KYBleacherButt

Before losing the video I couldn't help but notice Owensboro in a zone......

All I've seen them play here in tournament. 3-2 when Holman and Miller are both in the game. 2-3 when only one is in the game.

Sine is a really nice player.

Heck of a shooter.

BG beat writer said he thinks he looks hobbled still.

He's definitely going up and down the court gingerly. Already seen him grimace and grab the injury. Looks much less than 100%. It's a shame. I hate it for anyone to make it this far and not be able to go full strength.

I hope Justin Miller is at full strength after getting injured late in the game last night.

Justin Miller and Zach Randolph is a great comparison, burly lefties with a soft touch.

Was he with a team?

No. He was there wearing a Prairie Farms t-shirt. I think his family may have been vendors working at the tournament.

I didn't have the best angle to film him. He did go on for a long time. The last few minutes were the best. All of the Bowling Green cheerleaders were watching and cheering him on. Their student section had like 10 kids videoing him. Also, everyone in the crowd was watching him and gave him a huge cheer. Here is a good action shot of him from twitter.

https://twitter.com/JonathanPalmer/status/579101742610178048

And EKU should be called CKU.

And then Morehead could be EKU. Of course then no one could have "I ❤️ Morehead" shirts.

Can anybody confirm/deny one way or another on this? It's kind of bothering me. I'm almost certain I saw him.

He was certainly there both sessions. Seated in the second row of press row behind the home team's bench most of the first session. I also saw him in the back eating the pre-session meal in the evening. I didn't know him personally but my Dad and I almost sat at his table when we got our food. It was kind of eery thinking about it tonight.

First, I do think the officiating was very poor. There were many bad calls, some against Calloway but more against Knott. I wouldn't go so far as to say there was something shady going on. I'm not a conspiracy theorist and won't feed those fires. I thought the shorter, white official called a good game. I think he is one of the best officials in the state. The African American official was...eh. The tall white guy...I'll just say I've seen him have better games.

As for the actual game I thoight Knott was way too passive in the first half. By allowing Calloway to hang around and run some clock on offense I thought they really contributed to Calloway's belief that they could win. They relied too much on Justice to create on his own. Which I'll add, he was amazing tonight. When I watched Knott dismantle Lincoln Co the rest of the Patriots outside the big two were very active without the ball and they shared it well. Getting layups for Cornett and quite a few open jumpers for Combs. There was little to none of this tonight.

I also thought Knott made a mistake by having Hall guarding his man on the perimeter the first 3 quarters of the game or so. Eventually they had him say off and protect the rim. If he had been doing that earlier in the game it would have deferred many Calloway's drives and rejected many others that weren't deterred.

In the end, Calloway played well, had a good plan, and won. I was hoping Knott would win, especially the was Justice was playing. It would have been great to see what kind of magic he could have created had they made it to Saturday or Sunday.

Opening Round

1: Owensboro

1: Taylor County

1: Covington Catholic

1: Doss

1: Ballard

1: Boyle County

1: Bowling Green

1: Knott County Central

Quarter-finals

2: Taylor County

2: Doss

2: Ballard

2: Knott County Central

Semi-finals

3: Doss

3: Ballard

2015 Sweet 16 State Champion

5: Ballard

Tiebreaker: 137

This makes two schools that made it to the All-A tournament that also made it to Rupp. Congrats!!!

I think the turning point in the game was when Sloas for Elliott County came in and took over guarding Redparth. In the early going Redparth was doing whatever he wanted. After Sloas started guarding him Morgan's offense went sluggish in a hurry.

Good crowd here so far for being an hour before tip. I'm sure it'll look smaller since it is in Morehead's gym.

PP92, just for fun why don't you seed us a Sweet 16 bracket after tonight's finals completes the field.

Oh man...this thread is gonna be a fun one to read.

And BoCo will have to complete a similiar task to make a run at Rupp. It was a tough stretch of games, I was there, they impressed me with those first two games.

Not before they play Lexington Catholic, which is the matchup being discussed.

I stand corrected. They are still potentially and issue in the top half of the bracket. IMO

Not trying to pick on you but Jefferson didn't play against Dunbar and they still should have won that game. Doss threw it away at the end. When they have his size and athleticism to go with their pressure defense they are tough. Doss may get more deflections and hands in passing lanes than any team I've watched all season.

I do completely agree about them being a threat on the top half though, or entire tournament if they make it.

I've seen Doss and Williamsburg each a couple of times and if this is the matchup I wouldn't expect it to be very close. I've been wrong a lot, so it could be. In fact I'd like it to be, it is always fun to root for the small schools that make it to Rupp.

