Bballjunkie

This is huge news. Do you think adding a player this late in the season will hurt the chemistry.?

The All Region team voted on by the coaches should come out this week. I thought it would be fun to try to predict who will be on there. It is always impossible to agree on these things. Some kids are gonna be left off. I hope I didn't leave anyone off that is obviously. This is my list. Feel free to share your own. ******But let's remember these are kids. No bashing anyone that you don't think should be on there.****** 1. Omari Jointer, JR-Woodford County (PLAYER OF THE YEAR) 2. Tommy Gregg, JR- North Oldham 3. Baylor Nolin, JR- Henry County 4. Braylon Bilton- JR- Simon Kenton 5. Samuel Seawright, SR- Spencer County 6. Pierre Rondo, 8th grader- North Oldham 7. Nico Ballard, SR- South Oldham 8. Ty Bryant, FR- Oldham County 9. Nathanael Hamm, JR- Grant County 10. Andrew Sparrow, SR- Anderson County 11. Wyatt Shearer, JR- Walton Verona 12. Joaquin Siakam, SO- South Oldham 13. Brady Smith , SR- Spencer County 14. Will Scobee, SR- Simon Kenton 15. Michael Smith, JR- Owen County

Well, here we are folks. Going into the last week of the regular season. What teams are playing well? Are there any teams that haven’t peaked yet? For tournament basketball that is the most important thing, who is playing good at the right time. Since we typically start with North Oldham let's do it again. The Mustangs had a huge blow this week. Eli Green tore his ACL. The kid was coming into his own. He was the leading scorer a couple games as of late and was playing his role perfectly. How will this affect the team? Well, they are losing their best shooter. Teams can scheme differently now. Some new kids that haven’t played a lot will be asked to play more minutes in tournament time. Will be interesting to see how they handle it. Woodford is still playing good basketball. Anderson County did what everyone thought they would do and slowed the game down but the Yellowjackets were just too athletic and won by double figures. The biggest game of the week was Henry County beating Spencer. Even though Spencer is without their best player it was a huge statement for Henry County to make by beating a top 3 team. The Wildcats are playing great basketball and obviously they host the region. Can they be a Cinderella story? Will be Fun to see. South Oldham took care of their rivals Oldham County. Yesterday the young Colonels had a chance to beat a top ten team but lost to Walton Verona. But for the current rankings, I really struggled what to do with Spencer and Henry. Spencer has beaten South, but Henry just beat Spencer. But the Bears didn’t have their best player. So I really did go back forth on the decision. Below is my picks to win each district: (I might be way off because not sure some of the seedings) District 29 North Oldham -Champs South Oldham- Runners up District 30 Woodford County -Champs Spencer County- Runners Up District 31 Henry County – Champs Owen County – Runners Up District 32 Simon Kenton- Champs Grant County – Runners Up Rankings for Week 11: 1. North Oldham (19-5) Losing Eli Green is a huge loss. My heart goes out to this young man. But think about how good North Oldham is. They have loss Austin Sears and Eli Green in the same year and they are still the heavy favorite to win the region. The amount of talent at one county school is staggering. The Mustangs finish the reg season off by playing two athletic teams in Jeffersontown and Fairdale. 2. Woodford County (15-6) The Yellowjackets are undefeated in district play and will be heading into the district tourney at the 1 seed. They are the favorite to win the District Tourney , however Spencer County and/or Anderson County can definitely upset them on the right night… Both have proved that they can stand toe to toe. They end the reg season vs Frederick Douglas. 3. South Oldham (17-7) The Dragons have 2 region losses to Spencer and South. I am keeping them at the 3 spot because of their complete resume this season. They have beaten some good teams this year outside of their region. They took care of their rivals by 16 points. This is a typical South team that shoots a lot of threes. I can tell you no one wants to play them come tournament time. They finish with Fairdale, Frankfort and Gallatin County. 4. Simon Kenton (13-9) The Pioneers are always in the top 5 year in and year out. This year is no exception. I am not sure they have the talent to win it but Braylon Bilton is a baller that could possibly put the team on this back. This week they finish the season off with Highlands and Owen. 5. Henry County (16-10) I decided to put the Wildcats in the top 5. They have been playing great basketball since Jan 3, they are 11-2. Baylor Nolin is avg 23ppg but Drew Cole and Ethan Keller has had some big games as of late. Mr Keller was 8 for 11 vs Eminence from behind the arc finishing with 26pt. If Ethan and Drew can score when Baylor is being doubled, watch out for Henry in the tourney. 6. Spencer County (17-9) To be honest I don’t feel great about Spencer being in the 6 spot but that is where I have them.. I think they are a really, really good team. They could easily be the second best team in the region. But since Seawright has been hurt they have lost 2 out of their last 4. If they can get their leading scorer back, I have no doubt they can beat anyone. They play Owen County, North Hardin, and Bardstown this week. 7. Grant County (16-10) The Braves have had a great year for the most part. They will have a chance to get to the regionals but it will not be easy. They will have to beat Walton Verona again. Last week they got them by only 3 points. Nathanael Hamm has had a great season avg 16ppg. The rest of the group are great role players who can score 17-18pts on even given night. Cade Wagner, Trent Blake, Braylen Flamini and Mason Hammonds are all capable scores. They finish up with Bryan Station and Pendleton. 8. Anderson County (21-5) The Bearcats led the region in wins. They are obviously not the best team but winning over 20 games is always something to celebrate. They gave Woodford a bit of a scare last week. They played them competitively, only losing by 12. Should be a great district tourney semifinal game between them and Spencer. Andrew Sparrow is the heart of the team avg 19ppg and 7rpg. He is a beast that plays hard on every play. 9. Walton Verona (15-12) The Bearcats got a big win vs Oldham County on Saturday by 3 points. I guess that was a great game. Coach Hester has a group that doesn’t have much height but they play hard. The semi final game vs Grant will be a battle. They finish their season off vs Scott, Great Crossing and Scott County. 10. Collins (8-16) I am going to once again keep the Titans in the top 10. Mainly because Oldham County hasn’t had any wins as of late that would justify moving them in front of them. Collins has had a really hard schedule as of late. They finish their season off vs Boyle County, Oldham County and Central. The game vs Oldham will be the deciding factor on whether they stay in the top 10. 11. Oldham County (11-14) Back to back season its been a “what if” type of season for the Colonels. Last year their best player tore his ACL before the season. This season they started the season off by beating Henry and Spencer in convincing fashion then out of nowhere their best athlete quit the team. Even since then they have struggled to beat good teams. They have some young talent and will be good in the coming year. They play Butler, Scott County and Collins this week. 12. Shelby County (8-17) The Rockets are on a 7 game losing streak but I do feel they are better than all the teams under them. Coach Leslie has done a great job with this team. 13. Owen County (12-11) The Rebels have had a solid season with the talent they have to use. Michael Smith has had a great season avg 20ppg. It will not be easy for them to get the regionals but they are my pick to get there with Henry County from District 31. 14. Gallatin County (8-17) The Wildcats had a big win last week vs Eminence. They jumped them this week because of that win. This group has overachieved at times this season. Can they get to the regionals.? 15. Carroll County (14-11) The Panthers also jump over Eminence. They were on fire beating the Warriors by 26 points. 16. Eminence (14-13) The Warriors have a winning record and they are working everyday to prepare for the District Tourney. They are hungry to get to the regionals. 17. Trimble County (6-19) Even though the Raiders have had a rough season they can get a couple wins this week to finish with 8 wins for the year. 18. Cornerstown Christian (4-15) Getting 4 wins for a brand new team is a big deal. They will work over the summer to improve to get double that next season. 19. Williamstown (0-24) You never want to see a group of boys to go the entire season without a win. Its been a long year for the Demons.

