Henry Steele

I wonder, if NewCath can get past the mental thing and knock off CovCath in the regional and, heaven forbid, pull off the unprecedented feat of bringing a second straight state championship back to northern Kentucky this year ... who will be the first to say "it could have been two straight for NCC but for one bad foul call when Ruthsatz dove into Pangallo..." Followed, of course, by the thread about NewCath, with best returning big man Weyer and a host of talented underclassmen, may be on the verge of a dynasty....

With 2 weeks to go in the regular season, I'd like to pool everyone's knowledge ... In the 6th grade, highlands hasn't lost or even been tested; are they the prohibitive favorite to win the region, possibly by double digits every game? If not, who challenges them? In the 7th grade, again it is highlands that has been most impressive ... Their record stands at 23-2 I believe, with both losses being kind of flukey... Who challenges them in the tourney? Unfortunately, Campbell county suffered a serious blow when they lost their best player to an ugly wrist injury. In the 8th grade, gray and Campbell county have the best records I think (gray has lost 3, CC has list 2 or 3) but there are a lot of teams that could sneak up and get hot .... If it was a horse race, and gray and CC were the "chalks", I think I'd take the field. With no one keeping track of schedules or results, this forum provides the only status there is ... Hopefully we get some participation....

I agree wholeheartedly. From my experience, at Sports of All Sorts and at a number of other facilities and tournaments, I have not seen any other high school head coaches as involved in the elementary and middle school programs as he is. I hope he is given enough time at the helm to see the fruits of his labors, because he is truly trying to grow the program from the bottom up. Kudos!

I saw the very end of the eighth grade highlands-twenhofel game.... Can anyone fill me in as to what led to the technical foul in the third quarter?

I wasn't at the game, but reading between the lines, if Ryle built a 20 point lead in the first half using a full court press, I am interested to hear if the Ryle lineup was their "big" lineup or were they playing with a smaller lineup including the middle schoolers in the first half? I know the team takes on a dramatically different personality when the middle schoolers are on the floor, and I was just wondering what the full court pressing lineup was, from someone that was there. Anyone have statistics from the game?

I will take the bet.... There is not one kid on highlands 8th grade team who was 14 before sept 1... In fact, their biggest kid, 6'3" jake Schneider, turned 13 over the summer. Kids do not, in my experience, all develop at about the same time....

Highlands doesn't have any, and honestly I don't see that as that big a problem with nkmsaa teams. I don't know several of Holmes players, but virtually every other player, particularly the ones named on here as among the best (Houston, coldiron, Thelen, etc) are legal. Who do you think has hold backs?

I like both Gray and Campbell, but I don't think they are separated from any of about 10 other teams. I mean, Gray has lost to beechwood and holmes, and campbell has lost to gray and twenhofel. So, I think I agree with your original sentiment, Highlands is not the best eighth grade team by a wide margin. But I do think they could still win the region.

Here is what i know... 7th/8th grade girls Highlands 7th over dDayton 8th in finals, Piper Macke MVP, Audrey Graves all tourney 7th grade boys Highlands over Summitview, Bryson Huddleston mvp (I think), Isaac Salter all tourney 8th grade boys St.Joe Cold Spring over Highlands, Brian Duffy MVP, Spencer Macke all tourney, Alex Starkey all tourney

I was told that Pendleton County eighth grader Dontae Allen broke his wrist last night and is out 3 to 4 months. Anyone there that can confirm? It is a shame if correct because he had been averaging 16 or 17 points a game in the latest box scores I had seen.

I get the compiling of the best players from the NKMSAA, but if you were going to create the best 8th grade AAU team from Northern Kentucky, there are a few kids who are in the 8th grade, but not playing 8th grade... best example being Dontae Allen at Pendleton (averaging double digits varsity), but also Schilling and Castleman at Beechwood, Casey McGinnis (Blessed Sacrament - doesn't play school ball), Ohmer Woodland/Scott ....

Among 8th grade teams in the moms as there is tremendous parity in my opinion. Holmes, highlands, woodland, IHM, St.Pius, Gray, Campbell County, Conner, beechwood, could all beat each other on any given day.... And other than thelen at St.Pius and Rankin at Gray I would be reluctant to identify any other school's best player. I hop the teams stay this balanced through high school, would make for some interesting basketball, but I think right now CovCath, with Thelen from at. Pius and. Cold iron

I'd like to see more of the aftermath of the wrap around tie up, and see what earned the T there, but, my goodness, to look at those two infractions and think that they cost him a 2 or 3 game suspension is pretty unbelievable. Seems like an incredibly severe penalty for these transgressions... And, in my experience, my contact with him has been small, but James has always been soft spoken, respectful and well mannered in every conversation I have ever had with him.

Dicky's junior year .... And, yeah, vories hittin FT's down the stretch took the birds downstate for the first time in like30 years....

Does he play up at Villa?

Eighth grader Dontaie Allen with 17 for PC....

What is ryle's starting 5? Are the 8th graders (Mcgregor and Schwartz) seeing minutes?

Is Adam Sizemore starting for North Laurel?

Seems like the best balance in the 8th grade in a long time. Holmes topples Gray, then loses a couple. Woodland can beat anyone, yet has weaknesses that have been exposed. Campbell County, IHM, St. Pius, Highlands, Conner are all solid. I would expect competitive games among any and all of those 8.... whoever comes out on top this year will have earned it.

Lathered the sarcasm on pretty thick Bball... but I think I agree with your assessment. That team plays very physical and is well scored, but really Morgan was basically their first, second and third scoring option... her loss will leave a void IMO.

Losing a player of Stamper's caliber would be a blow to any team, so I definitely think it will affect Legacy, and, yes, the Shining Stars have definitely improved via acquisition, adding 2 players from the nation's number 2 team (Royals) back in April, and now picking up the leading scorer from (I think) the nation's number 10 (?) team, Legacy. It is difficult to keep a successful team together, obviously, and I wouldn't bet against more shifting of talent before AAU season gets underway in the spring....

What was the score in the Beechwood/Bracken County game? I expect Beechwood to have a lot of pretty lopsided wins playing in the small school division of the NKMSAA... I think that if they played all of their 8th graders on the 8th grade team, they have the talent (particularly if Schilling returns) to play with anyone in either division...

Heard earlier today that Holmes 8th beat Gray 8th on Saturday, with Holmes guard (Lane, I presume) hitting some very deep 3's to lead the Bulldogs. Gray may still 3-peat, but after seeing them struggle with Campbell County and Woodland last week, then having to rally from a 10 point deficit to beat Highlands on Tuesday, it looks like things are tightening up at the top in the 8th grade... I would also throw IHM in as a team that could play with anyone in the region....

Are the girls from Summitview that play on the Legacy team staying with Legacy, or have they moved permanently to Shining Stars? And that was a pretty strong performance against Highlands 7th... at one point they hit 7 out of 8 3's that they put up... no one will come close to beating them if they shoot like that.

That video does not include any highlights from his performance at the D3 Nationals in Virginia... and there were a lot of highlights there, playing against very, very strong competition... he is so long, and his strides are so long, that he is deceptively fast end to end, and he really has a very strong handle and shoots it well.... I am already on record saying Mr. Basketball contender 2019.