letabrotherspeak

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.

There is so much more to x's and o's to coaching and I think Cal is a pretty good in-game coach. His magic is in his ability to take kids and mesh them into a team to play unselfishly. he does that really really well. As for this year's defense, it has been up and down. My thoughts are they are lacking a true rim protector and Bam does an adequate job but on Cal's best teams he has had a 4 man who can deter rim runs. His 4's this year are rail thin and inconsistent with Willis and Gabriel. As for pick and roll defense, he guards have just struggled getting through screens. Hawkins does the best job and Briscoe does as well but both of them are physical. Cal even mentioned it yesterday, Fox just does on screens. The rest is all communication and you have to talk and communicate to get proper rotations. That takes time but they should have that down by now. Rebounding is effort. Earlier in the year they were able to get out in transition, particularly with Monk leaking out. Opponents adjusted and now UK is trying to get their halfcourt offense on track while becoming more consistent. For them to have any chance at a 6 game run in March, they got to shoot it consistently and get production each night from one of their 4's. I just don't see it happening over a 6 game stretch.

Hadn't posted on anything in about a year, but got back in the game. I don't think anyone is trying to compare the history of winning between the two programs, but there is a distinct difference in the two training facilities which was posed as to why one would choose one program over the other. Grass fields or not, it is the accessibility that the team has to their facility and the freedom to use a facility as a single user. The amenities that are offered are significantly different and not having to share with other programs or intramurals.

UK's indoor facility is the Nutter Center behind Commonwealth. The Craft football Training Center is a stand alone complex near the Nutter Center and is not a part of a rec center nor is it multi-purpose. Two grass fields connected to the facility with all the amenities that you don't see at many places from a barber shop to training cafe to tutoring facility all in one building. It has the accordion style windows/doors that opens up to the fields from the weight room complex. We will have to disagree on this one, but the Craft Football Training Center is spectacular.

You think that Sheakley/Lindner Facilities is equal to the new Craft Football Training facility?

UK can't match the recent history of winning that UC has had but their is optimism is on rise at UK as their recruiting has gotten tremendously better under Stoops. Winning aside which is a huge plus, UK's facilities, particularly their new training center is off the hook. Being able to grow as a player and train in a state of the art facility with the luxuries that compare to any top tier program is a plus for UK.

Vince Marrow is really really good. UK is telling Smith the will play him at WR. Glad to see UK tapping into Florida to grab some kids.

Its a long way to signing day and some may get recruited over.

They have 3 verbals as of now and have a huge recruiting weekend this weekend. They are trending very well for 4 kids from Ohio. Blue Smith Xavier Peters Brandon Bates Blaine Scott I believe the Reigelsperger may be visiting this weekend. Not positive on this. Blue Smith is a teammate of his. Ohio State's big recruiting guy just said UK in driver seat for L'Christian Smith from Ohio as well. Vince Marrow earns his money...

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.

They outplayed Holmes and got to the 50-50 balls and controlled the boards. Holmes really struggled to score in the half court and get their press on which is their best weapon. Holy Cross played well and for the most part took good shots. Best of luck in the region to both teams.

I thought Holmes's game plan was really solid. A little 2-2-1 3/4 court back into a 2-3 zone. It worked well and kept them in the game. However, it was going to be their attack on offense that would give them a chance for the upset. You can't take quick shots and turn it over because CCH does such a good job in transition and converts on such plays. They were patient in the first half and I thought Hollis played and effective game slashing to the basket and getting a few run outs. Mayer carried CCH in the first half, solely from his rebounding and second chance opportunities he gave the Colonels. His board work and free throw shooting kept CCH in the front. He and Frederick carried the water for them. About halfway through the 3rd, Greene picked up his 3rd foul and CCH took advantage. CCH also made the adjustment after the half and put Frederick in the high post versus the zone. Holmes took some quick shots and added a few turnovers and CCH got to running and stretched it out. Disappointing crowd. Only about half full. They only offered presale tix sold at both schools and didn't tell the participating schools that there would be no tickets sold at the door until last night. Awfully tight turnaround for tickets to be sold. I would imagine the crowds over the next two games will be better.

