Henry Steele

If that's accurate, the whole process and award is tainted, IMO and they should eliminate it as part of the state tournament ceremonies because it is so ripe for abuse - Hopson's non-selection was a mystery to me - it's no longer a mystery; now it's a joke.

Can't quote chapter and verse, but I'm pretty sure that 28 or 29 is still way high - Holy Cross has been to a number of regionals in that span of time, and it was not always at Holmes expense. My guess would be that in the mid to late 70's CovCath missed out at least few times - 76 for sure because Holmes beat Holy Cross in the regional, and I think Holy Cross got back to the regional in 77 with Mike List (Holmes won the region in 77), then in 78 - 79 - 80 Holy Cross had some pretty strong teams (Lenihan, Eifert, Comer, etc.) and I am certain that Holmes won the district those years. Also, I recall Holy Cross beating Holmes at least once in the early/mid 90's in the regional with McClendon, Houston, etc. - maybe more. Bottom line - I don't think it's anywhere near 28.

Amen, brother. Two more points: 1. I always wonder how many Sweet Sixteens someone has been to when they suggest its abolition - usually it's none. 2. There will never be any new chapters to Hoosiers - so in Indiana they had a system good enough to inspire a fantastic story and movie, and still managed to throw it away.

Year in and year out, there are going to be fluctuations in the quality of athletes that both sports send to the next level. I have trouble using that as the barometer for which is sport is "king". I would look, at least partially, at perceptions from other states about what is "king" in Kentucky. If that's the test, I don't think there is any question that basketball is still king (and I know that a lot of that has to do with the overwhelming presence of UK, but it is what it is). You really need look no further than our neighbor to the north - Ohio - where they still consider KY football to be second class, but not so with basketball. Without any scientific or statistical analysis to back up my point, it still seems a rarity when a football team - even Highlands - goes across the river and wins a football game. Basketball seems much more competitive between northern Kentucky and Cincinnati teams. Most of all, though, I don't see the "sum" of the 6 state final playoff games in football adding up to the "whole" of the Sweet Sixteen, the "greatest show on earth". But I've gone to many more state tournament basketball games than I have football games. Although that raises a point - this year I sat in the middle of a bunch of people at the state finals that had no particular rooting interest for either Mason County or Holmes, they were just basketball fans. How often does that happen at a football game?

No kidding! The funny thing is that even Eta Rho, a couple of posts after beleiveinblue suggested Pittman, dismissed putting Pittman on the list. Bottom line: NOBODY saw the break-out performance by Pittman in the state tourney coming.

And by the way, another name I've heard mentioned as a UK walk-on is Greg McGraw from Highlands. Although he is not well known outside of Northern Kentucky, I would say his chances of making it as a walk-on at UK are at least equal to Sloan or Stepp - he put up big numbers when he played, including 30+ against the best defensive team in the state (Holmes).

Unlike all the talk about Stepp and Sloan that abounds, that makes it sound like UK wants them to come play for the Cats but just don't have the scholarships, the suggestion that a player come play in pickup games sounds a lot more like what Mark Krebs went through to make it as a walk-on. A walk-on's path is a very unglamorous, work your tail off and show us that when you do finally get a chance to face the scholarship guys you can hold your own, then maybe we'll look at you as a walk-on. I think the perception of a "preferred" walk-on at UK is a misperceived, but then again Billy might have a different approach and I haven't been party to those conversations. Hard to believe, though, that he's making those kinds of promises to second and third team all-staters that they can come walk-on at UK.

I love the tournament with all of its "imperfections" (there are a lot of folks that despise the unclassified format, as well) - but there is no doubt opportunity for one time to come in fresher than the other. It truly requires the luck of the draw. In 1980, I personally hated it but Holmes was unlucky in that Friday night saw a triple overtime win over Ashland. No doubt they were fatigued the next morning against a powerful Owensboro team - they lost by 25, and Dicky Beal was a ghost of his typical self. Bottom line - I wouldn't tinker with the format.

Dang - shaky hands I guess!

Yeah, that's what I was thinking (see above). Your post got there a little quicker than mine!

If Holmes plays Shelby County, it is a rematch of the 81 final - which Holmes lost after leading by 2 with 2 seconds to go, and an overtime that included the worst missed call in Sweet Sixteen history. Oh yeah, and Shelby County has Norris Beckley Jr. on its roster - his dad started on the 78 team!

Three of those came on a long range 3 when the game was effectively over, except for all the dirty plays by Paintsville. It looked like he wasn't going to get to double digits - the scary thing is, I don't think he missed a lot of shots - he just could not shake Henderson and Johnson to get the touches he usually does. To be successful at the next level, I think he needs to learn how to get open better, use screens more effectively, move better without the ball, AND, ABOVE ALL, HOPE THAT ARREZ ISN'T GUARDING HIM.

Of all the basketball games I have seen in my lifetime, I can count on one hand the number where things got so rough that players were in serious danger of physical injury. This was the worst of that handful. Paintsville may be a solid basketball team - it's hard to tell if Slone is a player because he just did not get any touches, thanks to Arrez - but it is impossible to judge their ability when there are so many cheap shots, offensive foul "flops" and thuggish fouls that kids may not get up from. IMO the officials did let it get out of hand. Thankfully it ended before any bones were broken or blood spilled - but it was getting there in a hurry at the end. Great job, Bulldogs, in maintaining your composure through all that. One more thing - it got ridiculous in the second half that as soon as Arrez got the ball and made a move to the bucket, Paintsville guys started floppin' to the floor like out of water catfish.

