Stripes3

You have to have these regional favorites in the top 10: PRP (6th Region) Manual (7th Region) Mason County (10th Region) Scott County (11th Region, #1 ranking)

May want to add Lexington Catholic's Taylor Stewart to that list. He's really developed his game and is a multi-dimensional scorer.

Final. Austin Hill - 19 points Steffphon Pettigrew - 14 Matt Walls - 13 For Indiana it was Gordan with 20 points.

Lexington Catholic wins the Derek Smith Shootout.

Lexington Catholic wins tourney over DeSales by 20 or so. DeSales defeated Jeffersontown and Lexington Cath defeated Ballard to reach the finals.

The series hasn't lost its luster with Indiana fans.

Let's see, here are some... Lexington Catholic looks strong. Won their pool and remain undefeated and earned a bye til tomorrow. Manual wins big over Fern Creek and Doss today and will face Lexington Catholic tomorrow. Waggenor wins over Seneca and will face Louisville Central tomorrow. Central won their pool. Central pummelled Allen-County Scottsville and come from behind to defeat Cov Cath. Ballard advances with a win over Fern Creek.

Sorry, but you are way off. Fern Creek who beat Elliott County will not even appear in the 7th regions top 5 much less state's top 25. Manual is said to be the regional favorites. Male, Ballard, Jeffersontown, Eastern, and Trinity will all be ahead of Fern Creek. In the 6th Region, PRP will be the favorites.

That's surprising since Fern Creek had been getting roughed up a bit in summer league play against Shawnee, Manual, Ballard, and others.

Here's the only write-up I could find on the Elite Camp: The big UK news this weekend was of course the UK Elite Camp which took place on campus and at Rupp Arena. The event was not open to the public so we have to rely on second-hand reports from others who were there for various reasons, ranging from working the event to helping with logistics. I received a number of such reports (thanks to all who wrote) and I followed up on some conversations. So after sorting through the info, here is a decent roundup of the events….but keep in mind that all info is secondhand…. The biggest question going into the event was just who would be attending. From most reports it looks like Bud Mackey, Jacob Jenkins, Verdell Jones, Demarcus Cousins, GJ Villarino, Courtney Fortson, Dakota Euton and Olek Czyz were all participants at the camp during the weekend. The camp was set up with various exercises and games, and then an "all-star" game at night where 15 players were picked (guess which ones) to play against the current UK squad (minus Jared Carter and Joe Crawford who did not play). Everyone I spoke with said that the man of the camp was Courtney Fortson. Fortson is a dread-wearing short point guard who looks like he should play for UAB, but has quickness that is amazing off the dribble. I saw him at the TOC and was impressed by his play and surprised that I had not heard more made of him. According to on-lookers, Fortson was the star of the show this weekend. In the scrimmage against the UK players, he took everyone guarding him off the dribble and the matchup between him and Jodie Meeks was called by one emailer "as good as an NCAA Tournament game." Fortson will likely be pursued by UK more, and we hope to have him on the show towards the end of the week. Another good review was given of the Polish power forward Olek Czyz, who looked good all weekend. He showed a lot of ability to put the ball in the basket and was said to have surprising atheticism. The third "star" of the camp was UK commitment GJ Vilarino who put on a show, especially on Saturday. Vilarino is being compared to TJ Ford and was said to have acquitted himself well in matchups, including those against Fortson. The two major Kentucky kids at the camp, Dakotah Euton and Jacob Jenkins, were up and down, with Euton having one good game and then being off the next.

Courier Journal Story below: Jimmy Just to coach Manual basketball By Jason Frakes The Courier-Journal Jimmy Just is coming back to coach basketball on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Just, who had a successful nine-season stint at Iroquois High School before spending the past two years at Indiana’s Jeffersonville, has been named the new boys’ basketball coach at Manual. Manual athletic director David Zuberer confirmed the hiring in an e-mail this morning. “We were looking for someone who matched three criteria: unquestioned personal character, proven success in the postseason and a fit for our school, both acacemically and athletically,” Zuberer wrote. Just went 31-16 in two seasons at Jeff, winning a Class 4-A sectional title and finishing as a regional runner-up in 2006. He won two regional championships at Iroquois - in 2000 and ’03 - and was named The Courier-Journal’s Coach of the Year in 2000. Just replaces Curtis Turley, who went 18-10 in his only season. The Crimsons will return three starters from that team, including highly regarded sophomore Jacob Jenkins. Also expected back is freshman Aaron Cosby, who was the team’s sixth man last season.

