PTown Dad

They’ve really been keeping it quiet. I think some of the names above have applied. Not sure who they’ll choose.

The PT Administration is keeping the search very close to the chest and I think that’s a good thing. The good news is I’ve heard there’s been several applicants and there weren’t very many at all last year. I saw the job posted on Paducah Schools website and it had an application deadline of 5/14. I guess maybe they’re required to wait til then to do the hire but I’m not positive. I would hope they’d move very quickly after that date passes.

I imagine that Tarus and Greg Johnson go back to Southern Illinois with Coach Davis. I think they may have even been related? Two very good players in the Senior class - Eli Dabney and Tyson Arthur. I’m biased but the rising Junior class is very strong. Avery Thompson, Carruthers (hopefully eligible), Powell, Lee. There are others in that class too. That’s as good of a Junior class as there is in the 1st Region (in my biased opinion).

I have not heard anything beyond some of the names mentioned above. Hopefully things get rolling soon!

Nobody really wanted to follow Coach O since he was very well-respected and had been coaching in this area for a long, long time. I’m not trying to knock Coach Davis with that statement - just that Greg was so well-liked in the Paducah area and Coach Davis has his roots in Southern IL. It’s now a different situation.

Sources say that David Davis has resigned from Paducah Tilghman. He did a very good job leading the Tornado to the Regional Championship game. I think there is a very good chance Coach Davis will go back to coaching in Southern Illinois.

Writing this topic from the 1st Region perspective. I would most definitely call myself a traditionalist. PTown Wife might even say I'm sort of set in my ways. But lately I've been thinking about the idea of a Super Regional for the 1st Region, and I'm wondering if it would be a good fit for other regions too. Here are the issues that I've seen in recent seasons: The 1st Region has districts that are not similar from a competitiveness standpoint. The obvious outlier is the 1st District which has Carlisle who typically is very solid, but then three small schools with basketball programs that have not seen much recent success - Fulton Co, Fulton City and Hickman Co. I went back five years, and those three teams have lost by an average of more than 34 points in the quarters of the regional tournament. Some years there is a district that seems to have three teams that are in the Top Five of the region. In recent years the biggest example is the 4th District where Marshall, Murray and Calloway have all had strong teams. Recently, the 2nd District has also been very strong with the Vikings improving to match up with McCracken and Tilghman. It's tough to see one of those three teams sitting at home for regionals after very successful seasons. The regional draw is pretty exciting, but it often doesn't separate the top two teams on different sides of the bracket. Let's be honest - we should have been watching the Marshals and Mustangs battling it out in the finals this year, but they instead met in the semifinals based on the draw. Yes, I realize that the KHSAA RPI isn't perfect, and they need to do something different for out-of-state games. However, it's better than nothing and it would have put together a pretty decent 1st Region Super Regional this year. Here is what the bracket with everyone would have looked like: 1-McCracken vs BYE 8-Mayfield vs 9-Tilghman 4-Carlisle vs 13-Ballard Mem. 5-Graves vs 12-Hickman 2-Marshall vs 15-Fulton City 7-St. Mary vs 10-CCA 3-Murray vs 14-Fulton Co. 6-Christian Fellowship vs 11-Calloway I know the majority of you are NCAA Tourney fans so you know how it would flow from here. I think there are a few of those First Round matchups that would be very intriguing. The 8v9, 4v13, and 6v11 games would be exciting. I would say for the 1st round the better seed could host and then the quarters would move to the CFSB Center. What do you think? Do other regions do this currently? And the biggest question - will it ever happen???

I saw on his X that Cam Wade is committed to Loudoun Sports Academy for next year. I’ve never heard of it but I had heard that Prep School was a strong possibility for him. I actually think he may no longer be at PT right now but I’m not 100% positive if that. So - no Cam Wade for the Tornado next season.

Well, it looks like in 2027 they will go from 5 to 3 district games. They’ll need to add 2 new opponents. I agree with y’all - it would be nice to see a regular season test. Bowling Green? Owensboro? Somebody like that.

