The Professor

They could be, but it's hard to compare them to other 14th region teams when the only 14th region team they've played in 10 games is a Jenkins team that is not having a real successful year. Also with the loss to Cumberland at home was another factor in my rankings. I know they play PCC shortly, but they really wont be tested by the 14th Region until the end of this month in the All A, and also at the end of the month they get into playing Cordia, LCC, and Owsley. Heck, they may be #1, but without 14th regional games to compare, it's hard to say where they are.

You make a good point. I was just going on what they have done against some fairly good competition outside the 14th, particularly in the Berea Tournament, and what I have been told by neutral fans who have seen them play. But you're right, until they play more teams from their own region it's hard to get a handle on exactly how good they are. Owsley County will get them on January 25th in the All 'A'. Robert Smith will have been back for 12 days by that time, hopefully he can give the Owls enough of a boost to make a difference in the outcome.

BTW, this whole thread is starting to embarrass me. I'm too old to be debate silly stuff like this. If I've hurt anyone's feelings I'm truly sorry. :thumb:

And In My Opinion, my apologies to you for what was hopefully a misunderstanding of my posts.

who said this, and what does it have to do with the thread? At least it is a shorter post, should be thankful for that.

Well, you gave a to a post I made that Laurel was a mountain county. I was only responding to your sarcasim. Anyone who's been to Laurel County would have no doubt that it is in the mountains....I mean, they mine coal there!!!

I only asked a logical question to your smilie.

All of your posts are sarcastic. Go back and read them.

Sorry you feel that way. I went back and re-read them and I don't see the sarcasim. I see opinions and explanations. If someone doesn't agree with you then I assume in your opinion it's sarcasim :confused: My point was to state that I believe that Laurel is a mountain county, and therefore would have the best guards in the mountains. What's sarcastic about that? As a matter of fact, I would say that your posts are the ones that could be considered sarcastic with the and :lol: smilies, not mine. The roll the eyes smilies actually has the word "sarcastic" written beside it. What more proof do I need?

who said this?

I did, in answer to a remark made by Bigswan that JBS had the best guards in the mountains, which led The Villager to ask was South Laurel in the mountains, in which Bigswan rplied that SL wasn't in the mountains. I disagree with that reply. I think Laurel is a mountain school just as much as Knox, Jackson, or Whitley counties. Therefore, if SL is a mountain school, you would have to include Proffit and the other Cardinal guards in the discussion, and in my opinion, they are the best guards in the mountains.

Where you are getting derailed with your argument is that Bigswan changed the discussion of the thread from a discussion about the game to a discussion about who had the best guards in the mountains.

I'm sure if we were discussing a game between Owsley County and Lee County and someone suddenly posted that Lee County's Tyler Rich was the best center in the mountains, there would be some that might agree, and some who would disagree. Some may think someone from Morgan or South Laurel might have the best center. Then if someone asked, "but is Laurel a mountain school?", well, then a whole different debate opens up within the original thread.

That's what happened when Bigswan posted his "best guards" comment, and The Villager asked a question in reply. I simply tried to give an answer to both of their posts. I wasn'y slamming or disrespecting June Buchanan.

If June Buchanan is only the 11th best team in the 14th region, then it is flat loaded!!

They are better than 11th. They've played a pretty good schedule so far and have some impressive wins. They could very well be a top 5 team from what I hear. I haven't seen them yet, but people who have come away very impressed.

Lee County really impressed a lot of people when they "put it to" Owsley on their home court. They have some big boys and the Brandenburg kid can handle the rock.

I don't know if I would boast too much about a win that was the first in 20 years for a Bobcat team in Booneville. It's good to see them finally winning again like they have the past two years. It makes the district and region look better.

But with that said, Lee County is simply a better team right now than Owsley County, as well as plenty of other mountain schools.

I know that South Laurel is considered a mountain team. I am glad that they are. It makes our mountain teams look better. I was not the one who made the remark about JBS guards being the best pair in the mountains. They are very good to be an 8th grader and a sophmore. You just jumped on someones remark with almost anger, and I am sure they weren't trying to compare JBS with South Laurel. JBS played a great tournament and it is ashame not to give them a little credit for a third place finish. The guards , Cox and Stepp made the all tournament team. Why would you even bring SL into it. It was just some one happy with a good tournament.

You're wrong again.

I didn't bring the issue up, The Villager did. I was just saying that if you make a statement that a pair of guards are the BEST in the mountains, then you're talking about a lot of territory. A statement like that was not made in regards to June Buchanan's TEAM playing well in a tournament, it was made to simply say that JBS's had the best two guards in the mountains. That's a big statement. I'm sure several schools might disagree with that statement, South Laurel being one of them, as well as Barbourville, North Laurel, Jackson City, Knott Central, and a few other schools. I will admit that they probably have the best pair of YOUNG guards in the mountains. That's not taking anything away from JBS's accomplishments. I have seen in the Herald-Leader what they have done.....wins over Fleming County, Montgomery County, etc... Right now they have one of the best teams in the 14th. How am I showing anger when I simply answered the Villager's question about the geographic location of Laurel County that a lot of people seem to be confused about???

We both know this is not about where London is.[ Laurel Co.] You just don't intend to give credit where credit is due.

Not true.

I have argued this in other threads. Laurel County is located directly south of Jackson County and directly north of Knox County. Well, I think most people would conclude that Jackson County and Knox County are both mountain counties. I mean, if it comes a skim of snow in Jackson County they will cancel school because of the steep terrain. So how can Laurel County not be considered "mountain" when it is sandwiched directly in between those two counties? And to add to it's mountain flavor, the Laurel schools are now in the 13th region.

