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DeSales (25-7) vs. Doss (25-6) Doss- 22nd District Champion, defeated DeSales 55-51. Regional defeated Holy Cross 78-46, defeated Bullitt East 65-61 DeSales, 22nd District Runner-up, lost to Doss 51-55 Regional defeated PRP 58-55, defeated Fern Creek 69-49 Previous Games: January 16th Doss 57 DeSales 45 January 20th: Doss 75 DeSales 53 February 26th: Doss 55 DeSales 51 Summary of the DeSales Colts: The Colts are led by Chase Shellman with a 14 PPG and 7.5 rebound average. Chase had a 24 point and 18 rebound performance in his recent semi-final win over Fern Creek. Another key player is Shaun Sullivan who averages 12 PPG, but also goes to the free throw line often with his heady play. In the regional semi-final he only scored 4 points, but had 5 assists to go along with a solid floor game. The Colts start 5 seniors and have been preparing for this moment all season long. Center Willie Schurfranz is averaging close to 10 PPG and 5 rebounds. Dillon Sievert and sophomore Jaxson Burgess are the other 3 point shooting threats on the floor. Coach Tom Crews will have his fourth shot at preparing the Colts to finally get over the hump to beat a Doss team that so far has had DeSales number this season. Summary of the Doss Dragons: Doss started strong winning their first 5 games before falling to Taylor County in the KOB semi-final and have been steady all year. The losses have came to very good teams in addition to Taylor County. They have lost to Christian County, Ballard (twice), Trinity, and Dunbar. On paper they have the talent to compete for a State title and should defeat DeSales a fourth time. No other team has been as dominant against 6th region teams as Doss who is 15-0 in 6th region play. DeSales is 13-3, with the only 3 losses coming at the hands of Doss. Senior Dujuanta Weaver is the 6th Region POY and has both Tyler Jefferson and Terrell Gray to form the senior trio of leaders. The Dragons are deep with Jaylon Hall, Delvonte McCloud, and Ramon Collins forming a similar trio of sophomores to compliment the 3 seniors. This game comes on the heels of a tough battle against Bullitt East. Can the Dragons fulfill their senior leaders dreams to make it to State for the first time since 1987? Coach Tony Williams played at Doss and later for the University of Louisville. He has survived a disruptive season with player issues, but now is on the verge of leading his team back to Rupp. Game #4 : This will be the 4th meeting of the year for these district opponents. With Doss winning all three, it comes down to whether DeSales believes they can compete and win. There are those in the 6th region who follow both teams that believe DeSales can beat Doss, but does the DeSales locker room believe? I doubt Doss will take this game lightly given the winner punches their ticket to Rupp. The last time they played DeSales was able to close the game to a 4 point margin, the closest they have come in the three meetings they have faced each other this season. But it was for a district championship and sometimes Doss seems to be disinterested, almost unchallenged to the point they lose focus. This time there is too much riding on the line for Doss to ignore the implications or simply be bored. Keys: -3 point shooting: DeSales needed 3 point shooting to stay in their last game with Doss as it was difficult to score in transition or easy baskets in previous games. Doss at times settles for the 3 point shot when they do not need to. This game will come down to whether DeSales can get open looks and make their available 3 points shots or whether Doss shoots for a low percentage of 3 point shots they did not need to take in the first place. -Tempo: Doss is more athletic and has the speed factor working in it's favor. However, DeSales can surprise you with getting the ball out and down the floor. I just do not believe DeSales can get in an up and down pace that results in a victory over Doss. I suspect they will want a half court game and keep the score low. DeSales has scored 45, 53, & 51 in their three losses to Doss. History would suggest that DeSales will need to keep the score in the low to mid fifties to have a chance which means they must slow the game as much as possible. -Seniors vs. Seniors: DeSales starters are all Seniors and their top substitute is a sophomore. Doss has the highly recognized Senior trio of Weaver, Jefferson, & Gray. Doss starts two sophomores along side their trio of leaders with another key sub also from the sophomore class of 2017. The question becomes.....whose senior leadership will win out? Prediction: If it can become a grind it out game in the 40s, then DeSales wins. If it is in the 50s, then it could go either way, but likely Doss. If Doss scores 60 points or more, book their ticket to Rupp.

That is very true, I was thinking to myself at the time he picked up his dribble that he or the coach should call a timeout. It did happen only a few feet from their bench. I was sitting right behind the bench and ironically the Doss Coach then called an ill advised timeout after they snatched it away or they would have converted an easy layup. During that time out the Bullitt East Coach looked at the young freshman and clearly told the young man that it was his (coaches) fault. I was unsure if he was saying so because he should have called time out or just putting the kid in that situation.