Ok - I’ve got a question. Is there any chance Langhi would choose to go the Prep School route for his senior year? I honestly don’t see it and don’t know his benefit to doing that. But what do you think?

I think the 1st Region will be very good next year! There will be a few very strong Senior classes. If you don’t mind I’d like to start with PTown Dad’s Way Too Early Top 10: 1. Marshall County - Matthew Langhi. With apologies to Braxton Butnham - I am just going to stop there. 2. McCracken County - the losses of Woodfork and Klope are big, but this team just reloads. Garrett Miller will hopefully have a healthy season and he can score. Aaron Adams is a matchup problem. Don’t forget about PG Jay Martin. 3. Tilghman - Avery Thompson averaged almost 20 ppg the last five games of the year. Eli Dabney returns and he does a lot of damage around the rim. Hopefully we will see Carruthers back 4. Graves Co. - they don’t really lose anything and they will get Raygon Mathis back from injury. I’ve been hearing about this rising Senior class for awhile. 5. Carlisle Co - 6-10 Wyatt Rickard will once again be an all-region player. The senior guards will be solid too. 6. Murray - Coach Doss did an outstanding job in his first year. They’ll miss Maddox Mitchell a bunch but this team had a ton of depth this season. 7. St. Mary - this team is definitely a wild card as their roster has changed some each summer. Mayes will definitely be a top guard in the region. Jack Griffith was on fire late in the season. 8. Calloway Co. - Armstrong will definitely be a top first region player and he will have some shooting around him. 9.Mayfield - this team will always have athletes. 10 Ballard Mem. - they’ll miss Ike Miller but some good guards return. What do you think about this Top 10? And what topics are worth talking about for next year?

I’m narrowing things down here some, but here were the Marshals 5 losses to KY competition when Langhi was in the lineup (he was out sick for the N Laurel game): -12/11 - McCracken home loss 66-71 in OT -12/29 - Great Crossing 66-69 at Lex Catholic 1/22 - McCracken away loss 67-70 on a crazy buzzer beater. 2/3 - Murray home loss 52-55. The Marshals won by 17 in the other 2 matchups with the Tigers. 2/20 - Lyon Co loss away 53-58 Maybe you can say the Murray loss was a bad one but the Tigers had a nice team this year. The other losses were to top competition! I’m rolling with the Marshals in this one!

15 for Spurlock and 15 for Langhi at the half!

I’m just one region over so I know a lot of these answers. It will still be Christian Co but I think they are using Hopkinsville’s mascot and maybe colors too? I recall this was announced shortly before COVID but then the building costs doubled when the pandemic hit. Should be one of the biggest schools in KY and a lot of good athletes in that area I’ll be soft on this one - the announcement many years ago and then the resulting limbo of when the merger will happen I think has hurt these two schools some. But now I think they’ll come roaring back!

They should just hire Dior Curtis from ….Christian County. He did an outstanding job at Murray High! I think when he got to Christian the cupboard was bare. I don’t think they’ll be able to find a better hire. Just my opinion.

Appreciate the write up from the Devil MC. He always does an outstanding job! Here are my 3 favorite Marshall players and then a quick analysis on a few of the others: 1. Matthew Langhi (Jr) - 27 ppg & 5 rpg. I could write a few paragraphs on this guy. He’s 6-6 but I would describe his game as a combo guard. Can score in a multitude of ways. He has a quick first step and he can get to the rim. He also can pull up from the elbow. He doesn’t shoot a ton of 3’s but he makes them at around 35%. Don’t foul him! He makes 8 FTs per game and shoots those at 87%. Pretty darn good defender too. If you needed me to mention a weakness I’d have to think awhile. 2. Ryan Stokes (Sr) - 10 ppg and 6 rpg ( leading rebounder). Very good athlete! The interesting thing about him is he’s a guard but he doesn’t really shoot 3’s. If he has the ball in the perimeter the defender can sit below the FT line. Stokes really likes to get to the rim and he’s very good at it. Possibly the best defender on the team. 3. Neyland Jezik (Sr). 12 ppg and 5 rpg. Simple analysis on him - pure shooter! He makes three 3’s per game and doesn’t do much more on offense. But you can’t leave him! The Marshals will run some things to get him open from 3. The others - Kaden Mohler is the PG and is a very good perimeter defender. Braxton Burnham is a Freshman but he shoots like 47% from 3. Carson Lovett is a Masked Crusader who provides some size (he’s also the GK for the Marshals soccer team). There are some other 1st Region experts in these parts so feel free to add stuff. I think this will be a good one! I’m the First Region guy so give me the Marshals in a tight one.

