wildcatfan

Neither team shot well, and both missed several free throws. Boone also missed several layups.

Coaching will have to change or improve, otherwise, even having this great talent coming up won't matter.

Another very winnable game for Boone. This game reminded me very much of the end of the Henry Clay game. 1. No press offense the whole game, including the last sequence with 11 seconds. McFarland dribbled the floor all the way up the floor and ended up having to force a fadeway at the elbow with a hand in his face. 2. No offensive play or screen appeared to be called in the huddle by Boone during the timeout before inbounding the ball. 3. No timeout was called at halfcourt to set up a halfcourt play (if one was still available). 4. No point guard was in the game to push the ball up the floor quickly. Both point guards were on the bench. McFarland could have been the recipient of a pass instead of having to try to do it all himself. 5. The coaches were trying to motion McFarland to push it up faster, but they should have told their players in advance in the huddle to push it up and get a shot off within 6 seconds. The guard could have driven and went to the rim and/or dished off to Earls. If the shot was missed, Earls and others would still have had a few seconds to crash the boards and foul if they didn't get the rebound. St. Henry would not have fouled because they would not have wanted to send Boone to the line for 2 shots with only a 1 point lead. 6. Boone played too many players during the game, as they have several times before. They played 12, including 1 who had only been in a couple of varsity games all year. I think St. Henry played about 9. 7. None or little instructional coaching was given to Boone's players when they come off the floor after making a mistake. St. Henry's coach made it a point to talk to each kid, including Rechtin, after they came out after a mistake. 8. Boone must get press breakers and better inbounds and offensive plays. They have plenty of talent to win games like this.

I would say he is definitely the best freshman 3-point shooter in the state. What agendas? I know that at least a few of them are very unselfish team players and only care about winning. Talent also doesn't always win without good coaching. Talent only gets you so far.

Those boys all get along and are friends.

I really feel that the only way this group won't challenge for a couple of regional titles is if they aren't coached and utilized properly in varsity.

Just wanted to point out that McFarland leads his team in assists with over 4 per game. In the Enquirer stats, he's listed 6th in NKY.

They will be tough with 6'6" Earls at center, 6'4" McFarland and Flannery at forwards, and Popp and Gabbard at guards. Flannery can fill it up from 3, Earls will be a man among boys by the time he is a junior, and McFarland will be one of the best before he graduates. Popp and Gabbard will be one of the best, if not the best backcourt in NKY before too long. This group will have 3 more years to play together and develop. Earls and McFarland already start. I believe that the other 3 will either start or see significant varsity action starting next year.

I wonder if the coach and players were surprised by the press coming on the last play, because it seemed to catch them a little off guard. I think that was definitely the right thing for Henry Clay to do to pick up full court and at least apply token pressure. I don't remember how many timeouts were left, but Boone might have considered calling one after half court if they had one, and set up a half court play. That might have been easier to set the necessary screens for Bray.

Actually, there were 2 seconds left when HC rebounded the missed shot, and Boone could have fouled right away. Although McFarland makes a 3 occasionally, I would have designed a play for Bray. McFarland had a couple more seconds to penetrate and kick. McFarland did have a couple of hands in his face and had to pull up to shoot it.

How many games has his team won? I know it's a lot easier to put up gaudy numbers on a weaker team. What is his shooting percentage?

I agree about HC. Earls is one of the top 3 players for Boone and was out of the game for the critical last couple of minutes. I know he is young and makes mistakes, but Boone is better with him on the floor, especially against a big team. Bray also needs to be on the floor as much as possible. I feel that Boone's second game against Ryle and the HC game could have been won by Boone with some different coaching decisions. All that Boone had to do against Ryle was play zone defenses a good part of the game, and they would have won. At a minimum, Boone should be 19-9, and although some of their losses were by a few more points, their offense could be more effective with more movement, plays, and screens instead of standing around on the perimeter looking to go one on one. I also believe that they could benefit by pushing the ball up the floor more instead of walking it up and playing half court sets most of the time. Earls runs the floor well for a big man, and doesn't get the ball many times that he is out ahead of the defense. Undersized teams who are in good shape can wear down better teams and get easy transition baskets in the 3rd and 4th quarters by playing up-tempo games, especially with guards who can see the floor well. The second Ryle game was a critical game for Boone to lose. Besides losing the district #1 seed for them, they must now defeat St. Henry instead of Conner or Heritage just to get to the regionals. I disagree that they played as well as their talent allows. Hopefully, Boone players and coaches will step up.

Good points. Several people in the stands were wondering why Bray was out of the game for several minutes during a seemingly critical time in the second half. I do not believe he was in foul trouble. This has happened more than once this year. No good play seemed to be set up for the end. McFarland dribbled the ball all the way up himself and had to force a 3 at the top of the key. I think HC's press caught them a little off guard there. The point guard should never be afraid to take chances and shots when he is open. Point guards should share in the scoring. Cov Cath, Simon Kenton, and Holy Cross are all good teams who have point guards who score and give assists.