Paintsville had MASSIVE problems with J'town's pressure late in the game - almost seemed like J'town had spotted them a big lead and waited until midway through the 4th before they kicked it in. I think they'll see 4 quarters from Holmes of what they saw for the last few minutes from J'town. Big question - can Slone beat Henderson off the dribble? If he doesn't do that early on, game's over because he's not gonna get clean looks from the perimeter until he shows that he's got some other facets to his game. Paintsville as a team is dangerous if they get open looks because they shoot the ball well, but no way no how they shoot 68 percent tomorrow against Holmes. As a Holmes guy, I would love to see Paintsville play the same pace that they did against J'town. If they do, I wouldn't be surprised to see Holmes with a double digit lead and Paintsville with 12 turnovers by the half. Prediction? Holmes coasts to a Saturday morning matchup with LexCath.

First of all, I am surprised that no one has located and referenced a thread on the situation in Ft. Thomas when Cris Collinsworth and others put together financing for its turf. In spirit and content, the arguments were very similar. The problem, as cshs81 has raised several times, is what do you do when a benefactor wants to donate money to a public school, and wants to dictate how that money is spent? I understand the whole "public schools must be equal" thing, but let's look at the reality here. Ms. Borland, or Mr. Collinsworth, or Jim Huff or Staple's CEO Ron Sargent (two examples of affluent Holmes High school benefactors - see, there are some) decide they want to donate money for turf, or a scoreboard, or a solid gold chess set, whatever - the BOE says "great, you write the check and we'll figure out how to spend it". The benefactor says "thanks but no thanks - I can donate my money to a lot of other entities that will honor my wishes". All the BOE will have done then is denied the kids at Ryle, or Highlands, or Holmes the improved facilities. The "have nots" will not have had their lots improved. Maybe its me, but I don't see any positives there. I say let schools, private and public, accept contributions applied as the donors wish. The government still has its role to oversee public education, and I am not offended by the notion that wealthy alumni can give back to their alma mater without offending the "separate but equal" doctrine.

In another thread, someone posted that the vote was taken before the district tournament began. If that is in fact the case, I can see a lot easier how Sorrell gets the award. His numbers were the best in the region. If you consider the district and regionals, though, Arrez showed against the second best team in the region that he had great offensive game all the time - 30 points against CovCath when every point was needed to win. By not voting for him, the coaches effectively penalized him for being on a winning team with other scoring threats, and for not piling up stats against lesser competition.

As I understood it in a prior discussion, the NKCA is an outgrowth of the old NKAC conference, and still includes the "old" Ninth Region schools, like Bishop Brossart, Simon Kenton and Scott. If it was a very close vote amongst the NKCA coaches, and those that are NKCA coaches voted for Arrez, I can understand the different results. I don't agree with them, but I can understand them. Corey had a great year and put up numbers worthy of a POY, and he is deserving of the award and should be congratulated. I happen to think that Arrez Henderson is more deserving, given the success that he led his team to, but I can agree to disagree on that point. Congratulations to both Arrez and Corey, and good luck.

Great post, Mustang - eloquent and smart, made even more so because I know of your appreciation for the plight of the small schools. I might take a little exception to the 1/3 of the schools being totally eliminated - does Edmonson County fall into the 1/3? Clay County? There is great "A" school representation this year, so we'll see. As far as the bolded goes, it sounds a lot like the argument for our system of government - it ain't perfect, but it beats any other system.

Erardi's column in the Enquirer says Kentucky and Delaware are the only "non-classified" states. Anyone ever seen the Delaware state tournament? Are there any other states that have all of the games played at a single site?

Is the Kentucky Sweet Sixteen the best high school tournament in the country, as John Erardi thinks? http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080313/COL19/803130370/1156/COL19 And is it the best because it is a single tournament, in a single venue, that crowns a single champion, a true "state championship".

No. 1 team in America about to win its 3rd national championship - St. Anthony's in Jersey City - coached by Bob Hurley. Interesting story is that Bob Hurley came close to leaving for the college ranks once in 1985 - to join Pete Gillen at Xavier. He didn't take the job because his son, Bobby, wanted him to stay and coach him at St. Anthony's. If only Pete had been more convincing, Bobby would have wound up playing at St. X or Moeller in Cincinnati, closer to Lexington than Durham. Yada, yada, yada there probably wouldn't have been a last second shot for Laettner to make; if only Pete had been more convincing.

Thanks, bleachercreature, for finding that article on Thacker. I recalled reading it but didn't have the time to find it. There was also someone on Charlie Coleman's "Sports Legends" show (maybe Redmond, Hurst or Bishop or someone else that played at Holmes or Newport in the late 40's or early 50's) that talked about playing exhibition games against Lincoln Grant back when things were still segregated. Whoever it was said that they won the region one year but got destroyed by Lincoln Grant, and they thought Lincoln Grant was probably the best team in the state, but they couldn't play in the Sweet Sixteen. With respect to Holmes' number of regional championships, there was a long drought, from 1951 to 1976, where there weren't any, so it shouldn't be surprising that their total (excluding the Covington High School question) is mostly the "modern era" 9 (1976, 77, 78, 80, 88, 90, 2005, 07, 08).

Reading those two sentences together, it sounds like there are 10 D1 players in the Sweet 16. Is that the case?

Have you listed who your top 10 would be? Just curious.

Off the top of my head, NewCath went to Rupp in 84 at 33-1, Holmes in 80 went to Freedom Hall at the identical 31-2 as this year's Dogs (having also lost during the regular season to NewCath, the only NKY loss - oooh, eery coincidence there), and Holmes in 78 went to Freedom Hall at 31-1.