loubballfan

It looks like this year that any of the 7th region teams would be in the mix to win the 6th and Eastern, Ballard, and Jtown would be solid favorites in all games IMO!

Most interesting 1st round game will be Eastern-Manual. Can a healthy Jenkins get Manual past Eastern? I predict semis: Trinity-Eastern Ballard-Jtown Final Eastern-Ballard Ballard wins!

If Ballard keeps hitting threes at about a 40% rate as they did in district play, you can give them the trophy now!

Sounds like Jenkins, Nikolic, and Samsel had a much better second half. Congrats on a nice comeback win but if you come out that flat when you get into region play you will be finished!

St.X 30- Manual 17 at the half Samsel and Jenkins a non-factor in the first half.

But didn't McFarland outplay him head to head and he is also in the top of NKy in a variety of statistical categories (steals, assists, etc) and he does a lot of the little things to make Boone better. Also, I think there a lot of guys on Holmes squad who have contributed to their quality wins and can you actually say Rico was more important than Pittman most of the year? Point is, Holmes is loaded and I think Boone depends a lot more on McFarland this year and he has responded.

I would think that McFarland from Boone CO. should get some looks for 9th region POY. No question the the Holmes kids are good but they are surrounded by a lot more talent and Boone has had a heck of a year with McFarland usually leading the way.

In the 7th, the winner of the Trinity -Seneca 1st round district game could be a darkhorse. Also, Manual if they have all their players healthy. It still looks like one of the big 3 (Jtown, Eastern, Ballard) will be the champion with the edge to Jtown or Eastern because, barring upsets, Ballard will have to play both to get out!

Ballard

St. X over Manual

Not to hijack your thread but I don't think the 9th will see any advantage next year as compared to this year. Although I agree that Holmes will be stacked and Boone and Highlands will be solid next year, the reality is that the 7th will also be even tougher! The major impact players at the top 7 teams, with the exception of Jenkins at Manual and Cox at Ballard, are all underclassmen. Eastern, Ballard, Jtown, Trinity, Seneca, Male will return the majority of their starters and this includes multiple D1 quality players (Cosby, T. Jackson at Jtown, Sewell and Harrison at Trinity, Jones and Chiles at Ballard, Abell at Eastern and I'm sure I'm missing a few. Look at the the 10th with Clark Co and the 11th with Scott County and I think it's safe to say that Kentucky basketball will see one of it's best years ever in the 2010 season.

GRC has not played anyone as quick as Ballard. I think they will struggle with Ballard's pressure. Ballard by 8!

I think this game depends on which Manual team shows up! They have taken some bad losses this year (Waggener) and I can't recall many quality wins(against top 20 teams). St.X appears to have been much more consistent all year and will bring a good effort in this game. Too close for me to call! :idunno:

No mention anywhere of Eric Mosley from Moore? He may be the best senior in the state and I can guarantee you he can get his shot on anyone and he is doing this in the 7th region where there are a lot of good athletes! If this kid had played at the same school for the past few years, he would be at the top of a lot of these lists! :thumb:

I would not be so sure on the first four games. I think Eastern is one team that gets no respect yet continues to beat all comers. Eastern's guards are probably the most physical in the state and I think they would be hard to handle even for Guyn and Jackson. Having seen both play, I think Jtown would be able to handle Franklin. Ballard-Lex Cath- Hard to say Seneca crushed Bryan Station in the preseason at Bryan Station, for what that's worth

I would also send congratulations to Hannah but I think Lindsey Stephens should get some recognition also. This meet could have gone either way and Hannah just outpointed her for the win. Both girls dove with confidence and either could have walked away with the title!

I think Coach Renner has his sites on two things and Ballard's final season record is not one of them! He wants the 7th region crown and the state title and putting his team in the environment that he did last night certainly is a great way to prepare to reach those goals. Congrats to Elliott. As I stated in the pregame post, they needed to have the legs for 4 quarters and they obviously did.

I think this will come down to whether the Elliott Count players, and as I understand they really only play about six, will have any legs left in the 4th quarter. They have not and will not face a team as quick as Ballard all year and Ballard goes full speed all game with ten guys playing. Should be interesting but, knowing Ballard's philosophy, I don't think the home court advantage will be as great for Elliott as Ballard does not value each possession and have a tendency to get tight, rather they try to get as many shots as possible.

Congrats to Boone! This proves that when kids who are 16-17 don't show up to play at their best every game, thwy will be beaten by a good team. Boone has to be one of the favorites, along with Holmes, to win the 9th now! Looks like Scott County and Eastern are playing the best ball at this time and have to be 1-2 going into the districts!

Brown starts over Popp. Not sure why because when Popp has gotten the opportunity, he plays well. IMO, he is Boone's only chance to defend the Holmes players because I'm not sure the other Boone guards that replace him have anywhere near Popp's quickness defensively. Popp and Gabbard need to be on the floor if Boone is to have any chance in this one! :thumb:

Clay Co fights back from 8 down to take lead late, Trinity hits a 3 to go up 1 with 20 seconds to go. Clay comes down and gets off a runner with about 4 seconds left, the ball hangs on the rim and is about to fall in for the game winner when a Clay Co player touches it on the rim for a goal tend. From my angle, the call was absolutely correct! Clay Co bench gets a T and Trinity hits a few free throws for the final spread. Tough loss for Clay who played a gritty game and had pulled off the victory only to have it taken away!

Hard to say much. He hit three 3's but he goes for periods where he doesn't touch the ball for a while. It seems that the person bringing the ball over halfcourt is usually the person who shoots for Jtown. I thought Ballard was just a little quicker overall.

If Ballard hits their shots, they are tough to beat. If not, they attack the glass so Elliott will have to hit the defensive boards! Elliott, as has been stated many times on the site, will HAVE to hit their 3's. Wesley Cox should not have too much trouble with Elliott's pressure. Ballard usually make their mistakes because they are going 100 miles an hour and throw it away rather than other teams taking it from them. I think another consideration will be Elliott's depth as Ballard will play ten and will NEVER slow down the pace. If the Elliott starters can hang in and not get too fatigued, they should win but they will be very tired by the 4th quarter if they don't sub.

I think Seneca has closed the gap significantly as illustrated by the close LIT game. Both will be very tough 1st round district games for anybody!

Agreed! Is it point spread or record against regional foes? Ballard 3-0 Seneca 1-2 Trinity 1-2 Waggener 1-2