How much time?

Much of what many people were quoting were talking about how he has a D-1 offer or that Big Ten offers don't grow on trees. If it is solely based on D-1 offers then you have to throw the Walter kid in there because he has D-1 offers and didn't make top ten. I haven't seen the Frederick kid play this year. I am thoroughly impressed with McNeil. I thought McNeil was better than him last year. Physically a better player and could create. I didn't see that from Frederick last year and like I said I haven't seen him this year. I would venture to say that Frederick blossomed this summer and really improved his game and was able to start decking the ball when people ran him off the three line. Did these coaches see him this year? I'm sure their could be ulterior motives for they way they voted and the transparency could be questioned. Maybe it is because he lives in Ohio? I may be wrong, but in their program that is where he went to middle school as its listed.

I just heard tonight that the schools were informed this evening that there would be no ticket sales at the door at Holy Cross tomorrow night and that all tickets will be allotted to the schools for presale only. This probably isn't a problem and probably the best way to do it considering the size of Holy Cross's gym, but I would think that you would inform the participating schools ahead of time and not the evening before. Anyone have any more information on this?

So if Walter has D-1 scholarship offers then he should be ahead of McNeil?

The 8th place ranking is solely related to his play this year. No doubt he is a fantastic player but missed the bulk of the season and I would venture to say he was judged as such. As for Division 1 offers, a lot of that can be attributed to upside or potential. Is he one of the top players in the region? No question. I just think he didn't get nearly the votes because he missed so much time. It could have also been that coaches saw more of VonHandorf and Ruthsatz and decided to vote those two and other players. Flip side, I believe the Walter kid from CCH has D-1 offers as well and didn't make the top 10?

Congratulations to the Lady Bulldogs on a fantastic season. Unfortunately, they were not able to advance, but Mercer County is a darn good team and was the higher rated team coming in, I believe. The Lady Bulldogs just couldn't quite get over the hump in the second half. Mercer shot it really well in the first half and most were corner threes. What makes Mercer really tough is the all have capable ball handlers and the sophomore #4 Robins is really crafty with the ball. No wonder UK has already offered her. They did a nice job of spreading floor penetrating and pitching the ball and then attacking. They are a very nice team and would expect them to make the finals. No reason for Lady Bulldogs to hang their heads. They battled all the way to the end and just couldn't get that one basket to get it to a one possession game. I think their lack of depth really caught up to them especially in the second half when they relied on their smaller lineup for practically the entire half. Lest we forget, the loss of Gulley, mid-season, put a crimp on their depth and interior play even though Brown stepped in and played really well in Gulley's absence. Jynea Harris was terrific and will be missed. They return some key ingredients to make another run next year.