DeSales all the way on this one. Up 6 after 1st Q and 12 at half. They pushed it out farther after 3 and then played the 4th without letting Fern Creek get it to single digits. Chase Shellman was a beast with 24 points and 18 rebounds. DeSales also got 4 others in double digits. Fern Creek only got good offensive games from Tony Washington and Trey Hill with 18 & 16 respectively. The other Fern Creek players did not provide any other scoring help. DeSales takes on Doss for a fourth time on Thursday hoping the fourth time is a charm.

I was at the game and I do not think the play at the end was significant to the outcome. Doss was up 4 and Bullitt East had tried a three point attempt with less than 5 seconds to go in OT and it was a long rebound that Tyler chased down and shot at the buzzer when it looked like when he landed he got tangled up with a Doss player who should not have even been challenging the shot. Bullitt East did have a chance (actually 2 chances) to win the game in regulation. With less than 20 seconds they had the ball and were trying to hold it for one shot. They should have kept the ball in the hands of Sharpe or perhaps Rakes the last few seconds before running a play, but an undersized freshmen who had just been inserted ended up with the ball and he was just overpowered on the sideline when he picked up his dribble. It was a bad position to put the young man who will be a very good player in time. The defender got right up on him and snatched it away. But Doss was soon after called for a charging foul with 3 seconds left as they attempted a layup to win the game. Sharpe then received the ball on the inbounds and dribbled it over half court to get a really good 3 point shot off that just missed at the buzzer.

In the 6th & 7th region the Louisville Male job is already open after Larry Miller decided to retire. It would not surprise me to see another job open in the 6th Region after the team is no longer playing and season is over.

That team has had a great history and plenty of talent come through the doors, but it is a major rebuilding job right now. Not a ton of returning points or rebounds coming back and the JV and freshmen did not strike a big ray of hope. It will be interesting to see who jumps into the mix with this opening. Also wonder where Moody might end up. He is a young coach that has had success. I suspect he wants to make the move and not the other way around.

What I was surprised I did not see more of to get the ball into Spaulding's hands were motion plays with off ball picks & screens. What I saw was Ray going to the block and trying to post up hard and call for the ball, or simply try to get position to go snare an offensive rebound. You can run plays for big men against man or zone that work more effectively than just posting on the low block. I never saw that from Trinity last night which really surprised me. With the way Ray moves why not get some motion with off ball screens and picks, some slips on screen action, even some pick and roll with the ball. I am not sure who to blame, but I thought you needed and could have had more offensive plays designed to get Ray the ball. As to Stafford, I was thinking he played much better in the Trinity win last season over Ballard. Last night he and West rotated which may have been the way they did all year. West and Stafford hardly ever played together which I would have done more of against the Ballard speed advantage. West should have played more, he was substantially more effective last night and sat way too long.

Congrats on achieving the 1,000 point club so soon in his career. The thing I really like about Tray's game is that the way he scores is transferable to the next level of play. What I mean by that is he can score against length and elite level defenders. There are many great high school scorers who can't score at the next level (especially D1) because they struggle with the defenders that you just do not see in KY HS basketball that often. Great future for this young man ahead of him.

Wow, talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. I hear Boone is a really special player who is clutch when called upon. How many did he end up with on the evening? PT should learn from this and come back next year as an early favorite to be tops in the region along with Graves. Did the young freshmen from PT, JJ Reed, have a solid game? At 6'6" he is a very skilled player capable of playing on the wing that many bigger players his size never develop.

I had heard he left the team after the controversy involving the player & father involved in a physical altercation with the Head Coach. The young man dismissed from the team was close to Jefferson and it was a very emotional time which contributed to Jefferson's departure. As time went by and things simmered down, there was a change of heart. I have no knowledge of the details other than this situation had played a role according to someone very close to the team. Perhaps the WKU situation also played a role too.

I agree with your analysis, it should come down to contrasting styles and who is able to impose their style and who is not. This will be a game that coaching could have a significant impact because of the things you want to do defensively to alter the other team's primary scoring threats. You could not have as different style teams or coaches than you do in this game. The veteran senior led team in DeSales with the experienced Coach Crews, or the team that just came together under the leadership of 2nd year Coach Schooler.

I thought Hoptown played Trigg in the semi-final and the finals would be where Henderson and Hoptown meet? But if this is the semi-final match-up, I am going with Hoptown in a nail biter.

