dinoradja

I agree 100%, there is no reason to make any of this personal. I doubt that anyone is going to change their mind or opinion no matter what evidence or views are brought to this discussion so we should all just stay mature, if possible, and enjoy some passionate debating.

:ylsuper: One good thing about all of the passion being thrown about on this thread; it is allowing us all to see how many great players have come from this region over the years and there are some pretty good young players in the area as well.

Look for the Lions to jump out to a big lead and take the wind out of the Comet's sails. I look for Elliott to win by at least 15.

Boyd County is a strange team. They have some big wins but also some tough losses. If Coach Pratt can get them ready for Rose Hill for the districts and pull off a win there, the Lions are a team that many would like to avoid in the regional tournament. Selby is a load in the middle, not too many teams can match up with him, that is for sure.

Laura Terry and Kasi Mullins-Galloway are the best I have seen but there has been so many good lady players, more than people realize. From Regina Carroll, Toni Wright and Angie Johnson to the girls of the past few seasons like Kala Faulkner, Megan Gearhart and Emily Queen our region has been blessed with outstanding players and young ladies as well.

Nice season so far for Coach Trimble and the Lady Rams. Hopefully they can get on a good streak and have momentum going into the districts.

I have to agree, any of these teams could be the winner of the tournament next month. My darkhorse is Boyd County, they have a force in the middle with Selby and have beat Ashland and Russell if I am correct and if they can get past Rose Hill in the first round of the districts could be a team that nobody wants to play in the regional tourney.

They may very well beat Russell, but until they do it I think Russell is the favorite. But along with the Red Devils, Elliott County, Ashland and a dark horse for me is Boyd County, are teams that I think could win this region. Oh, I am sure that Jeff Hall is pretty proud to be on Sports Illustrated getting Wilson stamped to his forehead too, hahaha.

Big win for the Lions. Right now I would put them right behind Russell as the favorite to win the region but don't count out the Tomcats in the post season, they have a nice squad too.

Two of the top contenders in the region, sounds like a game that is actually living up to the hype. I would like to see the Tomcats pull this one out, as long as McDavid can stay on the floor I think they can hold onto this one at home.

I have seen the tape and the technicals were called and they stood. I am not even talking about the ref falling, that happened after the technicals were called. The first technical was obvious, OJ taunted the player. The second one I cannot say much about other than it was called and that is the referee's discretion, it is a judgement call. My opinion is based on fact and has nothing to do with OJ personally. But it is funny how people on here and on other sites blindly applaude him and can't see any wrong in anything that he does. But that is the joy and blessing of living in this incredible country called the United States of America; we can have our opinions and views and whether we agree with one another or not we can try to discuss them, hopefully without making it into something personal.

Unless there is proof that he did treat him different then the calls and the rules should stand. But if there is ever a shred of evidence that is beyond question that the referee was up to a personal agenda then he should not be allowed to referee any sport ever again. As a former basketball official I can honestly say that I never heard an official say that they "had it" for a player or a coach, not saying that could never happen but it is so far a stretch considering that the official would certainly know what the consequences could be for using such poor and pitiful judgment.

The rules are the rules and he should have just taken the two game suspension for the two technical fouls. As I said earlier Patterson had the same thing happen to him last year and he sat out the two games and his life went on just fine, he did not fight it in the courts or media and he was without a doubt the "primetimer" last year on the back to back state championship team. I am not jealous of OJ, I love my life and am blessed with people around me who have the love for me to let me know when I stray off of course, and from what I have seen over the years OJ does not have enough of those people in his life. As many of you on here have spoke of seeing the dollar signs so have the people who are in his day to day life and that is sad, he is a young man who is going to have to wonder many times where the loyalty truly lies with those around him. Nobody is doing OJ any good by making excuses for him and saying that because he is in the public eye that he is different. He may be different but rules are rules.

