HasBeenCoach

3 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

Yes, I think the talent gap of the top 4 is that wide.  Yes, Bradshaw is a very nice player and deserving of her Morehead State opportunity.  Yes, I LOVE Macie Feldman and say so regularly, she is my favorite player in the region, and she is a bright kid who will do great at Johns Hopkins.  The girls at Ryle have Power 5 offers in several cases, that isn't the same thing.  No disrespect to the Pandas' players, they are terrific, but it isn't the same thing.  I'm a huge fan of Noelle and she can certainly impact games with her unbelievable ability to shoot the ball, but yes, the evaluators rate Holtman differently.  No one works harder on her game than Noelle Hubert, I have so much respect for her and how she grinds, it isn't a knock on her.  Holtman already has D1 offers as a junior, Noelle doesn't.  

The Gibson and Lawrie girls, even though they are freshmen, are terrific.  So is the McGraw freshmen, just not at nearly 6' tall.  They all could develop in three years to D1 players, for sure.  

Cooper is more like Ryle in that they have very little depth, and they have a kid in Whitney who will play higher level D1, Liz has a NKU offer as well, and I'd guess Logan will end up at around the same level.  They just don't have a lot beyond their top 6....although they have a 7th grader who will be AWESOME as she develops down the road.  

 

I would agree with this. There is a difference in D1 college athlete offered in soccer playing basketball compared to D1 offers to play basketball (In most cases). There is a reason those players are rated as high as they are. No offense to them at all. Feldman is tremendous player. There is a reason she isn’t rated as high as the players at Ryle. But I would take Feldman in most cases because of the way she plays. That is the credit I give Coach Murphy and his staff. They get the most out of their players where I don’t think Ryle is. 

33 minutes ago, The Double Deuce said:

You nailed the answer, and I've watched them personally 3x, 4 if you count their pre-season scrimmage, and they have 4 players.  Now...they have 4 GREAT players (I think Austin Johnson is the most talented player in the region), but they only go 6 deep typically, and the drop from 4 to 5 and 6 to 7 is pretty significant.  They have been playing a rugged schedule for two months, I don't know how they aren't starting to wear down a little, as I referenced in the original post.   

Also like you, Coach, I think Kes is amazing, and his team plays so hard for 90 feet, they are just brutal to play against, and unlike Ryle and Cooper, they send waves and waves of girls at you all night, now incorporating a few of his talented freshmen with regularity as well.  Notre Dame has my favorite player to watch in the region, Macie Feldman, but they do lack the top-end talent that Ryle has, but they more than make up for it with depth, togetherness, senior leadership, and coaching prowess.

 

Austin has really transformed herself post ACL injury. 
 

I do believe that state championship team and even the 3 peat region teams were only 6 deep with Austin being the 6th man. Granted none of these players are Schwartz or Scherr, they still did not go deep then either. 
 

Getting your top talent to play and your whole program on the same page is the responsibility of one person. Putting your players is best spot to win is vital. Kes gets it. Would love to see him get that level talent and what he would do with it. His HC state championship team was good but nothing like 3-4 D 1 players. 

What is going on at Ryle? This was expected to be a great year for NDA and that is no surprise. Kes can flat out coach. It’s easy to say someone can coach or not based on a game or two but I would love for someone to show me a better prepared team game in and game out as well as a team that just flat out gives their all each game more than a Kes Murphy coached team. 
 

I expected Cooper to make that big jump this year with the second year in coaches new system and they are proving that. 
 

Kudos to Conner and Dixie. Big schools and should always have a good team on the court but I’m saying they over achieved a little this year. Wasn’t sure how Conner would be with Stamm gone but Coach Gambrell has done a great job continuing to grow that program. 
 

Now back to Ryle. Hands down the best talent of any team in the 9th. Multiple D1 caliber players with offers. While other teams are really hitting their stride, it doesn’t look like that is happening for them. You have arguably the best shooter in the state in Holtman, a big post in Baker and Eubank who is just a flat out athlete. Austin Johnson is a tremendous player also.  Are their injuries? 

I really don’t know who picks this guy up at college level. Not a fan. Run out of NDA and left some skeletons in the closet there. Also look at how that program was after he left. Left it dry. Murray leaves after the top talent someone else developed was gone. Did not develop the system. Now just happens again. Takes over at Butler which someone developed into top level program and 7 seniors graduate. Interesting to see what happens there the next few years. 

