The Professor

A friend called me last night and said he took a chance and put Strike Rich in his boxed trifecta. A $30 bet won him $7,400.

😄Of course….and a great song too!!! I feel like a dumbbell. 🥴

I admit, I didn’t get it. 😄 The way your post read to me was if I’m saying Breathitt County should win the 14th region next year then all the excitement is gone since everyone now knows who will win the title. That’s why I posted again with an explanation. I suppose I misinterpreted your post.

One of the bigger schools in the mountains. Should have plenty of candidates.

Kentucky All Stars are always going to face an uphill battle when they play Indiana, who has a 2.3 million population advantage.

I’m just basing my opinion on who the Bobcat’s have returning. Perry Central loses some key players, as does Hazard, Wolfe County and Knott Central. Of course, rosters could change significantly before the season starts. But as of right now, on paper at least, I believe Breathitt County is a clear number 1 pick as a region favorite.

Breathitt County is now filled. BB King of Knott Central will be the Bobcats’ coach in Jackson.

Breathitt County returns four starters from a team that was runner-up to Pikeville in the state All A tournament in Richmond and runner-up to Perry County Central in the 14th region tournament. They should be a strong favorite next season to win their first regional title in 27 years, an extremely long stretch for such a proud and tradition rich program.

Hometown24, streaming service in Hindman, is reporting that Knott County Central’s BB King will be taking over as coach at Breathitt County, replacing John Noble who left a few weeks ago for the Leslie County position. BB was head coach at KCC for 12 seasons, appearing in 8 regional tournaments and winning 5.

Is it located south of Richmond off I-75?

Is there a limit to how much money players can make on the NIL deals? If not Oscar will rack up next year. And Sharpe would do well too, but probably not NBA 7th pick well.

Hazard won the 14th and will play Jackson County from the 13th.

There was a rumor a few weeks ago that the point guard you are referring to, Wyatt Hensley, was transferring to Hazard. But I want to empathize that is only a rumor and rumors run rampant in mountain basketball, particularly at this time of the year.

Coach Noble is from Buckhorn. Played basketball there in the early 1990s. He knows quite a few of the Leslie County people and is close to their former superintendent Larry Sparks, who is now the Leslie girls basketball coach. Sparks has also coached the Leslie boys in the past. He coached Noble in at The Horn, as the Wildcat fans frequently call their school. The Leslie administration went after Noble and was able to sway him to come to Hyden. I live in an adjoining county and don’t know all the happenings at Breathitt. I was told, though, that Coach Noble was tired of the complaining by some of the fan base. Some of this was in social media and everyone had an opinion on how he should do this or that with his team. He’s been there four years and I suppose Leslie County started looking enticing to him and he decided to start anew at another school.

As of right now if all the rosters stay the same and there’s no transfer additions to other 14th region teams, yes….Breathitt County is most definitely the favorite to win the 2023 regional tournament. They return a second team All State guard in sophomore-to-be Austin Sperry. They also return hot shooting junior guard Luke Bellamy, 6’8 forward/center Christian Collins, and 6’5 forward Bryce Hoskins. Top reserve and 3 point threat Andrew Combs will round out the probable starting 5. Breathitt County is coming off a 26-8 season, winner of 55th district tournament, runner up in the 14th region tournament, winner of the 14th region All A and runner up to Pikeville in the All A State Championship game. The Bobcats have not played in the KHSAA state tournament since 1995, the longest stretch of not winning a regional title since the late 1950’s. So to say their fans are hungry for a regional banner and a trip to Rupp is phrasing it mildly.

Coach Noble is very close to Leslie’ County’s girls coach Larry Sparks. Larry is the retired Leslie County superintendent and presently coaches the Lady Eagles basketball team. He coached John in high school when they were both at Buckhorn many years ago. Coach Sparks is very high in Noble. I’m sure the Leslie County people are happy with this hire. He coached tiny Buckhorn, enrollment around 160, to the 14th region KHSAA championship about 5 years ago. And his Breathitt County team this year won the All A region and finished runner up to Pikeville at the All A State Tournament,with a win over a very talented Lyon County team on their way to the championship game. He has a solid resume.

This year’s Kansas team is not part of any investigation and I was wrong to make my previous post. Congratulations to the Jayhawks on their national championship. Well deserved and they saved their best for the last of the season when it counts most.

Oneida Baptist could build a powerhouse in boys and girls basketball if they so desired. They have the perfect setup. It’s a nice campus with numerous dormitories. I don’t know the exact statistics but my guess is well over half their enrollment is from out of county, out of state, and in quite a few instances out of country. A few years ago I jokingly told an assistant basketball coach at OBI that they could have an eastern Kentucky version of Oak Hill Academy, and that there are ample numbers of 6’9 students and high profile guards around the world that could use what OBI has to offer. However that is not the mission of this outstanding institution. It’s a well run school with good leadership. On a another note, they are very proud of their multiple Fencing state championships that they won back in the days when that sport was part of the KHSAA list of sports competitions.

This is the elephant in the room that could possibly rear its ugly head against the Jayhawks in the future. The likelihood of having their title stripped from them is probably slim but with 5 Level 1 infraction charges against them that’s pending it has to make them a little concerned until the penalties, if any, are imposed.

Great coach. I remember his Transy days and his later D1 days. He had a player in 1976 named Cornbread Maxwell that almost won Charlotte an NIT. They gave Jack Givens, Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, James Lee, Truman Claytor and Kyle Macy all they wanted and then some.

I was a sophomore at EKU. Madison County lost 7 people to the tornado outbreak that day. Brandenburg,Ky lost well over 30. Many more were killed or injured in Kentucky. Xenia, Ohio had over 30 deaths. Overall there were 300+ killed during the tornado outbreak that stretched from Alabama to the Canadian border. The nighttime sky over Richmond was a constant flash of lightning accompanied by thunder that went on all night. When the sky was lit by huge lightening streaks we could literally see funnel clouds overhead. Fortunately all of them didn’t touch down. The ones that did destroyed an elementary school and some service stations and a barn at White Hall. It was about 7:00pm and no one was in the school. But it left dead cows and hogs scattered all throughout the fields. The area of Red House was hit the hardest. Seven people died in that community. it was a terrifying night that I’ll never forget.

Congratulations to Oscar and a well deserved award. Being the first UK consensus Player of the Year is phenomenal!

Same for me!

I’ll have to respectfully disagree with you when it comes to John Higgins. I could go into details and break down the 5 NCAA losses, including fake flops that he called as fouls against Kentucky players vs UConn and numerous other head scratching calls and no calls (2017 UNC tourney game in particular) mostly one sided and biased. But I’ll skip the details. Doesn’t matter now anyway. However, at least he isn’t calling anymore Kentucky games. But that’s all in my opinion, which everyone is entitled to have. I do agree with many others that Calipari needs to change his coaching philosophy and make some changes. There was no excuse for losing to Saint Peter’s. Or the Kansas State loss a few years ago.

Ashland lost 4 starters. I doubt they’ll be number 1 next season. My guess is Boyd County will fill that spot. Ashland will be competitive though. They have some good young talent .