I thought Clyde pretty much nailed it with his thoughts about the game. The Hall kid dominated the second half with his ball handling and drives to the rack. The corner three was a dagger. It is not too often that you see a player take straight on drives and get to the rim v CCH with how well they dig and help on drivers. Weyer was a monster in this game. Stats tell the story, but he was not a high volume shooter and really let game come to him. He took good shots and found open the open man and didn't force things. He hunkered in the post and got position and scored. CCH tried Walter on him and in successive possessions Weyer went straight the to key, drove around him to the basket. Second time he stretched it out and nailed a three. Very heady game for him. He didn't get frustrated and stayed pretty stoic for 32 minutes of getting jostled around the hoop. He was the rim protector and CCH couldn't do anything to change that because they couldn't get a second scorer to step up. This forced Mayer to try and attack the basket and that is a tall task going up against 44. I thought NCC jumping out 7-0 gave them a shot of confidence from the jump. For the most part I thought NCC took really good shots. They had some turns and the ill-advised 1 on 3 shot attempt late, but overall they really cycled through their offense and that is attributed to how controlled Hall was at the point. To me for all the pub that CVH gets and its deserved, Flood is the key to CCH, in my opinion. When he is scoring, it makes them really motor. Fredrick is going to be a really nice player with more seasoning. You can run him off the three line and force him to deck it or pass. In time he will gain confidence to let it go with defenders running at him. Without the clean air he is not going to shoot it from 3. He does look like he has the makings of a shooter off the bounce with a pull up jumper as he develops. I'm surprised CCH didn't try to push the ball with their sideline break action of NCC makes. In the past games CCH could get quick scores off of makes in transition. Most everything was off the dribble up the floor without many pass forward in transition. From the games I remember, CCH had hurt NCC with this. Overall, both teams really got after it. Lose balls were scrums and kids were getting after it. They laid it on the line. Very entertaining game. In case you don't know, there may not be a tougher region to win than the 9th. Teams are so well scouted, close in proximity, good coaches and good players...just a tough tough region to win. For all the kudos that CCH has received during this run, it just shows you how dang impressive Holmes's run in 2007 to 2009 was. To win the region three straight year and then go State Final Four, Runner-Up and then the state championship. May not be matched for a while. Best of luck to NCC going forward.

Holy Cross opened man to man and Scott just whipped the ball around the floor and found the open man or Ohmer was taking it to the middle of the paint without much resistance. I believe the score was like 24-20 at the end of one. If I recall correctly, Scott may have been up 13 in the first and HC shaved 9 points off the lead in the last minute of the quarter. In the second quarter the pace weakened a bit. HC went to a 1-3-1 and Scott probed it and took a 7 point lead into the half. In the second half, the pace really started to grind for these two teams. Holy Cross started doubling Ohmer across halfcourt but Scott was able to find shots close to the basket. If my count is correct they missed 8 shots right at the basket. There was some resistance but were baskets they can make with strong takes. The Indians were buoyed by Bezold tossing in a 3/4 shot at the horn to give the Indians the lead at the end of three. I am not sure what the turnover total was but Scott had some careless turnovers that HC was able to capitalize on in the second half. Overall, it was an entertaining game and you can see the growth and maturity in HC with the bulk of their starters having gained valuable experience of over the last 3+ years. Scott is going to be a pesky team and they could have easily won this game if they convert on half of their shots at the rim in the second half.

Got to rub elbows with a few famous BGP'ers tonight. Good company! Tale of two halves. The first half flew by and the second was a foul fest. It was hard for either team to get into any rhythm in the second half. It's December 2nd so it is really hard to pass judgement on a game like this but it a real confident booster for Cooper going forward. McNeil is really good and can create his own shot. Nice handle going either way with good body lean. When he squares up he can knock it down. Thought the other McNeil, Kunkel and Hendrix played well too. CCH had some good looks. VonHandorf was short on shots but it looks like he gets his shot off quicker from the perimeter. What he finish from the field? He was 3-17 at one point. I'm sure he was shaking off some rust thought. CCH is deep. They easily go 10 deep. I would say these two teams are the ones to beat as the year progresses.

I take this as a shot at UC hiring Tuberville? I can see the comparison to Tubby at Texas Tech and TT cashing checks. I am not a UC fan but do check in on their scores and such, but this has to be a disappointing year considering what the expectations were. How long on they on the hook for with TT? I would expect the OC to get a few looks at jobs this year.

I think the Giants are good team. The Texans are not.

One tidbit I heard is that on Cal's last visit, he only agreed to meet with the family and the AAU coach was not to be in attendance of his visit. Had been some rumblings those close to Adebayo, not the AAU crew have been pushing Bam to UK against the other people pulling for NCST. Shawn Kemp is who I have heard people compare him to. Just brute strength. Different player, but Cal never really pursued Josh Jackson because the mom was crazy.