24Rocks

The concern for DCA as I see it is to recover from this tournament and peak for the postseason. They just played 4 games 4 days and you could see it in the second half of this last one. Lyon County is a good team and played hard but DCA was making a lot of unforced turnovers. They played a much cleaner game against Hazard. Titus Boyd was gassed. I'm not sure he's completely recovered from his illness earlier in the season when he missed some games. They have Lincoln on Tuesday and Danville on Friday. They should be the favorite for both of them if their legs aren't shot.

It looked pretty serious. She got possession on the tip and dribbled to the basket. Grace Mbugua cut her off but there was no contact. She planted her feet and went down. She appeared to leave the arena and didn't show back up until the game was over. Her right knee was in a pretty heavy brace and she was on crutches. She wasn't able to put any weight on it.

Danville Christian Academy 56 Lyon County 53 (Class A State Championship) Titus Boyd named MVP of the tournament. This was the first time in the tournament's history in which the boy's and girl's team from the same school won their respective championships.

Danville Christian Academy 73 Bethlehem 59 (Class A State Championship) Unfortunately for Bethlehem, Leah Macy, their best player, went down with a knee injury on the first play of the game. Grace Mbugua, from DCA, named MVP of the tournament.

They did have trouble with DCA's size but DCA's depth helped them as well. They were able to keep pressure on the ball because they play 10 deep. The only perimeter player who played the entire game was Titus Boyd. Coach Busick rotates his players so they can keep up the defensive intensity. Hazard wasn't getting many good looks from the three point line.

It seems to me that this series comes down to whether Driver can stay out of foul trouble and if Lincoln can hit their outside shots. If Driver controls the lane it will let Boyle get out more aggressively on the Lincoln shooters. In that case Boyle will probably win. But, it's possible that Lincoln could catch Boyle on one of those nights where they aren't hitting. Boyle's not a particularly good shooting team.

Hazard led at halftime 16-13. DCA couldn't get any shots to drop going going 5/27. They turned it around in the second half and shot 11/16. DCA's defense held Hazard to 13 points in the second half.

I've been thinking about this discussion and I think a factor in the lack of higher level college players from the 12th is simply size. In a smaller, rural school the good players who might have come up playing the 1 or 2 end up playing the 4 or 5. They don't get the experience they need to really develop at those other positions. If Reed Sheppard (I know he wasn't 12th region but I'll use him to make a point) hadn't been the son of Jeff and Stacy Sheppard he might not have played point from middle school on. My high school team (Somerset) went 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, and shorter. I didn't wind up moving to the 2 position until my senior year so I didn't have much experience there and that was my natural position. There have been a lot of really good players in the 12th region who have been in that same boat. Lots of times a good 6-4 player is put in the middle and has the potential to be a 2 or a 3 in a bigger program.

Halftime DCA up 26-15.

Who got the technical for Clinton late in the game? I didn’t see it.

Absher is a big loss for Somerset. He's a good shooter but he's also the best player they have for attacking the basket.

According to the Massey Ratings their offenses are not too far apart but Hazard has the better defense and has played a stronger schedule. We'll see how accurate his ratings are.

DCA's size and defense gives them some leeway. Most teams that played like they did on offense last night would have been beaten.

DCA will need to play better on offense than they did against Elliott County but I have a feeling they will. I've seen them play a quarter like that but not the entire game.

I agree. And, there’s a lot of hoopla associated with the whole thing with travel, pep rallies, etc. They didn’t seem focused at all.

DCA's offense seemed out of sync all night. Their defense was good as usual but they had a lot of turnovers and missed some easy shots.

Was Fitzgerald from Pulaski after Faulkner? I lose track of when these guys played.

So, regarding the reports that Steve Adams slung a pen into the stands and hit a woman in the face...... Did that happen?

Grace has just now been cleared to play after her surgery. I think this is her fourth game or so. She’s a little rusty since she’s not played for 6 months

For me the biggest take away from Somerset Christian's success this year is the impact a really good outside shooter can have. Yes, they have 2 good athletes in the front court and they make a big difference but Baker shooting 50% from the three point line is huge. They played DCA strongly behind Baker hitting 4-3's in the first half. I'm a firm believer that shooting can be taught and the idea that shooters are born and not made is a myth. Any program that starts teaching proper shooting form in middle school and insists that the kids follow the guidelines will be way ahead. Ashland Blazer is a good example. Their 3 top shooters in terms of volume are hitting from 38.5% up to 52.1%. First it was strength training. Nobody did it and now most everyone does with almost all colleges employing a strength and conditioning coach. Now the pros have dedicated shooting coaches. Rob Fodor, the shooting coach for the Miami Heat, says the the average rookie has at least 8 tweaks that need to be done to their shot. I anticipate that dedicated shooting coaches will become common in the better college programs. When the high school coaches figure it out and set up their feeder systems to teach proper form they'll have a big advantage.

Not to take anything away from Driver, he's a really good athlete, but for a high school player to have 9 blocks in a 32 minute game is indicative of either poor coaching or poor decision making on the part of his opponent. Driver tries to block every single shot he can get to. Have they not heard of a head fake?

I'd agree, Garrard has surprised me.

No, I wouldn't say they were the same. I just meant that for every team other than Pulaski, with 5 experienced players returning, nobody could simply reload like some of the powerhouse programs in some other regions seem to do. Somerset is a good case in point. They lost 2 really good players. If there were freshmen and sophomores simply waiting their turn like you see at places like GRC or in some of the Louisville schools they would have been logging a lot of minutes last year. The fact that they're over .500 and 3-1 in the district is a testimony to good coaching and a good program. "Coaching your guys up" as I meant it wasn't based on having the most talent going in.

I made a post in the preseason in which I asserted that with the exception of Pulaski just about every team had about 3 or 4 proven players. In my mind that made it a referendum on the coaches. Who could develop the younger players who didn't bring in a lot of experience? Who could implement systems by which they could be successful? I'd be interested to know who you think has really coached his guys up in the 12th based on what we knew going in to the season.

Trying to figure out how the teams will do is a little confusing when it comes to DCA. Grace Mbugua, their 6-5 center, missed the first part of the season rehabbing from ACL surgery. She’s only been back for 3 games and is averaging 25 and 15. She’s still a little rusty but even then she’s one of the best players in the state.