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cardfan01

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Everything posted by cardfan01

  1. Rumors out of Meade Co. are pretty bad. Chezney Weick may be out for a pretty long time due to his recent injury. Going to be hard to overcome his loss without going through some significant adversity. Someone has to step up in his absence, but it is starting to feel like no one is anywhere close to being ready. Not having Weick is no excuse for losing to North Hardin in blowout fashion. It's soul searching time now.
  2. Tough break for Meade Co. as I heard on the radio broadcast that Chezney Weick suffered an ankle injury and did not play against E-Town. Meade controlled the game with a 14 point lead at one point in the 3rd quarter, but gave the lead away (and some) down the stretch. While Chris Armstead may have the biggest upside on the team, I do feel that Chezney Weick is the one player Meade can't do without at this time. I know this sounds like a broken record, but the E-Town loss may be another one that needs to be highlighted with an asterisk (key injury).
  3. After a full slate of games last night and some losses by a few key teams, I feel strongly that Meade Co. is worthy of being higher up in the rankings. Meade's only two losses in the region were its first two games without a very key player. I'm not explaining those losses away entirely, but I do think that Meade is probably worthy of at least being in your #4 slot in the rankings.
  4. Meade County is starting to get healthy. Cooper Crump has returned to the team from an injury after having a solid season last year as an 8th grader. Looks like Armstead is starting to pick things up after suffering a pre-season injury and missing a few games (don't think he's all the way back yet, though). Going back to the win against Breckinridge, I believe that the Waves are 6-2 over that period. They will only get better over time, especially if Armstead can return to the level of play he showed in AAU ball and in the pre-season. I firmly believe that a healthy Meade County is better than Ohio County (lost a close one to Ohio Co. without Armstead and Crump) and should be contending for your #4 spot in the rankings before long. I also throw out the loss against O Cath since it was without Armstead. Hard to tell how that game would have gone if he had played, but the lopsided loss was due to a massive number of turnovers that he certainly would have helped with. I'm combining all of that with a win against your #1 team to make an argument that this team is potentially better than your current ranking shows.
  5. For a second straight season opener against Ohio County, Meade Co. was without a key player. Last year it was Schwartz, this year it was Armstead. Armstead suffered a minor injury (ankle) in a preseason game, but I hear he may not be out too long. Meade dominated early, but the offense got stagnant in the second half and one would have to assume that Armstead could have helped. If Armstead is available against Owensboro Catholic, then we should get a better feel for how they match up against the rest of the region.
  6. Just watched Meade Co. handle Louisville Eastern fairly easily today in a preseason game. After watching them today I really think they have a chance to compete with Breckinridge for the District title and could be a contender in the region. Chris Armstead was incredible and showed that he has the potential to be one of the top players in the region. He had a decent AAU season this past year and it looks like his game has just gone to another level. He's an athletic 6'2" wing/guard with crazy speed and elevation. He's starting to get interest from some schools and there may be a lot more if he continues to play this way. Along with Armstead, they have a few kids that can handle and score the ball pretty well. And they are all around 6'1" to 6'3". The bench looks to be deep as well. Meade really surprised me with what I saw today. I didn't expect it.
  7. I agree with your thoughts on the team rankings coming into this year. But the player rankings are so much more difficult to figure out. Case in point is Aiden Matthews, who nobody knew about coming into the season last year and ended up being the 3rd Region's only Associated Press All-State player selection (Honorable Mention). He didn't make your pre-season top 15 (I don't think), but who really knew what to expect from him. From my perspective, he was the best All Around player in the region. I'll be watching out for who comes completely off the radar this year and makes a significant impact. I'm sure you would agree that there will be some! Poole is definitely the top known returning commodity this year and that kid is phenomenal for his size around the basket. I look forward to the season and sharing thoughts!