Huge win for Henry County . The boys are playing some good ball.

North Oldham coaching staff needs to be given a lot of credit. The things they have done with this group this year is amazing. Last year they struggled needless to say the least and this year winning 16 games already and missed 2 layups to have a chance to beat Spencer at Spencer …. WOW. Kudos to North Oldham Mustang. Keep it up girls.

Eli Green tore his ACL this past week. Very sad for this kid. He was coming into his own as of late playing some great basketball .

I second this. Coach Levitch has built something special at North Oldham. Also his brother runs their youth program so apparently they have great teams 5th-8th grade.

Hmmm interesting . Thanks for the info. I never watched him coach at Ballard.

Something interesting I did observe last night. During timeouts, Renner doesn’t even always communicate with the players but his assistant does all of the coaching . This happened in a few full timeouts where Renner just talks to the jv coach outside of the huddle.. On the flip side Simpson does 100% of the coaching…. It was very interesting to view the differences in programs as a neutral fan.

Very impressive . Congrats to Ethan .

I have a close friend in the OCHS school district….. you are correct … Ty and Siakam have been battling for years. Was told Ty had a brain injury a couple years ago from an accident in a baseball game and to miss a year of sports and school. So that is reason they are in two different grades.

I am with you South should win this game but it will depend on a lot of factors if OC wants to keep it close. - how well will South shoot? And how will OC guard the three point shot? - how will the younger OC guys handle the environment? - I think one of the keys for OC is how they will contain Siakam ? He is an athletic beast running the floor, on the boards, etc. Either way it’s easily the best environment in the entire region when the Oldham schools play against each other.

