KentuckyHShoops

Amen to everything that has been said here. Justin is a TREMENDOUS player and kid. Unselfish, was always looking to make his teammates better, and a super high IQ guy. This is a great move for him. His dad has put tons of time, effort, and energy into his son and it is all paying off. Congrats to them!

From what I understand, the head coach at TCC, Mark White, is originally from Russellville, KY and recruits the state hard. Last season they had former Ballard standout Corey Douglas, who transferred from Rice to TCC and is now going to VCU. Juco is a great way for guys to improve their stock if they don't have the offers they want out of high school or prep school. Tons of guys get better as players, become more mature, and end up going to a higher level. Not a surprise to see Mark White bring on another KY guy on his staff, and clearly it's had an impact as they've signed 2 from Louisville and 1 from Lexington. Good to see KY guys doing well no matter where they are. and @c0oachc, David Simmons was a guy that I believe only had a couple D2 offers--Kentucky Wesleyan was one of them, and he ends up being a solid 6th man for a really good MTSU team this season. Guy was super tough!

Unless it’s your only option—these kids are D1 players. TCC plays in a very tough conference and tons of those dudes end up in low/mid and sometimes high major programs. If you can use basketball to get your college degree paid for, why not? Juco life in Florida is a lot different than Juco life in Nebraska or Illinois or some place in the middle of nowhere. Some top Juco programs have better facilities than low D1 programs.

Walter is a solid player. But Big East is a big time league. NKU is at the top of the Horizon which may be a very small step below the MAC but NKU is better than lots of lower level MAC schools. He may go to another high major to see if he’s good enough and if not, he can always transfer down.

They have a lot coming back assuming everyone stays. Going to be tough to duplicate 23 wins but pieces are in place for the right coach. There have to be some JCPS assistants and possibly other small school coaches involved. Patrick Jackson from St Francis possibly?

Does that make 3 All A 7th region openings? KCD, Collegiate and now Brown. Wow. Tough for those schools to keep great coaches with low budget, low enrollment, low coaching stipend, etc

Fantastic hire. He will do great

No one goes juco unless grades mandate it. NCAA has sliding scale that everyone must qualify on. As far as social media, every college governing body has rules, and typically coaches can’t comment unless a guy is actually signed, so that may explain Lewis being left out originally bc it looks like Settembre’s page had a big tweet about it last night. Quite a haul for TCC. But can be tricky getting lots of guys from same area at college level.

Renner not going anywhere. Schooler not going anywhere. Both have it great at their current programs. Tons of young talent at FC. I would think Waggener’s Bryan O’Neill and former Moore/Taylor Co coach Rich Gatewood will be in the mix. KC Goodin of Butler is another name that makes sense. Male is a GREAT job.

Who is the coach at Aspire? He is getting HORRIBLE advice. According to NCAA Division 1 qualifying rules, you can only retake 1 core course once you've graduated high school. No chance to be a D1 qualifier. Juco is his only option. Completely wasting a year. Prep schools lie like crazy to kids and their families.

As a Louisville guy who watches mostly JCPS ball, I got lucky in seeing this team play a couple times this year, including their 2nd win over rival KCD on the road, which was a team the program hadn't beaten in a long time according to Coach Settembre's twitter page before they swept them this season. 23 wins at Collegiate is impressive for a school known much more for academics, and winning a game in the All A State tourney had to be awesome for those kids. I suspect their season will end when they face Male tomorrow, but definitely a cool accomplishment for a first year and first time head coach. Chris Renner and Mike Szabo could basically win this award every year in the 7th region, but outside of those 2 schools no other teams had seasons to get anyone excited. Should be Ballard vs Trinity for all the marbles again!

Big ups for KABC Coach of the year in the 14th Jon Bentley! Estill can be dangerous in the postseason!

Powell in a route

7- Iroquois 5- Spencer County 3- Waggener 2- Male 1- Desales TB: Desales

Saw Doss rally to beat Iroquois down by 17 with 2:40 to go in 2014. District semifinal game. KC Goodin's final season at Doss before he left for job with Happy Osborne at KWC. Game ended in regulation at Iroquois kid fouled a Doss kid on a 3 pointer, and he made all 3 FTs. Wildest 2:40 of basketball I've ever seen.

