Master of the Hardwood

Playing most of them at Perry Central for the month of January and part of Feb till they find out what can be done at their place.

If Powell can beat Estill at Estill and Lee could knock them off, that would make Powell the #1 seed wouldn't it. The way Estill played against Letcher Central, it's very possible.

They have played some good competition and it will pay off for them. They have played a couple of good games in a row but came out on the losing end to Cordia and PCC, but they played a good game and led both of those for most of the game. They just need to put it all together to make a good run in the district, hopefully they will draw Leslie and be able to get into the region to make some noise. I don't see them beating Perry or Hazard in the district so they need to hope for a good draw.

Hazard better play a full game of basketball in this one or Cumberland will have it out of reach if they wait till the 2nd half like last night. Cumberland also did not look like a #1 team in the 13th region either. Maybe they both will play there games tonight, if so it will be entertaining to say the least. Cumberland 68 Hazard 67, buzzer beater.

1. Elliott 2. JBS 3. Shelby Valley 4. Hazard 5. Cumberland Hazard/Cumberland play tonight in the Wymt Classic and the winner to play Jbs Saturday night after they beat Pikeville. May be a little biased to Eastern Ky basketball, but I do think we have some talented All A schools

The only other teams that has a very slight possibility of beating them (Breathitt,PCC) is Knott or Leslie, which I don't see happening. Mosely for Knott is a great player, but she has to pack to much on her shoulders for Knott to beat good teams, she just can't do it all and she has no help. I hate that for her because she is such a good kid, but don't think they can take care of the Lady Cats or Lady Dores. And as for Leslie, I think they are just way too young right now to do anything in the tourney, but look for them to be competing for the regional title soon. HEY CLUTCH, And if this is the worst team PCC has ever had, what does that say about the rest of the region right now, because the only team that can beat them is Breathitt. Have you looked at the teams they have lost too? Pretty sure they have played some pretty good competition.

Gary will do a good job, hate to hear this in the middle of the season though, especially just before the Big Powell county game tonight! Good luck to the Owls the rest of the way.

I see Powell in the region, because the distrct is at Powell, but Letcher will have to Play JBS to get to the regional tourney if seeding stays as it is now and I don't see them beating them out at home.

Well if it was a 3 quarter game I would agree they should be 3 or 4 in the region, but I was just going by who they have played and how they have done against teams in the region. I agree they should be higher because of their talent level, but they just need to pull out some of the close games they have been playing and finish a game with some wins. They do have the talent, they just need to have it for 4 full quarters. Right now they are the #4 seed and will have to play Jenkins to get to Jbs in the semi's, will be a tough task to make the region, especially having to play them in Pippa Passes.

Maybe win the game, but don't forget about Estill County. I think they are in the position to win the District. Going to be a hard team to beat in this district.

Hollan is a good player, and he did play last night, but he sat out on Saturday against South Laurel and the Bobcats really seem to play together a lot better when he wasn't out there. I don't know if they just stand around and watch him when he is out there or what, but it just seems like the rest of the team plays better when he is not on the floor. Maybe they can work it out, only time will tell.

Breathitt has just moved down the list to about 7th or 8th after their pitiful performance last night in the Wymt. Pikeville is a pretty good team, but Breathitt should of played them a lot better. Hope it's not a sign of things to come from them.

Not just on those 2 teams. Perry has lost to North Laurel, Madison Central and Barren County out of region and went 0-3 in Daytona Beach, where they usually dominate. Breathitt has played mostly in region games but has ventured out and played and lost to Covington Holy Cross, LCA, and Clay County. They have beaten middle of 12th region team Monticello and bottom of the 11th region team Berea. Not knocking either of these teams because they still are the best in this region, we were just making the comment that this region is down from years past. Just never have seen the play so bad in this region. Usually has 4 or 5 teams that can play and this year it is just 2 and they aren't playing very good.

