DaPlaya711

I believe River is referring to the big boy from Ohio who transferred in two seasons ago and who became ineligible at the end of the season. I believe he was a junior, will he be returning?

Tony B. He is an assistant now at his alma mater, Newport Central Catholic. Whoever the head man is he will have to bring some assistants because I don't believe the remaining staff will be returning.

"I cant believe the 8th grade Birds lost to CC, that is very surprising." Why? They only beat CC by 1 at Highlands just last week and that's only after Highlands battled back from 7 down to hit a three with only 30 or 40 seconds left. Sounds to me like they were pretty even teams.

#31 Smith took the final shot for Campbell and I believe the same Holmes player dunking in warmups got a technical foul in the JV game for dunking while the officials were on the floor in warm ups. This young man may be in Coach Henley's dog house for a while...no pun intended. Agree the Dawgs are a very talented team and probably still the team to beat in the 9th. But they need to get focused as the post season nears. Then again, people said that last year and look what happened...

It would be nice to see some head coaches of varsity programs get involved with developing officials for the future. How many schools have elementary school programs? They could have current/former players come back and officiate some of those games with current "experienced" officials. Then once they graduate those guys could go ahead and get their officiating licenses and start out in the MS/Freshman ranks calling games. Several "good" HS officials got their start doing MS games. It seems this might give middle schools to have a bigger pool of officials to choose from when getting games assigned. Just a thought.

Although I agree that some other leagues are more competitive than the Dayton and Newport leagues ... don't be so quick to discredit them ... several of recent Highlands "greats" came up through that league ... Derrick Smith, Jared Lorenzen ... several others ...

It's not unrealistic to think that a high school coach could get paid $8,000 - $12,000. Some schools pay based on a percentage of the coach's teaching salary ... some as much as 20%!!! At that percentage, if a teacher makes $40,000 (which with years experience, rank I, etc is not out of the question), he'd get $8,000 for coaching. Some schools do just set a dollar amount and give increment raises each year. One NKY school I know pays only $4,000 to the head coach with $250 raises each year he/she is there.

That final in-bounds play looked eerily familiar...perhaps Coach Brannen is a Demon Deacon fan???

John Wooden coached the Greendevils in 1932-33 and in 1933-34. The 32-33 team was the only team he ever coached that ended with a losing record. The 33-34 team ended up 15-3. After that season he left to coach at Indiana State.

Did you see the situation as it unfolded? The tip goes up and on Campbell's first possession, Clark County is essentially playing a 2 man zone. Zollo and one of the other Clark defenders are not guarding anyone ... just guarding the paint. You can't blame CC for subbing in a "shooting" guard in that situation? I don't think Geiman leaving the game within the first minute had anything to do with the shot that was taken. Geiman is more of a streaky/slashing type player who thrives in a faster type game. Since Clark wasn't pressuring like they did against Conner (due to missing some players no doubt), I'm sure that Coach Code wanted a better shooter in the game to try and draw Clark out of that type of defense. In addition, when Campbell began to pull the ball out, do you think that maybe CC was surprised that Clark didn't come out to guard them? If you're Clark, you're gambling just as much by not coming out to guard. What if CC did get the last shot and that shot goes in? Then everyone would be all over Clark about allowing Campbell to hold the ball!

Not that this was the reason for it ... but it should be noted that Clark County did the same earlier in the game (holding the ball). With about 1:30 to go at the end of the 2nd quarter (I believe it was the 2nd) Clark held for the last shot. That's a lot of time to go without playing, too. So don't point the finger too hard at the Camels for holding the ball with the score tied in the 4th. If Clark wants to wait and let Campbell have the last shot of the game, then that's on them. If Campbell wins the game, holding the ball becomes a great move. But since they lost, everyone wants to question it.

Campbell jumps out early in the first quarter 8-4 and then Highlands begins to convert on the offensive end with the quarter ending at 10 apiece. Second quarter both teams more productive offensively. Stephen K. put up a lot of points this quarter as Highlands jump out early by 4 or 6 points then Campbell goes on a run to keep it at a Bluebird 27-23 halftime advantage. 3rd quarter starts and Highlands makes a dominant run, 8 unanswered I believe, to push it out to a 12 point lead with 4 minutes left in the third. Then Campbell goes on a run to close the gap to 4 going into the 4th. Both teams have trouble finding the bottom of the net as the two teams combined for 12 points in the 4th. Timely turnovers made by both teams this quarter and neither team can take advantage of them. Highlands misses back to back one and one opportunities when up two but Campbell can't take advantage. Campbell has the ball with 10 seconds remaining down two and gets three shots up before the final buzzer sounds well within 10 feet. Extremely physical game and some questionable calls at both ends of the floor to say the least. Stephen K. had 21 going into the 4th. This game could have been much different if either team could convert on the others mistakes.

Ok then, I see your view. That makes sense NKY. Thanks for the clarification. Do you still think highly of Highlands? Loss to Brossart and now Beechwood?

Playing better ball? A loss to Scott by 2 at Scott who is ranked in the state. Scott gets tons of respect for winning tough games and Campbell gets slighted for beating Beechwood and coming within a rim out at the buzzer from winning at Scott.

Didn't Campbell just beat Beechwood and just lost to Scott by 2 at Scott. Don't understand your reasoning.

Could you imagine if Holmes wasn't the force they are right now. It could have been the most wide open ninth region in high school history!

Each of you keep saying ... if Scott would have done this or Scott would have done this, the game wouldn't have been this close. If the Camels would have run any offense in the first quarter like they did in the 2nd quarter, they may have been on the other side of the scoreboard after 1 quarter of play. If they would have defended Scott's transition offense in the 1st like they did in the 2nd they would have been winning after 1. It's all speculation. In the end, it all balances out and the outcome pretty much gives you the big picture. I don't think anyone can say that one of these teams is better than the other. Pretty evenly matched. 2 point victory by Scott only means that they beat Campbell last night by two points. If Jolly makes the shot at the buzzer would that have meant Campbell is clearly better than Scott? No. If it had been a 20 point victory ... then I would believe that Scott is clearly better than the Camels. Bottom line: I wouldn't want to play either of these teams come tournament time. (Nor would I want to play Brossart.) This district may see one of the best tournaments ever! It's a shame that one of the big three will not get to the region.

According to today's newspaper, a three way tie for first would result in blind draw to see who would be the #1 seed.

I wouldn't count out the Stangs ... they played Campbell to 3 points in the MCIT ... Campbell only loses to Scott by 2 ... should make for a good Brossart-Scott matchup ... Brossart could still make it a 3 way tie for the first place seed in this district.

What does this run the Tiger record to? Have they lost to any local teams this year?

Nice W for Beechwood...I got to spend Christmas with some Cov Cath Alum and mentioned how talented the Beechies were this year but they said it would never happen!!! Hate to say I told ya so Hiltz Bro's!!! Godspeed Mitch!!!

Maybe Scott should be third since they have played the best against the top two? Really, rankings mean nothing and I know how everybody wants to see the Regional Finals between the Cards and the Royals but I wouldn't be totally shocked if that is not the case...I believe in the end, the 3 through 7 teams could perhaps catch one of the big dogs napping!

Simms got one during the Mason County Tourney ... I agree though ... not many T's called on coaches in the 10th ... speaks volumes about the quality of coaches in the 10th ...

The head man now wasn't to shabby back in the day...good ole' slick Willie

I was at the Dayton 125, St. Henry 119 game ... it was in St. Henry's old gym in their old school ... the game was nuts. Up and down ... a lot of free throws ... I think Dayton shot 61 free throws that night. Anything can happen on any given night!