Mojocat

That was a good, and much needed, performance from the Dragons. You could tell within 2 minutes of the opening tip that the team had a different energy, really for the first time since before the first quarantine. And it carried through until the end of the game. One slight concern is bench production is waning a good bit - essentially all of the scoring came from 4 guys last night. And each of those 4 got at or above their averages, so I'm not sure how much more you can get from any of them. Would really be helpful if one of the kids 5 - 8, say, could step up and be a consistent scorer (say 5-10 ppg) and then one or two of the others could contribute at least a little. South's "system" is predicated on scoring - they don't endeavor to win games 45-42. If you're only going to get 65-70 points, it makes that proposition a little more daunting. Still, for all that, welcomed performance and win.

Really good, and entertaining, game. South Oldham was up 10 at the half, 43-33. Alas, a bugaboo that’s becoming a frequent story once again appeared, as the Dragons were held to 8 points in the 3rd quarter and got outscored 47-31 in the second half. Despite that, and the loss, this was the best South has looked since before the first quarantine. CAL has a good team - had South Oldham played the way it did in last nights loss to Simon Kenton....well, the score would’ve been a pretty ugly one. Ben Michel had the sort of night we expect him to have most nights, with an assortment of 3s and drives to the basket. He had 26. Cayden Brown is rounding into form nicely, and is developing into a consistent scoring threat. He followed his 26 point effort against Simon Kenton with a 19 point outing this evening. For CAL, George Washington scored 35 points. He is a fabulous perimeter shooter, fluid, quick release and with deep range. He finished the night 13 of 14 from the free throw line. I have heard he picked up an offer from Ohio St this week, and has been told to expect an offer from Louisville this summer.

If I recall right, each team had 23 two point baskets, and SK had 6 threes to South’s 4. At that point, it looks like a fairly tight game. But to your point, SK shot 29 free throws (making 25), while South only attempted 18, and only made 11. By the way, that’s not intended to be a commentary on the officiating (which was, as others have said, inconsistent at best - but I didn’t really think it had much to do with the outcome).

Well, that’s about what I was afraid might happen. I know I’m harping on the same point....but the South team in games 5, 6 and now 7 - after two long Covid breaks - bears little resemblance to what we saw in games 1-4. Just one stat to show this has come a little undone: South had 57 threes in the first 5 games, 5 threes (by just two players) in game six, and tonight 4 threes (all by one player). The way this team is designed to play, and the only way for it to be successful, is to shoot and make threes. Defense is not its forte. They have very few kids who can break a defender down and get in the paint. They have very few kids who can score from the post. Moving the ball around, players moving freely and maintaining good spacing, and then from that making perimeter shots....that’s how they win. With these long breaks, they’ve gotten away from that.

Niece with 27 at the half. Simon Kenton 47, South Oldham 36.

It's a 10 day break with no practices at all. 4 practices in 4 weeks. I said earlier, the first 4 games I was pleasantly surprised - they were better than I expected, frankly, and looked to be rounding into nice form. Then 10 days off and......when they resumed play they looked sluggish. Or something. Followed by another 10 day break. So I'm curious what this will look like. My hope is it's something like what Cousin Eddie said about his daughter, "She falls down a well, her eyes go cross. She gets kicked by a mule. They go back. I don't know..." Maybe we have one quarantine, they get sluggish, have another quarantine, they go back. I don't know!

Good write-up, Colonel Mike, as per usual. One thing to note, getting a true statistical picture of South senior Cayden Brown from the KHSAA website is a little challenging. You may notice, there is a Cayden Brown, who has 4 games worth of stats, and a Caiden Brown, who has 2 games. Those of course are one and the same, so you have to do a little math to get to a right answer. Like some other squads, South Oldham is suffering a bit under Covid related quarantines. They got off to a good start, at least in this person’s opinion, and through 4 games seemed to be coming around nicely. Then the first 10 day quarantine - coming out of which they had a single practice and then back to back games against Holy Cross and North Oldham. They practiced the day after the North game - then got hit with the second quarantine. This time, there will be zero practice time before back to back games against Simon Kenton and Christian Academy. At that point, if I’m counting right.....from the Henry County Game on January 23 thru the CAL game on February, South will have had 4 practices. Reminder, this is a team that had 1 returning varsity player with any real experience at all. Missing basically all the normal summer and fall practice time was certainly not ideal. Now you go a month in the middle of the season and have very limited practice time. It’s ......a lot to ask. Maybe it’s just me, but the team felt a bit off when it returned the last time from quarantine, in the Holy Cross and North Oldham games. As I say, they were coming along nicely in those first 4 games, and I didn’t have the same feeling in terms of energy or momentum when they came back. Now, another 10 day break. So we’ll see.

