jtb12882

Don't see much change at the top next season. Will be 4-5 teams with a legitimate shot to win it. DCA lost a 9pt lead with 43 secs left in regulation to lose to a good Somerset team in triple overtime. As far as "peaking too early" goes... They were 7-3 prior to January 1st, and 18-3 in the last 21 going into Region semis. I don't think it was a matter of peaking too early as much as it was losing a game they win in that circumastance 99.9999999% of the time. They were 25-7 with zero bad losses. Basketball can be cruel, and it is never easy to win no matter who you have on the floor! Looking forward to next season!

Fantastic Work- Much appreciated!

I would be real surprised if this one was close. Raceland beefed up the schedule this season for a game such as this. Sayre played very weak schedule, and I think that gets exposed in this game. Big game coming from RB Noah Wallace. Got Raceland big in this one!

Anyboby have any dates on scrimmages? I'd like to get a peek at Woodford county, SK and Oldham County.

Feel like the preseason ranking below is more practical based on last season, and portal adds. 1. Wayne 2. Boyle 3. Somerset 4. Pulaski 5. Mercer 6. DCA Wayne has it all with Dumford and Phillips. HOF coach and Big Tradition. Looking like they could cruise thru that district with a lot of Momentum come Region tourney time. The Danville transfers Brown and Bixler to go with Quisenberry, Turner and Hager is really stout. Gonna be hard to keep up with this fast paced group! According to Cats Pause Somerset has 2 of the top 5 players in the region. Hard to rank them outside top 3. They also have a few other under the radar kids that can play. Pulaski has starting PG back from regional championship team - that has to mean something in a region where 5-6 teams could win it. And they always have guys that can play. Will also have home court advantage if they advance to region. Mercer has Barnes, Ellis and Drakeford. Could argue that trio is as good as any. Add a New coach with loads of winning experience. Would not shock me if they won it. DCA has Boyd, Dut, and Ayiei. In addition, one unknown player eligible late in the season, as well as Fugate as a potential. Solid on paper, but that means absolutely nothing.

I love the GC gym!

Thoughts... Very odd not seeing at least one of the Big Three ; Lincoln, West Jess , or Pulaski in the top 5. Still wouldn't count any of them out at the end. Dumford will make a massive difference for Wayne , and Mari Brown will do the same for Boyle. Both of those teams are gonna be very difficult to beat late in the year. Big props to Coach Young for developing a couple of off the radar players two short years ago, into tops in the region. This very well may be Somerset's year! I think DCA may be number 1 or 2 on paper, but I don't think they deserve that kind of ranking. They did have some real quality wins last year, but lost momentum heading into tournament time. It is hard for me to give the nod to a team who has yet to prove really anything. They have not made a regional tournament, and have not even advanced out of the 4/5 play-in game in the 45th district tourney. I personally feel DCA has a lot to prove this year, maybe more than any team in the region. Having said that, they will have plenty of opportunities as they play arguably the toughest schedule in the 12th region. Mercer may be somewhat of a Darkhorse, especially if Barnes is eligible.

Players: 1. Phillips - Wayne 2. Godby - Somerset 3. Dut - DCA 4. Barnes - Mercer 5. Whitaker - Somerset 6. Fraley - Pulaski 7. Quisenberry - Boyle 8. Ellis - Mercer 9. Ayiei - DCA 10. Craig- Rockcastle

1. DCA 2. Wayne County 3. Boyle County 4. Somerset 5. Mercer County 6. Rockcastle County 7. Pulaski County 8. Lincoln County 9. Southwestern 10. East Jessamine

Raceland has a BIG home field presence, winning culture, and they believe they can win every time the lights come on. They also have lower-profile kids who can play. QB has loads of ability, and may be most underrated player in class A. And of course they are Riding that MO-train after knocking off top 15 Pikeville on road! Don't sleep on this game- Raceland will compete! Highlands 33-27

I'm hearing Brian Britt.

Congrats to Lewis County! Tough place to win for sure. Looks like Russell has one quality win on the schedule (vs Morgan), so this is not surprising at all. Good luck to both teams next week!

Great job covering this region all year!

Just curious to see what some of you think about this. Over the last several years I have attended numerous local Christmas tournaments, and they are unbelievably poorly attended, which creates a very cold environment for these kids to play in. I know there are still a few ones in the state that may be better attended, but overall attendance seems to be very poor. Maybe I am wrong, but with all the upsets it just seems like it has something to do with how lifeless the environment is in these tournaments. I'm not sure of the solution. Thoughts?

