH is his desire to work. I ran into him Saturday night and he was getting ready to go run steps. He is always looking to work out.

Cole epitomizes the player who falls in love with the process of getting better. It is not just hard work or his work ethic, it is his maturity of knowing what it takes to continually improve and being in love with doing it.

I've heard that he is enrolled as a sophomore at NCC and must sit out a year and will be eligible to play his Jr. and Sr. year

Age would seem to come into factor. If he was supposed to be a junior and likely an older age junior as most foreign kids are, that could be a problem with KHSAA. Unless he is only 16 which is doubtful or nobody would have tried to place him as a junior to begin with, he would have a single year to play if he sits out this season.

Clark Francis was the original (at least National) talent scout from this area and he has stood the test of time. I heard him speak to kids at a camp and the first thing he tells them is he never played basketball and if you saw Clark then you would know why he said that. Now much older he is a shorter, hefty guy that nobody will mistake as a former player.

I am sure some of the talent scouts love basketball and get into the scouting game as it becomes perhaps their only avenue to make a living in a game they have passion for or at least have some significance around the game. I make that observation because many scouts never were players. Coaches generally have a playing background, but I wonder if the lack of any playing background hurts or helps the scouting aspect. There generally is not any qualification to be a scout of talent except hard work following the basketball circuit and an ability to write or post observations.

That said, I put little time or concern in player rankings. I appreciate the kids who fall in love with the process of getting better. I think getting caught up in rankings is a bad thing for player development. It seems parents and other adults seem way to caught up in whether their kid is high on a list and it means literally nothing in recruiting. College coaches do their own observations, not rely on local scouts.

Agree, kudos to all who have reached out to effect the change.

I agree with a lot of what you said but will disagree on one part. Mercer does already have some kids that can score, but they do so in a way that's very different than James. Looking at his stats, there wasn't a better 3 point shooter in the state last year (47%). My knock on this Mercer team last year was their lack of a serious 3 point threat. Yeah, they had kids that could shoot the 3, but not really any 3 point shooters. James is a 3 point sniper, period. Much more difficult to zone them now.

Great point, I really did not have that insight to the ways they score or the lack of a 3 point sharp shooter. I do agree adding a sharpshooter now makes it more difficult to zone them.

I like Treyvon Sylvester a lot and think he will be the MVP for Pulaski but I think you'll see Dylan James make more of an impact for Mercer throughout the year. Dylan is capable of games of 30+. I'm not sure Treyvon can do that.

 

Again, I think he is a really nice player. Just not as offensively gifted as Dylan.

Basketball above all else is a "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" game. If you are a Coach that puts a premium on scoring and shooting the ball then one player is the more impact player, but if your team is built on defense and rebounding another player becomes the gem transfer. As goes the college recruiting process, coaches recruit for their system. For some if you cannot defend the position you are projected to play then you likely are passed by. Other coaches will recruit an offensive player and not worry about their defensive woes. My point is impact has more to do with a need or type player that fits into your system.

Mercer has added a big time scorer which never hurts, but they already had several players who can fill it up so your adding to a current strength. If they could also have added Sylvester they really may have projected as the #1 team in the state. lol

What are the incidents?

I was commenting to your reference he was out of control. I assumed you meant something on the court. My hunch is he will be hired and time will tell whether it was a good move for all involved.

Good question, but I suspect they have need based financial aid much like the Trinity and St X private schools in KY provide. Many private schools that have high price tags end up with kids who cannot afford to pay the tuition that still attend. Ironically these kids which end up with the financial aid packages all seem to excel in sports and enhance the private schools competitiveness in their chosen sport.

I do not disagree, but the same could be said for so many kids who have ended up at private schools which come with a hefty tag. That tag at IMG is really high though for sure.

The Web site for the local paper said he was interviewed not hired. Hope they can do better than this guy as no one in Louisville will touch him as he is out of control and his only hope for a job is his old coach Pitino.