Would have to agree the 14th is the weakest I have seen in a long time. When our 2 best teams can't win a game out of the region that is pitiful. Would have to rate our region way at the bottom in the state. How I would rate our region teams: 1.Breathitt 2.Perry County No one else is close to these 2 teams. 3.Knott County 4.Powell 5.Leslie 6.Hazard 7.Estill 8.Letcher 9.Owsley 10.Everyone else

Just an opinion, and will definitely change in the next couple weeks. 1. JBS, 6-0 region,9-3 overall, until someone beats them here in the region they are still the favorite, with a lot of talented players. 2. Hazard, 3-0 region,10-2 overall, good talent in their starting 5 and 2 great coaches, will be a hard team to beat come tournament time. 3. Breathitt, 3-0 regiion, 5-2 overall, got a later start than the rest but they are starting to play well as a team. They have the talent and a good coaching staff to get them going come tournament time 4. Cordia, 3-2 region, 8-4 overall, played some good games and had a great Christmas break. They are really playing well right now and will be a tough team to beat, especially at home. The Hurt and Taylor boys can play right up there with anyone in the region. 5. Estill, 4-1 region, 7-7 overall, really playing hard right now and getting some good wins. They will surprise some people because everyone just forgets about them where they don't play a lot of games here in the region. 6. Lee, 5-2 region, 6-7 overall, when you play them at home, will be a tough game, but they are a lot different team than they are on the road. They still play hard and Coach Wright really works hard to get them ready for each and every game, they just really love the home court. 7. Knott Central, 2-3 region, 6-5 overall, have a great player in Stamper, but they really need to get some scoring help for him. They have some other good players, but they have to start getting into the scoring column more if they want to start winning more games. Need to really work on the free throws too. 8. Perry Central, 3-3 region, 4-8 overall, with the loss of talented freshman Eric Back, the Commodores will need to find some more scoring from someone, possibly Jordan Amis. They still have some good players and with Coach Hatchers slow down style of play, they will be in every game. If they can do the things that they need to at the end of the game, such as not make silly turnovers and make free throws, they can still be a tough out at the end of the season. 9. Buckhorn, 1-2 region, 2-8 overall, have played a rough schedule so far, but think it will help them later in the season. They really start playing well after Christmas, so it's about time for them to get it going and make a run in the All A and the District tourney. 10. Powell, 0-2 region, 7-6 overall, not played a lot of teams in the region, but have played some quality teams and won some big games over Christmas break. Coach Lively has a young team and has them playing hard after the loss of all the seniors last season. 11. Letcher Central, 1-4 region, 6-7 overall, their record does not indicate the type of team they have. They have been in a lot of games where they have had the lead and committed a few mistakes and it cost them the games. They have some talented players and can probably play with anyone in the region if they can put a whole game together. 12. Jackson City, 2-3 region, 6-5 overall, They have some talent in the Davidson kid and a couple other players that can help them get some wins. They could get hot from the 3 pt line and beat anyone on a given night. 13. Wolfe, 2-1 region, 7-4 overall, Probably the best start for them in a bunch of years. Coach Creech has them playing hard and are getting some good wins. They are still pretty young but have almost everyone back from last years team. Could be a surprise to some teams when it comes tournament time. 14. Owsley, 1-5 region, 3-9 overall, usually play well for 3 quarters and then commit a silly turnover or silly foul and end up getting beat. They have some good talent, 2 big kids in the middle that can play and a freshman Evans that comes off the bench probably their best guard. If they can put together a whole game they could be tough. New Coach Noble knows the game and will do a good job with them. 15. Leslie, 0-2 region, 3-8 overall, just don't have a lot of talent, but they do play with some heart. They get up and down the floor and play hard for Coach Sizemore, they just need someone to step up as their leader and take over the game for them. 16. Jenkins, 0-4 region, 6-9 overall, they have one of the best players in the region, Puckett, but he is very frustrated over the lack of help on his team. They could still get things together and be a tough team in the district that they are in. 17. Riverside, 0-2 region, 4-6 overall, just don't have the talent to compete in the 14th region. POSSIBLE REGIONAL TOURNEY TEAMS, should be a great tourney. 53rd JBS and Cordia 54th Hazard and Perry, depending on how the draw goes 55th Breathitt and Jackson City, also depending on the draw 56th Estill and Lee