  8. The big question is who will fill the shoes of Aidan Matthews, who is now playing at Asbury University. Matthews was a dynamic player who was the 3rd Region's only AP All-State Player last year (Honorable Mention). Replacing his 20 Pts and 8 Rebs a game will probably not come from one player, but will need to come from the team collectively (especially the scoring). Sr. Chris Armstead needs to show that he can consistently score the ball this year. He transferred to Meade Co. last year and there was a definite adjustment period. He did show an ability to affect the game at times, but he needs to do more damage out on the wing. Spending time on the AAU circuit this past summer should help some. They also have a couple of really young guards who got tons of experience last year as 8th graders. Sr. Chezney Weick has the athletic ability to be physically dominant at the forward position in the 3rd Region and I'm sure the coaches are hoping that he gets closer to reaching his full potential this year. Crump is another Sr. forward (an occasional previous starter) who missed all of last year due to injury and could be a key factor for the Green Wave this year. Though I'm not sure how far along his recovery is at this time or what his role will be. The big question/key I believe is offense. The team appears to be quicker and a bit more athletic (overall) than last year, so will they press more with the hope of creating transition opportunities? That would be my guess. Meade will certainly turn to a new chapter after losing James Baker (Morehead St.) a couple years ago and Aidan Matthews (Asbury) last year. Will be interesting to see if anyone can step in and pick up where those two left off.
  9. Don't know much about the Sullivan kid, but he did put up a massive number of field goal attempts according to KHSAA (3 point FG% could be better for a guard) . Not an overall reflection of him as a player, because I heard he's pretty good. But sometimes PPG can be misleading.
  10. Good luck to Apollo at Rupp. Barker did an excellent job of getting his team ready for postseason. Here is a list of the top 5 scorers and rebounders for the 3rd Region, as of today. Scoring: (1) Poole (Breckinridge) 23.6 Pts (2) Nofsinger (Muhlenberg) 23.3 Pts (3) Moore (Butler) 21.7 Pts (4) Matthews (Meade) 19.2 Pts (5) Gardner (Owensboro) 17.7 Pts Rebounding: (1) Patterson (McLean) 9.7 Rebs (2) Wright (Trinity) 8.6 Rebs (3) Matthews (Meade) 7.7 Rebs (4) Parker (Butler) 6.6 Rebs (5-tie) Gray (Apollo) 6.4 Rebs (5-tie) Parker (Ohio) 6.4 Rebs Matthews was the only player to make the top 5 in both categories, but did not make first team all region. I wonder if the distance between Meade County and Owensboro played a part in this. I also think that Matthews being off the radar coming into this season played a role. It is fun to talk about what we expect before each season, but I think we put too much emphasis on early season rankings. It's hard for a kid in Meade to get noticed when you are so far away from the center of the 3rd Region universe I don't want to point out any particular player comparisons because I'm sure they are all great kids who had tremendous seasons. However, I would argue that two of them are clearly not more worthy of being first team over Matthews (eye test, stats or otherwise). ApolloFan98 - Had a great time following you this year. Awesome job! Great job on your tournament predictions as well.
  11. I agree completely with what you saw in the Meade/Apollo game. Meade played Apollo in the Summer varsity league at Apollo High School (back in June I think). Matthews hit shots from everywhere on the floor that day and Apollo had nobody who could guard him. I think Apollo won that one, but it was very close. I'm sure Apollo remembered quite a bit from that game. I don't think Meade was in any way affected by the thought of playing Apollo. They played an extremely tough schedule outside the 3rd Region (many from the tough 5th region). Central Hardin is a team similar to Apollo and they beat them pretty handily in the final regular season game. While the team did not handle the stronger competition very well throughout the year, Matthews always seemed to perform at a high level in all of those games. The stronger the opponent, the better he seemed to play. Meade did lose in a blowout to Catholic very early in the season. They had some major ball handling issues in that game, where they turned it over time after time right underneath their own basket for easy layups (it was almost comical how bad it was). I think Meade was down 16-0 before they got on the board. I assure you that a more recent matchup between those two would not result in a similar score. Meade improved a lot over the course of the season. It's hard to gauge the Meade Co./Daviess Co. game. Close game until somewhere in the 3rd. Too many turnovers and some hot shooting from Owen (I believe). The problem with Daviess County is that they can blow people out on a hot shooting night or lose to anyone when the ball isn't dropping (no size at all). I'm being honest here when I say that they really didn't look much different than last year when Meade beat them twice (with and without James Baker). Maybe they were a little quicker, but smaller this year.
