EARLE

14th: Leslie County and Lee County If Lee Co. and Leslie Co. were to meet in the first round or drew into the same bracket, one of these teams would have a good shot: PCC, Hazard, KCC, Powell Co., Estill Co.

http://scoreboard.12dt.com/scoreboard/khsaa/kyba6

Didn't say that they had to win a regional championship...just get to the regional tournament and be competitive. There is a huge difference in being competitive and losing in the first game of the district tournament by 17 points (the team they lost to had beaten them by a grand total of 3 points in two games in the regular season, and lost their head coach along the way). Lee County lost 5 of their last 6 games in '05.

Pitino had taken Providence to the NCAA Final Four (1987), before he got to UK. It would be nice to see a 56th district team, maybe two, reach at least the regional semi-finals this year. I think Lee County and Estill County have the talent to get there. And with a good draw or an upset one of them could reach the finals. They (Lee County) have just not won the BIG game in the past is all I am saying. They will have their opportunity in the all "a" and the district. Besides district games, the regular season means nothing. If you don't seed, then even those games mean very little.

1997-'98 started out (7-1) split with all the district teams, lost in the first round of the district tournament to Owsley County. 1998-'99 started out (8-2) split with Wolfe and Owsley, beat Powell twice, lost in the first round of the district tournament to Wolfe County 52-47. Bottom line, this district has seeded for a long time (so most years you know several weeks in advance who you'll be playing). Lee County has been to the regional tournament once in the last 16 years, and that came in '97. They have had several teams good enough to at least get to the region.

Have they been to the regional tournament since Wright has been coaching there? Since there are only four teams in the 56th, then I assume they have lost in the first round of the district with talent every year too. What's the difference?

Seen Lee Co. play several times...same team as last year, everyone else lost more to graduation in the 14th...don't fool yourself it is still really early. It's easy to talk a good game, but until they play a couple of good games when it counts (class "a", district, and region) they are no better than all the other teams from Lee County over the past 16 years.

You said in an earlier post that Lee County was in the cellar... that may have been the case, but not 6 years ago coach Hutchins had them competing in the 14th also. What's the difference? I agree, they are competing in December and January (they did that when Hutchins was there), but the real games don't count until late Ferbruary, early March. That's all I was saying. Lee County was 10-12 points better than Owsley last year. I figure that will be about the spread when Smith is back. They had better hope that Owsley doesn't end up the four seed and them the one. Could be deja vu.

1. Perry Central 2. Hazard 3. Letcher Central 4. Lee County 5. Leslie County / Estill County

Dee Hutchins did a great job at Lee County in the late '90s...until coach Wright gets them into the regional tournament (which is not a given) and wins a couple of games, or wins the class "a" region, I don't think you can consider him that great of a coach or Lee County that good of a team. Last year top to bottom they were better than Owsley County. But lost to them in the all a after leading by a bunch, and then got embarrassed in the first game of the district tournament by an Owl team that had lost their head coach along the way.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Basketball is twice a week and Football is once a week. Baseball is six days out of the week. Basketball and Football games don't get rained out. There are usually no contracts exchanged in baseball, so if a team doesn't show up to play - because "they couldn't get a a bus" then there is no consequences to the school. I think another big reason is the lack of communication between coaches and the media outlets. Coaches don't tend to call in games, and it's usually a day late, at best, getting a score on the khsaa website.

Besides Patrick and Haynes Hazard lacked varsity experience last year. The year before he was on a 30 game winner with 8 or 9 seniors. I don't think he saw as many good pitches to hit last year compared to '04, because Hazard's line-up wasn't as strong. Teams could afford to pitch around him.

Quentin Morgan was the most dominant pitcher in the 14th as a junior, and was one of the top 3 as a sophomore (along with Williams and Sizemore of Hazard). I think Osborne and Couch are the next best. You could throw Stamper and Sparks (lefty) from Wolfe County in the mix too. Hendrix is probably the best hitter, with Osborne, Muncie, and Thomas being the next best.

42nd has to be the toughest district in the state, with the 9th district coming in second (Owensboro, Apollo, Daviess County, Owensboro Catholic). All five teams in the 42nd will probably be in the top 25 at some time during the 2006 season.

Coaches vote for the players to represent the 14th region. When two players from the same team are nominated (like Morgan, Hendrix and Osborne,Thomas) sometimes it splits the votes. The players coach can vote for only one of his and one other player from another team that has been nominated.

I only listed a few players at each position. If I had to choose nine or ten players from the 14th region, I'd take those kids. Several of the kids I chose could play many different positions, and they all have pretty good speed. If you are athletic enough to play shortstop, then you can play just about anywhere else.

Top Pitchers: 1- Morgan, Leslie Co. 2- Osborne, Lee Co. 3- Couch, PCC 4- T. Smith, KCC Top Infielders: 1- Hendrix, Leslie Co. 2- Muncie (P), Powell Co. 3- Napier, PCC Top Outfielders: 1- Thomas (P), Lee Co. 2- Davidson (P), Buckhorn 3- Shepherd, Leslie Co.

If a kid runs a 6.4/60 or throws 95 m.p.h. then you can throw pitching records and batting averages out the window. Coaches at the next level can teach a kid to hit (if he can run), and they can teach a pitcher to throw strikes if he is slinging it. But for 99% of the baseball population, that don't run a 6.4/60 or even throw 85 m.p.h. they had better take care of business in the classroom first, then be a good team player second (hustle on and off the field, take pride in what they are doing, and look like they enjoy the game). College coaches don't have to take a chance on an average player, if they have a bad attitude or if they won't work hard in the classroom. After your high school coach makes initial contact for a player to the college coach, the player should stay in contact with that college coach via e-mail or phone calls on a weekly basis. I believe most college coaches want to see that the player is interested in their program (not the high school coach or the players' parent). If a player is not responsible enough to do NCAA Clearinghouse, Financial Aid (FAFSA), and admission forms for the college- then how can the coach depend on the player to make 6:30 a.m. workouts, or go to his classes, w/o mom and dad around?