coach4life

Yes, Doss is the tranfer from Boone. He has only been playing organized basketball since 8th grade, so he is still very raw. Great kid though and loves the game.

As of right now, all games for the tournament have been pushed back one day. Times are still the same, just pushed back one day. We will have to see what happens tomorrow if there are school cancellations.

Boone beat Scott by 8 tonight to advance to the finals. They play the winner of Holy Cross/NCC game in the championship tomorrow night.

He misses the cut-off by a couple of days, because where he came from they started school at age 6. Pretty sad that because his birthday is a couple days early he has to sit out. I know SK is willing to work with him, which is great!

They also have Mayfield and Herndon on the bench that can play pg. Anyone know why Herndon isn't getting more PT at pg? I've watched him for two years, back when he played JV as a Sophomore and again that summer when he played on a team with Riley, Dom Johnson. He can play that position and handles the ball very well. I watched the game on ihigh and once Bowman went to the press, Holmes didn't have an answer. That's where a lot of turnovers happened. They put Hayes in the game, but he really didn't make a big difference against the press.

JR Doss from Boone is now at SK. I saw the 2nd half of the JV game and I don't think he missed a shot inside and had some good blocks and several boards. He is still learning their system, but will be very good for them this year.

Not sure about the details of the game other than a couple of Boone players that had good games - Tyler Cox had 19 points and Dandy Jenkins had 18 points. I wasn't there but someone told me that Boone had a lead at halftime and blew it. Is that true?

I agree. I wasn't at this game, but I did see the Clark Co game and I noticed the same thing. Rico just doesn't look comfortable at point yet. I think he will adjust with some more time so no need to worry. At the Clark County game, there were a couple of point guards on the bench that seemed to do OK when they were in the game. How did they look tonight?

Yes, he was the point guard at RA last year. Like I said, I wasn't there but got those numbers from one of the parents of another player who was keeping stats in the game, so could be wrong. However, I heard from several people that he really stood out. Yes, Tyler is a great kid and works hard. I look for great things from him at Boone the next four years.

Boone is going to be pretty good this year. They combine a decent Ockerman team and good RA team from last year. I wasn't at the game, but I am not surprised by the score. Someone that was there said that one of the guards, Tyler Cox had a great game and almost a triple double. His numbers, don't quote me, were something like 16 points, 12 assists, and like 8rebounds or steals (don't remember which one they told me). He also only had 1 turnover. That's a pretty good game!

Scheben Gym is located in between Tichenor Middle and Lloyd High School. They are all on the same campus.

It's not always talent that gets you on the team. Coachability, attitude, grades, behavior at school, hustle, etc all play a part. I have no idea what kids you are talking about so I don't know the situation, just saying from a coach's perspective that it is not always talent that gets you on the team. However, I have seen politics play a big part, especially at the high school level. I hope that's not the case.

I just want to clear up some misinformation. RA Jones did not go to the KBA state tournament 4 years ago because the school administration would not let them go. They were really disappointed that they couldn't make the trip, because they thought they would really do well down there. They had a 2 point loss to Ockerman a few weeks before the trip, who placed top 4 and Ra Jones actually beat Highlands, who won state that year, in the BCI Middle School State Tournament in Florence. They lost in the BCI tournament to Dorton, I think, who was led by a very good Elijah Justice. I could have the school name wrong, but I remember that was a great game, having Gabbard matched up with Justice. That RA Jones team only had 9 kids on it and only went 6 deep, but they played great together and won 22 games that year. They won a total of 7 games combined the 2 years prior to that. They really came together that year. The only kids still playing from that team are Mikey Gabbard and Ronald Cotton from Boone and Matt Storey from Cooper. So, basically, the Boone 2010 class combined a pretty good RA team and a pretty good Ockerman team into a really good Boone team. The 2011 RA team was the first to go to KBA state tournament. They were the ones knocked out in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champion Wayne County. They played Wayne County closer than any other team in the tournament, so they probably would have gone much farther if they had played them later in the tournament. Travis Montgomery and Jordan Oppenheimer led that team.

Gabbard has a D2 offer on the table from Ashland University. Other schools, including other D2 and some small D1, have also expressed interest from what I understand.

Gabbard received an offer from Ashland University (D2).