Just a quick analysis of the Marshals vs Tilghman tomorrow at 2:00. Surprisingly, this is PT’s first trip to the Region 1 championship since 2012. Avery Thompson is really playing some good ball for the Tornado. The key will be if PT can somehow slow down Matthew Langhi. Such a tough task and so I give the Marshals a slight edge for tomorrow. But I think this one has a chance to be close!

Avery Thompson is playing very well right now. I think he had 17 but it may have been 1 or 2 more than that. Close game throughout!

I like this a lot. And yes - would be interesting if we get either an all-2nd District final or potentially even an all-4th District final. Both matchups for the 4th time would be interesting!

Real briefly - I tend to agree with CMurph06. PT looked like the much more athletic team and they took Cavette out of what he does best. Maybe they had an off night, but the Eagles didn’t shoot it very well. My Semis preview! First - does anybody know if there’s video streaming for these Region 1 games? PTownWife is taking one of the girls on a soccer trip and can’t be there. Would you be mad at me if I called both of these games toss-ups? Well too bad! McCracken vs Marshall. 1:00 Saturday. The Mustangs won both games narrowly - the first one in OT and the second on a buzzer beater by Garrett Miller. Quite simply - I think the player out of Woodfork and Langhi that has the better game will win this contest. Both are outstanding players! I’m not so sure that Miller for the Mustangs is 100% so I’d grade the supporting casts as about even. This one should be a good one - get there early to get a good seat! Murray vs Tilghman. 2:30. Murray won the first game 76-72. I apologize for the broken record but PT did not have 4 of its rotation players when they met in January. The 3 transfers and Avery Thompson was still out with his foot injury. Two Captain Obvious keys to this game: 1-Whichever team can turn the other over more. Both teams like to create havoc. 2-Whichever team makes more 3’s. That’s some Pulitzer-prize-worthy analysis right there! I basically said whichever team plays better D and shoots it better will win. You’re welcome! This one will be a track meet so don’t miss it! Let me know your thoughts. Do you agree that both games look pretty evenly matched?

I’ll ask a question of everyone here - do any of y’all think Mayfield can keep the Wednesday night game against McCracken close or even pull a very improbable upset? I think that early December game was so long ago and Mayfield has been playing pretty good as of late. Let me know how close you think this one could be.

