RoundBaller

The Dixie students were a bit late arriving, but filled their area by the end of the 1st quarter. No cheerleaders. As Brandon was getting closer to the record, the student section got really loud each time he scored.

Thanks for the updates. Much appreciated.

I think we agree. I am not saying the ump favored Beechwood. I am suggesting that Beechwood put the ball in those spots way more often. Niehaus was efficient and more "in-the-(real)-zone". The benefit was that Dixie had to swing at those pitches because the ump was calling them. Hard to hit the outside pitch off the plate. I was very confused about the batter interference call. No real attempt to throw, and I thought the batter (Elkus I think) stayed in his box.

You infer that the ump should have called the last (outside) pitch a strike against Elkus. I thought the bad calls tended to benefit Beechwood most of the game, as they were missing the zone more often, throwing 25 more pitches and hitting 3 batters. In the first inning Elkus was the victim of one of those obviously bad calls, and he subsequently swang at bad pitches until the last inning when he regained his discipline and drew a big walk. Apropo. What a game! Both teams were fantastic and displayed good on-the-field sportsmanship. I walked away proud to be a Dixie fan. Tongue in cheek - stats for this thread thus far show 12 comments from Guru and TOG about irrelevant sideshow crap. Today I am embarrassed to be a Bluegrasspreps fan.

Dixie's defense picked up significantly in the second half. Intense sense of urgency. Physical and poised. Hassel got defensive player of the game award.

:thumb::thumb::thumb:

The KHSAA scoreboard is not being updated very well for this tourney. Anyone know who Dixie plays today, and when?

Great point. Pike would make a difference... Rebound, turn, throw over the defenders with quarterback arm strength and accuracy. Lorenzen threw a lot of incredible release passes in his day, especially to Smith. Credit Chevy with scheduling strong competition. Tough stretch for his men.

There was one really bad call in the first half where Campbell County should have been given the "and one" bucket, but only received the ball out of bounds due to bad judgement of "on the floor". For the rest of the game the Campbell crowd rode the refs hard. At the end, the Assistant Coach(es) were on their feet jumping up and down yelling "he got hammered" repeatedly with a ref only a few feet away. It was an appropriate bench technical, albeit a missed call on the three point shooting foul. Russell was clearly annoyed with his staff, as he should have been.

Dixie by 7

Did Kenton County have school today?

No reason to assume that he would have made the team even if the KHSAA ruled in his favor. This "situation" should not reflect in any way on Dixie's reputation. :thumb:

I saw Zeke yucking it up with his mates... certainly nothing negative to pick on. I noticed him tweak his ankle/foot late in the first quarter. After building a second quarter lead there was ample opportunity to give him a rest. There are plenty of positive things to focus on with this year's Dixie squad. The first quarter was one of the more entertaining 8 minutes of basketball you can expect to see. Well played by both teams:clap:

I saw NO taunting or smiling at the opponents. I saw a kid having fun with his teammates, who are also smiling and enjoying their success. It's easy to understand why negative opinions are abound based on past behavior. I am glad to see the joyful emotions versus the potential reactions that could come from the harrasment he gets from the opposing fans. Negative (intense) reactions in the past have led to foul trouble for Zeke.

Chevalier and Hicks were up to their normal banter with the refs last week at the Dixie/Conner game. Hicks won the complaining battle with some of his "over-the-top" tantrums. If Listerman stays true to form, he will do his share of "badgering" at Cov Cath.