5-oh

And the fact Mason plays on their home court.

I like what mbohman said above. My original post was discussing the lack of cheerleaders and pep band at boy's home games specifically and general lack of student involvement at games. With the exception of very few schools in the 9th Region, (CCH) most of the schools have really declined in cheerleader, pep band, and student section involvement. We had several games where there were no cheerleaders on either side, no pep band, and very few students. I agree with the Title 9 stuff and agree that it's stupid. I was making the point that if I were in band or a cheerleader, I would want to participate at all home games, even girl's games. That's their time to shine. And, the District Tournament games I've seen so far have been well attended. I can say that I've already seen how fan and student section attendance and involvement has assisted in pulling out wins in close games. It's the experience the players deserve.

It's the same reason teams like CCH and Cooper get better or "reload" on the flip side of this. For instance, Holmes losing Ian Elmer to Cincinnati Taft was a tremendous hit to their program. Last season, Holmes would have been almost a mirror image of this season if not for SR Quantez Calloway being a reclass kid. The basketball Bulldogs have been on the decline for a few years. Then, add the coaching change and it all adds up. Conversely, Newport is reaping the benefit this year with an influx of talented players. Some think it's positive, while some think it's negative. But, it's the way of HS basketball moving forward.

Can anyone clarify the Region draw parings. Specifically, is it an open draw where the same District #1 & #2 seed could be drawn and paired to face off against each other in the Region Tournament, or are they intentionally separated by District ?

Watching the game live, and sitting right behind the HC bench, I thought it looked like I was watching the Titanic. The ship left port all shiny and fresh, sailing toward getting the Win. But then, the 2nd half happened (struck the iceberg). The Titanic slowly took on water, and ultimately sank. We watched as Ward hurt HC as much, or more, than he helped. Solid offensively and defensively in the first half hitting big shots from the perimeter and helping HC cruise. Then, in the 2nd half, a few costly turnovers, missing a breakaway layup / dunk by being Indecisive on which to do, and their coach blowing up on him and removing him from the game on at least 2 occasions. Ward is a steaky player, and when he gets down, he is his own worst enemy. His inconsistent play was a major factor in the tide of the game. He made several bad inbounds passes in the 2nd half that hurt HC and he was not nearly the same defensively after facing adversity. Gibson getting his 5th PF and fouling out in the 4th was also huge for both the Cru and HC. Fedders and SH started to pound the ball inside, they drove more to the rim with Resing, and hit some perimeter shots that they weren't taking earlier in the game. Sitting behind the HC bench, I overheard the refs explaining most of the contested calls that they made to Coach Sorrell and they were right on with every call I saw, IMO. Gibson gets a lot of fouls called on him because he doesn't use his body well when contesting shots on the interior and moves his arms forward, resulting in fouls being called against him. The coaching staff continually told him to keep his arms straight up when contesting shots and not move them forward /downward - but he just couldn't do it. With Gibson's 5th foul, we could just feel the energy and electricity take a huge turn toward the Cru. Seems like it was between the 6:00 and 4:00 mark in the 4th. Shea was really solid defensively in the 2nd half. He plays scrappy on ball defense and caused some issues for HC. Lemmond's play inside in the 2nd half added to the success for the Cru. His size and activity was apparent and he played a big role on the interior. I thought a number of Cru players played their role perfectly. As stated, Shea's defense on ball, Lemmond inside, Resing defensively in the 4th with deflections and steals in the back court, Ravenscraft's smart play - calm demeanor and late timely perimeter shooting and FT's, Grayson gives 100% and is extremely solid. Even the Cru's underclassmen off the bench did their job by getting a couple of rebounds, handled the HC pressure in the full court, and made a shot here or there. Fedders took over in the paint in the 2nd half. I watched Coach Faust the entire game. He was never rattled, never emotional, just steady and calm. It's no wonder he's become the 9th Region's all-time winningest coach. Along those lines, I saw something very classy on behalf of both SH & HC. Before the tip, the SH PA recognized HC for their All-A Tourney run and Meyer was recognized for his accomplishments and being the 9th's all-time leading scorer. Then, HC and Coach Sorrell presented Coach Faust with a portrait for his accomplishment as the wins leader all-time in the 9th. Just total class on both fronts. It was nice to see. In the end, I thought this was a great high school basketball game with a tournament feel. I felt the refs were consistent both ways and did a nice job officiating. The coaching was good and the play on the court was good, it was just better on one side in the 2nd half than the other. SH did an outstanding job of doing work and getting the job done. It's going to be a good 9th Region Tourney this year.

I was told NL has a newly eligible transfer playing now. Any word on this? Maybe a big?

“Not so fast my friend, ……”. - Lee Corso Just last week, Conner couldn’t buy a bucket against Holmes and squeaked out a W by 9, 68-59. Conner shot 25/61 for 41% and 5/21 from 3 for 23.8%. We all know, it’s any given night.

My issue is more with the lack of cheerleaders and pep band at home games as opposed to fan attendance. Although it sucks that only a few schools truly have student sections that are alive and well represented, even the smaller schools could and should have the band and cheer at every home game. After all, that’s why they participate in those groups, it’s their “game day” too, their time to shine. I’ve seen wayyyy more games without either in attendance this year than I’ve seen games with both. And I agree, it sucks for the kids.

