jtb12882

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.

Hearing Jake Leibee is the top candidate for this position. Fairview grad and former assistant. Currently he is head assistant at Russell.

Anyway the Cooksey trio can keep this close? Bell is a stud- so thinking they may hang with it being at home?

Source confirming Cooksey has accepted the position.

Any update on this position?

Source confirming that former Garrard County coach Ryan Young has accepted the position as head coach for the Briar Jumpers.

In a time when all the talk is about player transfers, and players repeating seasons, Young as a coaching addition to Danville Christian would be a major boost for that program. Makes sense Young helping Story with the Lincoln County connection there. If it works, I could see Story handing it off to Young, affording him his second opportunity at the 45th.

I have heard Derek Cooksey is leading candidate for the job. Brett is much more comfortable as an assistant to his brother, so he will not apply. Derek did a solid job at Fairview with not much talent. He Seems like the logical choice.

A load of young talent coming up - This will be a great opportunity for the new hire.

Any word on who may be in the running for this position? Seems really hush hush.

May this be a good fit for Derek Cooksey?

Lewis seems to be the overachiever in the region year in and year out. Will be interested to see if they can knock off Russell in this match up.

Danville Christian with a convincing win last night over a Berea team that has produced results this season similar to Garrard County. The last meeting between Danville Christian and Garrard County was a last possession game. May it be too early to write Garrard County in for the Monday night semis?

Was shocked to see this score, but been told everyone played as usual. Obvioulsy not Boyle's best game, but seems that Danville Christian has some young talent coming up. In the recent weeks they have played Casey to double OT, and believe was leading Garrard late in 4th quarter.