Wow. 

You can look back at all the hear say and people speculating on the threads when it was basketball season. What I will say is how it is funny that this is the second place some of these things have happened at for a couple of these students. Different coaches and same stories.

Coach Volpenhein is a great guy from what I understand. I find it crazy that after all the things that were stated about him and what was claimed to happen at Lloyd, he still is a teacher at Lloyd. Sports bring out all kinds of stories about things that aren’t true. 150 kids in a classroom but no problems there.

I was not aware that he coached at Aiken HS until I read the article that stated it. I’m saying that if he plays any team he did while he was at Campbell then he might get a taste of his own medicine. I’m going to say it happens once or twice but from what I’ve seen almost every other coach has a little more sense in understanding you are up by 40 so it might be time to let up a little. Not the garbage excuse that “just trying to get ready for the tournament”.

Hey' date=' it’s are favorite guy, HasBeenCoach. Haven’t heard from you in awhile buddy since Dixie or Conner didn’t win. You been missing like Coach Murphy was at the end of the game. It’s odd for you try to stir something up again instead of talking about the game itself. Good Riddance![/quote']

 

Lol. Stirring by asking where someone went and congratulating a team? I am a basketball fan and no way shape or form am I a fan of Dixie or Conner nor do I have any affiliation to either of those teams.

 

I will repeat congrats to the Lady Raiders. I think these two teams will battle it out for years to come in the 9th. Anyone know why Coach Murphy wasn’t on the floor at the end? Your team got a trophy and multiple players from your team got awards. This is kind of odd. Let me add to that. This is odd to me for someone who is consistently advocating for girls to get more publicity and trying to grow the game of basketball. A coach that used to take the high road when another coach in his former district pulled antics that were absurd. This is not normal for Coach Murphy because of multiple reasons and some of those I stated above. If you think that is stirring then so be it.

Big win for the Lady Raiders without Scherr. I expect that these teams will battle it out for years to come.

Anyone know why Coach Murphy wasn’t on the floor at the end? Kind of odd.

I think the game might start slow in the adjustment to the big floor but Ryle has played enough that it won’t be long. I think the pressure they can put on HC will be too much for HC to handle. I’m saying that Ryle runs away with it. I’m going to go even larger and by the end it is Ryle by 30.

Highlands had the possession to start the 2nd half. Highlands setup a Offense on NCC’s end of the Court. Why NCC didn’t pickup on it is beyond me. When the Highlands player inbounds the Ball she threw it backcourt. Well in reality it was Highlands Front court and Piper Macke dribbled it in uncontested. So basically Highlands tricked NCC into thinking that they were going the other direction. Brilliant! Does that make sense? I can’t explain it any other way.

This play is great. Love it. I saw an official ruin it this year. It was set up and official yelled at the defense that they were on wrong side and offense was going that way and delayed handing ball in so they could move to correct end. Coach was not happy. This was varsity game in 9th.

This is a fun thread. I don’t like the PA people who over announce and make it about them. Give me what happened and play some music. The guy at Cooper is awful. Hate going there because it is just too much. I will say again Joe Barnes is the best. I went to Ryle to watch Maddie Scherr play a few times and noticed Coach Tiki announcing and it was minimal like it should be. Going to say again though if you haven’t been to a Bellevue game, go. Better yet go to Bellevue vs Dayton and enjoy the atmosphere. Especially Joe Barnes.

If you are “#1 team in the state” why do you allow Walton to stall this out. As said above, you have beaten them multiple times and pretty handily in both of those.

Clink can flat out coach. Congrats coach and to the WV team.

My prediction is Ryle by 16. Close game for about 2 1/2 quarters. Conner has home crowd to help them but Ryle is just better. Maddie Scherr is still really good and not many teams have an answer for her including Conner.

I would ditto the Joe Barnes at Bellevue. Best in the business. It shows he has a blast doing it.

I am not quite sure. I was just asking if trying to move up to one of those other top programs teams would be beneficial to her. You watch twitter and the top players from across the state come from those 3 mostly. I don’t coach aau nor have I ever but hard to argue with the run of players these programs have.

