letabrotherspeak

Anywhere to watch online for free?

4 coaches voted in this poll? I'd venture to say this is not a very good poll.

LRCW, we are going to to agree to disagree. I'm not trying to besmirch anyone's character, but there are some schools down there don't necessarily agree with certain actions. Boyd's kids didn't quit until after the Ashland game. Boyd surprised Ashland and beat them in a 7 on 7 game this summer. Some former Ashland middle school coaches celebrated. Ashland in turn hammers them during the regular season.

Good for the Birds!

Tough way for the Raiders to go out. Chisholm was an absolute joy to watch run the football. Tip of the cap to that young man for gutting it out. Best of luck to the Bears going forward.

Great job Camels! Coach Lickert trying to change the culture and mindset in Alexandria.

No reason to onside it up 52-6. Ask Boyd County. Boyd County beat them this summer in a 7 on 7 game. Ashland gets mad over it, runs it up on them during the season, 67-0. No need to go into deeper details. Ashland has a really nice team and could advance a few rounds. Best of luck.

It was an onside kick. If the game was getting chippy why even risk a squib that could become an onside kick? Ashland has the rep for doing stuff like that and you can ask other schools around the 16th Region.

Ashland onside kicked it up 52-6? In a game that was chippy? Bush league and juvenile.

Who is "that"guy? Brian Moore did a really nice job with the program.

Holmes's new field has play clocks in each endzone and the referee's control them remotely. There was some grumbling in the crowd about the play clock but it is controlled by the refs on the field. It is however a nice touch. Now if we can just get that shot clock in hoops. Brossart's passing game was the difference in my opinion. Plus they bowed their back on the goal line and if Holmes can get a score there, maybe the momentum changes. Congrats to Brossart. Holmes just needs to keep working. There were some bright spots but just need to execute better.

Congratulations to Adam. He is in my opinion, pound for pound the best player in the 9th Region.

Had to pick up the middle one from the game last night and there must have been a monster crowd there because there was a logjam on Dixie Highway going south. The facility looks terrific from the facade on the perimeter to the lighting. I thought CovCath was an Under Armour school or is that only for basketball? The football team was wearing Nike uniforms.

Here's a picture of the new Holmes HS field taken from a Facebook picture. Tough to find a nicer looking field!

Runner took off after pitcher threw to first?

The boys Sweet 16 is dying a slow death at Rupp. It is the bell cow for the KHSAA. What has happened? By in large the new Redbook rules that were put in place a few years ago really restricts who pays for rooms and tickets for coaches to attend. In the past the tickets and rooms could be paid for the coaches by their respective schools. With the new rules in place coaches are expected to pay for their tickets and their rooms. That is a decent chunk of change to pay out of pocket. 4 nights of lodging and multiple rounds of tickets, especially with the tournament going to a Sunday final. Attendance has been slipping over the last few years at the state tournament. You can blame the conflict of times with the NCAA tournament and you could blame the participating schools, but many will point to the cost out of pocket that the coaches are expected to pay over the duration of the tournament. Some others are frustrated from the size of the trophy's awarded to the champion or to the elimination of the state tournament programs. Changes are coming and I think we will end up seeing a combination of the Boys and Girls Sweet 16.

Grayson County brought a bunch of fans for their first trip to the Sweet 16. Grayson was a scrappy bunch that played pretty solid defense and moved the ball on offense. Stovall picked up two fouls in the first half and they are a different team when she is not on the floor. Holmes used a terrific run to start the third quarter to get a nice cushion. They needed it because they went on about a 6 minute scoring drought from the end of the first quarter through the second quarter.

There is a lot of chatter that the Girls Sweet 16 will return to BB&T next year and then move to Rupp Arena in 2019 and be played the same week as the boys tournament in something like a Monday through Sunday setup which may mirror how the All A Tournament is run. St. Elizabeth has been a terrific partner for the KHSAA and they really like the support they have given the girls Sweet 16 at BB&T.

Buses for the county schools (Kenton and Boone) are really expensive and teams have to fund their own transportation and the costs are higher than what many people would expect. Some districts pay for their extra-curricular transportation, while many schools have to fund raise and so forth to pay for their transportation. I'm sure that the SK folks will take care of their girls team.