First, I want to talk about some of the teams that didn't make the regional tournament but had very good years. St. Mary had some very good wins this year and gave Tilghman all they wanted in the 2nd District semifinals. How about Christian Fellowship with their 21-win season! Calloway County started the season very strong but slid down the stretch. Ballard Memorial seemed to be in every game they played but just couldn't seem to pull many of them out. So now we're down to eight! Initial thoughts on the draw - it's a shame for the Mustangs and Marshals that they are on the same side of the bracket. I think these two have been the best 1st Region teams all season and it would only be right if they met in the regional finals. On the bottom of the bracket - I think this side is WIDE open! As you'll see these teams are ranked three through six below and the margins between these teams are razor thin! Here are PTown Dad's ranking of the remining teams: 1. McCracken Co. (27-3) 2. Marshall Co. (21-8) 3. Carlisle Co. (25-6) 4. Graves Co. (15-12) 5. Murray (20-7) 6. Tilghman (11-17) 7. Mayfield (15-12) 8. Fulton Co. (7-16) Preview of the quarterfinals (my rankings are noted here). All games are at the CFSB Center on Murray State's campus: #2 Marshall Co. vs #8 Fulton Co. - Wednesday at 6:00 No meetings so far this season. Key Marshall Co. players - Matthew Langhi 27 ppg & 5 rpg, Neyland Jezik 12 ppg & 6 rpg, Ryan Stokes 10 ppg and 6 rpg Key Fulton Co. players - Zayden Kinney 16 ppg, Caden Kimble 11 ppg, 7 rpg Congrats on the Pilots making the regional tournament for the third straight year, but I don't really see this being a very competitive game. I think that Langhi and his teammates will be able to do what they want here and this one will be over pretty quickly. #1 McCracken Co. vs #7 Mayfield - Wednesday at 7:30 Previous meetings - McCracken won 80-39 Key McCracken Co. players - Miles Woodfork 24 ppg, Garrett Miller 11 ppg, Aaron Adams 11 ppg, Jackson Klope 10 ppg & 9 rpg Key Mayfield players - Owen Byrd 13 ppg, Malik Kirby 9 ppg, Ashton Flint 9 ppg, Gray Robbins 7 ppg & 5 rpg I definitely don't think this game will be the same margin as the 41-point win that the Mustangs had very early in the season - that was a home game for the Mustangs. It is my understanding that Garrett Miller will most likely be back from his arm injury for this one. I think the key for the Cardinals to keep it close will be if senior Owen Byrd can be productive. I think it's possible that Mayfield can hang around for the first half, but I think the Mustangs will pull away for a comfortable win in the end. They just have so many weapons! #3 Carlisle Co. vs #5 Murray - Thursday at 6:00 Previous meeting - Carlisle won 62-53 Key Carlisle Co. players - Wyatt Rickard 20 ppg & 10 rpg, Brennan Oneil 13 ppg Key Murray players - Maddox Mitchell 17 ppg & 5 rpg, Harris Moore 14 ppg & rpg, Aiden Armstrong 9 ppg & 7 rpg I think this will be a very close game and remember that the Comets recent win was at home. I know one thing for sure on this game - the Tigers will press! So I think one key will be if Carlisle can handle the pressure for the full 32 minutes. Rickard is a tough matchup for all teams and I'm not sure anyone in the region really have the personnel to guard him. Maybe McCracken. The contrast of this matchup will be the speed and pressure of the Tigers versus the size and half-court execution of the Comets. I think it will be a close one but give me Carlisle based on their recent win. #4 Graves Co. vs #6 Tilghman Previous meeting - Graves won 59-43 Key Graves Co. players - Ty Cavette 15 ppg & 5 rpg, Trevor Frick 12 ppg, Bodie Veucasovic 9 ppg Key Tilghman players - Warren Carruthers 11 ppg, Max Russell 10 ppg, Avery Thompson 10 ppg & 6 rpg, Ali Dabney 9 ppg & 5 rpg Let's count them - there are FOUR Tornado players who did not play in their January matchup against the Eagles. The three transfers who are now eligible and Avery Thompson who was out with a foot injury. Speaking of Thompson, he went on a scoring tear in the district tournament, scoring 24 points in the semis and then 31 in the district finals. As for the Eagles - this Junior class that they have is pretty special. The key guy is Ty Cavette - he's not a huge player but he's ultra-athletic. One of the keys will be if the Tornado can somehow keep him in check. Based on the results so far this year I'm leaning ever so slightly to the Eagles. I think this one could go down to the wire. Thursday will be a fun night! I think those games will be very good. See you at the Bank!

Great analysis! Yes - this game was much closer than the final margin. PT had the ball down 3 in the final minute. Two costly turnovers on inbounds plays and that’s why they lost by 9. Both Thompson and Woodfork put on a show!