I was a freshman in college when 'Rex mania' hit the state. He was then a senior at Apollo, and I remember it was kind of a craze, like a virus. Folks driving across the state hoping to get into a game to see the Boy Wonder. I could see this Sheppard thing, perhaps, following suit. Athletic, dunks, scores a ton - and his Dad was (I think?) the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four for a UK title team. That's quite a list of attributes. Will be interesting to watch this develop.

Kentucky fans. You people are crazy, or something like that. I remember all the way back in February of 2020, when the fine people at The Sporting News (probably the most venerated legacy sports publication, now that Sports Illustrated is...a mess) proclaimed John Calipari the Coach of the Decade. Imagine that. Coach of the Decade, and 17 games into this season some want to ship him out. Now, I'm willing to admit this could end badly. He is, after all, about to be 62 years old. Aside from age, I've always wondered how someone who famously relished the role of underdog, who was a natural fighter ("you hurt one of mine, I burn your village down") maintains his fire when he's now.....on the yacht. As he says. Don't you inevitably get fat and happy? So, yeah, this could be going downhill. But what I see is rather a perfect storm. A total roster makeover, key injuries pre-season and in-season, a pandemic wreaking havoc on training, teaching, and scheduling. Nothing easy. We'll see. But what i know is, it's crazy to want to run off the guy who was Coach of the Decade less than a year ago!

I’m not quite sure to make of this game. North is definitely on a skid, and someone told me they hear Roberts may have a groin injury. I hope not, that’s one of those injuries - like a high ankle sprain - that can linger and hamper a kid for a long while. The truth is, with each team only having played 5 games, I’m not sure we know enough yet to confidently say much. One thing is certain - as you say, there will be intensity befitting a rivalry.

One of these teams was in its 11th game, including 3 in the last 4 days, while the other was playing its 5th game after having been in quarantine for 10 days. And it definitely showed. Having said all that, I walked away thinking the better team won the game. The story of the game was the consistent ability of Holy Cross to get to the rim against whatever kind of defense South employed. McClendon (finished with 32 points) especially, and also Meyer (12 points) got close shot after close shot. Even when South played zone, those 2 were simply quick enough, and physical enough, to go around and through whatever was between them and the basket. South has had trouble this year defending without fouling - I think the average number of fouls committed per game is around 25. Holy Cross is a team that hit only 2 three pointers in this whole game, and didn't attempt many more, and scored consistently at the rim. All of which means you'd figure South Oldham to have 50 fouls. At halftime, South had committed 4 fouls. Which says something about aggressiveness and willingness to tussle. Maybe on that end, the 10 day layoff played some factor, but as I said, I suspect this is just a bad matchup for the Dragons. On the other end.....sometimes you think South Oldham could collectively enter into a coma for 6 months, and come right out of it and hit 10 threes in a game. And sure enough, the Dragons had 6 threes in the 1st quarter, and 13 for the game. Zach Dolan got the start on Senior Night, and took advantage of it, hitting 4 threes in the 1st quarter alone and ending the evening with 19 points. Michel and Davis, the 2 junior starters, each had 16. Despite all my talk of the better team winning, the game was close, closer than the score indicates. It was 68-65 with less than 2 minutes remaining - then McClendon got an 'and-one', fouling out South's point guard Davis in the process, and that was basically it. South was forced to foul, Holy Cross hit its free throws, and what was really a 5 point game for most of the night ended up a little lopsided.