What a game . District tourney is going to be FUN.

It’s on Hudl Fan for free

I think this will be a great game and the crowd will be rocking. I think Simon will pull it out but it could go either way.

I watched the game online. For St X to have the athletes they have I am amazed by how much they stand around on offense. If there were constant movement and all five guys were attacking downhill they would be hard to guard. Josh L goes multiple possessions without even touching the ball.

Not sure if he will or not. He does seem to adjust a bit. I watched OC try to run around and trap at the first of the season but it was clear they didn’t have the athletes for that. When I saw them Saturday, they were playing mostly half court zone. Coaching at Oldham and coaching at Ballard is totally different. Not everyone has the ability to coach kids that are not the best athletes on the floor. Not dogging Renner because he is in the hall of fame so obviously he can coach but he coached with the best athletes around most years. He doesn’t have a ton of athletes at Oldham.

Sounded like a great game .

Is the all time wins list for coaches posted somewhere ?

I agree with this statement ?!

Bears not Bearcats. that's my fault. I love Spencer County’s program and their culture. I know for a fact a few schools have reached out to Coach Burns and tried to steal him away but he says he is happy in Taylorsville.

The Regular season is winding down. I can't believe we are 2 weeks away from tourney time. Going to be an exciting end of the regular season, hopefully teams are healthy and everyone is peaking at the right time. Last year not many people would have predicted that South Oldham would make it to the Final 4. But they peaked and got hot at the right time. That is what tournament basketball is all about. As for who is going to win it all? Well, all season I have went back and forth. I have always thought North Oldham is going to be the ones to cut the net down but I went back and forth on how easy the journey will be for them. I have been on the side that they are Number 1 and there was a HUGE gap to Number 2. Lately, I have been thinking differently ------ Woodford beat Madison Central, Spencer only lost to Woodford by 1 on the road without their best player, South beat Ballard and Simon is always competitive……….Maybe someone is good enough to upset North. I do want to give a shout out to Carroll County. They are in the part the rankings that doesn’t get talked about a lot. They went on the road and got the upset victory over Owen County. I assume that was a fun game to watch. Congrats to the Panthers. As for rest of the rankings there is no moving around for the top 11 teams. This week there will be some games that will make teams go up or down. I hope the snow continues to stay away and we can get through the rest of the season with no interruption. Buckle up ladies and gentleman, its going to be a great ride. 1. North Oldham- (16-5) The Mustangs picked up two impressive wins last week over Walton Verona and Seneca. What makes those even more impressive was that Tommy Gregg and David Bradley were both out with the flu. The Seneca game was a physical game that the Mustangs handle well. I am continuing to be impressed with the role players like Eli Green and Oakland Shearer, they both play their roles beautifully and compliment their stars Tommy Gregg and Pierre Rondo. This week they have some region matchups vs Collins and Shelby County. 2. Woodford County (12-6) The Yellowjackets had a great win over Spencer County at home. However, Spencer was without their best player and Woodford only won by 1 point. That is exciting to know that the district tourney will be more competitive than I was thinking it would be. Woodford is physical and athletic but I have been concerned all year about their ability to hit the outside shot especially in the tourney when teams will scheme to shut down all the driving lanes. I still want to see Woodford vs North in the championship game of the region so I hope they get hot. This week they have West Jessamine, Paris and a big game with Anderson County in Lawrenceburg. 3. Spencer County (15-8) The Bearcats have played the last three games without their best player, Samuel Seawright . I still haven’t heard what is going on with him. I hope he is back on the court soon. The good news for Spencer is that they are playing great basketball without him. Other guys are stepping up .Rollie Tackett had 21pts vs Larue a week ago and Brady Smith had 21pt vs Woodford. If those two boys keep playing well when Samuel gets back then you better watch out for this group of boys. They could be dangerous. This week they play Bullitt East and Cornerstone Chr. 4. South Oldham (15-7) I have said it once and I say it again, Coach Simpson can flat out coach. After beating Evangel Christian on Thursday , the Dragons took on Ballard. They were out matched when it comes to size but South put on a clinic of moving the ball and back cutting. They scored 97 points on one best teams in the state. One of the most impressive games I have ever seen. The Dragons laid an egg against North and I think that woke them up. Colton W got hot and looked like he did at last years state tourney. I heard a teammate say “HE IS BACK BABY”. They will be a very dangerous team come tournament time. This week they have Frankfort and St Henry but the game to watch is Thursday night when they take on Oldham County. A rival game that is always fun to watch. I think they are better than OC but who knows, it could be a tight one in Crestwood. 