Statstuffer

I'm not suggesting that Jeremy Howell is a bad choice, I wish him the best of luck....

However, does the fact that Ashland hired someone with zero head coaching experience prove to all the Tomcat faithful that Ashland isn't the "Premier" position that everyone was saying it was based on prior discussions about the open position?

Does he have any head coaching experience? I don't think he does but I'm not 100% sure and the ADI didn't indicate it if he does.

Just got email that it is cancelled today.

That's a pisser....

Heard from a good source that Merle Kidwell (former Russell HS head coach) will be an assistant basketball coach at Greenup Co HS next year. The source said he stopped by and watched part of the open gym that took place yesterday at the HS.

Another great game between these two teams. A few weeks ago GC won 6-4 at EC in 9 innings. Last nights game was tied going into the bottom of the 7th inning when Ethan Coldiron delivered a walk off single to win it for GC.

Greenup Co dominated from start to finish with a 5 run first inning and 6 run fourth inning. Ashland baseball talent is way down this year compared to years past. Ashland's baseball season will most likely be as bad as their basketball season, will coach Wilcox be on the chopping blocks like coach Biggs???

For the record, I don't feel Ashland should have let Biggs go and assuming Ashland baseball struggles, as I expect them to, I don't think they should let Wilcox go either, both are two of the best in the region....

In the basketball post about Ashland, there was a lot of talk about talent roaming the halls of the school that didn't want to play basketball for Biggs. Makes me wonder how much of that is true because Ashland didn't have many athletes on the baseball diamond either. Is there really talent roaming the halls and if so why aren't these kids playing basketball or baseball?

Help me out here! Why does a person like Ethan Faulkner continually get mentioned for big time jobs. Isn't he only 24 and has zero Head Coaching experience.

I completely understand why you would ask such a question but believe me, who ever is lucky enough to eventually pick up Ethan Faulkner as their head coach will not be disappointed. I've seen Ethan and Evan (his brother) runs some summer AAU practices and was completely blown away. Ethan has tremendous knowledge of the game, will be 100% dedicated to a program, and with Ethan spending time coaching at NKU he's seen just about every situation imaginable. Mason Co has a strong history of several young AAU teams year after year as well, believe me, he'd be heavily involved in those groups as well and would build a great program from top to bottom.

Is there a link to the game stats for this game? I was someone post a link to another State Tournament game but I'm not sure where the link for this game is.

I was in your shoes once saying and thinking the same things about portable mounds. However, pitching off of portable mounds are really not that big of a deal, at least IMO. My son's teams have pitched off them for years at various tournaments and various locations. Of course the thought of it sounds "bad" but at some tournaments we've been at with real mounds I would have preferred to have had a portable mound. During some of these travel team tournaments, when teams are playing games one after another from 10am until 9pm, the pitching mound gets worse and worse after each game with big holes at the rubber and at the pitchers landing area. At least with portable mounds you don't have these issues and the kids don't have to worry about whether or not they will be stepping in a hole or not when pitching.

The portables can easily be home made by someone who has basic carpentry skills although I don't have any plans or drawings I could share on how to build them. The ones we used when my son was between 9-12 years old were stout, not extremely heavy (2 adults could carry from dugout to mound). If your concerned with pick off's or kids falling off of a steep sided mound, build it a little wider with a longer, gradual slope to the floor / ground. The real key when placing one on the field is making it stable so it doesn't rock when a kid is pitching, build it with that gradual slope and you can rake dirt or brick dust around the base and can be tamped in and around to help keep it stable and in position.

If your field has a lot of brick dust on it, sweeping it off with a broom or blowing it off with a leaf blower before each game is a good idea as well. Also, I've seen most tournaments allow pitchers to wear cleats on portable mounds and although you may see a kid slip every now and then, it really isn't a factor at all. I've also seen some tournaments make pitchers wear tennis shoes while pitching so be prepared for that as well.

Just a few suggestions based on what I've seen:

1. build it one piece - you don't want 2-3 pieces just to make it modular, you want it to be sturdy and 1 pcs is the best bet to achieve that

2. cover it with an indoor / outdoor carpet, don't leave just ply wood showing. We changed carpeting on our portable once a year, although it never really needed it any of the times we changed it, we just didn't want to have to change it in the middle of a year.

3. Don't sweat the thought of the portable mounds, I don't think it affects kids one way or another, unless mommy or daddy are talking about it before the game... I actually think you may find that they provide a more stable pitching surface and a consistent mound from game to game that can help younger players. I'm sure you've seen fields with many different mound styles, different heights, some with and some without holes, some with dirt, some with brick dust, etc. etc. etc. Travel baseball isn't the MLB so every mound is different from field to field. These mounds can eliminate that constant changing from game to game.

I hope some of my opinion on the situation helps....

I'd rank them as follows:

1. Boyd Co

2. East Carter

3. Greenup Co

4. West Carter

5. Russell

6. Rowan Co

7. Ashland

8. Fleming co

9. Lewis Co

10.Raceland

Former Elliott County Star Evan Faulkner Earns First Head Coaching Job | AllKyHoops.com

Thank you...

Not a chance on Baker.

 

Adam Howard

Evan Faulkner

 

How about Thacker at Rowan?

Where is Evan Faulkner at now? Is he coaching somewhere? He would make any school a great coach.

Hard to believe Whalen from Rowan Co. isnt listed but 5 Elliott Co players are listed in some fashion. Who compiled this list?

I 100% agree. Whalen is better than a lot of guards that made the list.

What year did Coach McKenzie take over as Head Coach at JC? He has a pretty good resume so far....

BTW, congrats to them - 4 in a row is a tough task in any Region!!!!

From the couple 9th region games I saw, the 16th region refs weren't too good.