How about those Murray Tigers! They Pounced on the Lakers and ended up cruising to a 23-point victory at Reed Conder. It sounds like Armstrong had a decent game for the Lakers but judging by the stats he did not have too much help. I thought I'd preview the district championship games. A very brief preview of the 1st District - Carlisle will win that one handily (but congrats to the Pilots who pulled an upset and punched their ticket for next week). Here are districts 2 - 4: 2nd District - Tilghman (11-16) at McCracken Co. (26-3) Previous meetings - McCracken won 72-65 and 78-40. I don't think that Garrett Miller will play this one for the Mustangs, but I hear he will most likely be back for the regional tournament. Here are some of the margins of McCracken's wins at home this year against West Ky competition: Mayfield by 41, Graves by 12, UHA by 31, Carlisle by 14, Tilghman by 38, Christian Co. by 36, St. Mary by 32, Hoptown by 43, Calloway by 41. Those are some beatdowns! The first game between these two was very tight throughout, but the second one was after the snow week, and it looked like PT had been laying around and eating French Toast all week. Remember that now Tilghman has added three transfer guards and their outside shooting has improved considerably. I think that the Tornado has a chance to keep this tight for the first half or so, but I think the Mustangs will pull away for a comfortable win. I think it would be tight once again at Otis Dinning, but not on the Mustangs' homecourt. One other question - will there be a Warren Carruthers sighting??? 3rd District - Graves Co. (14-12) at Mayfield (15-11) Previous meetings - Each team won at home. Mayfield won 41-33 and Graves won 53-41 Battle of the Birds Part 3! If you're looking for a nail-biter then this is the game I'd choose on Thursday night. I think these rosters are pretty evenly matched, but I give the Eagles just the slightest of edges. The main characters are Ty Cavette for the Eagles and Owen Byrd for the Cardinals. I think I'll go with Graves but by a very slight margin. And remember - Coach Croft for Mayfield always seems to get his team ready to play come tourney time. The one prediction that I feel good about here - I'm thinking this one will go down to the wire. 4th District - Murray (20-6) at Marshall Co. (20-8) Previous meetings - Each team won on the road. Marshall won 75-58 early in the season and Murray won 55-52 at Reed Conder. At the risk of starting to get Hate Email from the Tigers fans - I think Marshall will have a comfortable win in this one. Yes, I do know that Murray won the last game at Reed Conder. And yes, I also know that the Tigers were very impressive in their semifinal win over the Lakers. I just think that Langhi and Stokes will get this one done on Thursday night (6:30 CST). If you remember, Marshall was cruising along the first half of their home game and then they fell asleep in the 3rd quarter somehow. The Marshals are back to full strength, and I think they will be up for this one. I see a double digit win here for the Marshals. But let me know what you think! After all my highest level of basketball competition was High School Church League. We brought home a title senior year.

