BCHS-BLUEBIRD

Highlands vs Campbell Cty 6th- HMS 7th- HMS 8th- HMS 8th- Salter is continuing his growth and in my opinion looks better and better each game. Numerous blocks and put back baskets, all while staying out of foul trouble(hard to do at around 6'4) LOL. Ahlfeld had another big scoring night as he chipped in 22 pts. Many of those coming from assists from Huddleston. I'd have to double check Huddleston's stats but he was close to a triple double in rebounds, steals, and assists.

Yeah, I went to college with his dad. He is CRAZY tall.

I saw them play against Highlands earlier in the year. I heard IHM was even missing someone and it was a dog fight. Went to OT. I don't think HMS has lost in 2 years and I thought for sure they were going to lose. HMS pulled out the win at the end but IHM is the real deal. The Vieth boy looked really good. He has height, weight and can dribble the ball well for his size.

Highlands VS Turkeyfoot 6th? 7th HMS 8th HMS

You never singled out Highlands? "I video a lot of games, and have had the occasion to be in the middle of the Highlands parents section, and if anyone has any doubt about the behavior of the parents especially, I can easily provide you with proof, as their comments are heard throughout the video." Is that you NOT calling out Highlands? Also, before you mentioned it was a punch and now you say it wasn't much of a punch or don't know what it was? This was never a thread about only Highlands, this is a thread about 6th,7th,8th middle school boys bball. Ironically, you didn't seem to mention in all of your videoing and basketball knowledge where one of SV's kids flipped off our team and stormed off the court after losing and wouldn't shake hands, which is what started the issue in the stands and everything else in the first place. Did you send that clip to your principal? Funny how certain things don't make the cut here. Also, did you see Highlands fans on here bringing that up, mentioning his number or name or any other issues? To my knowledge that was never brought up but you're bringing up an issue from last year that happened AFTER all of that other drama started. Two sides to every coin.

I would be surprised if he didn't go to high school at Ryle. Didn't his brother just graduate from Ryle? If he's looking...I hear Ft Thomas has a decent program!!!

I haven't been able to see any of the small schools yet. We played Summit View(won by 7) in our first game and then played Bracken(won big) yesterday. Bracken played hard. They only had 7 kids, I think it's hard to run and gun without a little more depth. It looks like we'll play Summit View again in the finals.

Looks like Highlands 8th grade plays Bracken Cty in the Dayton Tourney tonight. I haven't seen them play. Anyone know anything about them this year?

That makes much more sense. I must've read it wrong.

Wait...So are you saying they have a 6'3 big with size and don't play him? Do they have any other bigs that play over him? Why would you not play him and let him bang around down low. We played them early on but I was out of town so I missed the game. I believe it was a 20+ point game but we have pretty big team with Salter 6'4, and fast kids like at Huddleston 6'0+, and Ahlfeld 5'10+.

I think it's just match ups at this age. Certain teams just match up better with others. Ockerman doesn't have the size so they rely on speed and the 3 to save them. There are teams the give us fits that others blow out. It's the beauty of 13-14 yr old boys playing bball, you never know who will show up.

So you've just heard from multiple sources all of this, so you decide to join BGP and post a long article of how the 8th grade kids and parents at Highlands need to change immediately? Oh, but they're talented. Come on, really?Thank you for your insight from the multiple others that you've "heard" from. My son DOESN'T talk trash or clap in kids faces. He does play on that team and he plays a fair amount. I can tell you this, he doesn't care if your grandma went to Highlands and he doesn't care if a "contributing alum" or someone else might move into Ft Thomas, they want change the bad culture of the past and win. I'm not justifying the trash talking and clapping in kids faces. I'm not a fan of that. These kids win a lot and should act like they've been there, but your also talking about 1-2 kids of the 12-14 that are on the team. Parents at HMS and just about every school we've been to are all cheering and screaming for there teams. We are not perfect that's for sure, I will say that I'm as guilty as the next person and shouldn't let bad calls and other parents get me going but it does and I end up joining in. Its definitely an opportunity for improvement for many not just HMS parents. I really think Highlands is heading in the right direction. Listerman(high school coach) is doing a great job helping change that culture at Highlands. I think that really starts down in the 6th grade. The middle school is starting to change but that is just now happening. It will take a few years and a strong coaching directive from the high school to make that change permanent.