Not surprised by your comments. I'm not sure who they sent but most individual refs and crews as a whole have been inconsistent all year. I think they improved from the beginning of the year to the end of the year but overall not a good year for them.

On a good note, so far the 9th Region refs have done a great job in the 16th Region tournament so far...IMO.

I like the posted question. IMO, it's called "Senior Day" for a reason - to honor the players that dedicated themselves to their schools program, whether they are a player or bench warmer.

Like many post above, there are special circumstances where I feel it may be appropriate to honor others that are not Seniors, like Mashburn. Some may argue it may not be appropriate to do it on Senior Day - that's their day. I'd have no problem if UK honored WCS tomorrow as he probably had a million things going through his mind last year about this time, ended up getting hurt, not knowing if that would hurt his potential to be drafted status, etc.

Also IMO, I probably wouldn't support honoring a 1 and done and probably not someone that leaves after their Soph season but after 3 seasons I could easily see that being equivalent to a Senior Day with so many players leaving early for NBA.

Gage Hughes , Greenup Co. Shortstop and switch hitter. Freshman 2015. Has started varsity at 2nd base, his 7th, and 8th grade year. Also batting leadoff in 2014 season. Greenup has won district both years and made a run in region.. A top team in the 16th each year... Some D1 looks . Also Kyle Gammon fr 2015, 2nd base, nice player. Really good range and speed. Greenup should be very strong in 2015.

Anyone in Greenup Co know the baseball coach? Come mid April if GC "isn't winning" someone should give him a heads up that X's & O's will be calling the moving company for him - maybe he could get a 2 for 1 deal and move him and Tackett on the same trip.....

Ok back to the topic....

West Carter has 2 very good Freshmen as well.

JT Johnson & Peyton Brown. Both started and contributed to West Carters record setting season last year as 8th graders.

I also agree that teams with good coaches can benefit from the delay. They will have more time for film prep and to work on or improve upon their game plan not only for their 1st round games but their potential Semi finals and finals.

It can also be a huge benefit for teams that have had starters or contributors that have been hurt or sick - the delay gives them more time to heal and/or get back into playing shape with additional conditioning time.

I think it can hurt teams that rely heavily on the jump shot, especially if teams have had to cancel practices due to the weather as well. 2-3 days out of the gym can potentially take a good jump shooting team and make them average shooters which could result in some early upsets.

That's awesome. I really enjoy little stories like this. I've not heard or read (unless I missed it), but what's his plans after HS? Will he play basketball or football anywhere? I'm sure he'll be accepted and can do just about anything he wants with the 4.0 GPA

I'm halfway right so far!

Still 1/2 way right. GC did advance to Region, LOL.

Wow, sounds like it was a great game. Wish I'd went to this one vs the Raceland & Greenup Co game, it was a blowout.

I'll say I'm starting to agree with X's and O's. Tackett doesn't impress me at all. I went to all 63rd district games this week and yes there is some talent on the GC team but they have no leadership. With all the complaining by X's and O's I tried to just watch and enjoy the game but I found myself watching what Tackett was trying to do. I'm not sure he has a clue what he's doing. Gc play no defense what so ever - there is no accountability for the players missing assignments. In Lewis co game I saw a player be ahead of a Lewis co fast break 1-1 and stop at FT line and give LC a wide open layup TWICE - no accountability for this. Tonight 2-3 GC players forced so may bad shots, sometimes with 0 or only 1-2 passes - and there is no accountability for that either. GC didn't shoot well but they are not going to shoot a high % with the shots they were taking. GC was down 8 at half and the big Jackson kid didn't get his first off touch in the 2nd half until 2 min left in the 3rd qtr. Raceland ran some zone and some box &1 but GC ran no off all night. Defensively GC played a diamond and 1 on Blair and shut him down after the 1st qtr but no one else played a lick of def. Raceland got wide open 3's, layups and easy wide open short jump shots all night long. Of course after GC got down 20 they switched def. too little too late. I predicted an early lead by Raceland, a 4th qtr comeback by GC and an 8-10 point win by Raceland. GC just didn't make the run I expected and Raceland blew them out. No way Raceland should beat GC by 20+ and with the offensive talent GC does have and only score 39. I have no dog in the fight, but do believe maybe X's and o's is on to something. I did talk to some GC parents and fans tonight and he's also right about what he says about them, they are embarrassed to have Tackett as their coach. They say it's like this every game. I've seen a dozen so games and looking back they are prob right. The folks I talked to even complaining about how other coaches wear khaki pants and a sweater or a shirt and tie and look half way professional and Tackett is decked out in running pants and a long sleeve t-shirt, LOL...

Definately some issues exist within the fan base at GC so X's & o's not the only one saying it, prob just the only one saying it on BGP.

I guess we'll see what Tackett can bring come Regional tournament time as it's basically a brand new season starting next week.

I am not the most knowledgable person when it comes to Region 16 basketball. But I did talk to somebody that is very familiar with what is happening there! He anticipates there will be a number of changes within the District 16 coaching ranks. He thought GC might be one of those changes.

Russell started it by letting go their coach already, only a day or two after loosing first round of Districts.

I saw the GC @ Raceland game. Raceland was without Messer for this game. Both teams played terrible in my opinion. If I recall GC shot somewhere around 43% from field, 40% from FT line, 35% from 3 pt line, had like 18 turnovers and still won by 8. Raceland just couldn't buy a basket and appeared they couldn't catch a break and if they played anyone else that night probably loose by 20+. With Messer back it will be a different story, Raceland at some point in the first half will jump out to a 10+ point lead over GC, just like Lewis Co did, but they wont give it back. GC will mount a rally in the 4th quarter but I'll take Raceland by a comfortable 8-10 point win.

Morgan Co by 6....