Very well said Clyde. I have never met him, but he carried himself very well under the bright lights and produced night in and night out. He will rank very high in the annals of 9th Region history on his individual accomplishments alone.

Did they ever announce the crowd total? With the girls Sweet 16 starting this week they went ahead and removed a few hundred seats for the press which no doubt forced people upstairs. I would venture to say that it was easily in excess of 6k. I thought the officiating was very solid. By in large you didn't notice them and they didn't get cute with extra tweets of the whistle, and made strong authoritative calls. Also, I must say that St. Elizabeth Healthcare has done a heck of a job in sponsoring the 9th Region with their giveaways and tshirt promotions. They also do an excellent job with the Girls State Tournament and it would be nice to see the many casual fans who came out tonight attend some girls Sweet 16 games later this week.

CovCath came out on fire and setting the pace, and Cooper didn't blink. They came out of the timeout and McNeil buries a 3 to calm the nerves and steady the ship. At that point is was just a matter of time reeling them in and the tempo which from the tip was quick slowly grinded to a halt. CovCath doesn't like the slow tempo and started the game in a junk defense with Walter out top and it may have got them an early edge but Cooper was able to beat that. CovCath settled into their zone and Cooper who is capable playing at any style began to be very patient and probing the defense and got back into the game. I believe Cooper scored at the end of the second quarter and at the end of the third quarter and executed it perfectly. Once CovCath went man to man Cooper was in the driver's seat. CovCath can't guard Cooper man to man. Cooper is as physical as they are and do not get bumped off drives like other teams. Plus Cooper has multiple playmakers who can deck it and kick to capable shooters. Cooper went with their 5 man passing game and forced Walter to come out of the paint and defend switches. If CovCath went to face guard, the offensive player that was getting face guarded went to set ball screens. Didn't see it a whole lot but its effective against face guarding. After 3 straight threes by CVH, I thought that Cooper may come out of the 1-3-1 but didn't and they closed very well on shooters. I thought CovCath was too hesitant to drive and get to the line. With Walter in the game, Cooper fouled every time he went for a put back or layup. In the 1-3-1, they played behind or on the side of Walter and when he caught it they didn't double and played the skip passes. Cooper just executed from the second quarter on. They called a timeout in the early 4th quarter and promptly scored a layup on an out of bounds under play. You won't see many teams spread it and attack CCH off the bounce with continued success like Cooper did tonight in the second half. Cooper can make some noise in Lexington. The will be heavy favorites in the first game. Tip of the cap to CVH. He is the true definition of leader and a winner. He has been terrific during his career at CCH. Not many will come close to what he has accomplished there. The 9th Region is a hard region to win. CCH has made 5 straight trips to the region final and has only come away victorious in two of them. They got a title and a final four run with those two victories, but I would venture to say it is one of the top 3 toughest region's to win on a year in and year out basis. It just makes what David Henley and Holmes did in their run in the late 90's all that more impressive and likely one that won't be repeated for a while.

Holmes earned this region title with a close semi-final game and then today. They had a real chance to put some distance between them and Cooper and got up 13 at one point and then missed a point blank layup and a few free throws. I really don't have a problem with Holmes putting the ball on their hip at times. If you got the lead and are as thin as they are you can shorten the game. If the other team comes out of their zone then you can attack off the dribble. They just have to get the ball in their ballhandlers hands and they should be OK. Holmes really spread the wealth and their best three point shooter had an off game in the semis and the finals. I thought the Keith girl played really well and got some rebounds, altered some shots and did the little things. How about the Beckett gal off the bench for the Bulldogs. Huge three in the semis and another big three tonight to stem a Cooper run. Jaynice Stovall just gets after it and can really handle the ball. Englemon showed a solid post up game tonight and owned the boards. Laila Johnson is fun to watch. Did a heckuva job in making Held work and came up with big play after big play. Congrats to Coach Perkins on the back to back titles.

I guess it could be a fair question, but your age assessment of her is incorrect.

No travel and it looks like there was some contact. Unless side official saw a hack, I can't really see how he saw the hip check or push.