As far as the guards from JBS, I am very aware of what they have done this year. JBS has one of the top teams in the 14th, and the scary thing for the rest of the region is that these kids will be around for several years. I have not seen them play, but I've talked to enough people who have seen them to know that they are for real....and will only get better.

I will get to see them first hand when they play our school in the All A Classic.

:lol:

Have you ever been to Laurel County?

Obviously not.

No,Good point, SL I would say is in the foot of the mountains even though they have been put in the 13th region.

South Laurel IS a mountain school. There's MOUNTAINS there....I've seen them!

Therefore, South Laurel has the best pair of guards in the mountains.

Actually, I'm now starting to wonder about Letcher Central. They played in the Ashland Invitational Tournament this week and got drilled in three straight games. I think they're now on a four game losing streak. One of the posters from the 16th region said in another thread that LCC was the weakest team in the AIT.

Rupp Arena for me. :dancingpa

Letcher Central has laid an egg in Ashland. I thought hey would do better than this.

Jackson City must be pretty good. Will they get in the regional tourney this season?

I think they'll win their district if they continue to play like they are now, so yes, they should be there.

IMO It is a toss up between Lee Co., JBS, & Jackson City in the 14th Region

What about Buckhorn? Their only loss this year is a 1 point decision to Lou. Holy Cross, and they've just won two games in Florida.

At Breathitt, the most talented player I ever watched was Johnny Stacy, but the player I'd actually want on my team was Scott Moore. That's from about '87-present. I can't speak for the years before that, but I know we've had some pretty good ones.

You'l need to go back a few years to find the best players ever from Breathitt County. IMO, it would be between one the following :

"Big" Earl Stevens....The 6'7 center is still a legend in Breathitt County. Took the Bobcats to the state tournament all four years he played. Would have probably won the 1962 title if he hadn't broke his leg and didn't play.

Larry Noble.....His 1967 team nearly won the state championship. They lost in the semifinals to eventual champ Earlington after leading for most of the game. The Bobcats finished something like 37-2 that year. Some at the semifinal game said it wasn't exactly the best called game in the world. One former player told me it was the only time he had ever seen Coach Farice Woods cry after a game. The 6'5 Noble went on to star for Austin Peay.

Arch Johnson......His team played in the state tournament in the early '70's. Won the first game in the tournament over Covington Catholic when Philip Lovely hit a last second shot. The 6'6 Johnson could play point guard if called on, but usually played the 2 or 3 spot. He went on to a stellar career at Morehead State after being courted by the Kentucky Wildcats the same year they signed Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conners, Mike Flynn, and Bob Guyette. One of his visits to UK was with that group, and the Barnstable twins, who were UK cheerleaders, were their tour guides around campus. But in the end he decided on an All-Conference career at Morehead State.

I agree a great win but isn't Hazard a class A school as well?

Both are class A. Hazard has 300 students and Jackson City has 140.

Dee Hutchins coached at Larue County for a few years after he left Lee County, but I don't think he's coaching now.

Do you stll keep Hazard at #6 after last night?

I don't think they can beat Estill County or Letcher Central, do you? Both of those teams would have to move in front of Hazard.

Evidently you have Jackson City about right.

I still think Lee County is around # 2. Perry Central lost by double digits to Bell County last night at Corbin, and Lee beat Bell by 9 in Johnson County's tournament. I know it's not smart to compare scores, but since Lee lost their first two games they have won some impressive games....they're on a roll.

Olinger might not have come to the rescue in his first game back, but remember, it WAS his FIRST game back.

 

In My Opinion,

I'm not saying Hazard is the best team in the region, but if history has anything to say about it, by tournament time Hazard will be to reckon with. And most posters have Perry Central rated #1 in the region, and they only beat the Bulldogs by 2.

Man.....was I ever wrong about Hazard!!!

I had no idea that they would lose at home to Jackson City.

Either Jackson is a lot better than I thought, or Hazard is a lot worse. Anyway one looks at it, though, this sure isn't a typical Bulldog team.

Mr. Litkenhouse is really on the ball!!!

Talk about keeping things up to date.

He has Letcher Central rated # 11 in the 14th region.

Whitesburg is 14th.

Fleming Neon is 18th.

The only problem is that Letcher High, Whitesburg, and Fleming Neon all consolated last year to form Letcher County Central. These schools no longer exist.

It's little wonder that I put more merit into the Cantrall Ratngs than I do Litkenhouse.

Great win for the Tigers. I didn't see this one coming. I had this game wrong by about 25 points :creepy: .

Are you rating who is hot right now? Not sure how you can have LCC ranked lower than Lee and Knott...they beat both teams. I do think these two teams are good and deserve mention but they lost to LCC...therefore, I think LCC should be ranked higher. I haven't seen Hazard or PCC or Leslie yet this year so I can not really give a good account of where they should be ranked...but you do have LCC too low.

I realize LCC beat Lee early in the year by 7, but that was a very emotional game for the Cougars and their fans because it was their first ever game as a school. Lee had a tough task that night at Whitesburg's packed gym.

However, I saw LCC play Bourbon County last week and just wasn't as impressed with them as I am Lee at this moment in the season. As of right now I don't think they can beat Lee on a neutral floor.

So yes, I guess I am going with who is hot right now.

I'm picking Trigg County to win the All A state championship.

Their toughest game will be getting past UHA in their own region. They have a good team, and a great coach in Bill Chumbler who has won almost 800 games in his career and led Paducah Tilghman to the 2002 KHSAA runner-up at Rupp. He actually should have at least one other runner-up (or possible championship) at Rupp, but lost to Scott County in 1999 in a very controversial game in the state semifinals.