Henry Steele

Here's the story that accompanied the front page pictures - so many different plot lines besides the non-goaltending call. Charles Hurt dropping a shot at the buzzer in regulation after a length of the court pass (foreshadowing Christian Laettner 13 years later - some of us Holmes/UK followers have to live with that play x2); the fact that Doug Schloemer's brother had lost in the last seconds of the 67 final. Maybe every team that loses a state tournament final has this kind of woulda-coulda-shoulda, but to us from Covington, it still seems like we were cosmically unlucky, even 30 years later.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, here's 2K worth:

Holmes vs. Elliott County has been the big elephant in the room that nobody wanted to talk about for a long time. As long as the coaches and players don't engage in this admittedly unhealthy behavior, I really don't see the harm. And everyone knows the game may never happen; Elliott County will probably have to beat a Shelby Valley team that completely dominated them when they played to even get to Saturday morning, and Christian County is being picked by many to upset Holmes in the first round. But the fact is, these two teams have generated far more buzz this season than any other teams in the state, good or bad. To not recognize that their fans can look at the bracket and see that the possibillity looms, and to expect them not to comment on it, is naive IMO. And to add a little bit of historical perspective, until the last couple of seasons Holmes teams had always been high scoring, running teams. I think they still have the athletes to do it, and have been it in spurts this year. And there is this - I am sure it has happened other times, but in 1980 a great running Holmes team led by UK star Dicky Beal was in the bottom bracket, where Elliott County is this year, and played a triple overtime against Ashland on Friday night. Got back to the hotel late that night, and had to play an athletic Owensboro team the next morning - had no legs and lost. FWIW.

I think this thread is overdue, and even though I think it is a mistake for either team to look ahead past two state tournament teams, I'll throw this out there - if this game comes to pass, I see the possibility of some BGP activity records falling. As to the game, as a Holmes guy I'll start out with the predictable "Holmes is too long and athletic and defensively sound for Elliott County and the Bulldogs will prevail". I think that is the case, but I will also say that I would rather see an uptempo game than what we saw in the Ninth Region tournament. Point is, I think Holmes wins if its in the 40's or the 80's. I don't think we've seen Holmes score like that lately because most team weren't willing to play transition basketball against them. The only fault I find with Holmes is that they have let their opponent dictate tempo, and I think it is perfectly fine with Coach Henley that Holmes plays a slow tempo. If Elliott County stays true to what got them here, I think it will be a very entertaining game, but one that Holmes wins by double digits. Neither team is very deep, but Holmes goes a solid 7 deep, and it does not appear that Elliott gets much out of their bench at all. On a Saturday morning, after playing Friday, that depth difference will be important. I'll be there Saturday morning if it happens.

Um, Mr. Pot meet Mr. Kettle. Also, love them or hate them, but calling Boone County an inferior program is factually inaccurate. If it's a reference to some other unnamed school supported by KNOWITALL, it's still an inappropriate comment, particularly in this thread/forum.

Hey, I recognize that - it's sarcasm, right? Sorry to get off the thread here, but if you are looking for a really good target for your sardonic wit, Holmes' fans are nowhere near the most rabid or active on BGP - why pick on them?

Arena was great - I think I would abandon the idea of importing 16th region referees next year. I don't want officials to determine an outcome of a game, but I would like to see them apply the rules. I'm funny that way.

The combination of two very good teams that are fundamentally sound defensively, and officials that let things get way too physical, are the ingredients that lead to a 32-29 regional final game. In Holmes' first round game with Ryle I was stunned by the amount and severity of contact - it took Holmes until about midway through the 3rd quarter that night to adapt - but once they saw how much the officials were going to let go, I thought they adapted pretty well against NCC and Boone. Just not very entertaining to watch. Rico Johnson is a player; the only flaw in his game is his unselfishness. When he is 1 on 1 against anyone, his TEAM needs him to take it to the bucket - very, very few players, if any, that are still playing would be able to contain him. And for all those that have questioned the score and Holmes ability to win when they only score 32, I understand the initial reaction, because I wouldn't be able to understand it if I wasn't there. First, Boone is a very good team - they only lost 5 games, and most of those were to very good teams. More importantly, though, the officials let these guys absolutely pound each other. Saying every shot was contested is an understatement - I'd say there was too much contact on just about every possession by both teams. On a number of occasions, it looked like an offensive player had his man beat, only to have the defender grab his man, looking more like a defensive end making a tackle, and there was no call. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it was uneven; I just don't think it was basketball. If the offiicials allow this kind of play in the Sweet Sixteen, there will be some ugly scores. I think Holmes has shown they can adapt. The question will be can the other 15 teams. I guess we'll see.

That means some district champion gets Highlands in the first round of the regional. Ouch.

I don't know how often it is that the CovCath guys provide their talents to fellow Kenton Countians, but I wanted to say thanks from one frustrated fan that can't get to nearly as many games as I would like. Kudos.

I was actually thinking with the hunter and songwriting thing, maybe Ted Nugent. Or not.