I'd like to start out with some congratulations: McCracken's Miles Woodfork was named the KABC Region 1 Player of the Year. Well deserved! He's scoring over 24 points per game, and he can score it in a multitude of ways. Also, it seems that his defense is much improved this season too. Woodfork also scored his 2,000th point this past week and that's quite a feat. I expect he will be playing at the next level next season, and it will be interesting to see where he lands. I was listening to Brad Munson's PT post-game on Thursday, and he mentioned that he heard that Matthew Langhi is now 3rd place on the Marshals' all-time scoring list. You'll never guess who he passed - his dad, Dan. I believe that Munson said that the great Barry Goheen is the Marshals' all-time scoring leader and I didn't catch who was 2nd place. It will be interesting to see if Matthew can move up even more in his senior season. Elijah Grigg from Christian Fellowship scored his 3,000th point this past week. You don't see that too often. Congratulations to him and he has led his Eagles to an outstanding season. Here are my brief regular season ending rankings and then I will preview the 2/3 matchups: 1. McCracken Co. (25-3) - W 84-45 vs Calloway Co. It will be interesting to see when Garrett Miller returns for the Mustangs. He's their 2nd-leading scorer and he's a pretty solid defender too. 2. Marshall Co. (19-8) - W 53-46 vs Graves, L 53-58 at Lyon Co. I believe that the Marshals led much of the game at Lyon County until the Lyons made a late comeback. The Marshals are hosting their district tourney at Reed Conder - nice gym! 3. Carlisle Co. (23-6) - W 53-51 vs Graves Co., W 62-53 vs Murray What a nice week for the Comets! Can we go ahead and give them the 1st District trophy? Let the Falcons and Pilots go at it then give them the 2nd place one. 4. Graves Co. (14-12) - L 46-55 at Marshall Co., L 51-53 at Carlisle Co., Two regional losses this week, but they were road losses to very good teams. 5. Murray (19-6) - W 61-51 Goreville (IL), L 53-62 at Carlisle Co. The Tigers won the Superman Classic with their win over Goreville. This championship game was rescheduled from all of the January snow. 6. Tilghman (10-16) - W 78-64 at UHA, W 61-53 at Ballard Memorial The Tornado now has won five straight over in-state competition. They are playing better basketball as of late. 7. St. Mary (15-14) - W 66-58 vs Massac Co. (IL), L 67-86 at Lyon Co. The other Freshman, Jack Griffith, has been on a scoring tear as of late. He has good height, and he can shoot the ball well. 8. Mayfield (14-11) - W 60-27 at Fulton City, W 80-57 vs Livingston Central I think this team will go as far as senior guard Owen Byrd will take them. 9. Calloway Co. (9-19) - L 45-84 at McCracken Co., W 69-45 vs Caldwell Co. Luke Armstrong had some early foul trouble at McCracken and so that one was over quickly. Good bounce-back win over Caldwell. 10. Christian Fellowship School (21-9) - W 72-64 vs Trigg Co., W 74-42 vs Fulton City, W 80-75 at Livingston Central It's not too often that the Eagles get a 20-win season. It almost seems cruel that they have the four seed in the 4th district. 11. Ballard Memorial (9-21) - Ike Miller is good enough to take this team to regionals. 12. Community Christian Acad. (12-15) - Don't forget about this Sophomore duo that can really fill it up! 13. Hickman Co. (12-15) - Nice regular season sweep over the Pilots! 14. Fulton Co. (6-15) - Can they get some revenge over the Falcons on Tuesday? 15. Fulton City (3-26) - The Bulldogs will host the 1st District tournament this year. Here are the 2/3 matchups in each of the districts. I believe that all of these games are played on Tuesday night: 1st District - (2) Hickman Co. vs (3) Fulton Co. Hickman won both games by scores of 64-51 and 65-53 Pretty surprised that Hickman County won both of these games by double digits. The Falcons have been somewhat of a surprise team this year and I guess you have to give them the edge based on the two wins in the regular season. The last time they made it to the regional tournament was 2023. 2nd District - (2) Paducah Tilghman vs (3) St. Mary. Tilghman won both games by scores of 66-61 and 79-62 What is that old adage that it is tough to beat a good team three times. The Vikings are a pretty good team! I think the Tornado have the athletes to win this game but if Mayes or Griffith get hot, I could see the Vikings coming away with the upset win. This one should be a good one and it's played at McCracken's Strawberry Hills Arena. 3rd District - (2) Mayfield vs (3) Ballard Memorial - They played three games this season due to the middle game being in the All A Classic. Mayfield won the first two 56-54 and 53-35 and then Ballard won the last one 58-44. This is a home game for the Cardinals, but remember that the last game was also home for Mayfield and they got beat by double digits. This one is hard to predict - I think that Mayfield has the better guards, but Ballard has a beast named Ike Miller. As long as Mayfield can contain Miller then I think they can come away with the victory. If Miller goes off, then I could see the Bombers winning this one. 4th District - (2) Murray vs (3) Calloway Co. Murray won all three of these games - they played the middle one due to the 2A. The scores were 71-37, 54-52 and 59-54. I think this is a similar analysis as compared to the 3rd District. It all depends on how the Tigers do with Luke Armstrong. If Murray can contain Armstrong, then I think they will advance. But best of luck with that! If Armstrong has one of his 20 & 10 nights, then I think it will be very close and I think there's a good chance that the Lakers could pull this one out.