St.Henry will be much better next year with the addition of Kayla Unkraut and possibly a few others. Congrats to Coach Stamm one of the good guys in this business.

Unkraut going to St Henry??? I wonder what her production will be. The 3 best teams on Villas schedule were within their district in St Henry, Dixie and Ludlow. I would even throw Lloyd in for next best team they played. Outside of Dixie those other three aren’t really lighting it up. If she is at St Henry then playing Highlands, Holy Cross, Brossart and NCC is a little different then playing Latin, Dayton and beechwood twice as well as every other school on their schedule. I get they schedule who they are. But just wondering how she will fare vs much better competition. Will she also jump to an established AAU organization like Premier, Thunder or Gym Rats to prepare for this?

By the looks of the updates on twitter this one was a lot closer than I expected. This young Cooper team will be really good in a couple years as long as they stay together.

I think this list is pretty good. I will say I think Bullitt East in 6th, 7th will be CAL with the unfortunate things that have happened at SHA, 8th will be Anderson Co and I think the 10th will be GRC again. Brossart has had quite a year but think experience with GRC gives them a slight advantage by single digits.

I applaud all of those willing to take on the task of coaching, especially at the high school girls level. You can have all of the talent you want but if a coach and her staff cannot get them to play together, they will not win. You can have the greatest coaches but without talent, you will not win. It is the hope of every player, coach and parent that they are part of a "program" that works on all cylinders; that achieves the goal of going farther than people think they would and, for a very special few, winning it all. All of us who have been around high school sports have seen it when one of the cylinders doesn't spark. Some of us have been lucky enough to have all the cylinders spark and take it all the way. Any coach who has made it all the way deserves the accolades which accompany such a feat. They were lucky enough to have the talent to "coach up" and create a scheme to take advantage of the talent. They have surrounded themselves with the right staff, educating not just the current players but those coming up in the system. The parents have to have bought in (we all have seen what poison disgruntled parents can be to a program). I know the hours it takes, not just watching film and creating game plans but working with players, parents, fund-raising, planning and everything else on top of just coaching. Knowing that 90% of times the wins are attributed to the players and the losses attributed to the coach. All done out in front of the public with everyone free to criticize every decision.

 

The best coaches understand the importance of the "program" and how each piece fits together. Clearly Coach Haitz has done a good job and should be commended for putting all of the pieces together. Even looking at this season this team seema to have come together from a team that suffered without its best player to everyone finding their role once she returned. It appears all cylinders are working together. Of course this is high school sports - lets see what tomorrow brings. I look forward to watching this coach, and many others, and their programs, in the future.

 

God bless all of you who choose coaching as your devotion (and that is what it is - devotion). Hopefully you get half as much out of it as the young women whose lives you touch. I know my daughter is a better person because of the coaches she has had along the way. Thanks again to all of you who work to make these young women better - in every sense. Bringing it back to the topic of the thread, the ninth region has a lot of talent and a lot of good coaches with good programs, that is why we sit in the stands each week. Good Luck to all of the programs.

Love this post. What makes a great coach great? Quite frankly it’s optics.

Here is a great question.... Aaron Stamm has Conner ranked #1 in the state last year. Will he ever get Ludlow there? No! That’s not the question though. Is he not a great coach because Ludlow won’t compete for the region? People look at those wins and losses too much to judge the value of head coaches. It’s high school athletics. Yes I want to win every game but these are kids and I think the bigger picture is what are they doing for them.

State site says Conner vs Boone and Ryle vs Cooper

Thanks Coach34. With Boone playing well is it possible for Boone to make an appearance in the region by knocking off Conner. Teams seem to be going in opposite directions right now.

Dude has an axe to grind with either Kes or NDA, or both. He drilled them earlier this year, and followed that with "I haven't seen them play yet." It is what it is.

You guys nailed it. Axe to grind with a coach I love personally and high school kids. Saying I don’t think they can win it this year with the brand they are playing is really grinding that axe in.

Conner hasn’t beaten ryle by more than 10 points since 2008. Yes I had to even look that one up. They beat Ryle by 1 point in OT when Maddie may have played half the game on a bad ankle sprain.

What are the pairings in the tournament for this district?