letabrotherspeak

Newport's Davis to Samari Miller from 42 yards out. 13-0 Newport. 2:50. 1st quarter.

Newport Davis to Keating for a 31 yard touchdown pass on 4th and 25. 7-0 Newport

It is a non-district game but carries seeding implications in the 4A district. Holmes, Scott and Harrison County were all knotted at the top of the district with 3-1 records. Holmes beat Harrison Harrison beat Scott Scott beat Holmes. The tiebreaker goes to the number of wins by each team's non-district wins. Harrison will be the one seed by virtue of accumulating 9 wins with the above formula and have a game left to play and will host East Carter next Friday. Both Scott and Holmes are vying to be the two seed and host next Friday night and avoid a trip to Ashland and opportunity to host Greenup County. Both Holmes and Scott's non-district opponent wins have accumulated 0 wins. Holmes only non-district win was over Holy Cross. Scott defeated Holy Cross and Dixie, who also has not won a game. So it essentially comes down to this: Holmes needs to defeat Newport and Lloyd beat Scott. Scott only needs a win over Lloyd to secure the #2 seed even if Holmes were to win, because Lloyd has won 6 games and Newport has won 5 games. Give credit to Newport this year for what they had to overcome with their coaching situation in a state of flux at the beginning of the season. Holmes has also bounced back after opening the season with 4 straight losses. They key to the turnaround was getting QB James Walker back after suffering a knee injury in the preseason and the defense bowing its back during district play. I would say Holmes is the favorite in this one for Senior Night in Covington. Hope someone can post updates from this game.

It is a non-district game but carries seeding implications in the 4A district. Scott, Holmes and Harrison County were all knotted at the top of the district with 3-1 records. Holmes beat Harrison Harrison beat Scott Scott beat Holmes. The tiebreaker goes to the number of wins by each team's non-district wins. Harrison will be the one seed by virtue of accumulating 9 wins with the above formula and have a game left to play. Both Scott and Holmes are vying to be the two seed and host next Friday night and avoid a trip to Ashland. Both Holmes and Scott's non-district opponent wins have accumulated 0 wins. Holmes only non-district win was over Holy Cross. Scott defeated Holy Cross and Dixie, who also has not won a game. So it essentially comes down to this: Holmes needs to defeat Newport and Lloyd beat Scott. Scott only needs win over Lloyd to secure the #2 seed even if Holmes were to win, because Lloyd has won 6 games and Newport has won 5 games. Since this one is being played in Erlanger, I feel that Lloyd is a slight favorite. Who would a muddy field favor? Hope someone can post updates from this game.

Looking forward to seeing the style Coach Carr will be implementing this year. Holmes lost a bunch of seniors last year and only return one kid with extensive varsity experience in Tico Pouncy. I would expect a fun style of play with a lot kids playing.

James Walker makes a huge difference for the Bulldogs. He has a really good arm and now the Calloway twins can be put out in space. They still got to find a way to muster up some sort of a run game. Tyeon Tate for Holmes had a highlight film interception in the first half. One handed grab with full extension to snuff out a potential touchdown. Harrison County's Devin Fields...6' 239 pound fullback had to be over 100 yards rushing. He is a bull.

Lloyd has a nice team but Holmes is very young at this stage. Holmes lost their starting quarterback, James Walker, in the preseason and he has not returned as of yet. This has slowed them down on offense. Holmes is playing a bunch of sophomores and freshman are seeing action, which bodes well for the future. Turnovers really hurt the Bulldogs tonight. Mason for Lloyd is a really nice running back and Lloyd has some size on the line. Really solid team.

Final score was 24-18. Holmes had the ball with a chance to tie and win but were unable to press the red zone. The game really picked up in the second half with both teams making big plays. Bezold is a load for the Mustangs. Holmes lost their senior starting quarterback after the first scrimmage game. James Walker could be lost for the season with a knee injury. Quantez Calloway is going to develop into a nice player with time and is only a sophomore. His brother Tayquan will also be a really nice player with time. Both broke off long touchdown runs. Will be fun to watch the Bulldogs grow because they are really young.

