SSSGODWIN

#14 you make me proud.

I watch a lot of basketball at many different levels and I don't think I know of another middle school Big that shoots the 12-15 foot jumpers as accurate as him.

You don't think think he'll end up at Ryle?

Saw this on Facebook http://archive.newsleader.com/article/20120205/SPORTS/202050332/Parents-driving-coaches-away-from-game

He's a great kid thank you for sharing. We'll see you starting tailback on the All-Star team?

CE has beaten Ockerman a couple times and Ockerman beat them once. But, I think the total margin in all three games is pretty close. Beechwood beat Ockerman pretty good earlier this year and now Ockerman got the win. I don't know about SVA. I think this just underscores how much parity there is in players of this age. One player hitting puberty is changing games. It makes it a lot of fun. But, I think this Ockerman group has always been scrappy competitive. In the past if they were hitting three's and creating turnovers they couple play with anyone.

I was just responding the person who called him out originally. I didn't come running here with comments. Maybe I was a little harsh. Keep in mind that I don't have a dog in the fight. Not a rooting interest in any of these games. I have former players on all these teams and care about all of them. I do cheer for each of them and want them to succeed. But when they face each other I'm pretty neutral. However, Jones is a kid that I cut from two tryouts as he grew up. He's a kid that I've never had in a practice. (Subbed for me at the end of the AAI season) But he is a young man that I admire. He has worked his butt off and now as his body develops it is "his turn" and I want to see him get that chance. Right now he's not getting the chance he deserves. Two years ago prior to me taking an assistant role with Gray, I approached the CEMS coach (after a game) and asked him why one of the best "shooters" in NKY wasn't getting any PT? He said "I don't know". I went on to tell him that he has a really good player and he doesn't realize it. The kid played for Legacy and his name is Jacob. I never met the player or his parents. But somebody needed to say something for sake of the player and team. To me it is just that obvious.

Mason Molique is one of the best kickers I've ever seen. Considering he's just a Sophmore to be he's only going to get better. He's been banging 30 Yard field goals since 6th grade. Great kid who has a chance to be about 6'5" if he's like his dad.

Trey's dad is the late great Greg Long. Great guy! Great dad! Great friend. Trey is a fantastic young man!

Watched all three games at Turkeyfoot last night. First time I've been able to see any of those teams play all season.

For the most part in NKY AAU basketball doesn't start until 3rd grade. There are very few tournaments for 2nd etc.. The best option for basketball is the SOAS 9U Rec league on 9' goals. (1game and 1 hour of practice/week) Using my experience with my older group the plan was to start an AAU team when they get in 3rd grade which would be this year. I wanted to create a program for any kid that wanted to prepare for the next season. The scope of the program was to take 16 kids. (The first 16 that said "yes") Create two 8 man teams for the Rec league mentioned above. The parents would split the cost of the two gyms we practiced in. Our schedule was simple Sat 1 game Sun two hour practice Tues 1 hour 1/2 court practice at SOAS Wed two hour practice. Nov Mid ~ March Mid The goal was to give these kids a head start in competitive basketball. The goals were simple We were going to enforce Dribbling Speed/Agility Man-man defense Moving with out the ball/passing We would dribble for 75 minutes on Tuesday and Sunday. Followed by man to man she'll drill for 20 minutes. We ended with 20-30 minutes of man-man full court with no dribbling allowed. The kids love this drill. It teaches moving with out the ball, V cuts, CSL (Catch-Square-Look), Triple threat, meeting passes, pass cut (in front of the defenders face) Went on and won the D2 AAU State tournament going away. Should have been in D1 but all the lead up events we played in we were about .500 with one "weakweakweak" tournament win. What we didn't know was that all the teams drilling us had hold backs that were NOT allowed to play in 8U. We actually had no idea how good we were. To be honest, I'm still not sure. This year we're 5-2 with loses to 4th grade teams. All 15 out of 16 kids came back this year. Plus we had 45 more try to get in. The 2nd grade class this year is going to be very good. Much better than the one last year. But some of these same kids were part of the 16 from last year. AAU/Competitive sports is not for everyone. However, if I'm going to spend money and time taking my kid back and forth then I want to make sure they are maximizing their ability. Which is exactly what we did. The best part is that we wrapped up the season/practices by 3-14-15 and all the kids went on to baseball/soccer/flag/BMX racing. This year I have just 10 kids. I don't know really how this program will do in the long run. I do know this. The 10 kids I have now have great attitudes, a solid work ethic and they love the game. If they maintain this moving forward they will have a considerable advantage over others by the time they are in middle school. Regarding the comments about kids not getting the opportunity etc. I'm grateful that as a team we are able to sponsor two kids that each have single parents and not able to afford this type of basketball. It would not be possible if the other 8 parents weren't so giving. I get it. It's not for everyone. But for us it works.

