ARC

I've moved JBS from 'average' to 'very good'. I'd like to see the JBS vs LCC game, and if they win that one then I think that they have a lock on #1 in the 14th. (providing that they don't implode otherwise)

It is very hard to win a game at PCC and most teams have never done it. Way to go JBS!!

How is their interior defense? Are they getting much offensively from inside with the 6'8" freshmen? (anyone know his ppg/rpg averages?)

Lee with T Rich inside for a double-double, more versatile scoring and a deeper bench; Powell at home and probably with 12 more free throw attempts than Lee.

Lee by 13

They played a month ago at Estill with Estill winning by 38. With Smith back I think the Engineers will win by 29 at Booneville. I think that Owsley will struggle with Dixon and Berryman.

To answer your question in post # 17 about why Smith was wearing a faceguard, please read post # 44. It had nothing to do with "hockey" or basketball.

I apologize if anyone took that seriously. Nothing personal intended to the young man, it is intended for those involved in the deception. That said, this was probably a situation that the young men on the team devised to try to gain some kind of advantage in order to win. A youthful experiment gone awry.

If the Owsley administration deliberately misled folks about when Robert would be playing, then that appears more of an act of desperation than anything else.

Heck, teams travel and play other teams that they have never seen play nor do they know who's on the team so that seems silly to me

There has always been an intense rivalry between these two schools and everyone does know practically everyone who plays...on both teams. Imagine if the same situation occurred between a Breathitt vs Jackson City game. Just suppose that Eli transferred back to Breathitt and the coaching staff said that he would be elgible to play after Feb 1, and then he happened to play in a game vs Jackson City prior to that date. Do you understand that this would cause some ..... suspicions... to arise? The Lee vs Owsley game is very comparable.

The really sad news is that Robert Smith .... mearly plays basketball to condition for baseball

If this is true, then why is Robert Smith even playing? I am sure that most of his team mates feel that it is more important than a PE class when they are on the floor. It is mid-way through his sr year, his team has one win to date, and the Owls played worse with him than without him in his debut game.

The reason I ask is he is ALWAYS turning around to see what the fans of Lee County reaction is to whatever is going on, on the floor.

I think that the coach is sometimes surprised that the fans are being so vocal, and on more than one occasion he has asked that they tone things down. He is definitely a class act and one of the more dedicated coaches around. Lee Co is lucky to have him.

I do know they had been waiting on the KHSAA to give them the final okay on Robert's return. For all we know, they may have just recieved it today or very recently.

More accurately, for all we know they may not have received it at all. If one doesn't want controversey, then why invite it?

Professor, who told you that his elgibility would be Jan 13? I don't think that you intentionally misled us, but is it possible that someone intentionally misled you? Would that bother you if they did?

If things were reversed, do you think that the Owsley fans would be any different?

And apparently he had suffered some kind of injury because he wore one of those plastic face masks. Maybe he has been playing hockey?

Well, surely he wouldn't have been injured while practicing with the basketball team, so maybe he was playing hockey, polo or some such sport and was struck in the face.

Aw, it don't matter. He's a good athlete and I wish him well. Nighty night....

Wouldn't you like to have that much talent and put that much fear into a basketball team.

I hope that you aren't referring to my comment about Lee Co shaking in their Nikes, because that was kind of dripping with sarcasm. As I said, I think that everyone was glad to see Smith on the floor- now any excuses for the loss are somewhat limited. I mean, T Rich is banged up probably as much as either of Owsley's players are. He took a nasty crash just a couple of nights ago. Neeley shot fine with the broken thumb or whatever it is, and Trey Congleton didn't seem to be injured. In light of things, who could be sure that any of the Owls are injured at all?

Owsley played a pretty good game, got some good calls thrown in (the 'popping the rim' sequence took 2 points away from Lee, placed a personal foul on Lee and resulted in a technical on Lee that gave Owsley 2 free throws and the ball- a potential 6 or 7 point play), and Lee wasn't really hitting from outside very well. Still won by 19.