Should Christmas tournaments come to an end?

I thought the Mayor kid from Ashland would play a bigger role thus far. Is he healthy? Or just not developed enough and ready to contribute?

Definitely don't see an upset here. Raceland big! 34-12.

Would be shocked if Tomcats don't repeat even after what they lost. Deboard will add scoring and toughness. The 6-9 boy from South Sudan I'm sure will play a part this year. Carter will look more like a complete player as his role will increase. Darkhorse: Morgan County will be much improved with the twins coming over from Elliott. 2-22 last year so not sure what else they got, but the Griffith boys are gritty competitors. I've heard lots of hype about the Rimmer boy at Russell. I think he is young ( 14?), but he may be a player that puts the region on notice this year.

Emmanuel Dut for DCA could turn some heads as he is widely unknown. Maybe not a huge surprise, but I believe Somerset will advance to the Region tournament this year, and will also contend for the All A region. Ryan is underrated as a coach. He had competitive teams at GC, in the toughest district, with low talent.(save Sebastian) Dunbar left the cupboard just about empty when he bolted for Southwestern, and Young had those boys competing last year. Lincoln is a step better than a handful of teams on paper, as well as what they have returning on the court. Beating them on their homecourt to win a region will be a tall order for sure. Darkhorse: Wayne County. I believe they returned just about all of the contributors off last year's team that led Pulaski at Pulaski in the 4th quarter opening rd. of Region. I wouldn't want to play this team late.

Two things that I really dislike as an "old-schooler", but must learn to accept are: 1. Hold-back players. 15 to 20 years ago the only reason a student was "held- back" was because they were behind academically, or in the rare occasion they were just so undersized physically that it made sense for them to either start late, or repeat a grade to catch up. Nowadays you have the biggest and smartest students in the class repeating grades. Why? Simply because the parents think that that one more year of high school eligibility will be the deal breaker in making the child the superstar Dad always knew he could be. When a team fields players that turn 19 before the season even begins, it's hardly a fair playing ground with several other teams having 17 and 18-year-old seniors. Holdbacks have single-handedly destroyed middle school sports. And ironically I think it hurts the MS stand-out as he moves forward. Much hype surrounds him in the early grades because he is so much older, only to find out as he ages he hears much more criticism about why he never developed into the player everyone thought he would be. 2. Transfer Students. Once again 15 to 20 years ago a player simply played for the school nearest to where he resided. Made sense, huh? Rivalries were built, along with school pride, and parents understood playing for the best team was not the only purpose of sports. Nowadays parents will lease unoccupied efficiency apartments three counties over so the child can play for a better team. Players will leave 12 years of friendship to play for a crosstown rival if it means they potentially might make it farther in the region tournament. Although I don't like where HS sports have gotten, It is where it is. We can't punish the teams that do it better than others by refusing to compete against them. Simply put, Blazer basketball has played the game better not only on the court, but off the court- Just play the Game!

I would say one could make a list of 20-25 players, and probably make a solid case for any of those players being in the top 10.

Top Ten Player Rankings: 1. Tremane Alcorn - Lincoln County 2. Kyle Stephens - McCreary Central 3. Ethan Willoughby- Casey County 4. Cayden Lancaster- Pulaski County 5. Colton Ralston - Lincoln County 6. Ethan Cooper- Garrard County 7. Montavian Quisenberry- Boyle County 8. Drew Marshall- West Jessamine 9. Jaylen Dunn- Danville 10. Titus Boyd- DCA

45th District 1. Lincoln County - Will be tough to de-throne with all they return. Jackson just keeps winning, hard not to believe they will be there again this year at the end of the season. 2. DCA - Coach Story has kids who took a beating in the building years that are now old enough to compete. Made big strides last year with some district wins. This team feels hungry. 3. Boyle County - Obviously Quisenberry will make a HUGE difference. He and Tarter will make this group hard to beat. May start slow with the football hangover, but will be in the thick of it late in the season. 4. Danville - With Hayden finally graduated other players will have opportunity to shine. Boyle transfer Owen Barnes will fit nicely with Mckinney's style. This team could make some noise come tourney time. 5. Garrard County- The Quisenberry loss will obviously be tough to overcome. However, Cooper can score in bunches, and on any given night he may just keep them in the game.

Solid List for sure. Could obviously potentially move a few teams up, but there seems to be much more parity this season than in the recent past.