Rolls-Royce

No.

Wow. Mason County football has fallen fast. Can the Mason County fans give some insight in to what has happened?

I don't live in Maysville and haven't watched this year's Mason Co team, but It's beyond ridiculous for anyone to question Chris O'Hearn's coaching abilities. Not only does he do a great job but he is easily regarded as one of the 5-10 best coaches in the state. I don't know official stats, but I believe he has only been the head coach their for 7-8 years and has stuffed the trophy case with 4 regional titles, 1 state title and 1 final four finish in 8 years. They should be naming streets for the guy IMO.

I was shocked to read in the paper today that Vinny Zollo and Robbie Stenzel declined an invite to tryout for the prestigious Kentucky All Star team because "they just didn't want to" according to their coach. As a fan of the 10th region, this is surprising and surely embarrassing for the folks at Clark. Pretty classless move.

Congrats to Mason Co. on making it to the Semi-Finals! O'Hearn has done a masterful job with this group.

All In, You hit the nail on the head with Coach O'Hearn. He has won with the pressure of being the favorite and won 3 of his 4 Region Titles as an underdog. He seems to really build a tight-knit group of young men that play loose and with passion. And the atmosphere at the Fieldhouse was awesome tonight! It is a shame the tournament is not there every year.

The player from Scott who recieved the Technical was following the official and screaming right at him. I agree that ref should show some discretion at that point of the game, however, the officials had no choice but to call the T because the act was so blatant. The Scott kids played great and the coaching staff had a great gameplan. It is a shame the player lost his cool and cost his team an opportunity to win the game. And poor officiating is just a part of High School basketball anywhere. Unfortunately, that is the way it is. As a player, coach and fan you just have to expect and prepare for it and make sure you don't allow it to rattle your focus.

Snap, You obviously have to have good players to win a title in any sport at any level. That particular Mason County team was nowhere near the talent level of the Mason County teams of the early 90's (no state tourney victories) or the Lofton-era teams (1 state title). Claiming that the head coach of not an overly talented team (only 1 D-1 player) had nothing to do with a state title shows you're not being objective. And what about the Regional title last year when they upset Clark Co. who was clearly the better and more talented team? Was that just luck? I am not a fan of Mason County but follow the 10th Region pretty closely and some of the Mason County "fans" can be a bit ridiculous at times and this is the perfect example.

Coach O'Hearn has won a State Title and I believe 3 10th regional titles. He knows what he is doing and is one of the top coaches in the state of Kentucky without a doubt. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not know basketball or has a personal grudge against the guy because their relative or friend did not get enough PT.

Here is what the Bracken Co. faithful need to understand, you hire the best person for the job, period. If that person is from Brooksville and/or has ties to the school that is great. But, chances are, in a town that is as small as Brooksville, that person simply does not exist. Settling on a coach just because they have ties would be a mistake. My observation of the situation is that the previous coach (Fite) never felt accepted and it is obvious the new coach was not as well.

Gutty performance by the Royals to come back in this one. The MVP of this game, in my opinion was Coach O'Hearn for Mason Co. who did a great job rallying his kids at the half and getting them to force uptempo basketball in the second half. Heck, as a fan of Mason County I am starting to think we had it wrong all along. Winning away from our home court is much easier than we thought and maybe we should take the dynasty on a tour and win a 10th Region title on every 10th Region team's home floor.

Great, fan-friendly Arena. 0 Atmosphere.

The 18 point lead at halftime against St. Pat was dwindled away by some bad whistles that led to Bracken's top two scorers on the bench for all but 4 or 5 minutes of the second half and an injury to the team's only ball handler. And I hope you don't seriously believe if a team is down by as many as 30 in a game and loses by 22 that they are as good as or better than the team that beat them.

A big Thank YOu to all the schools and powers that be for voting against hosting the 10th Region at the Fieldhouse (sarcasm). This is ridiculous. If Danny Weddle is not calling the 10th Region Tournament then this will go down as the worst March Madness on record as far as I am concerned.