I am not using heresay in any of my opinions, just facts. Fact one: OJ was suspended from his school in Ohio last year, good example of poor decisions. Fact two: OJ is suspended AGAIN this year for getting two technical fouls, another prime example of poor actions on the court compounded by trying to get the suspension overturned, which in my opinion and many others gives the appearance of OJ thinking that the rules do not and should not apply to him. Fact three: OJ has been to not one, not two, but three high schools, not a good example of stability and before anyone says that OJ had no choice in his school situation save your breath and try to be honest. And before anyone signs up for the ten percent from his NBA contract let me throw out a few names; Felipe Lopez, Omar Cook, DeJuan Wagner and LaBradford Smith. All of these players had great high school and/or college careers and were "can't miss" prospects, at least on par with OJ. And guess what? It did not work out. So before we all get in line for the shoe purchase to help support OJ maybe, just maybe, it would be a good idea to wait and see how this young man, not a kid, pans out first.

Wow, you must not know Ashland very well. Let me help a little bit. We have this guy from Ashland who won the Cy Young in the National League last year, I think his name is Brandon Webb. Umm, oh, Arliss Beach is with the Green Bay Packers, looking good for being on the active roster next year. There is a former UK great named Larry Conley who is doing ok for himself, we have two major league umpires, and beyond athletics we have the lovely Ashley Judd so for a little ole' town we are pretty talented overall. And God knows that just having OJ and company in Ashland for two years should be enough to count for something, right?

Maybe not this year but he certainly was the "primetimer" last year. But then again maybe Patterson showed his maturity by accepting his punishment and not trying to tie it up in court procedings and media hype. Hmmm.....

I may not know Mayo but his actions speak volumes. He has the two technical fouls, he has been suspended for three games at HHS and he was suspended last year while in Ohio. You can surmise from all of this that his attitude is less than good, plain and simple.

Thank you, looking forward to many spirited discussions.

Thanks for the support, just not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with anybody, well, for the most part, haha.

I do hope that I am not giving the vibe of trashing OJ, that is not my intention. It is just that I believe that anyone that is not only his age but has been in the limelight as long as he has should know that by not standing up and taking responsiblity for his actions is doing themselves no good at all. And I just feel that it is wrong that Patterson, he seemed to be nothing but a class act during that whole incident, was not nearly as vigorously defended when he had to sit out last year for his two technicals. Rules should be enforced across the board equally, once again only my view.

Once again I humbly submit that he is not a "kid", but a young man who is old enough to vote, get married, serve in the milatary and be responsible in his actions. But to his defense he is surrounded by people who will not correct him and that in turn has given him the impression that just because he is a gifted athlete that he should be given treatment beyond what others get. That is a recipe for disaster, but that is just my opinion and I would assure that I am not jealous of him, I just think that he needs to accept responsiblity for his actions, not try to work his way out of them.

The rules call for him to have been suspended for the two technical fouls, that is what should have been enfored at the least. Last year Patterson had to sit two games for two technical fouls, one of the games was a playoff game. OJ is just another example of someone getting or trying to get their way all of the time and when something goes against that they cannot deal with it. If he is not taught some discipline soon I hate to think of what kind of trouble he may get into in the future. And enough of calling him a "kid", he is 19 years old and will be 20 before his first college game. He is plenty old enough to know better than to act the way he has been as of late.

I think that if everyone would really look at what HHS has then they would not be so impressed. Yes, they have two of the top players in the country but they do not use Patterson to the best of his ability. OJ average a shot a minute versus Scott County, that is nuts. I totally believe that the state champion team that Painstville had would beat HHS, they had a good shooting team, handled the ball well and had several good rebounders. And here is another local team that nobody mentioned that more than matched up physically with HHS. The 1979-80 Ashland Tomcats were huge across the frontline; Dirk Anders a physical player at 6"7 or 6"8, Jeff Tipton was a very mobile 6"10 and had 41 points and 19 rebounds in the double overtime loss to Covington Holmes in the quarter finals of the state tournament, Doug Smith was a great shooting forward and was about 6"4 and they had 7 footer Jerry Daniels off the bench and good sized players like Greg Penny and leaping machine Tim Haller as well. Greg McCauley was a big shooting guard at about 6"2 or 6"3 and Anderson and Crank were very good point guards. This team was not as athletic as HHS is but very, very physical and a good shooting team. HHS is not well coached, they are prone to rushing things and as illustrated by the Scott County game a team that forces the issue if behind. Let's not make HHS into some kind of NBA level team, they are a very good team, one of the best in this areas history, but to say that legit teams from Kentucky could not match up with HHS is showing a low level of basketball knowledge.