wildcatfan

3 of Boone's 4 losses were to Scott, Cov Cath, and St. Henry. SK's only loss was by 1 point to Boone. None of Boone's losses have come with their full JV squad there and healthy. Boone plays Beechwood this Wednesday in the quarterfinals and will be missing at least one player due to injury. Kids have also been getting sick lately (as I'm sure other teams are experiencing as well). St. Henry is one of the better JV teams. They are tall and athletic and tenacious rebounders. I would say St. Henry, SK, and Boone all have good shots.

I believe Boone is in the semifinals this Saturday, but I don't know who they play. They defeated Newport in the previous round.

Earls has been sick the last week.

I think Cov Cath and St. Henry have nice teams. Boone's JV is 13-4 on the season.

Nelson had his way. He probably had 31. I don't think Ryle hit an outside shot the entire game, and I don't think Boone tried a zone defense the entire game,whereas it seemed like Ryle sat in a 1-3-1 or 2-3 a good part of the game. Boone missed the big freshman Earls and were outmuscled and outrebounded inside. Physical game. 4 of Boone's players were fouled out. Ryle had none foul out. Boone had some success by pressing and made a run, but they ran out of gas and missed some key free throws in the 4th. I thought it was a very winnable game for Boone.

Overrated, no way, but, yes, it was good coaching on Dixie's part given the circumstances and Boone's key injuries. Boone had a a fully healthy Flannery and Popp the first time they played Dixie this year and won easily by 19, and that was without their 6'6" freshman center Earls who has not played any freshman ball this year. Any good team who has injuries to 2 of their top players could struggle against a good team. Boone was 9-0 before they lost Popp to the broken knee and Flannery/Gabbard to JV/varsity games. Since then, they have been 7-7. Without Flannery, Gabbard, and Popp, Boone lost by 32 to Dixie a couple of weeks ago. Nonetheless, if Boone would have pressed the first half, I think they still would have won the game.

Dixie's season record to date is 21-9 (including the victory over Boone), according to the announcer at the tourney.

Dixie 39 Boone 34. Boone came back to take the lead briefly in the fourth but wasn't able to hold it. Boone had a terrible first half. They went to full court pressure in the second half and actually outscored Dixie in the second half, but it wasn't enough. Credit goes to Dixie. Flannery got hurt 2 minutes into the game and never returned. He is Boone's leading scorer and scored 19 against them the last time. Popp still has some rust to shake off, playing at about 85% and in only his first game after 6 weeks off. He's normally good for 10 points, but his timing is still a little off, and although he didn't play bad, he missed the few shots he took. Dixie's coach was smart and sat in a zone the whole game and took advantage of Boone not having a legitimate big man or its best three-point shooter on the floor. All of Dixie's points came inside. I don't think they made many, if any, outside shots. Their big guy ate Boone up on the block. I thought that if Cotton would have fronted the big man instead of playing behind him, it would have changed things. Boone guards (Popp, Gabbard, and Schultz) also all got into foul trouble, with the fouls called about 2-1 in favor of Dixie. This also affected what Boone could do in the fourth quarter. Dixie is well coached and is legitmately one of the top 4 freshman teams in the 9th.

Earls has been strictly varsity all year. He hasn't played in a freshman game, and I'm pretty sure he won't play in the tournament. Flannery has dressed in a few varsity games now and got a few minutes here and there. He has basically played in most freshman games except for nights where there were triple headers. He has seen significant JV playing time. Gabbard has seen significant varsity and JV minutes and dressed all or most of the varsity games, probably partly due to the injury to senior point guard Ben Ryan. He played in freshman games before Ryan was injured, and I think he will again since Ryan is back. Popp started or played significant time in all freshman and JV games and dressed for most varsity games before he was injured. Cotton is another freshman who has seen JV time but has played in all freshman games. So, Earls is the only freshman that would be considered brought down for the freshman tourney if that WERE to happen. All of these freshman have practiced with JV/varsity instead of freshman all year. They have played freshman games too to give them extra games. The idea is to develop the future by playing them JV/varsity, giving them as much gametime as possible, etc. I suspect that several of the freshman whose playing time they take away may not make the varsity team next year.

1-26-07 Boone over Campbell 1-29-07 Conner over Boone

Good question. Popp has just been medically cleared to play again, so I'm guessing he will play. It remains to be seen how much rust he will have after being off 5 weeks. Flannery (leading freshman and JV scorer) should play. I would be surprised if Earls played. He hasn't played any freshman all season. Not sure about Gabbard, but even if 2 of these 4 play, Boone is very tough. None of them may play in the freshman game if there are JV/varsity games that day.