I assume you are suggesting that no high school in Louisville will hire him because of past on-court incidents and although he may have some of those not so proud moments, he also has some very good coaching moments too. He would be a high risk/high reward hire in some regards, but I would not write him off as a poor hire based on his past. People change and become wiser as we mature. The debate on the merits of his potential hiring will play out in time if he indeed becomes the next Christian County HC.

For a state tournament team that lost three really good players due to graduation it would be tough to repeat what was accomplished last season. But as the state tournament ended there was a really good nucleus of players returning that made Doss a logical threat to B. East in the 6th. However, there is probably not any other school in the 6th region with speculation running higher on who will actually return or transfer as well as who may transfer in. It will be an interesting just to see the Doss roster for the 2015-16 season. I expect them to be a top contender with a mixture of youth, experience, and some new transfers.

Generally High Major applies to any of the Power 5 schools who are annual or semi-annual tournament teams. Also applies to teams in non power conferences who are annual tournament teams (Butler, VCU, etc.)

 

Elite high majors are teams like UK, Duke, Kansas, etc who are the teams in the mix for national titles every season.

And U of L...I just had to.

Can we stop with the Craft comparisons? CVH is a really nice player. Craft was a McDonald's All Anerican. Oh, and they play different positions. Cole is a scorer. The next time Craft hits a jumper will be the first time.

The comparison comment took on a life of it's own. The Craft comment started as a College Coach recruiting CVH suggesting he begin to model his play after Craft. You make a solid observation. Craft was a play making guard distributing the ball, a true PG. CVH on the other hand is a very excellent pull up and scoring guard. I believe the comment was made to encourage CVH to become a more complete guard so that he can do both. He has the makings of a true combo guard and probably is more of a scoring threat today, but has the ability to also be Craft like in the facilitation role if he focuses on it. Just my 2 cents on the comparison misread.

At the doctors office? Or with the family? Or with the school?

Always and inch and a few pounds added by the school. LOL

With minimal rounding up (if any) CVH was 6'2" and 180 right after HS season ended.

Sounds like AAU ball too.

Yes that always is a problem but at least travel teams that can be more selective can try to assemble their team with that situation in mind. You have to go into your roster assembly with the knowledge that you are asking for problems when you pack a bunch of the same position players into the mix. I guess the combo guard profile helps coaches sell more guys on being able to gain PG experience and still also play off the ball.

We already know Sloan is strong at the PG spot, and last year they had Morgeson in that mix as well along with Goodin. Will Gatewood give Goodin the majority of the PG minutes to help him prepare for college? Sloan has already proven his mettle at the position and could stand to add other tools to his game to help his college stock.

 

Something tells me that the TC fan mob, with the pressure they'll be putting on the team and coaches this year, won't like too much experimenting if it leads to a few stray losses they weren't anticipating. Just my thoughts as a neutral 5th Region observer.

This actually is an interesting situation that is more common than one would think when there are multiple college prospects on a single team. For the most part, any kid under 6'3" is typically going to be groomed to be a PG to play at the D1 level. Parents who believe their kid is a D1 prospect push to have their kids playing their natural college position and you can hardly blame them. For a HS coach that typically has few kids 6'4" or taller it becomes a tough act to make everyone happy and define roles for your team that everyone buys into. You end up with a team that quite a few kids want to be the PG.

His own police report would seem to dispute that. He said that he fired his weapon because he was being dragged. That would indicate to me that he intended to fire it. He didn't say that it went off in a struggle.

That is the problem I have with the officer. He seems to have no remorse or at least did not show any immediately after it happened as captured on video. He went into self-preservation mode and how he was justified to use deadly force. He wanted all around him to believe he was dragged and was in a dangerous situation that resulted in him having to shoot to kill.

I would have much more sympathy for him had he simply admitted it was an accidental shooting after he pulled his revolver out and it went off without that being his intent. He killed a man and did not seem to be choked up about it. His actions and words were all to cover his own self.

Can you think of any reason Tensing would have drawn his gun in that situation? I know it's asking you to take a guess but if you were in that situation is there anything that happen in the video that would make you pull your gun?

