thegame523

I had followed this game until just before the half on twitter and was totally surprised to see this final. It was somewhat of a blowout when I was following. Coach Bibby has his team playing extremely well, and from his comments in the paper thinks this team has a chance to go a long way. Should be interesting. What a tough Region.

He missed the 2nd Central game only.

I see. Not as many as I thought for sure. Should be interesting coming down to the wire.

Trinity hasn't been playing that good lately but a win is a win

Wasn't Thieneman out some of those games they didn't play well? Thought I read that. He is a huge key to their success.

I guess it is pretty much an understatement about how bright the future is at CC. Geez!

I think the term excellent or great coach is way over used. I think there are a lot of good or adequate coaches. They win with talent, they lose when they don't have it. They are good to the kids and make them keep on the school work. But, very few develop talent and make kids better. Very few adjust game plans and styles, from year to year or game to game. And even less make good in game decisions. I did not watch the game Friday night, so it is hard for me to say how much coaching played a part in the outcome. But, I have no problem stating that in my opinion Coach Ruthsatz is one of a handful of truly outstanding coaches in the state. Did he out coach, coach Dawn on this particular night, I don't know, for sure. But, I do know which I would prefer if I started a team and it would be coach Ruthsatz.

That is such a big time, true & profound statement about excellent coaches being way overused. I don't know either coach as I study Ky HS basketball from afar (Florida) but I study it nationwide as intently as most anyone to help me at my profession (coaching & pretty successfully) and in saying all of that I would have to strongly agree that Coach Ruthsatz is one of the coaches that truly deserves to be called excellent. I am not saying Coach Dawn doesn't as I haven't seen his team play hardly at all and I am sure at the very least he is a good coach, but excellent coaches are not as prevalent as many people talk about being.

I would agree Mcpapa. Montverde is very good and may win its 3rd national championship in a row this year. Ballard may end up giving Trinity a run and I think very highly of Trinity's team this year. Montverde is also in the City of Palms tourney that Trinity is in at Christmas and although it is unlikely for them to play each other it could be possible and then you would have a very early STRONG common opponent for those 2.

According to the Huntington News, Ballard is ranked #35 nationally. what?

I have seen about 5 different national polls and none that I have seen have Ballard ranked, so I don't know where they are getting that from.

Washington DC St. Johns looses to USA Today #20 DeMatha 51-47

Yea St Johns is a very tough draw for Ballard. They had a very good team last year and should be good again, but I am sure Ballard will welcome the challenge.

I think Trinity is at least top 40 if not higher because they are talented and well-coached. They will certainly get tested at the COP. They could go 2-2 and it still be a very positive showing. I'll be down there from the 2nd day until the semis so I'll miss their first game but I'll see the rest until the final day. We should know much more after that.

They are extremely good and well coached too. They are a little suspect to pressure as evidenced by only a 10 point win over one of Florida's be public school teams who presses the whole game AND were without their point guard, but I am not sure Ballard is as good as the team they played but they do play similar styles. I was very impressed with Ballard though when I watched them online today vs Scott County, but they'll need to press much more to have a remote chance and they'll have to shoot it as good or better than they did vs SC. Good luck to them.

To say they will have a rough season because of 2 close scrimmages is a little harsh in my opinion. 1 of those was against a very good team. The other really depends on how it became close. Did he sub after leading big and it became close or were his top players still in and the lead was squandered. Those are huge differences. The real game on Tuesday vs Jeffersonville should let us know where they are at at this point.

Any major difference noticed with Coach L coaching as opposed to Coach Booher. I know both are outstanding coaches but wondered how the style might change if any with Coach L this year and years to come.

Oh by the way on twitter I am CoachA523. I guess I should change my handle on here as well.

Just followed. I stay pretty busy on twitter most days, so I'll retweet many things for you guys!!!

Teams from KY seem to always draw Cali teams in this tourney. Or at least end up playing Cali teams. This is the tourney Ballard and Scott Co faced off in the finals once right?

Yes it was. I was there that year too. It was a fantastic showing for Ky that particular year. They always have a good showing even when they don't win that many games. Teams from Ky that are talented enough to be invited always seem to be well-coached enough to makeup for what they lack against these ultra talented teams from across the country. Trinity played a well-coached team out of New York in their 1st or 2nd round game down there a few years ago. It was quite a battle and very fun to watch.

Ky teams usually do well in this tournament. A lot of those teams have talent but are not coached. I bet Trinity makes the semi finals.

That is true with some teams at that tourney for sure as I try to make a point to get down there every year. For Trinity to make the semis would be huge as if they win their 1st round game they would most likely play Archbishop Carroll who is very talented and supposed to be very well-coached as well. Will be interesting and fun to watch and learn from for me. I love watching Trinity play as to me Coach Szabo does an outstanding job.

Trinity faces a team from CAL named sierra canyon in the first round on that opening Thursday at 4pm. Also of note: Oak Ridge(FLA) plays later on that night and the winner of those two games play each other. Oak Ridge features Antonio Blakeney. Was this pairing done on purpose? Or mere coincidence?

This tournament actually tries to seed those teams so it is very much a coincidence. Both Oak Ridge and Trinity are the underdogs in their first round games.

Coincidence. They don't expect Trinity to actually win the first game.

No they don't, but Sierra Canyon is very young although extremely talented I think Trinity just might pull off the upset. I told the California people last year that St. John Bosco may lose their first round game to Providence out of Florida although Providence was expected to lose and Providence beat them and I think the same could happen with Trinity.

@Covcathhoops

@scottruthsatz

 

They are on twitter.

Thank you sir. Thinking back now I knew he was on Twitter, but I didn't know about the team site. Thanks a ton!

I heard CovCath was in the gym at 6am and will be back at it tonight around 6pm.

 

No rest for the Champions.

That is what I call NOT resting on your laurels. Big time stuff for sure. Need to get Coach Ruthsatz on twitter. I am always looking for new coaches to learn from. coacha523.

I have no idea what they have returning or coming through the ranks, but it will not surprise me if Coach Henley doesn't slowly build them into a perennial state power to the level of a Ballard or Trinity or Scott County.

Anthony playd last year at Greensboro Page, in North Carolina. Looks like he averaged 16 points a game. Saw him described as a "smooth shooter." Also saw that he was ranked as the no. 40 player in North Carolina coming into this season. That ranking is not that impressive, but he should be a big addition for Ballard, which lost a lot from last year's team.

Page is one of the best programs in NC. He is going from one great program to another. He should fit in well at Ballard because of this as he has played with a talented team in the past and will do so this year. Coach Renner needed something like this to happen after losing the other 2.

With Trey Moses and Cameroon Reed Eastern may have jumped ahead of Ballard who has lost Malik Dow and Brandon Berry.

I know when Henley took the job he was very high on the underclassmen at Eastern. I didn't know if this was supposed to be one of those years he was counting on or next year and down the road.

Aren't Dow and Berry seniors? What happened to them?

I read on here I think it was that Dow transferred to Mercer County. Not sure about Berry.

Eastern is in the 7th Region, which will again this year be controlled by Trinity and Ballard. In fact, Eastern is in the same district as Ballard. Eastern will be one of the better teams in the 7th Region, but the margin between Trinity and Ballard v. everyone else will be substantial.

I was thinking they were in the 7th but wasn't positive. Trinity is loaded this year and Ballard is always good for sure even though losing the one player may hurt them. Tough to come out of that region for sure. Thanks for the info.