Pete Mitchell

I wasn't there, so I may be out of line, but I know that CovCath's kids 11-15 are significantly better than Highlands 1-5, so when CCH kids at the end of the bench get the chance to play for a quarter or even a half, they are going full tilt regardless of the score. Those 11-15 kids, under these circumstances, are trying to show they deserve more time. It just happens they are really, really good 11-15 kids and it exacerbates the problem. I wouldn't be too quick to allege "revenge" for a lopsided football defeat.

Latest News | Holy Cross High School In what had to be a shocking blow to many, the Holy Cross boys freshmen, coached by Tricia Macke, won the revered Jack Kaelin Boys Regional at Covington Catholic this past week. Just wanted to give a shout out to my man Jimmyfrompiqua and all the other contributors to that thread for one of the greatest "locker room bulletin board" motivators of all time (see closed thread "Is Tricia Macke the freshman coach at Holy Cross?"). http://bluegrasspreps.com/ky-boys-basketball/tricia-macke-boys-314949.html Thanks Jimmy!

With respect to the HMS 7th, no doubt they are fast and skilled with high basketball IQ's. I saw them play quite a few times as 6th graders, and they blew everyone out, including in the regional finals last year (playing everyone). Have other teams closed the gap on them (a close win in the semis and a loss in the finals), or have others just learned how to exploit the drop in talent after their first 5 or 6? Seems like that is what happened in the championship game.

I haven't seen PC play a lot this year, but I do watch the scores and read the comments. It seems like with Allen playing, and particularly when PC's other kids recognize the unique talent that he is, they are probably the best team in the 10th. Gimmick defenses on him don't work because he sees the court well and he is, for a kid with his abilities, the most unselfish kid I've ever seen. I would hope that PC figures out that it tremendously increases their chances at winning the region to have him involved from the first play instead of waiting until desperation time to turn to him, which is the way many of their games have played out this year from what I gather.

This is the 4-5 play-in game to see who gets the privilege of taking on number 1 NewCath.

I am glad that other people recognize Dontaie for his demeanor. He is always the target of the opponent's aggression, and the most annoying defender, and I have seen him kicked, punched and shoved, most of the time out of the view of the officials, and I have never seen him react or retaliate. The kid is a gifted athlete with all the tools, including the mental part to stay above all the chippy stuff. When Pendleton keeps him involved, they can play with anyone in the 10th.

Congrats for sure, outstanding season. And even though the Ninth region champion was incorrectly identified - Holy Cross, not Covington Catholic - the Camels' unblemished mark did include a win over the Indians, in addition to their win over the 9th runner up Colonels. Very solid team at Campbell, good size, basketball IQ, speed and shooting. Nicely done fellas.

Again, I don't know if I agree or disagree, and you didn't show me any numbers. I know that in Northern Kentucky, I wouldn't say it is clearly one way or the other. Last year, on the boys side, you had a couple of D1s (Bolden, McDonald) and on the girls side I think you only had Turner from Holy Cross. Again, I don't have the statistics at my fingertips, but as far as D1s go, I think it is a pretty small number on the boys and the girls side. Surely someone out there has the list of D1 signees on the boys side in the girls side from last year. I'd be interested to see how they stack up.

Not sure if I agree or disagree, but I would like to hear the criteria that you used to come to that conclusion. Are you looking at number of college players? D1 players? Top tier players coming out of Kentucky on the boys side versus the girl side?

You beat me to it by minutes Clyde! Great minds and all ....

Very similar scenario played out on the boys side in 1980. Ervin Stepp played at Phelps, averaged 54 PPG junior and senior seasons, while Dicky Beal averaged 26 PPG as a senior and was recruited by the top programs in the country. Phelps was awarded Mr. Basketball, went to EKU but never started and wound up transferring to a small school (Alice Lloyd?). Dicky went on to start most of his four years at UK, led them to the final four and was named the East Regional most outstanding player in 1984, was drafted in the fourth round by the Atlanta Hawks. I personally look at it like this: Ervin Stepp's name will be forever atop the KHSAA Record books for the scoring milestone he achieved, but he shouldn't be there as the best player in the state because he clearly wasn't. Creech will forever be identified is a great scorer, and will have her name in the record books for her scoring achievement, but when you factor in 50 and 60 and 70 point performances against very bad teams in very big blowouts, I think it is demeaning to award her the Miss Basketball Award when she is indisputably not the best player in the state.