The same can be said of Boone County. Their top 3 varsity scorers (Bray, McFarland, Earls) have all played significant AAU ball. The top 4 freshmen, who have also been starters on their school teams since 6th grade, have all played AAU ball since 4th grade. I know at least a few of them have loved the AAU experience.

Perhaps defense is better or more physical than it used to be too. More contact and bumping and handchecking is allowed.

I don't look at the AAU coach as a personal role model off the court. They are often paid "trainers" who are getting paid to teach your kids skills. I know there are many shady coaches out there too with personal agendas. But there are plenty of politics in school ball as well.

You are entitled to your opinion, but so far, my kids' AAU coaches have been more experienced knowledgable than the school coaches, from middle school up to high school, and I know other parents from our who would agree with me. I guess it depends on the AAU and school coaches you have. My kids learned many more offensive and defensive sets, presses, etc. and learned many more advanced skills via AAU. Plus, another advantage that an AAU coach can have over a school coach is acting as a trainer for a kid over several years and getting to know the kids' strengths and weaknesses. School coaches often only have 2-3 years to figure out the talent they have and what each kid is capable of doing best, and they aren't always able to do that effectively.

AAU has been positive overall for my kids and their friends and improved their basketball skills. In my experience, there is often a drastic difference between high school players who have played AAU and those who haven't. It can be expensive, but teams run tournaments, camps, other fundraisers, and get sponsors to help defray the costs. The more successful a team is and the higher profile players they have, the more attraction and sponsorship they can get from shoe sponsors as the kids get older. Certain kids get way overhyped in AAU ball, but playing against top competition and the biggest and fastest seem to make the pace of the game slower and easier for kids when they go to school ball. AAU basketball increases basketball IQ and give kids a chance to see more types of of defenses and offenses and situations that they would not otherwise see coming up in school and recreational ball. Nowadays, AAU players seem to get more exposure to college coaches than school players, and the coaching is often better.

1-26-07 Boone over Campbell

1-23-07 Boone over Beechwood 1-24-07 Holy Cross over Boone

1-20-07 Boone over Cov Cath

Both had their moments. Lenhof had 24, Bray had 16. They didn't guard each other.

1-19-07 Boone over St. Henry

Final in OT. Freshman Mike Gabbard tipped in the game winner at the buzzer. Freshman Andy Earls had at least 16 points. 2 freshman and a sophomore played the entire 4th quarter and OT. 2nd time in 2 varsity games that a freshman hit the game winning shot for Boone. Good win. Future looks bright for Boone. Seeds them first in their district.

I think many of these freshmen basketball players are good athletes who would excel in football. Popp is a very good DB/tailback/wide receiver. He gave football up this year to focus on basketball. Gabbard used to be a very good tailback in peewee football. Flannery also played football last year. I could see Earls being a fine tight end in high school with his size, speed, and soft hands. The football coaches are often trying to convince basketball players to come out for football. There aren't as many two-sports athletes as there used to be. Nate Alford was quarterback on Boone's freshmen team and also plays basketball.

Yes, I know, and I am familiar with those boys. Do you know if they are only sitting out one year, or have they chosen to stick with football? Popp and Gabbard make Boone at least 20 points better than they normally are, and IMHO, those two are crucial to their team's success. Boone was 9-0 before Gabbard was pulled up for awhile to play strictly varsity, and Popp got hurt. Since then, they are 3-4. Boone's freshman team also, of course, does not have 6-6" freshman Andy Earls, who plays varsity and had 13 points and the winning shot against Highlands varsity the other night. Boone's freshmen should be stronger than they currently are when they rejoin as sophomores. I've seen boys from both teams play each other in AAU and middle school ball the last several years, but to my knowledge, neither freshman team has played with their full roster in a regular or post-season game yet. Both are good teams, and I look forward to seeing them play at full strength in the next few years of high school.

1-17-06 Highlands 65 Boone 64 in 3 overtimes Great game by both teams. Close game throughout. Halftime was 22-21 Boone. Grubbs shot well for Highlands. Flannery had 28 for Boone, 26 of them in the second half. Boone was missing both starting guards due to sickness and injury. Highlands pressed at the end of regulation brought them back from about an 8 point deficit. This game was closer than I thought it would be, considering that both Gabbard and Popp were out for Boone. With those two playing, pressing Boone would have been very difficult. Futures look bright for both high school programs.