letabrotherspeak

That was a really enjoyable game to witness yesterday. Both MC and Holmes both laid it on the line. I am really happy that the Bulldogs represented the 9th Region well and gave Madison Central everything that they wanted. Madison Central is a great team. You can not say that they aren't. They have the best back court tandem in the state in Bosley and Hawkins. Both are physically strong and are very good basketball players. I can see why UK and others are looking at Hawkins. He is put together and even though he is not that tall, he has long arms. He has good bounce off the floor and his block and dunk in OT was simply a terrific play. College coaches have to like his tenacity and will to win. Bosley is equally impressive. Central had to play most of the game without the tall athletic kid in the paint, because of foul trouble. Holmes is a bit different for out of region teams to face. You will not face too many teams that are point guard dominated like Holmes is. They don't run a true traditional motion style type offense, but let Bolden probe and create it and you can hardly debate the results. I thought the officiating really swung in MC's favor late in the 4th quarter and in overtime. A bunch of calls went in their favor. In regards to the free throw, the ball was in the air when the horn sounded. I don't know why the horn went off, but someone was saying it was the final horn coming out of the timeout. Was that the reason for the horn? In regards to the future, the future looks bright for the Bulldogs. KHSAA has to be pleased with the Final Four that they have. Madison Central puts fannies in the seats.

I would venture to say that the announced number for the finals was the paid number and doesn't include all participants that got in free. I'd say total attendance was right at 7,000.

Here is the most recent trailer. I figure some of the people in the trailers will bring back some memories.

Figure this might be a good time to make a plug. Later this month, the Covington Independent Schools/Tom Ellis Athletic Memorial will have their inaugural induction class to their Hall of Fame. It is unreal that they have not had a Hall of Fame sooner, but the first class is solid. I believe there will be a nice dinner associated with this and I believe there are still spots available to attend. I figure there are quite a few alumns that may have an interest, but here is the two trailers promoting the Inaugural class. Info is in the trailers. Top five? In my lifetime, I would say: Schloemer- Mr. Basketball. Beal- Still carries the torch in my opinion. Jennings- I think people really underestimate how good he was. C. Pouncy- Often forgotten, but he was a tough physical point guard who could really play. You want to see some scoring, check out the 1990 Sweet 16 Runner-Up team. They busted the century mark a bunch that year. He saw time as a 9th grader on the Jennings led 1988 team. Ricardo Johnson

Congratulations to the Bulldogs. It was a gritty and gutty performance, especially after Englemon and Bolden fouled out. The Herndon kid stepped in and nailed two straight free throws as if he was a veteran at the line. Quinton Chames was terrific tonight and you would be hard pressed to find one player who has progressed from game one to the region final, as much as Chames has. This region was blessed with four excellent teams this year. In addition, all four have outstanding coaches. Coach Brannen, Coach Sullivan, Coach Ruthsatz and Coach Booher are all top notch coaches. I think in general that is why it is so hard to win the 9th Region. Great coaches who will have their teams prepared and execute and make changes to their game plans. Best of luck to the Bulldogs going forward.

Was that the year when Holmes came onto the court and the Holy Cross student section threw stuff on the court in a taunting gesture? It was one of those years between 78-80.

Great pics D-Series! Foul was on #20. Two steps after the whistle #34 fouls him very hard from 3/4 behind. Technical is the right call and if it were earlier in the year he might have been tossed. That was a bunch of fun. General thoughts from the region final. NKU is the place to hold this event, but they have to do something about the ticket sales. One of my friends drove onto campus about 15 minutes til 6 and he saw the line for tickets stretching across the bridge. He just kept on driving. Holmes and South Oldham are two district runner ups that advanced to the Sweet 16. There are no parochial schools in the Sweet 16 this year. Tough turnaround for the 9th Region having to play on Wednesday afternoon. It was interesting to see the adjustments made by both staffs. Holmes tried some zone but CCH shot them out quick. Likewise for CovCath in the early 4th quarter. For the second time in as many days, Holmes heated up the ball in the second half and got teams out of their offense, forcing CovCath to start their offense out higher than they wanted. This led to CovCath taking quicker shots. Quicker shots means more time for Holmes to get the ball up court before a defense sets. This was a difficult game to officiate. Overall, I thought the crew did a decent job. One thing that I like, is the 16th Region will call handchecks. That is what got CovCath in trouble in the first half. Literally reaching out with the hand on Bolden or reaching out as he went by. There was no disputing those calls. I thought the 5th foul on Bolden was ridiculous and even saw the replay on the news. That was not a foul. I thought the technical, foul on the Tobler kid was a a mugging. Coach Listerman lost his mind for a bit, but it was hilarious to see all of the CovCath fans giving him heck as he was leaving the floor. Literally fans were practically about ready to climb down after him. Coach Ruthsatz was fired up too. Encouraging the fans as he left the floor. Congratulations to Holmes. Beating NCC, Cooper and Cov Cath all within 6 days was impressive. Good opportunity for Bolden to put his show on display at Rupp Arena for all to see. Great opportunity for him and the Bulldogs. Any link to the CovCath radio call of this? Wouldn't mind listening to it again.

