The Professor

Good game in Hazard between quality teams in their respective regions.

North has lost several games this season because of players out with injuries. It looked like tonight that they are back healthy at the right time. If one just glances at the win-loss record of NL they might get the wrong assumption. They’re better than their record.

Thanks. I’m just not too familiar with that part of the state. I saw Sacred Heart in last year’s state tournament run and I agree, they’re on a different level. The sophomore Johnson is one of the best athletes to ever play high school hoops in the state. Some college (probably Louisville) is going to be very happy to land her in a couple of years.

I’m not from the 1st region, actually quite a distance away in the 14th region. However, looking through KHSAA scores I saw this 58-17 score then noticed McCracken County is 25-2 and Graves County is 20-5. Is McCracken that good or did Graves just have a bad game? I also noticed McCracken’s only losses are 3 points to Covington Holy Cross and 3 points to Ryle, two quality teams. I realize they are good and a contender for state title, but darn if that isn’t a big point differential for an opponent with 20 wins.

Harold Mullins and David Adams of Hometown24 said on the broadcast that there was at least 3500 at the game. I think Perry’s gym seats 4200. They were commenting how all the crowds had been up from past years in a lot of games. I have a theory for this reason. Originally people thought streaming games would hurt attendance but it’s actually had the opposite effect. It’s bringing these games and players right into living rooms and people who in past years kind of get distanced from what is happening at their schools athletic programs are suddenly reintroduced to the players. People who have gotten away from following find themselves getting interested again. “I believe that good guard is old John Doe’s grandson…” etc. And the next thing you know the guy decides to go to a few games. I think that’s why we’re seeing more support and fan activity in the last few years.

The best option is how we do it in the 56th. Every team plays each other twice and there are tie breakers determined by point totals (up to 15 points). The nice thing about seeding is it makes the season’s district games so much more meaningful. Crowds are bigger. Fans are into it. It’s not hardly a district tournament atmosphere but I’ve seen some intense games and crowd support over the years. Our district went to seeding around 1980, before then it was a blind draw. My school, Owsley, is the smallest of the 56th district schools (enrollments Powell and Estill are close to 700, Lee around 280 and Owsley about 200) but have always supported seeding. And I might add over the past 40 years since seeding began the Owls and Lady Owls have competed pretty good with the others in district. The boys have won 10 district titles and the girls have won 17.

I heard Buckhorn broke the tie vote. Perry and Hazard has always voted to seed and Buckhorn and Leslie didn’t want it. But I suppose they decided to go with the flow.

Owsley County defeated Hazard 74-59 in the Bobby Bowling Classic in Booneville Saturday. The Classic is in honor and remembrance of Owsley County’s late coach and athletic director who passed away at a young age from cancer a year ago.

Isparo is one tough kid. He’s going to make a D1 coach a heck of a guard.

The Lady Owls completed a 6-0 district record with a big win over Powell County in Stanton and are now 16-6 on the season. They are the top seed in the 56th district tournament, which will be played at Owsley County this year.

The All A membership is healthy in the 14th region. Of the 16 schools in the 14th only 4 (Perry Central, Letcher Central, Estill County and Powell County) do not qualify for the All A. But unlike other sections of the state the mountain counties have lost a great amount of population since the All A began statewide in 1990. Owsley County has lost population to the point that the entire county’s residents could fit into Knott Central’s 5000 seat gym and still have 1000 empty seats.

He broke several records that a player from my home county, Jeff “Moose” Moore of Owsley County, has held for for 33 years.

Reed Shephard is the best player in Kentucky and will win Mr Basketball, and should.

Hazard had this game blown out leading by 20 at halftime. Brossart made a good comeback. When Hazard and Coach Holland get that kind of lead on opponents they’re usually not threatened again. A win is a win but Big Al probably isn’t too happy with the Bulldogs second half performance.

And to answer your question I’m not sure if West Jess is coming to Booneville next season.

That game was one scheduled as fill-in for West Carter who had to cancel their game in Booneville. They are still looking for at least one more game to fill a spot where Middlesboro canceled.

Owsley County travels to the Bluegrass and comes away with a 55-45 win over the Lady Colts.

I may be mistaken but I think both PrepSpin and NFHS carry the March Sweet 16. I watched it on NFHS last year.

Jackson County has size with 6’4 and 6’1 players.

Carlisle County and Pikeville, who play in the first round, are about as far apart in distance as two school can be in Kentucky, 433 miles. One touches the Mississippi River and the other borders West Virginia.

I’ll be there at 8:30am cheering for Leslie County and good friend Coach Larry Sparks. GO 14th and LADY EAGLES!!

Lee County has had a couple of starters out of the lineup with injuries the past two weeks which is probably a reason for their struggles of late.

Congratulations to Zach. Great young man and very good athlete. He is also a first team All State golfer (3 times I think) and has signed to play golf for EKU next year.

56th uses 15 point differential on ties. If there’s a tie on the differential then it goes to a coin toss.

The 8:30am starting time is a very tough draw. Leslie County and Covington Holy Cross will still be half asleep. But I understand very well that’s the only way the tournament can be played in one day for the first round.