Don't bet against coach KC Goodin. Although Calloway and Franklin are tough to stop when they are making shots. I've been impressed with Coach Stone and the structure he runs in terms of sets, etc. Guys seem like they play hard and respect him. Should be a great game. Regardless, it's a wide open district. Other than Western, there are 4 teams that could conceivably play well and find a win against the other 3.

Was surprised by the Madison Central-Ballard score; didn't think the Indians had that in them. I still think Ballard can give Trinity trouble in the 7th region tourney, but outside of that I don't see any major challengers to Trinity's path to the regional crown. Congrats to Lou Collegiate on an incredible season. Don't think many predicted 20 wins from that program with as much as they lost last year, and beating KCD twice is a big feather for them. Male is still young, but if they can infuse their program with some fire, they could be really good. They have great young talent that doesn't always seem to play very hard, but when they do, they can be very dangerous.

Happy to admit when I am wrong. Madison Central kicked their butts! I still like Ballard to give Trinity all it can handle in the 7th region tourney. As always has been the case the past 10 years, the 7th region tourney is a 2 horse race. Trinity, from a talent perspective, should run away with it, but they let teams hang around and Ballard could be a team that gets them if they make some 3s and turn them over.

Ballard has speed and athleticism and plays much harder than Trinity as a group. Trinity has a couple guys that play super hard and others that look disinterested at times. Ballard has none of that—they compete all the time. Ballard wins 68-65.

Respectfully, I could not disagree more. Trinity is stacked with D1 talent. They have 3 mid/high major players on their roster. They haven’t gelled like they are capable of, but Scott County doesn’t have anywhere close to the talent that Trinity does. Both of them have to make it out of their region, which is no guarantee.

This is a crazy region. I watch a ton of Louisville basketball and to think Desales is #9 (not arguing as Southern loss is not a great one) is still very capable of making a deep regional tourney run is crazy. Fern Creek is seemingly struggling to close games out but I wouldn't want to see them when it matters most. I was super impressed with Doss in seeing them in the semis and finals of the LIT. Calloway and Franklin can beat anyone if they are hot. The district with Butler, Doss, Desales, Iroquois, and Western is very interesting. Don't think Iroquois and Western stand any chance, although Iroquois has played them close, but Butler, Doss and Desales are all good enough to win half the regions in the state--yet one of them won't even make it out of their district. Crazy

As a Louisville guy that made the trip to watch the All A Classic, it appears Raceland should be ahead of Bath Co after beating them in the 16th region ALL A final (and beating Morgan County in the semis). Raceland looked really good early in their All A State game vs Lou Collegiate but struggled with their pressure. However, Travis Weaver put on a show and he looks like a kid that could lead this team deep into the 16th region tourney. Great work, @24Bricks

This is about as accurate as it gets. I have not Louisville Collegiate play in any of their All A games but saw some of their coach’s posts on Twitter and it looks like those kids are having the time of their lives. I have not been to any All A State games but from twitter it looks like this is a HUGE deal for all these schools. Not just the players but the students who get to come support their teams in such a big environment—seems like an amazing deal for all involved. Nothing wrong with kids having an incredible experience, and with the district Collegiate is in (and the enrollments), this looks like it could be as good as it gets! Great for them and their school/players/coaches. Seems like something’s really happening over there on Grinstead Drive.

I'm a Louisville guy who doesn't see a ton of hoops outside of the 6th/7th regions. I recognize Collegiate's schedule has been weak, but they really stepped up today in a big way on a big stage for a basketball program that has been completely dormant. First year head coach is making an immediate impact, and while 18-4 against below avg competition may not seem like a big deal, it's a really big deal at Louisville Collegiate, and winning a game in the All A State tourney has to feel good for a team that everyone seemingly counted out. Now, Lexington Christian is a totally different animal and as much as I would love to see Collegiate hang with them, I think LCA wins in blowout fashion.

Louisville Collegiate gets no love. 17-4 and getting picked to lose to Raceland. Their 2nd round matchup would be Lexington Christian, who I think is head and shoulders above the rest of the field.