Henry Steele

Effectively, at least in Kentucky, the AAU age restriction mirrors the khsaa age restriction, i.e. to be eligible to play your senior year in high school, you cannot turn 19 before August 1. While I agree that is very old - think about that, you can turn 19 on August 1 BEFORE your senior year, and still be eligible - that is essentially the same age restriction for AAU. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think probably the point you are trying to make is that that is too old, and that it is wrong for some parents to hold their kids back to take advantage of their kids having birthdays in August or September or October and being, effectively, a year older than kids that not held back. And while I certainly agree that talent levels out, you have only to look at northern Kentucky the last two years to see that, on many levels, there is still a benefit to the 19 year old senior methodology... Hatton and Bolden will both have their 19th birthday before they graduate from high school and both are D1 kids. Maybe they both would have been anyway, kind of hard to speculate about how their careers would have played out if they had been a grade up the whole way up... but I am certain Hatton doesn't break Draud's scoring record without his senior year. I think it is what it is, and you have to draw the line somewhere....

Big shout out to CovCath nation.... from someone who's allegiances are split between Highlands and Holmes, I'm smiling to see one more Ninth Region ghost exorcised... have Mark Schloemer and the rest of the 67 Colonels tweeted their congrats yet? Seriously, thanks for representing the Ninth Region and northern Kentucky is such stellar fashion.... I ran into Bud Wimzie and Beetle Bolden on the way out of Lexington and they were both in agreement with me, great for CovCath, and great for our region....

Way to go Cincy.. you've just added one more thing for the conspiracy theorists to worry about... its already bad enough that I wonder when I'm at the gas station if I am really getting 1.0 gallons of gas for my $3.59, or have they played with the instrumentation so it LOOKS LIKE I'm getting 1.0 gallons but I'm actually only getting 0.9 or 0.8 gallons. Now you've added one more thing for me to be suspicious about....

I can only presume you saw CovCath's lone loss and a win that failed to impress you in the two times you saw CovCath, but have you seen any of Manual's SEVEN losses or any of Henry Clay's NINE losses? Or maybe its my mine that is going.....

Since this conversation started with the Covington Latin score, I gotta bring up a couple of points... I don't think the players at Covington Latin, for the most part, are concerned, depressed, or in any way emotionally compromised by the fact that they do not compete for a state basketball championship. The guys that I know well that played at Latin - and I know a lot - are huge Kentucky high school basketball fans and would strongly oppose classification. They've been to enough Sweet Sixteens to appreciate it - even though their alma mater has never made it. If you wanna argue for classification, I really think you ought to choose another "small school victim" cuz I don't think Latin guys want you carrying the banner on their behalf. Secondly, I understand the small school emotions of not being able to compete... but there are plenty of small schools that have, in fact, won state championships... and this year, Newport Catholic has a legitimate shot, as an "A" school, to get there. A couple of years ago, prior to the state final game, a short movie was shown that recapped that years state tournament, and also included references to great state champions of the past. It was very well done, and concluded with simple text of something like "270 schools, 1 champion".... "We are Kentucky, and we play basketball". The hair still stands up on the back of my neck just typing it... it encapsulated in about 10 words every reason to retain the Sweet Sixteen, the nation's best high school tournament, and not to appease the classifiers...

The Royals at this point are made up of 7 players, 5 from Kentucky and 2 from Cincinnati: 1. Piper Macke, Highlands 2. Maddie Scherr, Ockerman/Ryle 3. Maggie Jones, Twenhofel/Simon Kenton 4. Laylay Chames, Holmes 5. Kennedy Harris, Somerset 6. Makira Cook, Cincinnati 7. Nevaeh Dean, Cincinnati They also have two part time players from Kentucky: 8. Shelby Calhoun, Louisville 9. Camille Hagen, St. Pius/Notre Dame The Royals finished second in the AAU national tournament last year, and have improved by adding a lot of size. They will be playing in the D1 state and national tournaments, where they will have a very real chance to become the first ever national champions from the Commonwealth, and they will also play up in the 7th grade D2 state tournament, and possibly the D2 7th national tournament.

I am not in favor of a shot clock.... however, if you wanted to make an argument for it, you would be better to cite a complete perversion of the game, see Highlands v. Notre Dame 2 or 3 years ago (I don't recall the score, but it was something like 12-9) or the University of Cincinnati v. Kentucky in 1984 (final score 24-11). Those were instances in which undermanned teams simply chose not to play the game AT ALL. Making a strategic decision to hold the ball with a few minutes to go and a slim lead is not a situation like that in my opinion, because, frankly, it backfires a lot of times when the trailing team fouls and the leading team can't knock down FT's. To me it sounds like sour grapes when the call for a shot clock comes after a situation like this because the trailing team still could have taken the initiative and played defense and fouled....

Straight fastballs or were you throwing a spitter or scuff-ball?

AAU results board has them finishing 5th, knocked out at Elite 8 by eventual national runner up.

All that may be so... but as far as objective facts go, I do not believe there have ever been 3 Ninth Region teams ranked in the top 6, or top 10 for that matter, in any statewide polls, for the last 40 years at least. I would also respectfully disagree, although this is purely an opinion... I believe any of these three teams would have been the best team in the region in 2003, and I believe Bolden is better and has a bigger future than any of the big big three that year (Neltner, Brock or Doellman). My opinion only... I'll let you know how that turns out in about 6 years....