Boone played well and led part of the game. They were down 1 with 5 minutes. They had a chance to tie with a 3 that rimmed out with 2 seconds. Henry Clay doesn't have a true point guard, and they struggled with Boone's 3-quarter court press. Big freshman Earls had 12 points and outplayed HC's Victor Moses (Miami, OH recruit), effectively limiting Moses' scoring when he was in there. Several of Moses' baskets seemed to come when Earls was out of the game. Boone's coach took Earls out with a couple of minutes left and never put him back in. Earls is Boone's 3rd leading scorer, second leading rebounder, and leading shot blocker. Moses had a couple of easy baskets after that. Boone cut it to 1 with 20 seconds on an inbounds steal from the press. I thought that Boone's coach should have called timeout right away after that. Instead, Henry Clay got an easy run-out to put them up by the decisive 3 points with 11 seconds left. Boone is much better with Earls on the floor. Boone also played Bryan Station (#6 in state) very tough until late in the 4th quarter last Saturday. Boone's JV also looked very good against Henry Clay's tough JV team, winning 43-33. They were up by as much as 16 in the second half. I believe that Henry Clay and Scott County are the top 2 JV teams in their region, with HC suffering only 3 losses prior to this. Boone JV, although undersized, is now 16-4 on the year, with a regular season game remaining against Dixie. Boone was also supposed to play in the Northern KY JV championship against Simon Kenton, but that game was snowed out a couple of times and may not happen now because of scheduling conflicts with the varsity teams. I feel that Boone has a load of young talent coming up, in addition to some talented seniors, and are capable of defeating most teams in the 9th with the right coaching. In my opinion, they have as much talent as many of the teams that have defeated them this year, and they play hard. I believe that instead of 17-11, Boone could very well be 21-7 or better with the right offensive and defensive play calling and starters and substitutions. I feel that Boone could use a better offensive system, with more motion, picks/screens, better in-bounds plays, more variety, better offensive press breakers, etc. It seems that Boone's offensive strategy is mainly to stand around the perimeter and go one on one. The offensive press break strategy mainly seems to be to just run around and get open. The press breaker could be better, and Bray could score even more with more screens and picks. I also think that Boone could benefit from better balance in their offense, with the point guard becoming more involved in the offense as a potential penetrator and scorer instead of just a distributor after crossing half court. Boone currently has 2 double-digit scorers. It would be nice to see a balance with about 4 averaging 10-15 points a game, and the fifth and some bench players chipping in 6-8 points apiece. Boone is an up-and-coming team and will definitely have the talent to contend for a couple of regional championships in a year or so, if not earlier. If they don't, it will be a shame because their sophomore and freshmen classes have been among the tops in this area the last 5-6 years, especially the freshman class. Boone does need more talented size. However, Boone could be a sleeper this year.

I think Boone started 9-0 when Flannery, Popp, and Gabbard were all healthy and playing and went 7-8 the rest of the season without having all three of them present and healthy. Just goes to show how much injuries/sickness can affect a team. It seems to have happened to Ryle and Dixie to a lesser extent this year as well. The Boone JV is playing in the Northern KY JV championship game, and those three Boone freshmen have also all been big contributors for that team this year. With proper coaching, Boone, Ryle, Highlands, and Dixie frosh all have enough talent to win on any given night.

The Boone/Highlands game this year was also a good one. Boone was missing 2 of its starters (Gabbard/Popp), but the game still went to 3 OTs before Boone fell by 2.

Has anyone played a box and one on Hill?

Nope. It will be rescheduled. It may occur at Boone.

I thought it would. As long as a zone was played against Holmes, I expected a closer game than the 15-16 point blowout people were predicting.

Goes to show you that any team can be vulnerable if they lose key players to injuries or sickness, including Boone. Good win for Ryle, Ryle, Boone, and Highlands have to have the top freshman classes.

Boone has the talent to keep this close if the coach coaches smart.

Boone County over Scott by 20 today in one semifinal, avenging one of Boone's 4 losses this year. Simon Kenton over St. Henry by 2 in the other. Final on Wednesday evening will be a rematch of a 2-point OT victory by Boone over Simon earlier this season, which has been Simon's only loss. Should be a good one.

Should be, but Boone is will be missing 1 or 2 players due to injury and 2 others for part of the game due to ACT testing. One other is also still coming back from an injury. They will be thin.

Boone JV will play Sat at 12PM @ CovCath in the semifinals of the JV tournament against the winner of the Scott/Holmes game tonight. The other semifinal on Sat is Simon and St Henry. The finals will be Valentine’s Day at 6pm@ Cov Cath.

I thought Boone should have sat in a zone. That's what Ryle did most of the game. I don't think Ryle made an outside shot the whole game. Ryle capitalized on their inside advantage. Boone had 3 players foul out, Ryle none. That didn't help either.