That is a really good and informative post, thanks CM. I'm not sure what Simpson does - I have never seen a practice - but whatever he does to create good shooters, it works. Brown, it seems to me, just took a couple of games to start looking comfortable on the perimeter, and so I expect his percentage to continue to rise. He will end up taking and making the most 3s on the team, I suspect, and it may not be close by year end (well, depending on how many games we get in). Veirs likely needs to just shoot more, based on those percentages (he's making over 73% of his shots overall, including 2s), but he's only a freshmen, so we'll see how that goes. He's a kid that historically has had to be prodded to shoot more, he's wired more like a play-maker than a prolific scorer. Back to Simpson's ways of creating 3 point shooters.....it had to impact his process when his players got no time in the gym during the summer and very very little in the fall. And I'm sure that applies to all these teams - missed practice time will invariably negatively impact shooting percentages. I think that's the answer to your question. You can't make up that lost time, so I would expect the downward trend to be season-long. But I was wrong once!

Well, like I said, better to be flexible this year. Hearing that one of the South Oldham kids tested positive today - which would mean a 10 day shut down (I think?), and no game this week vs Walton Verona.....

I found the article I referenced earlier: https://kentuckysportsradio.com/basketball-2/kentucky-high-school-basketball-is-loaded-with-impact-freshmen/ It lists 7 names: Reed Sheppard -- 6'3 -- North Laurel Ryan Davidson -- 6'4 -- North Laurel Gabe Sisk -- 6'5 -- Ballard Jack Edelen -- 5' 10.5 -- Ballard Kaleb Glenn -- 6'7 -- Male Dallas Roberts -- 6'0 -- North Oldham Colin Porter -- 5'11 -- Ashland Sizes are per official rosters at KHSAA. So, yeah, really talented class. I've seen 5 of them play (not Porter or Davidson). Point guard heavy - and it's really hard for a 6' and under kid to make a run at high D1. It just is. It can be done, but it's difficult. I suspect that the heights of Edelen, Porter and Roberts are all inflated a bit - not because I know anything about any of them, other than the tendency to do that if the kid is good but is on the shorter side. As I've said, Glenn has the body to kill for, but looks really limited right now to post play, and at 6'7, I wonder how well that translates to high D1. Is Sheppard really 6'3? Based only on highlights I've seen, he looks like he is, like he's grown an inch or two. I don't know Davidson or even what position he plays. If he's a guard, that's a good size. In the end, all things considered (talent + height), Sisk might be the safest bet to go the farthest. By the way, I know those kids are "only sophomores", and could conceivably grow some more, but most kids are finished growing by 16, or their sophomore year. I suspect they are all just about done. Not to put too much emphasis on height, but if you're talking about major college high profile basketball programs, it's a factor.....

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. heh. What a wild year.

Confirmed. Apparently woke this morning with chills and fever, got a rapid test and it came back positive. South Oldham/North Oldham - originally scheduled for January 29 - is now set for February 4.

Rumors circulating one of the OC players tested Covid positive this morning. Not sure what that means for the two teams, but I suspect it means quarantine and missed games. Momma always said believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. We’ll see. Hope it’s false.

There was an article about this class on KSR, last year when they were freshmen. Glenn and Sheppard are likely the top 2. The point guards at Ashland and North Oldham are two others I remember being listed. I think there were 6 total, but I can't recall the other two. Glenn and Sheppard both played in the same AAU organization as my kid, but that was 2 years ago. Both, naturally, have changed a good bit since then. I saw Glenn last year in the King of the Bluegrass (I think?). He's the kind of kid that coaches salivate about - 6'6, 210 probably, really athletic. But he seems to be exclusively an interior play - at least he was that game. Not much in the way of perimeter skills. If that's right, I don't care how athletic he is, it's going to be hard for him to play at the high D1 level......

I’d love to know how many turnovers OC has. There was a stretch in the 2nd quarter where they simply gave it away time after time.

I'm seeing Reed Sheppard is averaging a measly 35 a game. heh. Just saw some highlights, and he looks taller to me - but of course it's hard to tell on video how tall a kid is. He's listed at 6'3. Anyone know if that's a legitimate measure? He played in the same AAU organization as my kid 2 years ago - he's certainly improved since then (based only on those highlights and his stats).....