To correct an earlier error, I said that

with Smith on the team maybe they will be able to wrestle the # 3 spot away from Wolfe or Powell.

As Wolfe is no longer in the 56th, they will have to wrestle with Powell and Estill.

Finally,

remember that this is a forum and opinions are what makes this thing progress.

You are right. And it is my opinion that Owsley thought they were putting a good one over on good ole' Lee Co and it backfired.

Cutting through the hoopla:

Lee vs Owsley WITH Smith - Lee 70 ; Owsley 51 (19 pts)

Lee vs Owsley WITHOUT Smith - Lee 79 ; Owsley 66 (13 pts)

How much did he help?

I will say that he did seem to know the plays rather well to not have practiced with the team all season. And apparently he had suffered some kind of injury because he wore one of those plastic face masks. Maybe he has been playing hockey?

Smith is a good athlete, but Neeley seems to be the better all around player PLUS he is only a jr.

I personally believe that if a team is so desperate to throw off the competition that they purposefully lie and mislead everyone, including people on this forum then they must not have much confidence in their team. This is obvious as all the lying and sneaking did not work. Neither SMith nor Neeley brought their gear to the gym. All this ballyhoo about Poor Robert Smith was nothing more than a bunch of crock that got Owsley absolutely NOTHING.

Now now, that was all coincidence and it nearly scared Lee Co out of their Nikes when they saw Smith and co out on the floor.

To be absolutely honest, every Lee fan and player that I have heard wanted Smith to play so that we would know what to expect come tourney time. Who knows, with Smith on the team maybe they will be able to wrestle the # 3 spot away from Wolfe or Powell.

The bottome line is that Owsley has no one who can stop T Rich. It is not their offense that is lacking IMO.

This should be a really interesting game.

Other than Gilbert, Breathitt should win the match-ups at the other positions, (although I don't know how Stamper will factor in) so in this game I pick the Bobcats by 4.

If Crow is added to Wolfe's lineup, then it would make a difference in this game because just a few rebounds could make a big difference. Crow apparntly was on Wolfe's bench last game in street clothes, so I assume that he may be gong to school there but is awaiting qualification. I doubt that he will play tonight but does anyone know the facts?

Breathitt 59

Wolfe 55

Someone had mentioned OBI unveiling their 'secret weapon' tonight vs Lee in the prediction thread. Wonder what that was re?

I heard that Wolfe may have another 'new' player who was at Powell last year. I think that he was a young center, and about 6'4". Crowe?

ttt

Does anyone have a roster for Lee County?

T Rich sr

J Leisegang jr

D Leisegang jr

K Brandenburg jr

C Fetters kr

M Witherspoon sr

D Taulbee sr

L Johnson jr

A Charles fr

J Drake so

C Dunaway fr

J Sipple so

D Hobbs jr

J Pelfrey fr

J Broadwell so

S Taulbee so

I think thats the team-maybe one more that I can't think of right now....scoring tonight by the first 13.

Did Wolfe have any new players tonight?

On the other hand, ARC, how well do you think Rich would do guarding Gilbert. Apples and Oranges i think as far as players go there.

I guess that the real point that I am making is that if Cody doesn't guard the center, then who does? He seems the only one big enough to do it, but I still don't think that he could.

As far as containing Cody, I don't think that the Lee Co game was one of his showcases.

Don't get me wrong, Cody is a great player and can be fun to watch. The Wolfe Co team seems overall to be out of sync. Most folks thought they would be quite a bit better than they appear to be.

I'm pretty sure that Cody picked up a couple of fouls when he 'wasn't' guarding Rich. I don't think that Cody can contain Rich, whether he is supposed to be guarding him or not.

I just try to get on here and defend gilbert because I hate to see such a god kid from my comunity getting so much negative press

In reading the Lexington newspaper, Cody is highlighted in lots of games, even when Wolfe Co loses by a bunch. I think that he is getting a lot of positive press.

fetters did block a few of gilberts shots I think 2 or 3 but he couldnt contain him as was evident when gilbert scored at will against him in the first quarter,

Fetters did a good job on Gilbert, especially in giving up 3 or 4 inches and probably 75 or 80 pounds. It seemed that the constant pressure wore Cody down, but he did hit some pretty incredible shots in the first quarter.