All season long DeSales has been chasing Doss. After multiple losses including a District Championship loss, DeSales needs to get past Fern Creek in order to get one more shot at Doss (assuming Doss beats Bullitt East in the first game on Tuesday night). DeSales and Fern Creek have not played this season, but Fern Creek has been just outside of the Top 3 teams in the 6th region. Now they get their chance to lay claim for being the spoiler to DeSales and move to the final game of the 6th region championship. If Fern Creek were to beat DeSales, it would mark the 1st time in over 30 years that Fern Creek has made it to a Regional Final. DeSales won their division for a State Football Championship this year and the basketball ride to the finals will need to be on the shoulders of Chase Shellman. If Fern Creek breaks the curse a big part of that is on the shoulders of three freshmen, Wales, Price, & Hill who have teamed up with Junior Transfer Tony Washington to form a nucleus that were not even students at Fern Creek last season. The winner will likely not be favored in the 6th championship game, but both teams will be ready to continue on to Rupp if given the chance.

They played earlier in the season with Doss winning by 7. Regardless of who wins, they will enter the championship for the 6th region as the likely favorite to move on to Rupp. Doss is the senior led team with the Big 3- Weaver, Gray, & Jefferson. Bullitt East is the heavy Junior led team with Sharpe, Rakes, and Farris. Both teams have many more additional pieces so this could come down to who simply has a better shooting night.

One of the old standard lines is defense wins championships. However, I think that holds more true for regular season championships where over the course of a season your defense keeps you in almost every game. In tournament play the team that is offensively exceptional will win. Everybody steps up their defense because the season is on the line, but you move on when you are good on offense. Trinity is not a good offensive team. It was painful to watch how Spaulding was utilized in the offense. The only play it seemed they ran for him he slammed it home, but that was when the game was already over. 2 others game observations. Just like Trinity rained on the Ballard parade last year, the roles were reversed tonight. It was almost an exact role reversal. 2nd observation is Trinity lost points every time the transfer, West, was on the bench. Every time West was in the game Trinity went on a run. I was blown away he sat so much. Not sure if this was just a one game thing, but very odd he did not play more.

Not sure on stats, but the play of the game was Sutton taking a big three point shot when Waggener was up by 2. He drained it, Waggener goes down to score to go back up, but gets called for an offensive charge and Manual converts again to go up by 3. Before Sutton hit his 3 point shot, the score was tied with about 2 minutes to go in the game. Each team missed opportunities to go ahead. Two consecutive possessions Manual failed to even get the ball in Sutton's hand. But when the game came down to make or break time, it was Sutton who was the star.

I am going to get my own self in trouble likely with this comment, but I see it cut both ways. First off it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish and if you are up front in your stated goals. Not every team is set up to accomplish the same things. In the past I had a single age group team and kept moving up with them until they got to the HS age. Each year from 5th grade on the kids and parents got the same message, the team was going to be made up of the best players that enabled the team to compete nationally with the best teams in their age group. That would mean some kids who did not develop may not advance with the team and other players may be asked to join. It was all understood up front. Same speech at the beginning and end of the seasons and the kids/parents owned their development as I did not provide that. What I learned was an old saying that sometimes you need to pull weeds for the garden to grow or another way to say it is do not water the weeds. That is sort of harsh, but it all depends on the team/program you were trying to run. I was not making money off kids and kids did not pay to play. You had to earn your spot on a relatively elite national team and at younger ages you have no idea who will continue to put in the work to develop and who will basically want to stay along for the ride like they are entitled to.

From my experience the more elite teams tend to not really post a roster until they have started the season and then people who watch them can also post who they saw out there so it may not even be the team that puts a roster out. Right now every team has a few cards up their sleeves which they like to keep to themselves. Anyone posting rosters on a message board is attempting to pull together pieces of what has been seen on twitter, scuttlebutt, or simply guessing on returning players and such. With so few spots on elite teams many great players may not get invited and it should not be reflective of anything except another great player landed one of the coveted few spots for a particular position. It is sort of like the NBA All Star roster, arguments can be made about who is left off, but then it is hard to pick out who should have been removed. It is just a realty that in each class only about 1 or at most 2 players in the same position will be invited. I saw a Cooper game and agree McNeil is a heck of a player. What position do you feel he would project to play in college?

MONDAY, MARCH 9 @ VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL · Boys’ 7th Region Semifinal – Ballard vs. Trinity @ 6:00 pm · Boys’ 7th Region Semifinal – Waggener vs. duPont Manual @ 7:30 pm TUESDAY, MARCH 10 @ VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL · Boys’ 6th Region Semifinal – Bullitt East vs. Doss @ 6:00 pm · Boys’ 6th Region Semifinal – Fern Creek vs. DeSales @ 7:30 pm THURSDAY, MARCH 12 @ VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL · Boys’ 7th Region Final @ 6:00 pm · Boys’ 6th Region Final @ 8:00 pm

I am not commenting on players I have no affiliation with, but as it relates to "hearing" about any player, Trace Young or anyone else, that is leaving from and joining another team there is a single rule to follow....don't believe everything you hear. Until a player or parent or reputable reporting service announces it, don't consider what you hear factual. Even if there is a player announcement, it is subject to change as kids change their minds. That is the nature of travel ball world of team rosters. They are fluid and not static. But never put much stock in what you hear because programs/teams will at times throw out names of kids about to come over just to get other players to commit, so it comes down to a smoke screen effect many times.

