ConverseAllStar

Would you say Hawley’s absence had any impact on the game tonight? I know he hasn’t been scoring a lot, but he’s one of the biggest bodies for Collins and could have helped a bit against Oldham’s size. At a minimum he could have taken a foul or two from McKnight and Vail and kept them in the game longer.

Rested him for a district game? Did this game have no impact on seeding?

Wow! Cardsrule1972 and the Spencer County fans have gotten their money’s worth with 5 overtime’s in their last 2 games (against Anderson County and Shelby County)!

Tonight's Collins-Oldham County game will solidify the rankings going into districts. Both teams should win out after tonight's game, so the winner should finish the season #1, loser #2. South Oldham and Spencer County should win out from here, so I think the regular season ends with South Oldham in #3 and Spencer in #4. Simon Kenton could pick up a loss as its season wraps up; North Oldham could pick up a couple. Looking at the Spencer County and North Oldham comparison, their common opponent record (with no Powell for North) is about even. Both lost to Oldham County by similar amounts. Both beat Anderson County (North Oldham by 42; Spencer by 3 in 2OT). Spencer beat Woodford County; North Oldham lost to Woodford (not sure if Penn played in either of those games). Spencer lost to South Oldham; North beat South Oldham. Simon Kenton does not play Spencer County or North Oldham this year.

Will be interesting to see South’s second half FG% compared to their first half %.

Mabry’s only points of the game?! Game winner?! Wow!

Grant County was riding a 6-game winning streak and North Oldham just lost by 36 to Ballard. Guess you just never know what to expect!

So now Spencer will play Woodford in first round of districts?

Win it all = 8th Region?

North Oldham lost by 10 to Ballard in the KOB when Powell was playing for North and Bishop was injured for Ballard. Tonight Powell was out for North Oldham and I assume Bishop played for Ballard. This margin doesn’t surprise me.

Third straight loss for PRP

Lafayette Jefferson should be the best team in that field. They are 17-2 and ranked #4 in Indiana’s largest class.

I predict South will come out hot and angry after a loss to North Oldham. They'll hit 10+ 3's and will win by 20.

His return would give them a boost. Collegiate won’t be the easiest out in the district tournament.

Agreed, beating OC on their home court is no easy task. SK will face pressure from the start of the game. If they settle in and handle it they can make the game close, but OC will still be the solid favorite.

Agreed, all solid teams, but St. X lost to 4 those 5 (won against Spencer County). The back third of the Tigers' schedule will pose some challenges. They could beat Seneca, DeSales, J-town, Woodford and Waggener . . . but each team is also capable of beating St. X.

St. X is 2-5 over the last 7 and their schedule has not been the toughest. I assume Dunbar's size hurt X tonight.

Final from the KHSAA site. I’m surprised by this result. Was South Oldham at full strength?

Enrollment may not be everything, but when you look at recent 8th region champions you see a lot of the larger schools consistently in the mix (Oldham, South Oldham, Collins) with the exception of SK. A school as small as 100 can put five good players on the court at any given time. However, enrollment & the depth that often comes with it becomes an advantage over the course of the year when dealing with injuries and practices. The quality of the second team at practices can't be overlooked. Take Spencer County as an example, they have "four guys who can score 25 on any given night" and "four guys who will play in college," but I guaranty the quality of their second team that they face in practice each day is nowhere near the caliber that South Oldham's or Oldham County's starting five face in their second team. That's an advantage in trying to simulate game situations and prepare for tough opponents. Any school with 200 or 300 extra boys has an advantage, and has probably benefited from a feeder system in which multiple schools feed into a high school. That keeps more kids playing through middle school who often develop at different stages. All things equal, I'll take a larger school's chances over a smaller school any day.

SK really has only one bad loss, and the "load management" for Niece at the start of the season did not produce the results a healthy Niece would have. If Collins performs like they did this weekend against Anderson and SK then they are vulnerable. I don't think SK will beat Oldham County in Buckner on 2/6, but its possible they can beat them on a neutral floor. SK came to Crestwood last year and beat a similar South Oldham team on its home court. It is definitely possible!

Interesting comments about Ballard’s starters remaining in the game, especially with the amount of depth Ballard has. They can go about 10 deep on most nights. Ironically, yesterday St X almost let a 26 point lead slip away against Spencer County. Did St X pull their starters too early in that game?

Very few high school teams can lose/be without a key player and look anything like the same team at full strength. (St. X last night, Spencer tonight, Woodford, Simon Kenton, North Oldham, etc.) Ballard was without Minkins when they lost to PRP. Male will be different with Howard Fleming. Foul trouble also can dramatically change the game for a high school team without much depth. Collins ran into that tonight. Trying to make sense of scores from night-to-night with 15-18 year old kids will drive us crazy, but trends over a 30-game season usually bring some clarity.

St X played without two starters tonight against Ballard. Will be interesting to see if they play Saturday v. Spencer.

David Kim of the Courier-Journal is reporting that Justin Powell had surgery this morning and is out for the season.

It seems like most Oldham County - North Oldham games involve North Oldham keeping it close for a half or so before OC's depth takes over and they pull away for the victory. ColonelMike, you may want to check my memory/stats on this one, but I bet North Oldham returns 4 starters from last year's district game and Oldham County returns 1 (Slone).