Speaking of defense, I didn't think that Cody contained Tyler Rich at all when he was defending the post.

Heck, Cody is an all-around good player and I don't mean to knock him in any way. I am surprised that the team doesn't play better. Something just seems out of sync.

On the other hand, to accuse a referee of cheating, betting on games, shaving points to effect the outcome of a wager, or intentionally missing calls is indefensible. If someone wishes to provide evidence of an official betting on games, cheating, shaving points, etc., then they have a moral obligation to report it.

There are good refs and bad refs. To argue that all are cheats is just as wrong as arguing that NONE have ever been guilty of point shaving etc...

Ref are humans and are no better nor worse than the average. Donning a striped shirt doesn't automatically make you honest- witness the old prison attire :laugh:

Each referee is an individual; there are some who would never cross the line for any price. On the other hand, there are some who would help a team for a carton of cigarettes. There are probably about as many in one camp as the other, but most would fall somewhere in between these extremes.

The 'bad' ones aren't really held accountable and the 'good' ones aren't rewarded, so nothing will change.

I've seen wolfe play a few times this year and what is sad to me is that at the end of the games, when it is clearly over, Gilbert pulls a Kobe Bryant. And by that I mean padding those stats. Taking advantage of the younger players that are in and demanding the ball and scoring.

That be normally be the case, but he didn't do it against Lee to any extent. He came on strong and gradually faded out, his team falling farther and farther behind.....

It almost seemed that he was going to try to take charge on every other possession and let his teammates do the rest. Cody did make a few big time shots. Fetters from Lee didn't have a great offensive game due to fouls, but he did swat one or two of Gilbert's away and played good defense. Cody scored quite a few at the end from the free throw line- probably 10 or so.

Gilbert had right at half of Wolfe's points, and maybe all of their points in the first quarter. Actually pretty close game till midway in second quarter. Lee hit a few threes in the second half to put it away. Gilbert seemed to get tired after the first quarter.

I belive JBS is better than Lee Co. based on how jackson co. beat them .I would also put them ahead of KCC ,

By the same kind of 'circular' reasoning, one could believe that Lee Co is better than JBS, based on how Cumberland beat JBS. (Jackson City beat Cumberland, Lee Co beat Jackson City). And speaking of Jackson City, has JBS turned things around enough to overcome their huge spanking by Jackson City at the end of last season? Jackson has their best players back and I'm pretty sure that Jackson City will win again if they happen to cross paths this year.

But you must remember, they have beaten everyone they played pretty bad except for Prestonburg, and it was called sooo bad. JBS is in there .

JBS may be good, but at least 1/4 of their schedule is devoted to very weak teams. Trouncing the David School or Piarst will not gain respect. And as someone else said "What about Cumberland?" The JBS crowd has been noticably silent about that game for some reason.

In the Crusader Classic JBS plays Allen Central and Piarst but doesn't match up against visiting Elliot County. Why not? An outsider would think that JBS' schedule is being padded.

I don't really know who they play at the Berea Tournament, but JBS' confidence should be up by Jan 10 when they play PCC. I think that game would convince a lot of people.

Nothing personal against JBS, I just keep seeing post' about them and with their schedule you just can't tell.

Good luck over at PCC.

A big turn around lol

Probably both ways lol.

What about a coach that sweats more than his players and is just as active? Hats off to a young Danny Wright for a great job at Lee Co also.

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.

Greatness is a relative term, but Coach Wright's Bobcats have in fact acheived 3 straight district wins, have defeated Owsley @ Owsley, have won 8 straight games AND won the Country Music Highway Classic at Johnson Central-- ALL THINGS THAT HAVEN'T HAPPENED IN THE LAST COUPLE OF DECADES. Why shouldn't the Lee Co fans be optimistic?

I mean, could a 'great coach' or a 'good team' have done better?

Coach Wright's Bobcats are playing well. Their scoring is balanced and their bench is really helping at both ends.