5. Simon Kenton (11-9) The Pioneers had a tough week against two of the better teams in their area. Campbell County only beat Simon by 3 pts. I bet that was a fun game to watch. Earlier in the week they lost to Ryle by 18pt, which is not a bad thing because Ryle is a really good team. The boys need to shake off those two games and get ready to play vs Walton Verona this week. That will be a huge district game that both teams will want to win badly. They finish the week off with Scott. 6. Henry County (12-10) The Wildcats got a big District win vs Gallatin by 22pt. Then they traveled to Lexington and lost to Sayre by 11. The boys from New Castle have a big week of District games that they should go 3-0 as they take on Carroll County, Eminence and Trimble. I hope they can get some big leads and rest their starters because Saturday they have a really fun matchup vs Spencer County. This could be a really good game. If Henry wants to be serious contenders in the region they need to prove it in this game. 7. Grant County (13-10) Similar to Simon, the Braves lost 2 non-region games vs quality opponents but they are back at it this week. They also have a big district game vs Walton Verona. This is a make up game from the snow I believe. Should be a great contest. They finish the week off by driving a little south to take on Gallatin and Owen. 8. Anderson County (18-4) The Bearcats beat district opponent Shelby County only by 9. It will be interesting to see if they can compete with Woodford this week. The game is at Anderson so I think it will be a close game. If they slow it down and play really physical, who knows they might upset the Yellowjackets. They also take on Western Hills, Cornerstone Chr and Owen County this week. 9. Walton Verona (14-9) Walton had a tough loss at home by 20 pt to North Oldham but its not a terrible loss because North has been beating everyone all year. Also it was tied at halftime. But they bounced back and got a good win over Cooper. They have a huge week coming up when they take on Grant and Simon. Can they prove they are ready for tourney time and prepare to take a trip to the regional tourney? Should be a fun week for this group. I hope they are ready to compete. 10. Collins (7-14) The Titans will remain in the top 10 for at least one more week. The Colonels are hot on their tail though and ready to jump over them. The boys had a crazy couple of games last week vs CAL and Madison Central. Neither game was close and unfortunately Collins has another tough week. They have games vs North Oldham, Scott County and Male. Could be a 0-3 week for this group. 11. Oldham County (11-11) The Colonels only had one game this week and it was a win vs Fern Creek. I saw on social media where freshman Ty Bryant went for 36pt and 15reb. That is a big time performance for a freshman. Looking at their stats on KHSAA they are continuing to be led by two freshman (Ty Bryant and Matt Withrow) and sophomore, Malakye Bowen. The future looks bright for this week. This week they have a tough slate of games with game vs CAL, South Oldham and Walton Verona. Can they compete with South in Crestwood? It will be tough. 12. Shelby County (8-14) I am letting Shelby County jump Owen County based on them getting better each game and Owen taking a tough loss to Carroll. The Rockets have their minds set on getting to the 10 win mark this year which would triple their win total from last year. This week they take on Bullitt Central, North Oldham, and Lafayette. 13. Owen County (10-9) Very surprised that Owen lost to Carroll County at home. But that is the beauty of basketball. Owen had an off night and Carroll was making shots they typically don’t make. This week the Rebels take on Trimble, Eminence and Anderson. 14. Eminence (14-9) Two losses last week was not fun for this group but they are pumped up about getting back on the court this week. They take on Gallatin County, Owen County and Henry County. Three big district games. 15. Gallatin County (7-16) The Wildcats would love nothing more to get to the 10 win mark this season. They have a few winnable games coming up in the coming weeks. This week they have Eminence and Grant County . 16. Carroll County (11-10) I would have love to bump up the Panthers after their win but everyone ahead of them as beat them and Owen has been those teams as well. So its tough to make the move. This week have Henry County, Villa Madonna, and Columbus Chrisitan. 17. Cornerstown Christian (3-11) One of their games was not updated from last week so not sure who won. However, this week they have Fern Creek, Trinity Christian, Spencer County and Anderson County. Tough week for the boys. 18. Williamstown (0-22) Really rooting for these boys to get a win. This week they play Holmes.

I really think North had a lot to do with the 3/30 night. Sure South missed some open shots but there was a ton of rushed, contested 3s as well. I have been really impressed with Norths defense this year. They have went from a matchup zone type team to a get in your shorts man to man team. They will be tough to beat . They are deep too. Their second 5 could beat most teams in the 8th region.

Thanks for the reminder. Will not be my last miss for sure!

If you would have saw him versus CAL or St X you would think differently. The South game was just not a good match up for him. South playing different types of zone and pushing him away from the basket. Also he had to guard some guards a lot on switches. He definitely had an off game, too. However, Auburn and Indiana was at his game the night before so he is kinda, sorta good lol.