The Professor

GRC making some big 3s throughout this game. Some are are finding a lot of rim but still going in. 56-50 GRC with 3:38 left in 4th.

I know during Covid they had teams play the first two rounds at home gyms. We were lucky enough that the 14th region was chosen as a home game and we (Owsley) defeated Shelby Valley. But in the second round we played the 11th and had to travel to their home gym in (Berea) and lost. Our school made it to the second round of the All A State that year but it sure didn’t feel like a statewide tournament event. Part of the excitement is going to one location and having the entire tournament.

Covington Catholic appears to be a high possibility to win the Sweet 16 this year. And evidently they are loaded with talented youngsters for the next several years.

I believe 3 years ago Buckhorn finally voted to seed and that put the vote at 3-1 for seeding their district tournament. It had been tied for decades, maybe always, at 2-2 to not seed and instead have a blind draw. I’m not sure which school is the lone holdout.

Teaming Sears up with 6’8 Andrew Terry, 6’6 Ty Jarvis and 6’3 Dawson Gentry will definitely give Montgomery County a big boost. They have a good team but they just need a pilot to steer the ship.

The 54th District is not a blind draw anymore. They voted to change that about 3 years ago. Unless something has changed lately that I’m unaware of.

We were lucky in Owsley County. Most of the freezing rain stayed just to the south of us and we had a few inches of snow that was later packed down with sleet and only a thin layer of freezing rain. Immediately to our south in Perry, Clay and Laurel Counties they received mostly freezing rain on top of an inch or so of snow. Our county area lost about 7% of its power but Clay and Laurel lost between 40-50%.

I was hoping we could stay more snow than ice here in Owsley County. This map has Booneville getting 0.34 ice and most of southeastern Kentucky receiving more than that. That amount will bring down trees, limbs and power lines. And in the mountains it’s more difficult to get to the areas to remove trees and get electricity back up and running. In 1998 there were sections of the county that didn’t have power for two weeks.

It’s baffling how a team can win 104-63 then turn around two weeks later and lose to the same team 69-66.

Breathitt’s 6’4 senior center Danny Kayatin incurred a bad injury in this game and could possibly be out for an extended time. He dislocated his shoulder going after a loose ball on the floor. I hope he is able to return before the season is finished. He’s a good kid and I got to know him at our Owsley County golf course, which he and his dad have played on since he was in elementary school. And he is a huge part of their team, and important in their recent All A regional championship.

How would CovCath match up with Male, St Xavier, Madison Central, Fredrick Douglass,…..those highly rated schools?

MoCo really needs the Sears boy eligible. If his parents are living and working in Montgomery County I don’t see why it is held up even if North Oldham is fighting it. It appears to be sour grapes on the part of his old school imo. With him in the lineup more than likely this score is reversed.

I agree with Powell County as the top team. They are playing great basketball right now. In the Boyd loss in the 2A they actually had a 1 point lead within the last minute and Boyd’s Spurlock made a 3 and Powell didn’t score and had to foul and ended up a 4 point loss. But Boyd County is a very good team. Powell has a good defensive team and plenty of scorers, the most notable two are Morguson and Edwards. If they have one weakness they are not a team with great size. But I believe they have enough firepower to get them out of the 14th this year and onto the Rupp Arena court in March.

Powell is playing the best basketball of anyone in the 14th region right now in my opinion. Still a long way until district and regional tournaments but I like their chances of cutting down the nets and winning their 3rd regional championship.

I think the way they are playing right now, and they are definitely on a roll, the Powell County Pirates may be playing the best basketball in the 14th. I think when all the dust is settled in regional post season tournament play that Powell could very well be making their 3rd trip to the state tournament.

I will agree with you on that one. It determined who won a state title and 100% photographic proof that they missed it. Shelby County defeated Holmes for the championship.

I think Montgomery County will move up when guard Austin Sears becomes eligible. I hear it could be any day now.

I give a slight nod to Hazard as the team with the best chance of winning the region in the 14th. They handled Perry fairly easily last night. It was at Memorial Gym, though, and the Bulldogs defend their home court as well as anyone.

Madison Central proved to me how good they are when they beat the 10th region’s top team, GRC, by over 30 points.

It would be easy to get tongue-tied for broadcasters when doing this game, lol. Knox Central….Knott Central….

The rumor a couple weeks ago was that the UNC game could possibly be Quaintance’s first game for the Cats. I’d sure like to see the big guy in action. His highlights from Arizona State last year are awesome.

For the past several years, I know at least 5 or 6 years, Cordia has played their games at the old Hindman High gymnasium. I think iit dates back to the ‘40s or maybe early ‘50s but it is still a nice facility. It’s a good size block building with a regulation size floor and plenty of seating. Their old gym, which was condemned due to a mud slide and foundation issues, didn’t seat very many, probably less than 100.

I heard he may be back in uniform by January. I don’t know how effective he will be, though.

From the chatter I’ve heard throughout the weeks leading up to official basketball practice on October 15 it appears the teams getting the most publicity as contenders in the 14th region for a trip to Rupp are Hazard, Perry Central and Powell County. And there’s always Knott Central and Letcher Central lurking close by. Hazard has several good players returning but lost sharp shooter Dalton Combs to rival Perry Central and graduated leading scorer Eversole. Perry also picked up Leslie County’s best player. Powell has 4 starters returning and all their key reserves but what really places the Pirates in the contender category is the return of Connor Morguson, a hot shooting guard with some size that had played meaningful minutes for Powell as an 8th grader before transferring to GRC for his freshman season. He was an often used reserve for the Cardinals. This season he has transferred back to his home county. He along with Bryson Edwards will definitely elevate Powell to a higher level.

I think they only added one transfer, a former player who transferred to GRC following his 8th grade year and is now transferring back to Powell for his sophomore year. The other transfer they were rumored to get was a 6’8 player, also from GRC, but from my understanding that one did not materialize and he is staying with the Cardinals.