Ditto on all of the above. Especially aligning the kid and program needs or "fit" along with being honest in player feedback. I would add one more thought that is just the nature of the beast. As a parent, especially those of elite level players (game changers) there will be many coaches that try to get in your ear basically recruiting your son to come to their team. Most of these elite kids already play for someone else or are being recruited by another program. I have always tried when recruiting kids to a team that I coached follow a rule that I consider "doing it the right way"...... Never talk bad about another program or coach, just talk about the virtues of my team or program. I try to never let the words of another team ever leave my lips. I may have had moments or lapses or I may be directly asked about another team, but I do not like to ever talk about other teams, coaches, or programs because it is not the right way to do things imo.

Yes Q, Trey had a huge game and in particular the 2nd half. After 3 1st half FTs, he finished with 15 points, including 2 dunks (1 hand & 2 hand throwdowns). He also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a block. Ahmad Price had a stat stuffing game. He had 9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Anthony Wales started out on fire scoring 7 of the team's first 10 points in the game and shot 83% for the game scoring 11 total points. He left the game in the 2nd half due to an illegal pick that frankly was a dirty play out of frustration from one of the Moore players. Was taken to the locker room for concussion like symptoms and never returned. He also had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and one block before he was injured. These three all averaged around 10 points for the season which on surface is not high popping. However, they combined to deliver 50% of the teams points & rebounds, and over 60% of the steals, assists, and blocks. They focus on winning and not scoring points with a defensive value rarely seen in so many good players. It is what makes them each special in that they do not focus on scoring, but winning. Rarely do they shoot more than 10 shots/game, but they seem to get an equal share of shots due to sharing the ball well.

Only player I reference in this post is Goodin since he was mentioned earlier in the post as playing for the Travelers and joining HD, but that is not accurate. He played for NIKE EYBL St. Louis Eagles. He likely wanted to play for a KY based team his final year of travel ball or perhaps he left the St. Louis Eagles for another reason. At one point since that time, he indicated he was going to join Braxton Beverly in the backcourt and play with the Travelers. However, as I always say until the season starts kids and parents may change their mind and that obviously is what happened. He will be fun to watch with Eli on that HD 17U team and adding him as the PG solidifies a solid backcourt. I can see why it was a good fit for both him & the team. It will be an exciting year for the 17U Hoop Dreams team. However, Goodin never played for the Travelers that I am aware of as he just announced or told a scouting service before changing his mind.

First off it was not a surprise to me personally that Waggener won after watching both teams play a common opponent, Fern Creek. I saw Waggener win a 2 point game versus Creek and St. X get beat by double figures. Comparing opponents does not always work, but in the case of watching both teams I thought the game would be close which is obviously was. Tough loss when leading by 16 or whatever it was, but we often see the tale of two halves with evenly matched teams. It sounds like Cooper got hot in the end and he is very capable of scoring points in a hurry. I could see that would be a match-up problem for St. X. Waggener is missing PG Hobbs, a sophomore, who is the one who runs that team as a PG should. Also hurts to have PF/C Kirby out so they are doing a great job to advance missing two starters. IMO Cooper is a prototypical SG because he is wired to score in bunches and put up shots. He can handle the ball well, but if he is playing PG it is only out of need. He can handle the ball and penetrate, but playing him as a PG complicates ball movement because he is a prolific scorer. I saw him miss 15 shots in a row out at LIT against Doss, but he never lost confidence or stopped shooting. He had a poor shooting night, but still hit big shots (deep 3's) in final minutes to almost bring his team back to only lose by 1. I have no idea about the coaching on the sideline or even behind the bench as referenced, but the injuries in my mind will keep Waggener from getting past Manual. If Manual can put someone on Hill down low and allow Sutton to guard Cooper that match-up will contain Cooper more than anyone St. X could put on him. It is hard to zone him as he shoots so deep and quick release. Great player, just having to use him as a PG will make the team easier to defend and there will be less ball movement with more one on one action.

Yes, I missed that projection but I knew it would be close. I just thought at home it would go PRP way, however, DeSales winning is not a shocker at all. DeSales could end up the Region Champion and it would not surprise me. I suspect the tourney will be postponed and the girls will get those dates due to the earlier state tourney for them. Should be a wild 6th Boys Regional the night they do play.