To me this is the heart of the situation and a great question to ask. Nobody knows what was in the heart of the officer, but my gut feel is that he simply had no regard for the safety of DuBose, he could care less what happened to him. He lacked any feeling this was a person who had a mother, a person who had children, who despite his mistakes was somebody God loved.

This situation presented no reason to have his gun drawn but for the appearance that the officer just did not care whether it resulted in the death of DuBose or not. We can argue all we want about everything else, but when the prosecutor makes his summation it will focus on the fact that the officer had no regard for the life of this victim. Being a police officer requires the ability to continue respecting life in very dangerous situations surrounded by people who do bad things. It is a hard job, but this situation was not dangerous and he did not show any decency of valuing the life of DuBose when that gun was drawn.

I would never use the title as a basis for best player.

True, but best player is so broad that you can use anything to justify bestowing it on either of these three. Is it best HS player? Or is it best college prospect? Best in a game of 1 on 1? Is it who scores the most or who is the most complete player? If you base it on leading their team to a championship I just view that as a tiebreaker because each will have their camp of supporters when the season is over that they were the best of the region. MVPs are not always from the championship team, but it sure doesn't hurt your cause in the voting.

They all have different supporting casts, but each are clear cut MVPs of their respective teams. I guess we can watch the season unfold and the one who leads his team to Rupp can claim the unofficial title of #1 player in the region. It is truly a toss up because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I had the exact situation this past weekend in Indy. My player took a charge in the lane, but was called for a block. The official said, "he was in good position but he was too far under the basket" I tried to explain that under NFHS rules, there is no requirement for the defender to not be under the basket. But, what do I know? I am just a coach.

Even though the rule has no requirement for the defender to not be under the basket, I suspect the ref felt the player had left floor before the player was set under the basket. If contact is made right under the basket, the offensive player is likely on his way down and had left the floor several strides away. From a timing perspective, I think refs just assume the player under the basket was never in position before the player left the floor. Your situation may have been different, but I think that is why you see that call a block often when directly below the basket.

Mike is a great individual and knows no strangers. Best of luck to him in his senior year. He will be missed at TC, not only on the court but in the building.

Nice post, it is way to often when someone leaves a program to another that all you hear is "sour grapes" talk. These are kids and it is refreshing to hear someone speak in such positive terms about a young man leaving.

The cars registration was in another person's name. Therefore the officer did not know the guys identity. Say he ran because he had a body in his trunk, I guess that would be ok since they would be able to locate the car, but would have no idea who the driver was?

I doubt any of us would react like the driver did, but regardless do you want to live with laws that allow the use of deadly force in this situation? Using deadly force to stop someone trying to flee based on assumptions of what might be causing their intent to flee is a slippery slope. What if it was someone close to you who simply was stopped and panicked enough to attempt to drive off. You want the cop pulling a gun and killing them because he thought they may have a dead body in the trunk or would somehow run somebody over 3 miles down the road?

I don't think he was slamming on the gas but I believe he was beginning to press on the gas. To be honest this could be argued all day but none of it changes the fact the cop messed up. Again, in my unexpert opinion and judging only by the video, the cop should have never pulled his gun. If someone in police work can explain why he would I may change my mind.

Is there any clear consensus that the shot was fired where the UC cop was standing at the point of when DuBose started the engine in what likely was his attempt to flee? I seem to view it as almost a split second from when the ignition was started that the shot was fired. I do believe the defense will attempt to suggest that the shot was only fired when the officer was somehow caught and dragged by the car speeding away. I think the conviction will hinge on a matter of a few seconds in dispute.

No there isn't Clyde, everyone is out to EXECUTE all minorities. The cop got out of bed that day and said "I'm gonna kill me a minority today as soon as I find one without a license plate he's mine"

 

Is there a video of the officer actually putting the gun up to the guy's head? I ask in sincerity because I haven't seen it.

The only video is the body cam that catches the encounter we all have seen. Is the barrel of the gun resting on the head? No, but the gun was pointed at the head perhaps 2 foot away. That is still point blank distance, so not sure what you are asking about the gun resting on the guy's head.