Timing will not matter, they have way to many athletes for Knott to deal with. Stamper is a great player, but he is buy himself on this Patriot team. Unless someone steps up to give him some help it could get ugly. Cumberland by 15+

Hazard has the hardest road, they will have to beat a good Clay county team and if they can squeak by them, they will have to play a tough Cumberland team who will be too strong for the home team Knott Central the first round. JBS should beat Knox in a good game and will have no trouble with whoever wins the Pikeville/Breathitt games, the 2 weakest teams in the tourney. I see JBS playing Cumberland in the finals and Cumberland being too strong for the Crusaders. In a good game Cumberland 74 JBS 71

You people are crazy if you think when you go out of region to play you are going to get some calls. Not saying it's right, but everyone knows it happens. If you look at those records above, most are against out of region teams and if you look at some of your teams when they play out of region teams, I'm sure most of the time that your team shot more free throws that the other team. And yes 35-5 is a big margin, but was Powell going inside more or was Pulaski pressing more so that causes more fouls, you have to look at the whole picture and not just the final count. If one team is playing a zone and the other is pressing or playing man, they are going to foul more. If one team penatrates and the other passes around and shoots outside that makes a difference too. How many freethrows were shot when they played at Pulaski a couple weeks ago??? what was the difference in that game? After you play a team, you know better how to play them the next time around, maybe the coaching staff came up with a better game plan this time. You guys are always so negative and 100% biased to you teams, you need to take a step back and look at the game as a whole and what is exactly going on.

TOP BRACKET: JBS has no one in their bracket that is playing well at all. Buckhorn is capable but not playing together well right now. Owsley and Leslie are just lacking a couple players and are pretty young. Should be JBS/Buckhorn in the semi's. They have played once already and Buckhorn was leading at halftime, but got outscored by about 20 in the 3rd quarter and had a melt down. JBS comes out of the top. BOTTOM BRACKET:(LOADED BRACKET) Lee/Hazard will be a good match up, Lee is young but Coach Wright has them playing hard for him right now and could surprise the Dogs if they are not careful. Hazard should still pull this one out. Cordia/Wolfe shouldn't be a game. Cordia is rolling right now, they can play with anyone. Hazard/Cordia semi's will be one of the best games. If Hazard can control the Hurt and Taylor kid's they will come out on top. I think Hazard just has way to many athletes for the lions, but will be a good one to watch. Hazard by 8. FINALS: JBS/HAZARD JBS has showed they are beatable by not putting a whole game together the last few times out. This will come back and get them if they don't play for 4 full quarters against the Dogs in this one. I think the physical game that Hazard will play against JBS will hurt their style of play and again this year, just like last, Hazard will make the trip to the All A state tourney. Hazard by 5 in a great game.

I think it depends on whether or not Hazard has any games left or not. Due to the Las Vegas trip, WYMT tourney, the All A tourney and if they would happen to win that, the State All A tourney. This would give them too many games.

Physical is not the word, Blood bath is more like it. They had to come and get the stretcher out before a foul was called in this one. Knott always plays a little physical and Hazard does too, but putting these 2 together it got pretty rough. A lot different than the first time they played early in the season.

JBS too strong in this one. They have the 3 guard shooting threat and the big men inside to take care of Knox in this one. JBS by 8.

7 East Ridge 5 North Laurel 3 Middlesboro 2 Lynn Camp 1 Lee TB: Lynn Camp

Day 1 Lafayette Clay County Christian County Simon Kenton LCA Dixie Heights Elliott County Shaler Area, PN Semi's Lex Catholic Layfayette Mason Elliott Winner- Mason County TP-139

As of today, Eric Back has turned in his uniform and is no longer part of the team at Perry Central. Don't know the details, guess he thought he may of been not getting enough shots. I guess we will have to hold out for the details of this developing story. This will be a crushing blow to the Commodores.