Let me apologize. That last post was out of frustration. People on this site just want to argue and it's frustrating. You're not one of them. In fact I enjoy most of your comments. But there are some folks that just want to argue. Teams I watch and other coaches I talk to don't spend their time practicing sets. Trust me. I was there. I had a 3rd grade team five years ago running the Flex offense in practice. But when we got to a tournament and teams were in a 2-3 or half court trap I quickly realized we wasted our practice time. My comments were a generalization about the opportunity given to some kids and not others. The point was that some kids don't get the gym time to develop at young ages. Many of these kids are grouped together in the same social class by the location of their school. Therefore, the size of their school doesn't matter if they haven't developed at a young age.

I think it is more of the demographic of kids that attend these schools instead of the school's themselves. But in the case for WV. I know they have and elementary program for kids that is much more advanced than what Boone Co Public has. I think this is why in High School Holmes, Loyd and Boone County etc catch up. These kids don't have parents driving them around for early development. Here's an example: My 2nd graders last year spent 7 hrs/week in the gym. By the end of the year each kid (16) did 63K dribble reps and 58K feet of agility. This can only be done in a high school gym that parents have to pay for and transport to and from. This year it is even more advanced. How many lower income kids get this chance? Better yet. How many of their parents could get them there if it were free? The Catholic school do a great job because they have their own gyms and leagues. Plus they develop more kids because they have many more schools and rosters that are the same size. I don't think it would for High school. The numbers win out once kids grow up. But at young ages it is pretty much all about skills.

I don't know any of those schools/kids so I can't comment. But, the simple fact that a school the size of WV would be mid pack of the large school division makes my point. I don't think success is related to enrollment. It's a factor, but I think coaches and social class effect middle school performance more than anything. These kids that have had the opportunity to play growing up (elementary age) are far more skilled than the kids that haven't.

Big School/Little school... I don't think any of it matters that much. It's all about players and coaches not numbers. I think there are good teams in the catholic school league also that don't get mentioned here. Conner 8th lost a couple players and they fell of the dramatically. Ockerman added a couple nice players but has a coach that doesn't care AT ALL. The Ockerman 7th grade coach does a great job. I wish he would have moved up and that team would be in the discussion. Tonight I saw Walton Verona 7th grade team blast. Big school Twinhofel by 30 something with two 6th graders starting. Then the WV 8th grade won by 20 ish. Two years ago this same WV team couldn't tie their shoe strings. I coached with Dave Rankin and Gray 2 years ago. We lost to Beechwood in the Semi's that year in a 2-3 point game (Current 8th graders were 6th then) Now that same group of Gray players are really struggling. Back that what letsgetit said. At this level coaches are having a huge impact. Some of these teams are poorly coached some are not. The other thing is some coaches are developing players for High school others are trying to win at all cost. Some are balancing winning and development. BTW - The Walton Verona 7th grade team has only lost one game all season. It was to a team they'd crushed a couple times already. As far as dominating a schedule, I don't know that anyone has dominated their schedule like they have. They are not in either big or small school division. They are in NCKC. I'd like to know how they compare to the better 7th grade teams in NKY.

Yep