I was pleasantly surprised with South's effort against Oldham County. Going into that game, with all the new players and question marks, I feared the worst. I know 'moral victory' is a 4 letter word, but just losing by 8 points - well, there were some encouraging things coming out of that game. Then we play North Bullitt, and based solely on who NB had played, and lost to, I thought South Oldham would win that game going away. They did not, won by 10 and it was a 1 point game fairly late. There were some discouraging things coming out of that game. So, what to make of tonight? I don't know. This South team is almost entirely new, and without the benefit of summer and fall practice. My guess is it will be an up and down year, and that we won't know what they are, really, for several more weeks. Bottom line, without knowing much at all about BE, I'll be a little surprised if South pulls out a W. But I'll be there cheering them on, just the same.......

The technical foul was for a dunk during warmups. Coach Simpson was decidedly not pleased. Heh. The game mirrored, to an extent, the JV game before it. In that one, South got up 32-16.....and lost 45-40 (or thereabouts, final score may not be exact). South relaxed a bit, North Bullitt went on an 8-0 run, and you could see the momentum move from one end of the court to the other. The varsity game wasn’t that obvious, I think the most South Oldham got up was probably 8 or 10 in the first half. Still, just looking at the two teams, you’d think South would win fairly easily. Alas, they are young, and very green, and don’t know how to put someone away. It was encouraging to see them pull away at the end. I believe it was 51-50, and South outscored NB 18-9 from that point forward. One thing South definitely needs to work on is playing defense without fouling. In the Oldham County game, they were physically outmatched, and the foul discrepancy didn’t surprise or alarm. Tonight the foul difference was even more lopsided, and there was really no reason for it (it was not, at all, a case of home cooking on the part of the refs). With about two minutes left, South had registered 17 fouls, to only 4 for North Bullitt. For the game! North had to commit several fouls in those last 2 minutes to stop the clock. North Bullitt went 19-21 from the line, another reason the game was closer than some had expected. Simpson shortened his bench tonight. One kid has a foot injury, and several others didn’t play as much as in game 1. I suspect it’s going to be an up and down kind of season - befitting a group this inexperienced.

Good post, ColonelMike. Agree with all of that - it’s a really good, and enjoyable, rivalry (well, aside from that pesky 11 of 14 thing). Honestly, it doesn’t have the lopsided feel of one of those rivalries that’s become so one-sided that it’s not really a rivalry any longer. I’d have to go back and look at the scores, but it seems the games are almost always close and competitive......

I’m too old for moral victories. Still, as a South fan, this game was a good deal closer than I expected, and there is much to be enthused about. For a practically brand new team, players not used to playing together and making do with very limited cumulative practice time due to Covid, I thought South looked really sharp on the offensive end in the first half. Spacing was good, moved the ball around really well. Not so much in the second half. I heard a little bit of grumbling about ‘reverting to selfishness’ - to me, it was easily explained as OC really cranking up defensive intensity, putting South back on its heels, and an inexperienced team being unable to deal with that pressure. OC is experienced, has really good length, and is always among the best defensive squads in the 8th region. So we won’t be facing that kind of pressure often, my guess. For a loss, there are reasons to be encouraged.....

"Oldham has won 9 of the last 12 meetings between the two schools, but the games have almost all been close." Wow. Didn't know that was the case. I suspect it will soon be 10 of 13. If there was ever a year when South Oldham could take off the entire summer, skip most of the fall, and get only a portion of its normal practice time in before playing the first game.....it's not this year. Replacing 10 seniors would be tough under any circumstances. Under Covid.....well, we'll see how this develops. OC, meanwhile, is at the complete other end of the spectrum. They return the top 5 scorers - and have a 6th player (6'10 Hayden Burgess) that I think may turn out to be really good. Saw him at the JV level last year - he's frail, or was. If he has added some strength, will be hard to contend with down low for most teams. I'm not into moral victories, but as a South fan, my hope is they find a way to keep it close.......