Henry Steele

Okay, I am a traditionalist, and I would not dare to change one thing about the Sweet Sixteen. It is THE model for high school basketball tournaments. Having said that, though, I am curious. Do those that advocate the Sunday finals think the early Saturday semis and Saturday night finals are MORE taxing on some teams (i.e. transition teams vs. half court set teams OR teams that are in the lower bracket vs. upper bracket)? Because, honestly, if there isn't a serious advantage to some teams, there is no way I would ever fool with the format. If you start using the "we could generate bigger crowds argument", then pretty soon you are down the path of having four classes with four state tournaments, and think about how big those crowds would be. Not for me.

I think that's a pretty honest comment, and one that I am sure has occurred to a lot of people. Its not begrudging him the accomplishment, but if you don't think getting playing time is going to be a challenge for Mr. Hawkins, you're not paying attention. I am happy for him, too- believe me I love guys from Kentucky wearing the blue-but he's coming in with the best recruiting class in history, to go with a couple of very, very strong returning players. I think Calipari has got the biggest challenge he's ever had in getting this bumper crop enough minutes, even before Mr. Hawkins entered the picture. You gotta remember, somebody's gonna be the 9th player and somebody's gonna be the 10th player on that squad next year... who can you possibly fathom being down that low in the rotation? Having said that, congratulations DH. I hope to see you on a tear filled senior day in a few years trying to win the fourth national championship in a row for Kentucky...

AAU is grade based, not age based. Cutoff if August 31. http://image.aausports.org/dnn/girlsbasketball/EligiblityRules.pdf

All of the official AAU materials that I have seen in the last 6 months, for everything from the nationally sanctioned tournaments to the local regional qualifiers, are grade based and provide an age cutoff, mirroring essentially the school age rule wherein you are eligible to compete in a certain grade as long as you do not turn 19 before August 1 of your senior year. That is, to play in an AAU sanctioned event as a 5th grader, you cannot turn 12 before August 1, as a 6th grader you cannot turn 13 before August 1, as a 9th grader 16 before August 1, etc. I will post the official rules in a moment....

It is a choice, in that there is nothing compulsory about enrolling your child in kindergarten if they turn 5 before October 1. It is completely up to the parents. Funny thing about "choice" is that now, it is always, it seems, about a parent making a "choice" to hold their kids back for athletic reasons. In my world, when I was in school the more common choice was whether or not to send kids to school early, or to skip a grade or to send them to a college prep school (skipping 2 grades). I realize that was only my little nook of the world, but that "choice" was generally made based upon a parent's wanting to ensure an optimal ACADEMIC experience for their children, instead of an optimal ATHLETIC experience. It seems to me like too many parents have bought into the mentality of preparing for college athletics, instead of preparing for college. I suppose I'm in the minority, but I still consider it a tremendous longshot to get an education paid for because you play a sport well. Hooray for all those that it happens to, but for most of us it makes more sense to be more concerned with ACT scoring instead of PPG scoring.

To me, whether a kid is a hold back is relevant, and when I ask, particularly on an AAU team, it is not because I am making an accusation or suggesting ineligibility. I want to know how my kid or kids stack up, and if a kid is, in fact, a holdback that is a lot of additional maturity, experience and size. I have heard a lot of people who held kids back make the argument that "you could hold your kid back if you want to!" which is really silly. I am making no accusations, and I realize it is completely within the rules to have your kid be 19 his entire senior year (if his birthday is in August), 18 as a junior, etc., all the way down to being 9 as a second grader. Even though it is within the rules, it is of value to me to know that my team of 10 and 11 year olds is playing against 12 year olds. Those years matter, and it does start to level out in middle school and high school. So, I do consider it "relevant", even if it is within the rules, and when I ask a coach how old his kids are or what grade they're in, I wish they didn't get offended or give me an evasive, or, worse, untruthful, answer. Because that happens a lot.

Yeah, I gotta go with the NCC side on this one .... no way they fall under the "recruiting" umbrella. Quite to the contrary, in fact... more than any other school I can think of, NCC keeps its teams stocked almost exclusively with "legacies". In fact, as I sit here, I am trying to remember the last major player at NCC that wasn't the son or a nephew of a prior Bred. Ben Weyer might be the first in a long, long time, and, as was mentioned above, he comes from a strong Catholic family and his grandfather coached for many years at Thomas More. No way his winding up at NCC would ever qualify as being "recruited" in my book. My point being, NCC is as far from a recruiting school as it can be.... its probably THE MOST DIFFICULT school to come into as an outsider....

Last time Ron was on the sidelines for the NCC boys they were led to the state tournament by his son... don't look now, but his grandson Steven Pangallo is a seventh grader with a big future in front of him.... certainly seems like a good fit, but I have to wonder... is Jimmy Pangallo interested in the head job?

