Jim Schue

John needs to use these fouls wisely coming out of the TO to burn clock.

Mickey needs to take over.

The 5th Region has had middling results at the SW16 in recent times, going 7-8 in first round games over the last 15 trips. They haven't had a team get to the SFs since a great three-year run that saw North Hardin get to the SFs in 2001-02 and E'town win it all in 2000.

Bethlehem usually only has 30-35 kids out each year anyway. So what are you hearing?

St. X is what I've been told.

Memory like yours, I thought you didn't need notes.

By "one day," I meant "some year other than this one."

I would like to go to the 10th at the Fieldhouse one day, though. Just to add another to the list.

I would agree with this part. (Not that I disagree with the other part lol) At various points in my time, I've regularly attended the 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th and 13th tourneys, and the environments are always great, always big crowds. I spend my time in the 5th these days. There was a good crowd at yesterday's QF games at Marion Co. (Bardstown-Campbellsville and John Hardin-Caverna), and I wasn't able to go tonight, but I was told it was even busier with LaRue Co.-Bethlehem and Adair Co.-Central Hardin. Monday's SF games should bring out massive crowds. A surprise Campbellsville team making its first appearance since 2010's region runner-up squad brought a big crowd Wednesday and will have even more out Monday, and a John Hardin team that's felt like the region favorite all year has people on the bandwagon earlier than usual and had a great student section Wednesday. Adair Co. and LaRue Co. always travel well, and both fanbases think they have a great shot, which leads to a lot of bandwagon fans showing out as well. Plus folks just want to see Harmon play. I plan to get to Lebanon early Monday.

John looked really good.

This one had a lot of wild swings to it. Tigers led by as many as 14 in the first half, but C'ville got it under 10 before halftime, then went on a big run in the 3rdQ to take the lead. Bardstown was down 7 with a minute to go, but came back and tied it with about 12 seconds left. Campbellsville was able to get the ball down the court and get a layup to go back ahead. Tigers tried a three from just inside of half court that rimmed off at the buzzer. Three thrillers this year between these teams. B'town won in December in the C'ville tourney, then again in January in the All A Classic — both by one point.

I've been having trouble getting on it for the past hour.

Bardstown won what is believed to be their first region tournament game in school history. The Tigers took control with a big second-quarter run that saw them hit 4 threes. Senior Allie Walsh came off the bench for 20 points, while eighth-grader Jaileyah Cotton had 17. Sophomore Katrina Brown scored 12. For Marion, Daliyn Spalding scored 17 and Katie Mattingly had 16. Bardstown will face John Hardin on Friday in the late semifinal. The Bulldogs won both regular-season matchups.

I would recommend anyone who can make it to Wednesday's 6pm QF to do so. Bardstown and C'ville have played a pair of one-point thrillers this season already, with the Tigers winning each time. Should be a dandy.

Game was close early on despite Bethlehem being without Chase Allen, one of the team's top two scorers all year. But Bardstown used a 12-0 run over the last three minutes of the first half to get a cushion and they made it stand up. The Tigers led by as many as 23 before a late Eagle run brought it closer. Dsamuel Butler had 19 and JT Galloway scored 14, with eight of his coming during the 12-0 run. Tigers have won 5 straight district titles. For Bethlehem, Jacob Taylor netted 14 and Lain Peake added 11.

Games at Central Hardin HS Monday Campbellsville v. Nelson Co. 6pm Elizabethtown v. LaRue Co. 8pm Tuesday Bardstown v. Marion Co. 6pm Green Co. v. John Hardin 8pm Semifinals 6/8pm Friday, Finals 7:30 Saturday.

Bardstown's defense was stifling as the Tigers finished the game on an 18-7 run, avenging a pair of regular-season losses in the process. That ends Nelson County's streak of district titles at 9. Bardstown was the last team other than the Cardinals to take the title, last one coming in 2008. Nelson County had won 31 straight over 19th District rivals coming into the game. Eighth-grader Jaileyah Cotton had 21 points, with 11 coming in the 4thQ as she hit a 3 and went 8-for-8 on the FT line. Haylee Koger scored 10 for Bardstown. Marly Walls netted 19, and Amelia Hodges 10 for NC.

Fort Knox to Adair Co. has to be every bit of 2 solid hours in the 5th Region.

If you operate from a basic premise that the 9th Region and 8th Region have some serious illogicalities to their current design, as well as from the knowledge of the fact that schools will need to be moving eastward or westward to help fill out unbalanced regions, what has to be done makes sense. Sadly, it'll never happen the way it should. But it all should start at the top of the state, where the biggest growth is. Easiest fix to 9th Region overcrowding is to move all Boone Co. schools to the 8th Region, and ship SK back to the 9th. That leaves 16 in the 9th, if I counted right. To fix the 8th, you could possibly have the Oldham schools go into the 7th Region, and some shuffling there would push the Bullitt schools and Spencer into the 5th. Anderson would have to go to the 12th, which makes more sense for them and their orientation along 127. Other possibilities include the Grant Co. and Scott Co. schools to the 10th, Franklin schools coming into the 8th, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's all a big mess, with lots of moving parts. But if we want the regions to be balanced, some messy things have to happen. Whole districts in some cases will have to jump regions, unless we're OK with 3-team districts and teams getting byes into the region tournament.

Mild upset tonight in the 19th District. Bethlehem had won just 4 of 15 games in the 2018 part of its schedule until beating Washington Co. 59-56 tonight on the Commanders' home floor. WC won by 11 back in January. The Eagles withstood losing their top scorer to injury for the final 9 minutes, two starters with four fouls, as well as a 10-0 WC run and all the momentum going against them. And they missed 4 FTs in the final 12 seconds, and still found a way to win.

Bardstown's Garnis Martin won Class 1A football in the fall of 1970, then turned around and won boys' 1A state track in the spring of '71.

They've had some injuries to key returnees. And the transfers that were allegedly supposed to be coming I guess went somewhere else. Them getting frozen out by their districtmates in scheduling didn't help when the 20th voted to draw as punishment to them. Most 5th Region schools refused to schedule TC as well this year. Marion and C'ville didn't anticipate Adair getting in some transfers, though, and this year's draw didn't turn out the way MC and C'ville had hoped. I'm guessing the 20th goes back to seeding in the future.

It's probably fair to say Bardstown has underperformed relative to their talent and expectations. They have a tendency to come out cold in the first half and be a completely different team in the second half. That was how it went in the loss to Green Co., and in the wins over Bethlehem, and the recent loss to Nelson Co. Seems like that same script applied against E'town. I wouldn't sleep on them.

Bardstown stuns E'town on the Tigers' home floor to pick up one of the biggest wins in program history, overcoming a 31-16 halftime deficit to hand the No. 6 Panthers their first loss to a 5th Region team this season. I wasn't there, but it seems Bardstown used some of that same second-half magic they used last week in nearly erasing a 31-point 3rdQ deficit to lose by 3 at Nelson Co. Senior Destanie Love went for 16pts and 12 boards for the Tigers, and 8th-grader Jaileyah Cotton had 15pts. E'town's Whitney Hay scored a game-high 25.

Some of my people down BG way are talking about Brandon Smith moving over from South Warren.