LexCath beat Boyle by 18 ON Dec 29th. I think LexCath will be favored by more than you are expecting. I know the situation of the 4 games in 4 days, but that is how that Sweet 16 is set up as well. I think the game will be closer than 18, I hope the 12th region advances, but I saw this matchup in December and it was never close.

The game was never close, that is certainly true. However, it would be unfair to completely overlook what each team had faced the previous three days. LexCath had played Betsy Layne on Friday (out in the first round of District) and Casey County on Sunday (out in first round of Region). Boyle County had played Bryan Station on Friday (11th Region Runner Up), Covington Catholic on Saturday (9th Region Champ), and Apollo on Sunday (Region semi-finalist).

Glad to see Hayden Smith getting some love. That kid is a player. He definitely deserved a spot.

I completely agree. He can flat ball. He's also a lot more athletic than he looks. I saw multiple dunks and blocks by him that I wouldn't have predicted he could pull off.

Seniors:

Jeremiah Bell - Boyle

Jacob Conway - Lincoln

Brooks Ely - West Jessamine

Dylan Gaskins - SW

Adam Isaacs - SW

TimmyTaylor - Lincoln

Hagen Tyler - Boyle

Sean Ross - Pulaski

Hayden Smith - East Jessamine

Peyton Woods - Wayne

Cody Woolridge - Danville

 

Juniors:

Trey Blevins - Wayne

Will Hager - Mercer

Corey Stearns - Wayne

I'm sure I'm somewhat biased cause I've seen these teams a lot due to proximity but that is an impressive squad. Especially considering the 12th wouldn't be one of what are traditionally considered the power regions. I never saw Sean Ross so I can't speak for him but every other player on that list could singlehandedly take over a game and carry their team if they got hot.

I can completely relate. I don't have a team I follow but have been to well over 100 games this year and the Sweet 16 is always bittersweet. I love seeing the best compete for the title but dread the offseason.

I feel my wife may have the same sense of dread but more because I'll be home now.

It's always tough watching a team come up short when they've given in their all. I still remember the first time I saw this group of kids play for Lincoln. Me and a buddy had seen Pulaski County play in the Lexington Catholic tournament and enjoyed watching them play (I don't remember their names but they had two good guards who could fill it up). To see them again we found a game that would be pretty close, choosing to go to see them play at Lincoln County. The crowd was nothing like tonight to say the least. In the JV game there was a Freshman (Pittman) who was pretty good and VERY intense. He would get upset over missing a layup or free throw or anything else. I also distinctly remember a tall scrawny kid who could play (Conway). We went to see Pulaski but we talked about how Lincoln had a lot of young talent and could be really good in a few years. It ended up coming together for them and they did become quite a team. Obviously they fell short of their goal tonight but that is nothing for them to hang their heads over. It doesn't take away from anything that group of kids was able to do together over the last few years. They just ran into another quality team tonight that was a bit better. That's what happens this time of year.

Anyways, congrats on the run Lincoln had. I really enjoyed watching them the last couple years. Also, good luck to Boyle in Rupp next Thursday.

Already one All A school in the Sweet 16 with Williamsburg. Possibly two more with Murray and Elliott County.

Is it a foul? Yeah, looked like it to me. With 1 second left in a tie game for a trip to Rupp that far from your basket? I wish they'd have swallowed the whistle. With that said, overall I think Lincoln got a more favorable whistle in the 2nd half than Boyle. I just hated to see such a great game end like that. Not necessarily because it was on a whistle but I just like to see games like that end mainly because someone made a good play instead of ending because someone made a bad one.

A couple other things others mentioned...

The video Wireman posted (with my head in the lower left corner) doesn't do justice to the noise in that building. I'm not sure I've been in a high gym that was louder than Lincoln County tonight. Specifically when Lincoln made a run in the 4th and during those free throws.

Also, the segment of the game (4th quarter I believe) where Hagen Tyler carried Boyle and Jacob Conway carried Lincoln was absolutely awesome to watch. Two great players making plays for their team when they needed it. The crowd on both sides going nuts.

Overall, the atmosphere for this game and the effort by both teams was absolutely incredible. I had quite a few choices for where to go tonight and I'm really glad I ended up seeing this one.

Thursday what's the tip off time?

They play the second game of the session. Scheduled for 1:30, will more likely start around 2.

I picked Bryan Station to win the region before the postseason started so I'll stick with it. I will say though, after watching LexCath last night I don't feel too confident about my pick.