Great story; thanks for the link. I've said for a long time that I like the way your boys play and love the small town thing and think it would be great for your Lions to raise the trophy on Saturday night - but I still had to cheer on my Bulldogs and the rest of the Ninth Region first (which, as a Region, does not even have a single school that has ever won a state championship). Hope you guys understand that people in northern Kentucky are pretty hungry, too. Since EC beat Mason and Ballard and proved to even the most skeptical BGP'ers that they're the real deal, it seems like there are only two issues that remain: 1. Can somebody PLEASE steal the exclamation point off of Dale Ferguson's keyboard; and 2. Who plays Dale Ferguson in the movie?

I'll plead ignorance as to King Kelly Coleman - although I do know that his team got to the state tournament - but do not know what he did after high school. The Ervin Stepp comparison to Jaime Walz is apples and oranges - no one will rationally argue that Ervin Stepp was the dominant player that Jaime Walz was in high school - his point totals were a function of lots of shots and poor competition. Jaime Walz numbers reflect that she shot a lot when her team needed it - as a sophomore, she put up bigger numbers than when she was a senior, and her team got to the state finals. I appreciate what Elzy did after high school, but I would be curious to hear how successful her teams were in high school - honestly I don't know. Unless she won a state championship, though, it's hard to sell the argument of her over Jaime - the records that Jaime holds are not limited to scoring - look at all-time numbers of rebounds and assists, as well.

Fair enough. It seems like there are an awful lot of teams ranked between #2 and 20 (plus Simon Kenton) that are awfully close. I am leaving Iroquois out of that discussion because it seems like the Manual loss was an aberration - I guess we'll find out tomorrow night.

Great Turners reference, B-Ball fan. Among the memorable things I witnessed there was an inebriated parent who was standing right above the backboard and grabbed a shot that bounced high off the rim - I don't recall what the official call was, but can you call goaltending on a spectator? Another thing about Turners was the blower/fan that hung over the court in one corner and knocked down many a shot. And maybe I was lucky, but I saw a couple of kids named Beal and Draud play a lot of games (not at the same time, obviously) at Turners that were refereed by Kenny Shields. I certainly didn't realize I was looking at 3 future northern Kentucky hoops legends at the time.

To see the "old" Holmes gym, I'm pretty sure all you have to do is drive up to Levassor and come into the back entrance - the gym that used to be known the "senior gym" (is it still?) was where Holmes varsity played its games until the David Evans Fieldhouse was built. It still has the balconies, although I think they are now used for storage, and they used to play freshman and eighth grade games there.

Sat on the sidelines of this thread until now, but Athena certainly has a strong predisposition against Highlands - and Jaime Richey - that is evident in other threads as well. In this game against North Hardin, it was a single possession game until late in the fourth quarter - on North Hardin's home floor. Both sides can argue how well/poorly their team or the other played, but it should be obvious to EVERYONE that neither team dominated or outclassed the other. Come on. And as for Athena's criticism of Highlands' level of competition, that is not the first time in the last week that she has raised it as an issue - last week it was to explain away the almost 5,000 points that Jaime Walz scored in the most illustrious high school career in Ky history. Which, by the way, is an utterly ridiculous argument in that Jaime did play in the state tournament numerous times and got to the state finals in 94 - oh, and she was the NATIONAL player of the year her senior year.

The biggest upset, or rather disappointment in my estimation, for a northern Kentucky team was the loss of the No. 1 ranked NewCath team in the first round of the state tournament in 1984 to what I think was the lowest ranked team in the Sweet Sixteen that year. On the subject of Newport Catholic, I would give them a couple of votes for pulling off huge northern Kentucky upsets - once in 1980 over Holmes (Beal's senior year) at Holmes by a margin of about 12 points - the only intra-region game Holmes lost that year; and then again last year (2008) when Holmes went on to the state finals.

Holmes was regional champs in 76, 77, 78 and 80, and lost in the regional finals to Highlands in 79 at Holmes (after having beaten the Birds twice during the regular season - although once was without Muntis). In 1980-81, the year after Beal graduated, Dayton beat Holmes at Dayton in the beginning of the year in what was thought at the time to have been an upset, with Holmes coming off of the strong previous 5 years. Holmes struggled that year, though, and really didn't re-emerge as a regional contender until Jack Jennings era. Beechwood did win a big game AT Holmes in 1979, I believe, in the District - don't recall who they beat, but I recall Beechwood with Kurt Polhgeers and Bailey Morlidge being strong players on that team.

Since I know you've experienced the fine cuisine in the Holmes cafeteria, I would hope that you'd understand that Eli might not even know what he had for lunch today (i.e. UFO - unidentifiable food object)

Thanks for bringing Kyra Elzy up; I was not familiar with her - and frankly I don't know how I wasn't - but I think that, without any doubt, their senior year (1996) had to be the highest profile year in the history of Kentucky girls basketball. Anyone know how seriously Jaime was recruited by Tennessee?

Wow! I would have bet Villa couldn't have held Tibbs to 31. What kind of size has Villa got?

My comments were directed more toward the perception that she is biased against Holmes - I don't think she is. Whether she is competent or not is not an issue I would take up. I do know that, at least as far as referring girls games go, she is/was considered to be one of the top referees in northern Kentucky and worked the state tournament. Honestly I haven't seen her work enough boys games to make a call - pun intended.

Okay, the obvious question - was this compiled before or after 9 PM last night? It's gotta be before because, regardless of what you think about Holmes, you can't have Elliott behind Mason after last night, right?

Holy gender bender - you're right - I bet their mascot requires a lot of therapy to address sexual identity and orientation issues.