Henry Steele

Great win by Boone - but GT gets it right. Holmes has flaws, and I think they have been exposed. They need an 09 version of Arrez for at least three reasons: 1. Even though he was a lock down defensive stopper, when they needed a late game bucket he was there (in particular, the District finals against CovCath - 29 points I think by posting up bigger guys - they absolutely do not win that game without him). 2. His intensity on the defensive end was infectious. I haven't seen it to that degree this year in the games I've seen. 3. His demeanor - the Holmes kids were lauded for their composure last year, particularly in the Paintsville game which got VERY UGLY at the end when Paintsville knew their season was coming to an end. Could have very easily turned into a major fracas, but Holmes turned the other cheek and walked off with a W. This year, with all the trash talking and T's, is obviously a much different situation. Last year I think Holmes reflected the cool composure of Arrez - I see that missing now. There are two guys that can help Holmes pull things together IMO - Dave Henley and Rico Johnson. I hope Rico develops the leadership qualities to match his remarkable physical gifts, and I hope Henley recognizes the need to pull the reins in a little on the stupid, unnecessary conduct that leads to technical fouls. Got way off the thread here - sorry - because it was a great win for an underrated (IMO) Boone squad. If Holmes doesn't take any lessons away from this loss, and continues to play with inconsistent intensity and make silly, immature (to be kind) mistakes, they may not see the floor at Rupp.

Big convincing win! I am waiting to hear about all of the posters claiming their spots (as promised in prior threads) on the bandwagon. I don't think there's any serious argument to be made that EC is not legit, regardless of what happens with Ballard.

Congratulations. Two questions come to mind: How many does brother Faulkner have? What is the highest combined point total for two teammates that graduated the same year? I am thinking the Faulkner/Ferguson total has to be some sort of record, because I don't think anyone is going to be able to come up with the No. 2 scorer on King Kelly Coleman's team.

First of all, those three schools should have been Miss State, Tennessee, and Indiana - I screwed up the list that Dale Ferguson had said was pursuing his son. Having said that, my question remains - are they recruiting him as a 2 or a 1? I understand the positions everyone took - at least I thought I did - not sure whether Eta thinks he can or can't play the 2 in the SEC - but I thought Dale would like to chime in with an answer. That's all.

I said "rare". I'll amend that to 6'1 is "atypical" for a shooting guard at a high major. And it was an honest question - does Indiana think he fits as a 2? Tennessee? Ole Miss?

Great story! Thanks for the link. If you made up a resume like that (50 ppg scorer, 4.0 GPA high school/college, law school/attorney, musically trained) I don't think people would believe it.

Have Indiana, Miss State or Tennessee given an indication how they would use him? I ask only because from what I have seen his skill set seems suited to shooting guard, but I think a 6'1 shooting guard at that level is pretty rare; or have they discussed using him at the point.? Just curious.

Good stuff. Thanks for the link. The players that could really stand to take the article to heart, though, are some of the guys that get paid huge bucks but couldn't set a good pick if their lives depended on it. Anybody got Allen Iverson's email address?

Great exposure. I remain somewhat skeptical, though, about the information used by the national services to arrive at rankings (in spite of Ryan Ernst's column last weekend). I know the UK commitment means something, but does it strike anyone else as odd that, between the two schools, the only player mentioned by name (Euton) is possibly only the sixth or seventh best player between the two programs?

She needs to be playing varsity in about 9 years - for a 2 year old that's a lot of pressure!

The quick reaction to an unbeaten team that gets beat this badly is to think they were overrated (I think "fraud" is too strong a word and should be reserved for some banking and wall street types). But with the quality wins that Rowan has to their credit, I gotta believe other factors weighed heavily - whether bad night for them, great night for LCA, matchup problems, etc. They obviously have the ability to knock off quality teams - and hadn't lost a game until this one, so we know they know how to win. Personally, I think I would rather see the 9th region get someone else in the state tournament that hadn't beaten Manual.

Nice photos, by the way. Sorry I forgot to mention that.

Ellory Kring starts varsity - correct? I assume she did not play in the frosh or JV tournaments. Outside of her, do any other Conner frosh start varsity?

Thanks for the statistical research. And obviously Jaime only ranks 11th, instead of 2nd, because they did not include her 7th and 8th grade points. I have always wondered about the rationale behind not including those - after all, she scored them in varsity games - why wouldn't they be included? I am glad the KHSAA saw it the other way and included them. Secondly, the Grigsby records have never made sense to me. The KHSAA has her scoring at almost 50 ppg for 2 years, but there is only a single game recorded for her scoring more than 50 in a game (the Kentucky record of 81). Anybody that can shed light on Grigsby's records and why the KHSAA record book is so incomplete?

Jaime Walz, now Jaime Richey (head coach at Highlands) scored 4,948 points and was named the national player of the year as a senior at Highlands in 1996. Will anyone ever approach that record (which would require averaging 28 ppg for 30 games ........ for SIX YEARS!) I think it is worth noting, too, that she did that against the top competition in the state, and didn't load up on small outmanned schools.

Where on the KHSAA site does it have results that far back?

I think the problem with JV tournaments is its sometimes hard to know where to draw the line - malachi - obviously Katie Allen and Towles don't move down to JV, but what about Cutter? Schaefer? Who does the scoring for HHS JV?