Beiger is an eighth grader that started out the year playing freshman ball (played in a scrimmage against Holy Cross) but played exclusively JV and varsity after that.

Holy Cross squeaked past Beechwood twice, once without Jefferson and Draud, and once with Jefferson and Draud.

As many have said before me, I think it is a shame that the vote is taken before their "body of work" is complete, i.e. before the tournament in their senior season. I have always thought winning, and making others around you better, should at least factor in to some degree. Just my opinion, but I think the decision would be easier if we waited to see who performed the best in their districts, regionals and state tournament. They all have the credentials and are deserving ....

Actually this year there were 18 teams, so two "play in" games, so both Holy Cross and Covington Catholic both wound up playing 5 games. And it turns out I was off on Ty Houston's total, he actually scored 80 in the tournament. I have been told there are no archived records, but in thinking back over the past 40 years or so I can't recall a pair of teammates who would have both scored over 80 points, for many reasons, including the fact that a lot of big scorers (Hatton, Draud, etc) never played freshman basketball and did not play in this tournament.

Kentucky Royals 9th/15U Ty Houston/Holy Cross Dontaie Allen/Pendleton County Blaine Walters/Cooper Jack Coldiron/Covington Catholic Spencer Macke/Holy Cross Chad Ohmer/Scott Zach Deatherage/Beechwood

Back on the subject of the tournament, I would be interested for perspective about where Macke and Houston rank among the best performers in the history of the tournament, at least from a scoring standpoint. Macke scored 89 points in the tournament, and Houston scored 77. Anyone have any numbers from past years to compare those to? I would think it pretty rare that two players from the same team put up numbers like that in this tournament.

I want to think the administration in Covington Catholic, including the athletic director Tony Bacigalupo, on keeping this tournament up at the lofty level that a lot of us expect from it. It is no easy task, but they do the best job in the state, in my opinion, of running an end of season freshman tournament. Great job there guys. In addition, it is a testament to the effectiveness of the officials that there hasn't been one post or comment anywhere that I have found about them in last night's final game. I really can't even remember a call that drew much argument from either coach or bench. Honestly, as far as officiating goes, I don't know that I can ever recall a close and hard-fought game with so few arguments about calls made during the game. All in all, another great year for the Covington Catholic hosts. I look forward to being there for next year's games…

Holy cross led 11-9 after 1...

When Calipari was hired I didn't hear anyone say it was "ridiculous" or "laughable" that he got the job.

No, sorry to say I've never seen any video of that game. I was there, and remember the play and the shot, but if there is any video of it it is in some dusty closet at Holmes, probably buried under the Ark of the Covenant (gratuitous Indiana Jones reference) ....

I feel like I am obliged to point out that Tricia Macke, in her first year coaching high school basketball, becomes not just the first woman to ever coach a boys team, but succeeds in getting to the regional final game. Win or lose, I would hope any questions about her "credentials" to coach boys basketball are put to bed.

There is video of this entire game by the way, but all I have is what was featured in the PBS documentary about Kentucky basketball, dicky's shot and the shot by Hurt. I'll put it up on YouTube when I get a chance.

The 3/4 length pass to Hurt was at the end of regulation... Dicky Beal had made a 12 foot jump shot to put Holmes up 2 with 2 seconds left... Shelby set up the "Laettner play" and executed it to perfection, except Hurt's shot rattled in for the tie to send it to overtime, breaking hearts all over northern Kentucky. The non-goaltend call was in overtime, and became very meaningful when the final margin was 2 points.

Great to hear it will be on the radio ... And in southern Kentucky I am told there is a term specifically for holding a kid back. Seriously, I have heard about systemic "retention" and deciding what is the best year to have your kid "retained".