Is the Henderson County job now open?

It is true that some juniors will be selected for a practice game versus the KY Allstar squad. If I can recall correctly, Pettigrew played on the junior squad last year that nearly beat the senior team and posted something like 48 points and 18 boards.

Saw him play a few games the past season, Henderson is a very impressive player and athlete. With the departure of Hill from Holmes, Henderson will take on the leadership role as well as becoming more of scorer. Should have an outstanding season coming up.

Recent stories on Kentuckiana players making the national rankings in '08 and '09 classes. Miller and Mackey keep on climbing. Link is below: http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

Jenkins averaged 28 points per game in four games and had 38 against the Kentucky Heat which featured Jordan Hammonds (South Laurel) and Mike Hester (Simon Kenton) as the DS team won. Jenkins got his 38 points and hit 5 threes while only missing 3 total shots for the game.

I don't think Preston is tall enough to be a true 2G in the Big East. He mentioned he may "redshirt" his frosh year.

From words I have received is at 2pm today at Elizabethtown High School Steffphon will be announced the winner of this year's Mr. Basketball.

Outstanding post. A point could be made that Matt Walls not only had strong stats, but that he was able to still have big numbers even with the collection of talent around him such as Bud Mackey. The 11th Regions was this year's toughest region and Walls stilled excelled. On the other side of the coin, teams could not truly focus on stopping Walls since Mackey, Hundley, and Lee could all hurt you if they were trap or double team Walls. With Pettigrew, he was doubled and tripled team every night. If there was a press, Pettigrew would have to help bring the ball down the court. If they denied the middle, Pettigrew had to go out on the wings, and if they trapped on the wings Pettigrew had to fight through or go down on the block and take on two defenders. Yes, the talent in the 5th was not the same as the 11th, but Pettigrew was the focal point of every team's defense. In the end, I believe Pettigrew wins the award and will deserve it. But if Walls were to win it, I could understand that as well. Both had great seasons.

Some very good points. Jenkins does appear to be doing some things right though. Last summer was a big summer for him and college coaches started to take notice. Put up big numbers while playing up a couple of levels in the 16 and 17 under events in Myrtle Beach, Las Vegas, and Los Angelas against elite competition including a couple of games at 35+. Went to an elite Five Star Camp in Pittsburgh and made the Orange/White allstar game and was voted top soph. Averaged 17 ppg and nearly 7 boards per game in the 7th while helping his team turnaround a 12 - 14 season to end 18 - 10 after losing 4 senior starters. Had some strong game performances against teams such as Ballard where he scored 24 points and had Manual in it til the 4th and a 27 point game where he helped Manual defeat Doss. Was the only soph on both All District and 7th All Region tourney teams and made All Region in one of the toughest regions in the state. From what I understand, the list of D1 schools interested has contined to grow and has a couple of offers now. All in all, not bad for a 15 year old sophomore. Hopefully he will get some better coaching and continue to work hard and he can continue to improve over the next two years. Let's let him get his driver's license first.

Trying again. For some reason it won't post. The story is on scout.com. The story reported Jenkins scoring 35 points to lead his team in an AAU event championship game and getting interest from schools such as IU. Also talked about his successful high school season and his upcoming summer. Very nice piece. Plenty of Interest in '09 Guard Jacob Jenkins By John Decker Posted Apr 2, 2007 Bloomington, Ind.

Story and link below... Plenty of Interest in '09 Guard Jacob Jenkins By John Decker Bloomington, Ind. The 6

Interesting comments.

Oldham ahead of Owensboro and Holmes????

J'Town wins by 12 final score 50 to 38. Tanner Jacobs led Trinity in scoring with 10 points I believe and was just 4 for 16 from the field. Gagel led JTown with 19.