I can believe that. I just don't recall any of them being considered in the state's elite, let's say top 5. That's a pretty rare feat, and I can usually recall the teams that were given that kind of respect (late 70s Holmes, 1984 NewCath, late 80s/early 90s Holmes, Highlands with Smith/Lorenzen/Glaser, CovCath perhaps with Votels, late 00s Holmes)... did any of those 2003 teams crack the top 5 ceiling? My point was that a couple of weeks ago there were 3 Ninth Region teams in the top 6, and I don't recall that ever occurring before...

7th grade best girls AAU team is Shining Stars, by head and shoulders. Composed of best players from Conner and Highlands, far and away the two best school teams in NKY, they are a state powerhouse and should easily win the D1 state championship. Royals 6th are even further ahead than their nearest competition... they are ranked 2nd in the country, and recently retired from playing in boys AAU leagues after going undefeated in 5 straight BOYS AAU LEAGUES and winning their last 70 games in a row against boys (combination of unhappy parents and change in ball size prompted the move). Their only loss over the past 7 months, since losing the national title game, was to the 7th grade Shining Stars.

Could have easily... I believe it still wound up a 1 possession game. Just a bit more hard luck for the Ninth... My point was the 3 elite northern Kentucky teams, and their best players, are getting more recognition statewide than the teams and players (except neltner) did that year, followed by an early exit, albeit a hard luck one, at the state tournament...

Could have easily... I believe it still wound up a 1 possession game. Just a bit more hard luck for the Ninth... My point was the 3 elite northern Kentucky teams, and their best players, are getting more recognition statewide than the teams and players (except neltner) did that year, followed by an early exit, albeit a hard luck one, at the state tournament...

The top to bottom thing might be correct, but I don't recall where any of those teams were ranked statewide in 2003, and I don't ever recall 3 northern Kentucky teams in the top 6 in the state. Also, I know it is the luck of the draw, but the Ninth Region representative that year (St. Henry) went out in the first round, albeit to a very good team. I am hoping for a much deeper run in the state tournament this year....

Heard last week that former Holmes great Elliott Simpson (1980) is not doing well, had a large tumor removed during which another large tumor was found that is inoperable. Other treatment is going to be tried, but the outlook is very bleak even though he is only 51 years old. El was a double digit scorer at Holmes on a team with Dicky Beal, Rick Walton, Mark Elmer, Todd Whatley, Joe Mardis and Kevin Sebastian that AVERAGED 87 points a game (I can't even remember the last time I saw a team put up 87 points in a game) ... some memorable games, including a 104-102 loss to Bryan Station and a triple overtime win in the Friday night state quarterfinals against Ashland.

Interesting thing about this thread and discussion... there is a very good argument that Hatton may be the third best guard in the region... he is going to wind up being the all time leading scorer in the Ninth Region, and he may wind up not being first team all region. That, and having 3 of the top 6 teams in the Commonwealth, says a lot about the current state of high school basketball in northern Kentucky... may be as good as its ever been....

I agree 100%. His biggest flaw, in my opinion, is that he at times looks TOO unselfish... I'd want him to shoot that open 12 footer every time, and he doesn't...

I know we're on a site talking about high school sports, but the one obvious, glaring point of differentiation for Latin kids, and the kids that we talk about in virtually every other thread, is this... not one of them is at Latin for athletics. Even the occasional kids who are athletic and achieve some modicum of success are there not to be developed as basketball players, but as students. And while it seems socially awkward to most of the posters at this site, it is truly the right fit for kids who are so intellectually gifted that their talents would be wasted if they had to endure the slower intellectual pace of more "ordinary" schools. Its not for every kid, and it is not even right for every kid that goes there.... but for some it definitely is the right fit. And as to Mustang's joke, I can honestly relate that, following a tennis match in the late 1980's when Bellevue had defeated the Trojans, a Bellevue parent said to my father, who was wearing a Latin T shirt "I wouldn't get too upset this... our boys are gonna wind up workin' for your boys one of these days..." Hard to find fault with Mustang's joke from my perspective....

Pretty sure Draud played varsity as a frosh, but didn't start. Scored some as a sophomore, but it was his junior and senior seasons when he averaged 35+ PPG that he really put up the points. I don't think an asterisk is appropriate, by the way, because scoring has gone down since the 3 point shot was adopted.

I can't recall any CovCath freshman ever having anywhere near this big an impact against Holmes...

What was Von Handorf's previous high point game before this one? Kid's a big game player, obviously...

With that number of free throws shot, I am guessing the fouls had to have been in the fifties, maybe even sixties.... how many players fouled out in this one? Kind of hard to imagine 25-30 fouls per team....

and video... or is that asking too much??? A few months ago I solicited opinions on the Bolden/Snider comparison, and I was surprised by the number of responses that ranked Snider ahead of Bolden. I'm a Bulldog homer and all, and haven't seen Snider enough to form an intelligent opinion, but I'm pretty impressed by Bolden. That match up, of two D1 point guards is gonna be a good one... will we see it again when it counts?

So why wouldn't we allow Covington Latin to decline a running clock, if the coach wanted to get their kids a full 32 minutes of game time?