In principle, I agree with most of the posters - "Air ball" does not cross the line. I am a little concerned, though, that all those years of psychological torment might lead to an unhealthy use of the EXCLAMATION POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With respect to Housely, I do not know the circumstances of his transfer from Newport to Holmes, HOWEVER, to add some geographical perspective for those not familiar from northern Kentucky, Newport and Covington straddle the Licking River, and there are many families that find it necessary to move from one to the other. The fact that it may require a school transfer is not generally a motivating factor. I am sure every transfer has its own story, but I honestly see a difference between transfers like Housely (whose family name is much more closely associated with Covington than Newport) and the Johnsons (whose families are Covington families) than the situation where parents of exceptional athletes relocate for employment purposes and "happen" to wind up in a school district with a strong basketball team. I know there's no way to police it, and I don't think its fair to punish kids because their parents are forced to relocate, but I think it smells bad when families with no connection to a school district wind up relocating there at the moment an athletic program is at its zenith.

Maybe it's me, but I am frankly having trouble figuring out what "style" of ball Elliott County plays from this thread. From what I have seen, they play an uptempo, high scoring brand of basketball, which I would contrast with a half court, smashmouth brand. But then along comes Wireman and tells us that Ballard will not be able to adjust to the rough and tumble 16th region type play that the officials let go. And then, if that isn't confusing enough, along comes eccheer to tell me what Wireman meant, that they play a run and gun type of basketball. Is it just me, but isn't high scoring, "run and gun" basketball the extreme opposite of intense defense, let 'em play basketball? From my own perception, I would say EC plays uptempo, with full court pressure that creates a lot of offensive opportunities, but struggles, especially defensively, in a physical, half court game. It's pretty difficult for us outsiders to appreciate the intense defense played in the 16th region, per Wireman, when EC averages 80 or 90 points a game. It's much easier to appreciate their spot up shooting and offensive abilities.

A. Congrats to another outstanding scorer - and to the Ferguson family. In fact, since I am now thoroughly educated on the scoring prowess of this family, why don't we get a full total including what Dale put up, as well. B. What's the likelihood we see Ms. Ferguson and the Elliott County girls at WKU? (I hope to be there watching the girls team that I have ties to - Highlands).

A. I'm pretty sure they (Holmes) averaged in the 80's anyway in 1980, when he was still at Highlands; B. That was a different era. Starting to sound like my Dad, I know, but as bad as the problems in the 70's and 80's may have appeared to those outside Covington, I don't think they were anything like what Henley has had to deal with. I'm surprised no one has brought up the Highlands job. Sure there is pressure, just like with the football program (well maybe that's a stretch), but it's hard to beat the parental support you get in Ft. Thomas.

Somebody has to go to bat for the Birds at home. Their only losses were to Manual and Simon Kenton, on a night they played poorly - they haven't lost at home yet this year, so I'll take 'em by 5.

Okay, the numbers are what the numbers are, he's over 3,000. Congratulations on a great accomplishment and a nice write up. One suggestion, though. The numbers I looked at came from the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen website, which come from the school in a stat sheet provided after the regional tournament. I didn't get numbers from any unreliable internet site or from the Courier Journal. I relied upon numbers recorded at the KHSAA website that were supplied by Elliott County. For at least the past two seasons, someone from Elliott County has underreported his point totals to Sweet Sixteen officials. Why the school would have two sets of numbers, one set that was reported to the Sweet Sixteen and one set that was reported to the Independent, is anybody's guess. Also, as Dale has pointed out several times, the Elliott County statisticians were a couple of hundred points late in acknowledging #2,000. My suggestion is to check to see that the correct numbers are reported when Elliott County punches its ticket to Rupp. At some point, when his career is over and he ranks way up there on the list of career scorers, the KHSAA review committee would undoubtedly inquire as to why there were two sets of numbers. One more thing - and I am sincere about this - I hope to see EC at least get to Saturday morning - and if the Ninth Region representative is out, I'll be cheering for EC to get red hot from behind the arc and surprise people. I love the idea of a small school team that plays up and down the floor. If Holmes and EC are both lucky enough to get to Saturday morning, I'll see you there. I'll be the guy with the calculator.

Got my numbers from the official KHSAA website for sophomore and junior seasons, and for the frosh season from the previous thread about him scoring his 3,000th. That's where the discrepancy lies. Two days ago Dale Ferguson gave me the explanation that the 8th grade points hadn't been counted previously. Now it appears that the point totals reported to the KHSAA were not the same as those given to the paper. The problem is not with my math, it's with the different point totals given to the KHSAA and to the paper. The difference for those three seasons is about 200 points - from the outset, I have just been curious as to why the numbers don't agree - unsanctioned tournaments, etc. It caught my eye that there was about a calendar year in between #2,000 and #3,000 - I figured about 30 games - and that would have required about 33 PPG. Since I had never seen anywhere that he was putting up numbers like that I asked - politely, I think, if you review the thread - whether anyone had the year by year breakdown. I'll repeat, I like him as a player - hope to see him Saturday morning in March against my Bulldogs. But I also think it is doing a disservice to him - and diminishing what he has accomplished - if the numbers were inflated. I'll shut up now and say congrats now on scoring all those points, whether its 2,000, 2,800, 3,000 or 3,500. He's had a great career. If anyone knows why there is a discrepancy between the official KHSAA numbers and those reported to the paper, though, I'd be interested. Thanks.