Stunner. I didn't follow the thread on the WV vacancy very closely. Anyone see this coming? This had to shock the NCC faithful, didn't it? Mexitucky? Lawnboy?

Eighth page and no mention of Brad Carr. Apparently I missed something because the speculation about whether he was contacted/applied/was offered/turned down the job the last time filled up a couple of threads.... did I miss the absolute, unequivocal statement that he would never apply or that it would never be offered to him?

And after Hawkins got in foul trouble, and Bosley took over, I thought Bosley played as good a defense as you can, and he still could create enough space to get a shot off.

Thank you TOG. Sincerely. I appreciate being enlightened. But I still can't make the connection to the official getting to award another free throw. The rule says its illegal, but it doesn't say what the penalty is, or against whom it is assessed. I am missing the piece that says what constitutes a severe enough distraction to a shooter that he gets an extra free throw because of the distraction. Point is, where does an official's discretion end with respect to how much a free throw shooter can be distracted before he declares a "re-do"?

That's silly. When he made the THIRD free throw, of course there was a gain for MC. Come on.

First of all, air horns are illegal? Please elaborate. It certainly is not unlawful to possess them, and it is not unlawful to possess them in an arena. Are you suggesting that it is "illegal" to be blown by a fan during a game? Please tell me where I can find that rule, and what the penalty is. Again, I would ask for the citation to a rule. I know what constitutes a "correctable error" resulting in an award of another free throw, and I know what constitutes a lane violation, which results in an award of a second free throw. The scorer's horn, an air horn, a fan screaming and waving, etc., do not fall into either category. Where does the referee get the authority to award a "re-do" for something that doesn't fit into those categories? I am not "advocating" the use of the scoring table horn. I also do not advocate screaming when Tiger Woods is about to putt, but it happens and there are no re-do's, only a possible ejection for the offender. I ask only that the rules be applied and followed. Tell me where the official is entitled to give a "re-do" because of a noise in the arena. If you take the position that a mistaken blowing of the horn is equivalent to an inadvertant whistle, another free throw should not have been awarded. The rule provides that, when a whistle is blown while the ball is in flight, if the shot is unsuccessful, the ball is awarded to whoever has the arrow because neither team has possession. Now, I don't recall, but if Holmes had the arrow - and I don't know that they did - wouldn't Holmes have been awarded the ball out of bounds when he missed the second shot?

What if someone in the crowd has an air horn? Or what if someone in the endzone jumps and screams and tries to distract the shooter? Redo?

Hawkins is a great player but I like bolden skill set better at the next level. Ball handling and outside shooting edge goes to bolden, strength goes to Hawkins. My ideal d1 point guard is more of the former, less of the latter

I would agree that Bolden and Hawkins both were worthy of all the accolades today, although both had flaws exposed IMO. Bolden lost it or had it taken away a few times - kid's got a great handle, but sometimes defenders have pretty quick hands and feet and you need to adjust. I would bet that's the most he's ever turned the ball over like that in a game. Hawkins showed great range and composure draining those two 3's late in regulation, but other than that his points were pretty much confined to free throws and forceful takes to the basket that I frankly thought he got bailed out on several times and which, late in the game, Holmes did almost nothing to defend, probably because everytime he got into the paint there was a foul called.

I guess so. Kid missed two and was awarded a third, which he made to make if a 4 point game. Pretty important call, and I don't think it fits within the confines of a "correctable error", but I've been wrong before, and there's a pretty good chance I'll be wrong again someday...

Can anybody cite the rule that allows an official to wave off a free throw for something OTHER than a violation by the opposing team? I have never seen that done before, and obviously there are a whole bunch of opposing fans that are doing everything they can to distract the shooter. Difference being obviously Bolden's got the 30 footer to tie it if they don't give the kid a third free throw. I didn't care for the way the game was called the fourth quarter and in overtime, but those are discretionary calls. I would like to know under what conditions an official can award another free throw...

Based on that first half if you evaluate point guard skills - handle, shooting, controlling game - if Cal offers anybody its gonna be the guy wearing red. And it wasn't even close.

Well done sir.

Yeah, sorry if this thread veered off course... Guppy is Tommy Gullett... good player, a legend down at "the Hole" in Covington, graduated about 85 or 86. Fozzie Bear played about the same time, Steve ?, a little behind me. I would say those names were put out there in much the same vein as Phil Glaze....

Here's what I think is the funniest thing about that... Guppy only needs one name for identification. He's now like Cher and Bono.....

Prolific 30+ ppg scorer (maybe even 35) at Calvary Christian... should have gone to Holmes and graduated with Beal, Walton, Simpson, Elmer, Whatley.... and yes, Taylor Mill, his father was Afton Kordenbrock, strong player at Holmes late 40s and later mayor of Taylor Mill...

I bet it was hard to find minutes on that team with Beal, Walton, Kordenbrock, Mike McCullough, Wendell Allen, Charlie Bledsoe, Brett Lovell, .....