I'd be remiss, but forgot to mention Beal's running mate in 1979. Phil Davis. He was a very good guard. I think the Holmes guards with Beal 1978 through 1980, was Dave Derkson 1978(really good running back as well). Derkson is who Beal replaced, I believe. Phil Davis in 79 and Mark Elmer in 1980. Holmes had a deep run of talent from about 75-80.They won the region in 76, 77, 78 and 80. In 79 they lost to Highlands at Holmes in a game where Holmes squandered a lead late in the 4th quarter but that was a darn good Highlands team. Vories, Sullivan, Schlarman and Muntis. Clyde can correct me if I am wrong. Was just a young pup back in those days but they are all great memories. Trips to Maysville High School for some knock down drag outs. Trips to NewCath for the NIT. Can still remember those hanging scoredboards that listed fouls in the one end zone.

Hawkins is in a 10 day window that could determine a lot of his future success. He is now getting nibbles from major D-1 schools and that could skyrocket with a trip to the big stage at Rupp. If MC doesn't win the 11th, does his stock get any higher? Huge 10 day window for Hawkins.

Interesting topic because I was talking about this today. Beal was explosive. I can still remember a game at the old Newport cracker box, when Holmes got the opening tip to Beal and opened the game with a 360 dunk. Beal didn't have a consistent shot, he tended to have a high arcing shot, but steadily improved on that as his career progressed. From end line to end line Beal was as fast as any I can remember. He could handle the ball and break ankles. He did play with Schloemer and he also hit a huge shot in the closing seconds versus Shelby County, the year of the infamous non-goal tending call that robbed Holmes of a state title. Beal always had good talent around him his three years at Holmes. In 78 he had Moeves who could shoot, Schloemer, Wimzie, Todd Riley, Tony Malik and Moe Greene. To boot in 78 he had Ricky Walton and Elliott Simpson off the bench with him. In 79 and 80 he had a running mate in Mark Elmer who was small but quick, he had some really good forwards in Walton and Simpson to boot. I believe I am pretty darn close in regards to personnel and years there at Holmes with Beal during those days. Beal was not really relied on to score because he was surrounded by players that could score and score consistently. He was an excellent distributor. People forget Dicky had some knee issues at UK and robbed him of some of his speed, but he still could motor. Bolden sure has a bright future ahead of him, and at least at this stage his jumper is more reliable at the same stage, if I remember correctly. He is the best Holmes PG since Corey Pouncy in 1989-91 and soon will compare to Beal if he keeps on the same trajectory as Beal. I will be fun to watch the progression.

Russell advances and will meet Rowan County in the semi-finals tomorrow night at Morehead. Kyle Skaggs one of the most underrated seniors in the state poured in 33 points. Skaggs had 20+ in the first half as the Devils opened a 42-19 lead at the half. Credit the Lions for their valiant comeback in the second half as they got as close as 4 or 5 in the final minutes. Congrats to Coach Kidwell and all of those on Red Devil Lane.

Bolden was really good in the second half and I think McDonald ran out of gas. The key in my opinion was that Holmes was able to fight to a draw on the boards and Englemon came to play. Nice crowd and ridiculous traffic. Best of luck to the graduating seniors of NCC. I'm guessing that G1 is banking on most if not all Campbell County schools to be heading to the 10th Region in a few years. There has been some talk of this.

Two things that don't last long. Dogs chasing cars and teams that don't rebound in the tournament. I think rebounding will tell the tale in this one.

Was there some lineup changes after the first couple weeks of the season for Ryle?

Where are they playing the region tourney? Are they still playing at Broadbent?

Ryle was certainly a mix bag this year this year. A season that started promising hit the skids, righted the ship to an extent near the end and then bottomed out.

Has Newport lost any players due to suspension in the last two weeks?

Unrealistic expectations by some in Falmouth. Dwindling population and the talent comes in peaks and valleys. Coach Simms did a good job.

I don't think Holmes lacked intensity but played a bit sloppy and had three or four careless turnovers and kind of dug themselves a hole. CovCath shot the ball really well out of the gate. If I recall correctly, Bolden hit some shots to keep Holmes around in the first half. In the second half they forced less and took what the defense gave them. Against NCC, Bolden just went out of his mind.

Relax OG, your team won. In all actuality, they should have blown it one the first initial miss by CCH. Palmer rebounded and took off on a one on two. Blow it dead once Holmes has possession. They didn't, Palmer forces a shot versus two defenders and the ball bounds toward the kid laying on the floor. Once CovCath secured possession, blow it dead, they still had to go the length of the court via pass, dribble or roll.

I would venture to say that Holy Cross had two good nights at the gate, with the first round games and tonight. From what I understand, they absorbed zero out of pocket costs to host at Holmes. They got the gate. Holmes possessed the concessions and security and cleanup.

You would think that a bigger floor would benefit teams with good guards. The top 4 teams in the region aren't slacking at the guard position. The bigs have to run a little bit more. I think the big issue is going to be the 16th Region officials who call games tighter than the 9th. If they call the handchecking then there will be a lot of fouls in this region. Handchecking is not a priority in the 9th region.

Maybe I am confusing that with the college rule. In college you cant call timeout airbone going out of bounds.

If schools want to make some money off of the district, that is how they should do it. If they want to get as many fans in to see the games, that is how they should do it. Holmes had a one on two, not really an advantage if you ask me. You still should stop play if you are concerned about player safety.

I still think you stop play. Player safety and it looked like he hurt it pretty badly. The breakout was a one on two. You stop play on the Holmes miss. Just my opinion. They gave Holmes a timeout as he was airborne going out of bounds and also gave CovCath timeout in my opinion when the player never had sole possession of the ball. Both calls were in front of the teams benches. Overall, they did a decent job.