Ya, I hope you are wrong too. IMO, I think it was difficult for him to be a starter his sophomore year on JV and then not play as much the following year. He is a great kid and has been working really hard this offseason. He didn't play many games this summer, but spent hours upon hours in the gym working on his game. His shooting has improved a lot and he is much more confident on the court. He also just started lifting and trying to get stronger, so that should help him to. I just hope he gets a shot to show the coaching staff that he is not the same kid that quit the team last year! However, I still think Holmes will be very strong with whoever they put on the floor!

You left off Jaydayle Herndon who is a 5'9/5'10 Senior. He should get some playing time this year.

Who are the four that are gone? I only count three players with major minutes that are gone - Riley, D. Johnson, and Housley. James Rice was the 4th senior, but he didn't get a lot of minutes. Did someone else leave??? Although Riley will be difficult to replace, Holmes just reloads every year. They have returning starters Pittman, Rico, and JJ. Plus K. Rice who should move into the starting line-up and played significant minutes next year. There are always players "waiting their turn". Players like Slusher and Herndon will be seniors this year and should get more playing time. Mayfield came off the bench last year for defense late in games, but he may get some more minutes this year too. Plus they get a seasoned veteran transfer in Avery, which increases their depth.

He contributes nicely as a bench player on that team. But remember, the NKY Heat is a local select team that only plays in and around the Cincy area. They do not travel and most of their kids come from the same school. Could he compete on the AAU 17U state level? Not even close. But, locally he is getting some time playing against tougher competition and with some pretty good players, which in the long run will make him much better. I saw him play against a Cincy Bulls (15U) team a few weekends ago and was surprised to see him back in KY. He held his own in that game is all I was saying. When I saw him he was playing with a 15U team. What 14U team did you see him playing with? Maybe he was having a bad game??? Plus, he was at least 5'10 - 5'11.

Mustafa Diaw is currently playing with NKY Heat (17U) Bendan Stanley will be a 7th grader at Ockerman Middle

Mustafa Diaw is back in Kentucky. He is back in Boone County and going into 8th grade. I saw him play last weekend against a 15U Cincy Bulls team from Ohio and a 16U team from Ohio. He was pretty impressive and is definitely going to be a player to watch for in the next couple of years.

I agree with your assessment, which is what the problem is. You are correct, going to these high profile NCAA certified events are important for exposure, especially the 17U group. What bothers me about this is that in order to play for some of these elite teams, like Shining Stars and Derek Smith as you mentioned, players have to have some MONEY! I know that SS charges at least $500 just to join the team and then you have the uniform and shoes that are another $200, plus the cost of hotels, food, transportation when you travel. This adds up and unfortunately, there are some kids who cannot play because of the money or transportation issues. Because of that, some kids stay with the local teams and play when they can. They may not get as much exposure as they would playing in some of the big tourneys, but at least they are playing somewhere! I don't know what Ricardo and Pittman's situation is, and it is none of my business to know, but it probably is not as simple as "changing AAU teams". Sometimes there are other obstacles to overcome and I am sure they are doing what is best for their situation. Plus, with their talent, they will not have any problem getting noticed during school ball with Holmes.

Shining Star - McFarland won both of their games in pool play today and play tomorrow at noon on UC's main court.

I completely agree. Coaching should go beyond the x's and o's at this level. There are some kids with tons of potential that need just a little more help than other kids to get where they need to be. A great coach to me knows their kids and the families and knows how to help each kid be the best that they can be, both on and off the court. They build a relationship with their players and become a great role model for them and help them understand when they make a bad decision instead of giving them the boot, which I unfortunately have seen. I have coached summer ball in NKy for several years and have had kids from several coaches in NKY play for me. I have been very impressed with the boys I've coached from Holmes. They speak so highly of coach Henley and are extremely focused, driven, and polite. You can tell how much respect they have for their coach and for the game for that matter, which says a lot. I can't say that other players have talked about their high school coach like that.

Boone will struggle in a few years if they keep that many seniors. He will have to cut some sophomores that could develop into great players. Also, some of the talented juniors (who helped to win a championship freshman year and JV last year) will have to play strictly JV if he keeps that many. Will these talented JR's wait their turn when they would probably be playing varsity at most other schools?