Any other scores? I heard 8th Ockerman beat Beechwood and 8th grade Conner beat Camp Ernst. Wondering what happened in those games. Both considered upsets? Kind've hard to call anything an upset really at this age I guess.

8th HMS VS SV: It was another battle. These teams always play each other well. They will probably end up playing each other 6-7 times this year between tourneys and regular season. HMS is actually up 2-0 on playing them with full squads. SV blew out HMS in a preseason tourney at Lloyd without Huddy or Ahlfeld. I think SV was down Hensley as well. We just beat them at HMS and then last night in the Dayton tourney. Very impressed with the development of #34 Davis on SV. He kept them in it with 5 3's last night. SV shot the lights out. I think they were somewhere around 11-22 from 3's last night. Both Davis for SV and Ahlfeld for HMS had 19 pts each to lead each other's squads.

If someone has them, can they post the schedules for the holiday tourney's? Might be some good games to check out.

It was not pretty. The good news is you can tell Holmes is trying to turn it around and work on the culture in middle school program. I know that series will continue to get tougher as the boys continue to grow, but having the big 3 back and 100% healthy for the first time really all year was scary to watch. You can tell Huddleston and Ahlfeld have played A LOT of bball together. Ton's backdoor cuts, give-n-go's, fast breaks, etc.

Any good games last night? HMS swept Holmes 6th-7th-8th

Good looking out. I thought that number seemed high. Dang Schooldigger.com. LOL

Based on... Schooldigger.com. It was the first one that pulled up. Walton-Verona Middle School in Walton KY - SchoolDigger.com I believe these are all 5th-8th grade schools. Latest number I got from HMS was they are under 650 and I said they were 600+ WV has over 500 and I said they were 500+ St. Pius has over 550 and I said 550+

I have to agree. Turkeyfoot, Camp Ernst, Conner, and Gray Middle(All 1000-1200 kids) all have almost double what Highlands enrollment is around 600+. WV is around 500+, St Pius 550+. Food for thought...is that the reason Holmes struggles (just under 800 kids)some in Middle school ball but is always in the conversation for high school ball??? Not enough opportunity to play at a younger age? That's a scary thought to think how great those boys/girls could be if they had the coaching and opportunity at the elementary and middle school level.

Beechwood is much improved over the past couple of years. New coaching and adding one of the top players around in Jefferson has definitely catapulted Beechwood into the upper tier discussions. I'd say if you roll through and beat Highlands and Camp Ernst it would be hard to leave you out of that mix. Who did you guys end up losing to so far?

It was nice to see Huddy back on the court. He played about 2 mins in the 2nd qtr, 4 mins in the 3rd and 5-6 mins in the 4th. Ahlfeld had another really solid game leading all scores. Big Issac was the shocker for me tonight. He continues to get more aggressive with rebounding and put backs. He made some big rebounds in that first half. I'm impressed with his growth as a player thus far. As far as the game, It seemed like Summit View thought they were going to roll in there an blow out HMS, AGAIN, as they had did earlier(missing Ahlfeld/Huddy/Delagrange) in the year in a pre-season tourney. SV is a very good team, I think they were flat last night. Seemed like HMS controlled the game from the tip. HMS was starting to run away with the game, up around 15 when the coach pulled the starters and SV came roaring back within about min it seemed like. The game was pretty much out of reach by then (because of the time left and in double bonus) but made everyone sit up and pay attention, for sure. It will be another good battle when they play them in Jan.

Who did all of the scoring for St. Pius?

Huddleston and Ahlfeld both missed that that game because of football. Delagrange was out as well with a broken bone. Still no Huddleston or Delagrange(injured still) tonight, Salter still battling a hand injury but should play and Ahlfeld was sick last week but he should play too. Your correct, the Summit View/Highlands games are battles for sure. Stands are always packed and it usually comes down to the wire. I look forward to the end of Jan meeting when everyone should be back at full strength on both sides.

There must be some really talented kickers in NKY right now. I've not seen anyone with a leg quite as good as Highlands kicker Nick Bowman at the freshman level. He will be the varsity kicker for the next 3 years. In freshman last year he must've kicked 90+% of his kickoffs into the endzone and numerous long FG's. Having a really good kicker can make the difference in those close games.