Does anyone know if there are any offers for him in college?

Wasn't there, but I was told that a Conner starter forgot their uniform and had to sit out until Mom went back to school and retrieved it. Also, was told a Holmes player was taken out of the game for arguing with the Head Coach and was in civilian clothes sitting in the stands after halftime. Connor had several reasons to be out of sync.

Has anyone noticed that School Spirit is down at the high school that you follow ? Specifically boy's basketball. I take in a lot of Varsity basketball games and I've noticed a trend at the majority of schools. I hate to say it, but, back in my day, gyms were packed for my games. Cheerleaders were at every game, home and away. The pep band played at every home game and was very active. Student's packed the gyms, both home and away. It made for a great atmosphere and certainly helped the team get over the hump on many occasions. I hear it from parents in attendance, the casual fan in the stands, and nobody can understand what's going on? I always thought that students were in their high school band because they wanted to showcase their skills. I see bands practicing in various parking lots all summer long, preparing for football season and marching competitions. The band plays at home football games, but once basketball season starts, crickets. We've had 4 home games this season where the band was in attendance. One game was a regular out of District opponent, one was on Senior night, one was our biggest rival District seed game, and the other was the last home game of the season. Almost every fan I talked to mentioned how great the atmosphere was having both the band and cheerleaders at the game. We've had some home games where if you take away siblings, there might have been 10 student's in attendance. At some games hosted by 5 & 6A schools, it's the same thing. Not many students in the student's section. Some gyms have a lower and upper tier with the upper tier being completely closed off. I've been to games at big schools where there is no band, no cheerleaders, and so few fans / students in the stands, that during free throws, it is eerily quiet. You can hear the player's conversations in the lane. I'm just wondering if anyone else is noticing the same trend at your school? It's a shame that school spirit seems to by dying, those were some of my most favorite memories from back in the day.

The video of the game I saw looked like an And 1 Mix Tape event in some playground setting. Weird for a HS game.

The question is 9th Region Coach of the Year, not Player of the Year. I'd imagine if you take away Meyer from HC and Sorrell, like was almost the case when he went to play Prep in Atlanta, it would be a different story for HC and Sorrell. It's much less difficult to coach a team when you have a D-1 player of Meyer's level on your squad. I'm not as sold on the fact that their success has as much to do with Sorrell's coaching as it does with one player's individual success. I would've like to have seen Sorrell coach this season without Meyer on the squad to see how he would have done. Otte has brought this team along through the years, as his Senior's have been together since elementary / middle school. He shouldn't be faulted because Conner is Senior laden with talent across the board. I think that's a testament to his coaching, it just all comes to a head this year in their Senior season. Hamilton's early season injury and missing some games has a lot to do with their lackluster performance in a couple of those games. I think if you remove any one of Conner's big 3 or 4 Seniors from their lineup, they don't fall off nearly as much as HC would if you removed Meyer from HC. I just think it's different when coaching with 1 uber talented player on your squad as opposed to having 4 solid players, as a head coach. Now that Conner is at full strength, I think Otte has been proven to be the Coach of the Year in the 9th Region to this point. Meyer makes a VERY strong argument for POY in the 9th though.

Bracken B. Reed 24/4 Archibald 13/3 Beechwood Sullivan 15/6 Boyd 17/8

Cash Harney, Freshman starting PG, surgery, 6-8 weeks.

Flu bug and a broken wrist hurt the Tigers in this one for sure.

Doesn’t the transfer from Ohio become eligible in February for Cooper? That will be their game changer.

There’s a video making the rounds of the losing team’s coach being interviewed prior to the start of the 10th Region All A games kicking off. The interview is being conducted by media on FaceTime and the coach allows his son’s to comment to questions. “no disrespect to the other teams, but I just think it’s gonna be a walk. ….. I don’t think anyone in our region can stop our guard play or how hard we play …”. “We’re 100% winning the 10th Region All A, 100%”. I think they call this bulletin board material?

McCracken is missing Hart, arguably their best player due to injury.

Any info on tickets for this one?

Was NCC missing a player ?

IMO Holy Cross was much better in the early to mid part of the first half when Meyer was facilitating and not looking to score. He made his team much better and the score showed. They busted out to a 18-20 point lead and were playing really good basketball. That appeared to help them play good defense as well. Then , HC reverted to more of what they normally do and this allowed Highlands to get right back into the game. I'd prefer to see them play more as a team as they did in the first half, I think they'd fair better in the long run.

Lloyd Memorial 61 Jeremiah Israel 26/11 EJ Walker 15/9 Isaiah Sebastian 10/10 Beechwood 53 Cash Harney 21/4 Cameron Boyd 11/5 Israel is a smooth player, great bounce and length. Cameron Boyd with a leg injury in the 2nd half.

Hurt. Is Shoulders a transfer from Lyon to McCracken?

South Oldham is a very well coached team whose players understand things on both the offensive and defensive ends. Offensively, they shot lights out from distance.