Highway Tune - Greta Van Fleet

I guess you could say that Duke underachieved. They didn't win anything in the ACC and didn't make the Final Four. Plus, they were 3.5 point favorites today over the one seed. That speaks volumes. The issue with Duke and it has been an issue over the last couple of years and that is defense. Duke went to this gimmicky zone and it at times looked like a 4-1 zone and they left shooters wide open all day long. Other than some pull-up threes, most of KU's three point attempts were wide open. I thought that Duke didn't handle the late game sitch very well or at least was very questionable. Duval driving and turning it over out of a timeout. Duval shooting a 3 from the corner. Not getting Bagley touches. It will be interesting to see who all leaves Duke. Bagley and Carter for sure. Does Trent make the jump? He will be key for next year because if he leaves they will be devoid of shooters next year. Their incoming class is unreal, but a couple of them play the same position.

Congrats to Coach Carr...an excellent choice for Holmes. I hope people will be patient with him because they lose a boatload of seniors and they will have to restock the cupboard. I do look forward to some uptempo basketball from the Bulldogs.

I hear McClendon is the favorite down the stretch.

7 years and 35 million is on the table. Counter proposal being made as of this afternoon.

Have heard that football may be an option. Didn't he have an older brother that was pretty good at Carson Newman?

I would venture to say that Ruthsatz next stop is in the college ranks, if he ever decides to leave.

Small schools have no chance anymore of winning the title. Its become like a 16 seed versus a 1 seed. You had one of the largest public school's and one of the largest private schools playing for the title on Sunday. It's become the new normal. Last year we had Bowling Green win the title and shortly thereafter, news of an investigation hits BG. Add the thought of recruiting going on at the larger schools...not saying in particular that any school in the S16 this year did as much, but the chatter is out there. Many think that the fix is in and why should they spend their money to watch the product. Sweet 16 is dying. It used to account for roughly 70% of the KHSAA profit, but it is down to like a little over 50%. Wednesday through Sunday is a drain and is too expensive for one to hole up in Lex for that many days and many paying out of pocket. Redbook has really hurt what schools can provide in regards to lodging, meals and tickets. KHSAA now is really pushing corporate sponsorship. I don't think they have secured a sponsorship for the Girls Sweet 16 for next year, but I may be wrong. They would love to have St. Elizabeth host it, from the conversations that i have heard, but I think St. Elizabeth is content with staying local to NKY and they have been simply fabulous in their time and money promoting high school sports and donating in many ways to the local schools.

Corbin bodies you up and plays hard and took Estill out of their offense. It was great to see such a large crowd there to support Estill County. One of the unique things that makes the Sweet 16 such a great event. Estill's band playing that "train tune" is wicked and awesome. It does sound like an old train with the bell. Their fans love it and it was really cool to hear.

Trinity is so long and their zone is effective. I don't think the Trinity wants to run with SC. They were in control of the game and just didn't finish. I give SC a bunch of credit. They are undersized but play really hard. The lefty for them hit some big threes. Cooper Robb is a fun kid to watch. Just a really solid high school basketball player. Moreno is a moose and is only a junior. As for the last two possessions. Trinity played practically the entire game in zone and went m/m on SC's last possession. They had two fouls to give and didn't use a one. Then lose Robb popping out from the baseline for an open look was inexcusable. As for the last play, the kid was barrelling towards the basket almost out of control It looks like Moreno may have gotten away with a bump and the one kid reaches in on the shot and recoiled pretty quickly after making contact with ball or a hand. SC ran the same defense in the last few seconds against LCA and almost got burnt. LCA threw out of two doubles and the kid was wide open for a winning three. Scrubb wasn't passing and SC had 3 guys in the paint. Kick the ball out young man.

Holy Cross needs a coach who knows the school and its place within the community. Fredrick's name has been mentioned and I think it popped up the last time it was open. From what I hear is that I don't think it is a match. Jeff Trame is a name that has been mentioned. Andre McClendon is a real possibility. Kes Murphy is another name that has been bantered about. Dave Bezold would be a excellent hire, but not sure if he leaves his role at Xavier. If Neal gets another year, I don't see him leaving Victory Parkway.

GRC falls short again. Preseaon favorites and fall again to the mighty Camels in the region. Big disappointment in Win City.

Impressive run for Coach Mingione's team. I give him all the credit in the world, he certainly has established a belief factor with his team starting last year and its carrying over to this year. They have two high end weekend starters in Hjelle and Lewis and Thompson coming along. The Haake kid in the pen right now could be knocking on the door as the year rolls along. What's impressive is the run production this weekend against three solid teams and Tristen Pompey still nursing injury. TJ Collett just rakes and his power potential is off the charts.

