coach4life

NKY Heat will be back again this spring/ summer with their 17u group. Most of the 16u group from last year will be back. The 17u group is made up of players from Holmes, Boone, Ryle, SK, and Lloyd. This team had a pretty good year last summer finishing final four in the gold bracket of three tourneys, including the Grand National tournament in Cleveland. They picked up 2 top unsigned seniors and will play several tournaments in the spring at the 12th grade level. They also have added a 15u group this year. The majority of the 15u players come from Boone, Holmes, and Scott.

I agree. I'm having the same problems tyring to watch the game. I thought it was my computer, but I tried 3 different computers and the same thing kept happening. I was looking forward to watching this game while I worked!

Boone's JV won by double digits.

Tyler broke his wrist in the third game of the year. He went up for a dunk and a kid undercut him and he landed on his hand to break his fall. The Dixie game was his first varsity start this year after missing most of the season and he tore ligaments in his ankle and chipped a bone. He is out the rest of the year. It's a shame because the kid can really get after it and was finally feeling comfortable from the wrist injury.

From what I heard the doctors were very surprised by how quickly he was able to run and jump in physical therapy. They said because of the plyometric workouts he had been doing for years his legs were so strong and it helped him to be able to come back faster.

I like that Fookes, Burgess, and Pitts had some good minutes tonight. Boone will need a strong bench down the stretch so getting those 3 more minutes is going to be key. Also Boone put the starters back in when they were still up 10 with about 4 minute left. I was surprised that Highlands came back and tied the game on the starters but I was impressed that Boone did not let that rattle them. Brown had a big basket at the end and Stanley hit some key free throws down the stretch.

I agree with this. IMO Coach M has utilized the zone more this year to complement the players he has. Boone is big and not very quick. I think the zones that he uses have been effective. I do not think he changed his philosophy just to showcase his son.

I think Coach M has done pretty good with the talent he has this year. Being able to continue to play well with the loss of Montgomery did impress me. I agree that the one thing that is missing is getting the bench better. I keep thinking about the guards last year. They ended the year with only one guard with much experience. I know you cannot predict things like that happening, but what if Stanley or Downs gets in foul trouble or gets injured right before districts? Against NCC, they really only went 6 deep and put the 7th player in for about 4 minutes when both Downs and Stanley had 3 fouls. I felt like that 7th player held his own and played well. Then in the next game vs. St. Henry, when the game was never really in question, this same player came in for mop-up minutes at the end of the game. They are going to need to get these players some real minutes if they are going to be successful down the stretch. If I am the opposing coach, knowing that they are short on guards and the back-ups do not have a ton of experience, I'm going to go after them and try to get them in foul trouble. I also agree that by getting these other players some varsity experience will help with next year as they graduate several seniors this year.

I am more impressed with a coach who can take a team with little talent and make a run at it. Coaching a team with talent is easy IMO. Coach M has had the talent for the years he has been there. As wildcatfan stated, there is a dropoff after this year. I would like to see how Coach M handles that. If he can still get the wins with a less talented group, then I will be impressed and consider him a great game coach. Now, I have been around basketball for a long time and have been around many coaches and the ones I consider great coaches are the ones who not only get it done on the court, but also have those certain intangibles that a coach needs to have a successful program. A great coach is going to be a good motivator, is going to be a great role model for their athletes, is going to put teaching life lessons above everything else, is going to have the respect of the players and other coaches, is going to tutor students who need extra academic help, is going to open the gym when a player wants to work on his game, is going to work with the feeder schools to develop players, is going to help players get to the next level if that is what they want, etc. This is not a complete list, but an example of things a great coach does to have a successful program. Does Coach M fit the bill?

Tate Mullins for Ryle had a great game with 11 of Ryle's 20 first half points. He had a game high 19 points.

Is this game still on for tonight? I'm getting conflicting stories.

IMO it was an uncharacteristicly sloppy game by Boone. They seemed very flat on defense, not getting out on shooters when they were in their zones. That gave a lot of open looks that Sayre didn't miss. This forced Boone to go man and they struggled to guard the quicker Sayre players. It just was not a good match-up. Sayre many times had 4 guards on the floor and Boone had 4 post-players trying to guard them. Offensively Boone scored when they got the ball inside to Brown, but they kept getting away from that and sometimes jacking up a shot after the first pass and not working the ball inside at all. They on occasion were settling for the 3 on the fast break instead of attacking the rim. It was a back and forth game until Boone had several possessions in a row with turnovers that Sayre converted into points. This was in the 4th quarter and Boone could not recover from it. Montgomery is a huge part of thier team and this is thier first game without him. I think they will be fine once they adjust to not having him in the line-up. I talked to Travis at the game and he is doing physical therapy right now and hoping to come back this season. I hope he does.

I was surprised Stauffer was not on there. He played great this week.

Since when has Boone started a middle school program? I have not heard anything about it.

Final according to King of the Bluegrass Website. Trevan Brown had 31 points in this one.

Do you mean Tyler Bray? Last I heard he was injured with a possible broken wrist and was scheduled for an MRI. I don't know the results of the MRI, but I'm guessing he did not play in this game.

I just heard it was his hip. Keep him in your prayers tonight.

Pitts only played the last 20 seconds of the varsity game and did not touch the ball. Not sure when you think he tried to dribble through traps and get benched for it. Are you thinking about a different player? Maybe Boateng? He played a minute or two early and did not go back in the rest of the game if I remember correctly.

Several reasons that I won't get into on here. He would have fit into Coach Booher's system better though because his quickness and court vision would have been an asset to that style of play. But, he is very happy at Boone and just loves that he has the opportunity to play basketball.

I agree. I was not at the game but I heard Pitts did not play at all. I heard he had almost a triple double in JV ( 21 points, 13 assists, and 6 rebounds) and sees no time at all on Varsity. He is averaging double digits as a point guard on JV. As I said before, I think the JV level is not competitive enough for him. His speed and quickness is a weapon and I don't know why it is not being utilized. I'm sure McQueary has his reasons though.

This spring Doss was listed at 6'6 230, so it is possible that he has gained another inch and 10 pounds. He was 6'4 190 in the 8th grade!

You need to get your facts strtaight. Doss moved out of Boone's district, which had nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with what was best for his family. So to say he couldn't hang with Boone's players is ridiculous. Doss has worked really hard this past summer and has really improved his game. He is a great kid too.

Wink Knox?

I agree. But what I'm saying is that I was shocked that Pitts didn't get any time at all. It would not have made much difference in the level of play with him in the game versus a few of the kids that did get some clock. I mean when you are up almost 20 points, why not get the new transfer a taste of district competition? Maybe see if he can handle it? If not, you can always sub your starter back in. If it was a 10-15 point game and still early, I definitely agree. And it could be that maybe he hasn't learned the system yet or the coach does not have confidence in him with his system. Who knows? I was just agreeing with wildcatfan about him not seeing any clock.

I was surprised by this as well. From what I understand he played a lot in the varsity scrimmages they had and played very well. I saw part of the JV game and thought he played very well. I think he ended up with about 15 points and a ton of steals. JV level almost looks too easy for him. I know JV does not equate to Varsity, but still surprised they are not giving him some experience. Boone has to build that bench in order to be successful down the road. I missed part of the game, but did Burgess ever play? He is another player that really should be getting some minutes to deepen the bench.