  12. Very good point dognation2 and much agreed. It looked like Meade allowed the box and one to dictate things too much early in the game. Other than maybe an offensive putback attempt, Matthews didn't take a shot in the first quarter. I didn't see how Meade could win a game like this if he was going to be a non-factor. Some of the other kids certainly have had some nice games recently, but they can't carry a team the way he can. I think somehow that got lost and I'm not sure how. It just looked like they needed to get Matthews involved earlier even if he had to force things a bit. He got Gray in foul trouble and off the floor, but the guards weren't looking for him when he had a size mismatch. I would not have allowed that to happen. He is your best player and you need to get him going. Don't know how effective Apollo can be against other teams who have more scorers, but the box and one last night had the effect of taking the head off a snake. I was surprised by how good Apollo looked last night. They certainly have size, but quickness might be an issue.
  13. Great game plan from Apollo last night with the box and one on Matthews. Gray wore Matthews like a shirt the whole game (he was so close that it looked uncomfortable at times). One time he got his feet tangled up with Matthews as they were running down the court after a made basket. They were nowhere near the ball. Matthews fell forward into Gray and an official called him for an offensive foul. Completely unintentional. Gray was too close and underneath him. That kind of sums up how the game went. Graham was a beast last night. I didn't expect to see him play that well. Apollo played faster than what I expected as well. They packed in a tight box and one zone and it helped to cover up any quickness issues on defense. Great job by Apollo last night. Seems like they are playing at a totally different level right now.
  14. Great recap. I'm excited for this tournament and especially the first round game between Apollo and Meade. That should be a fun game to watch. Great to see Matthews get some solid recognition here. In the District Championship on Friday he had 19 Points, 12 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 3 Blocks and 3 Steals. Kind of a typical stat line for him. Who has consistently put up the kind of numbers that he has in this region? I'm not just talking about scoring, I'm talking about a complete all-around player. At 6'5", he has great size and length and can also shoot from the perimeter. At no time did I ever feel like Matthews was not the best all-around player on the floor in Meade's 3rd Region games. Kobe Poole is a pure scorer and is a different type of player. If we are looking at scoring only, then I think Poole is the best in the region because of his FG%. Poole's FG% is over 51.3% and he does damage from everywhere on the floor. I think he compares favorably to someone like Nofsinger who is shooting 40.7% from the field. Nofsinger takes about half of his shots from behind the arc and only shoots 36.3% out there (OK, but not great). If comparing those two, I'll take Poole who is a special player to watch. Against very good teams outside the 3rd Region, Matthews had some huge games. John Hardin (38 Pts, 10 Rebs), Louisville Valley (33 Pts), Louisville Doss (great all around game with 19 Pts), Central Hardin (Double Double). Being outside of Owensboro doesn't help his cause for sure, but I think he is the best all-around player in the region this year.
  15. dognation2 - Sorry about that. I didn't realize that the 17th District Championship has not yet been settled. That's a tough District! I'd lean toward JH in that game especially after having a tough game last time out.
  16. Meade Co. played great last night. Contributions from a lot of players. When they play like this, they are going to be hard to beat. Ask Central Hardin, who was dominated by Meade a week or so ago. Central Hardin won their district and routed E-Town in the process. Matthews had a tremendous stat line according to the newspaper, 19 Pts, 12 Rebs, 4 Assists, 3 Blocks, 3 Steals. Some of his passes were outstanding. At 6'5", he's not just a big guy. He can also step out and shoot the three (had two last night and one at a key moment). I think he got his fingers on more shots and had more than 3 blocks. He and Chezney Weick dominated the paint and the boards. Schwartz was very crafty and hard to defend. Collard has contributed nicely as well. All four made the All District team. Here is a question I've asked all season - Who has been consistently putting up the kind of numbers that Matthews has in this region???? I've asked this question throughout the year, but I haven't heard any objective responses. Not just scoring, rebounding, or passing alone, etc.... I'm talking about all of those things together. Breckinridge actually hit a bunch of shots last night and played a decent game overall. Poole did his usual thing and is the best pure scorer in the region (he's amazing to watch). IMO, Noffsinger's FG% is far too low (at just above 40%) and is no comparison to what Poole has done this year. Looks like Noffsinger is a volume shooter based on the number of shots he takes compared to the rest of his team. Very few times this year (and only against some elite players outside of the 3rd region) have I felt that Matthews was not the best overall player on the floor. Poole is a pure scorer and one of the best in the state, so it is hard to compare the two. I think some have given the early POY nod to what they called the best player on what was considered to be the best team in the region throughout the year. I think Matthews and Poole are/were deserving of more consideration.
  17. I think you meant to say that NO's record this year is 17-11, right? Not 11-17. I believe they do have a winning record this year.