As CovCath didn't for the triangle and two? One thing you can do with the Box and 1 and face guarding that CovCath likes to use is to take the player being defended and use him as a screener because he will occupy two players and create a numbers advantage. Cooper did that and it produced 4 wide open looks including two from Runion in his money spot. Just didn't fall. Kunkel screened and slipped one and rattled out a 3 with the game tied, I believe which could have really changed things if they had gotten to the front. They got looks for shooters...wide open looks. Just didn't fall. That is what you want is open looks versus any defense and they had them. Cooper negated him in the second half by going to the spread offense and pulling him from the block on defense. They drove around him and stuck some easy buckets in their run. 35 for Cooper impressed me with his handles for a big kid. On defense the Tri and 2 allowed Cooper to keep a man near him as they ran Fredrick off baseline screens. CCH is really deep talent wise but only plays 7-8. Nowak hit an early three but Ruthsatz and Fredrick only seem to have the license to pull. Ruthsatz and CCH needed that win last night. Would have been three straight years that they were the favorite and came up short. Overall, it was a really good game. Competitive and kids laid it on the line. I just find watching Cooper play basketball refreshing. Multi-sport kids (two starters that have high end potential in other sports) that buy-in and sacrifice everything for the good of the team. That starts at the top with Coach Sullivan. They just sit down and guard and are discipline as heck. Strong close outs, plus work their rear ends off to keep dribbler in front. They share the ball on offense and don't care who gets the credit. You look at their bench and its just Coach Sully and two assistants just grinding with no theatrics or turning to the fans during the game or chest bumping...just doing work. Best of luck to CCH in representing the 9th. They have an excellent chance of bringing home the hardware. They have tough kids who are disciplined and will be very hard to beat. They have been battle tested and should perform well at Rupp. Tip of the cap to NKY fans who seemingly turn out every year for the semis or finals. Id say you would be hard pressed to find any other region that spins the turnstiles like they do at BB&T for boys region final or semi final action. Great crowd last night.

Brad Carr would be a terrific hire. When he got to Scott there was not a lot of basketball success. I believe they had only been to one region final and that was in 1989 when they won the region. Scott for years was considered a notoriously soft program upon his arrival. Scott went to 10 regions in his 12 years at Scott and all but one were in the 10th Region and went to two region finals. Scott usually played tough schedules and a district with Campbell County and Brossart it is not an easy road. What is to like about Carr going to Holmes? I would imagine he would be instrumental in developing elementary programs on up to the high school programs maybe even incorporating a Little Bulldogs program. That is something that has not ever been done before, I dont think in Covington and there needs to be some attention paid to it because the talent ebbs and flows. I believe he would incorporate a more wide open and attacking offense and defense and cater his style to talent. Whoever it is will have to invest a lot of time of developing talent up and down through the schools and be patient as the program grows. There is no quick fix especially with as many seniors that they are losing.

IMO, the Adebayo thing is tied to someone in the AAU circle in Carolina that was trying to steer Adebayo to NC State. I imply this to being a part of the pact with Dennis Smith Jr. If I recall correctly, Bam was a heavy lean to NC State or so many thought. State is an Adidas school and the AAU coach/team was affiliated with Adidas and Gottfried is a bit swarmy. Gametime could probably give you the names of people around the AAU scene in which Adebayo and Smith were a part of. One of the issues is it doesn't really say who got paid and that is a part of the issue. It sullies a current players rep who may have had no idea what the heck was going on. Who is to say that Dawkins was not creating fake ledgers and was pocketing money for himself? Knox is a simple repay the value of the meal. As for Noel, statute of limitations are up on that one I believe. Again, Noel was supposedly a lean to an east coast school. I want to say maybe Georgetown but I may be wrong.

Holmes couldn't quite get over the hump in the second half. They made a couple of runs but couldn't get any closer than 3, I believe. They had some chances, but would turn the ball over or force a shot, miss a defensive assignment or miss a couple of free throws. Race hit a big three and got fouled to pull Holmes within three, but missed the foul shot. It was 52-49 at that point. Both teams trade baskets and Niehaus hits a quick three and its 57-51 and Holmes couldn't get any closer. Holmes didn't press much and that allowed HC to spread the floor and probe the defense, plus kill clock. Niehaus had a nice all around game and controlled the ball in crunch time. Congrats to Coach Listerman on a great career and for having a huge impact on players and students that he interacted with over the years. Best of luck to Holy Cross in the region.