It looks like Bracken is playing their best ball at the right time of year. Coach Breeze is really doing a good job over there in his first year as a head coach. I look for them to beat St. Patrick in the District and make the Regional Tournament for the first time in a long time. As for Augusta, I find it hard to believe they did not come ready to play against their arch rival. I think they just ran into a buzzsaw tonight and then they layed down a little bit.

Mason 81 Pendleton 34

Nice win for Bracken.. Breeze has this group playing at a very high level, especially offensively. If they get hot they could make noise in All A.

I am shocked to hear that people in Brooksville are upset with Coach Breeze. Where are not talking about a whole lot of talent over there. This team lost several starters and only won I believe 4 games last year. I don't see Bracken Co. play every night but I have seen them play several times this year. The last game I saw was against Brossart and after the game I told my buddy that Breeze was a superstar coach of the future in the 10th region do to the improvement I saw from last year to now. And aren't you guys without your best player, Appelman (knee injury??). Be patient. The games I have seen the offense looks great and if Breeze can get the defense turned around like he already has the offense I would call the guy a miracle worker. And heck, I read the other day one of their kids is ranked in the top 10 in the state in 3 point shooting, when is the last time Bracken could say something like that? I certainly have no dogs in the fight but it is ridiculous that this young coach is catching heat after 12 ball games. And Bracken wonders why coaches don't stick around long. From my viewpoint over here in Maysville it looks more like problems with the administration and parents and not the coach.

I agree with All In. Coach Breeze seems to have brought an exciting brand of basketball to Brooksville and is getting the most out of his kids. Looking at the boxscores, if he can get the boys to play a little better defense they could be a really good team. Everyone has to remember that this is a fairly young team and they are learning a new system. I think the Polar Bears may be a team that really hits their stride around Christmas break once they get used to the new coach.

I have a friend with close ties to members on the Darrin Horn coaching staff at WKU and they have nothing to say but positive things about Coach Breeze and the contributions he made to their program over the past few years. This person was told that Deron "has a great basketball mind that you don't see to often in young guys these days". The Bracken Co. faithful need to support the young man because I am sure he will give 110% to the program and will get the most out of the kids there.

If any of you have ever played in a Regional Tournament game you would know that having your team sit on the "Visitors" section at the Fieldhouse is the obvious advantage because A) you have unobstructed view B) more lower level seats and C) your student section is literally standing on the floor in the corner (yelling and screaming) wheras the Mason Co. student section is back behind the bench... Mason Co. keeps their fans on the "Home" side in order to be better hosts. They used to swap benches, however, some teams complained that they did not like sitting behind the Mason cheering section so they graciously honor that request.

The thing that will "need to be worked out" is that the gym is just too small. The other issues that will undoubtedly arise are all minor (i.e. concessions, security, passes, parking, etc.) in the grand scheme.

Mason by 20+.

My question is which of the two following scenarios would be the worst case? (1) Overall attendance for the tournament drops off drastically or (2) Hundreds if not thousands of fans are turned away at the door because the gyme is simply to small to accomodate the crowd

If you took a poll of 10th region basketball fans I would estimate that 80+% of fans would prefer that the tournament remain at the Fieldhouse. However, in today's world the majority seem to be overridden in situations such as these and in order to be fair to all (e.g. Indiana HS Basketball going to classes). Like it or not that is just the way it is.... For these same reasons we WILL see four classes of basketball in the next 5-10 years in Kentucky because of the small majority of small schools who will raise of fuss in the name of fairness just like Montgomery and Clark have in this situation. The 10th region being held in Mt. Sterling will undoubtedly create some hardships for the NKY schools (minor issue) and also just "won't be the same" if not at the Fieldhouse for those who appreciate the mystic and history of this tournament..... I equate it to the feeling of having the State Tourney at Freedom Hall instead of Rupp --- it's just "not the same". With that said, IMO, Montgomery should get a shot at it and if no major issues come up (financially, logistically, etc.) then they should get an opportunity to host at least 1x every 4 years. Let's just not get upset and shoot Montgomery down without giving them the opportunity to see what happens first.