  18. I just realized Kobe Poole is a Junior, so I suppose he wouldn't be eligible.
  19. I'm sure that Gardner of Owensboro is a very nice player and he is on the best team in the 3rd Region heading into district tournament. I must admit, I've only seen a little bit of film on him so I don't have much to base an opinion on. What I do know is that Aidan Matthews of Meade County was somebody who was on no one's radar coming into this year. He has had tons of double/doubles this year. Averages around 20 Pts and 7 Rebs per game. He had huge games against great competition outside the region (against John Hardin, Valley, Doss, etc...). In my opinion there was no better "all-around" player in the region when you look at scoring, rebounding, shooting percentages, passing ability and his overall ability to affect the game. Lately opponents have been trying to lock him down, but he is still putting up decent numbers. There was a long stretch in the middle of the season where absolutely no one was able to guard him. The other play that I think deserved consideration was Kobe Poole of Breckinridge County. That kid puts up huge numbers just about every game and he doesn't have much team support. I think Matthews and Poole are the two most deserving in the region based on what I've seen. There are other players in the region who have really good scoring averages who appear to be volume shooters who don't have shooting percentages that are good enough (Noffsinger, 41.8%, of Muhlenberg County and Moore, 37.6%, of Butler County).
  20. Awesome win for Meade County tonight against a very good Central Hardin team. They've had to play without Schwartz the past couple of games due to an ejection a few games ago. They definitely struggled against E-town without him the other day, but they put a really nice game together today. Consistency has been an issue with this team, but it looks like that is getting a little bit better as we move into the final stretch.
  21. Meade picked up a really nice win against a very good North Oldham team last night. Probably the most hostile environment that they've played in all year and they responded. After looking at the scores from the 3rd region this past week, I would say that this is the best win from any team outside of the 9th District during the week. Matt Collard stepped up and hit some big shots last night. That was important because Schwartz was ejected from the game (early in the game) and he has been on a really good run lately. Teams are trying their best to just limit the damage from Matthews, which is about all you can really hope for. Last night was one of Matthews' worst games from the floor on the season and he still found a way to score 19. North Oldham played relatively well last night and hit a lot of shots, but Meade showed some toughness in this win. We will have to see how the team handles the loss of Schwartz for the last two regular season games. One of the biggest keys for Meade is cutting down on turnovers. Daviess County beat Meade several games ago and you can clearly see where turnovers had a massive effect. If Meade is not turning the ball over, they appear to matchup really well with DC (just as they did last year when they beat DC without James Baker in the regular season and with James Baker in the 3rd Region tournament). Maybe this team is starting to figure things out at the right time.
  22. Matthews scored 33 tonight for Meade against Valley. That's his 3rd straight game over 30. Furthermore, he did it against Curt Lewis, a top c/o 2018 recruit. Lewis simply could not guard him. Right now, no one can convince me that Matthews is not the most explosive player in the region. At 6'5", he's handling the ball against pressure, knocking down tons of outside shots (four more 3's tonight I think) and absolutely no one can stay in front of him. He can get to the basket just about any time he wants. More importantly he's doing this against some top players and teams (John Hardin, Doss, Valley). Meade lost a tough one tonight. Looked like they had the game under control until late in the 3rd when Valley's pressure wore them down. Although this was a loss in the books, I see where this team can find a way to put something together.
  23. 11 Rebounds confirmed for Matthews last night. 3rd straight double double.
  24. Meade dominated tonight. Went up by 20 very early in this one and it never really got close. Hancock shot the ball very well from the outside and the Jaxson Gray kid had a very nice game today. Matthews scored 32 (including 5 of 6 on 3 point shots). Some of his 3's were long bombs. I'm assuming that he had enough rebounds for his third straight double double. He put up those numbers without playing anywhere near a full 4 quarters. He did it inside, outside, mid range, passing and rebounding. He looks unstoppable right now with his size. I'm not suggesting that he will put up those kind of numbers every night, but anyone would have a hard time convincing me that he is not the best overall player in the region right now. You cannot key on him because he will hurt you with his passing. Tonight he scored 32 points and played "unselfishly". Keep in mind that he has had huge games against two top ranked teams this year (John Hardin and Louisville Doss).
  25. Thanks for the great info. Just wanted to point out that I believe Hancock County already has one district loss (to Breck earlier in the season). With a win Tuesday night Meade would take a significant step toward the #1 seed in the District.
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