Old School Dr.

He actually has a long way to go to get anywhere near this kind of discussion (top ten in state)

This game could get ugly! Mcreary 48 Harlan 14 I have seen the Watts kid play basketball and he is one IMPRESSIVE looking athlete. I am looking forward to seeing him play football. Anyone in the Harlan County area that is a big sports fan and is not going to see the Black Bears play tonight, if you want to see arguably the best all around athlete in the state of Kentucky go see this game tonight!!!

Desmond Johnson is from Cumberland High School in Harlan County, not Cumberland County High School.

There is no way Ryan Young makes that team

Eddie Whitaker!!! He won 10 straight district titles at Bell County before taking a break last year as an assistant at Hazard. You also would get a great young point guard for 2 more years and a 6'5" quality low post player for one year to boot!!! Wow, he would be first on my list for a high school coach.

This is absolutely a great first round matchup!! UHA has two of the top 10 players in the state (Hopson and Edmonson) with Hopson being ranked in the top 10 in the country, and a great TEAM in Lex Cath. Wow, this will be a must see game! The winner of this game has a great shot at winning the tournament along with Mason County, Holmes and maybe one of the Louisville schools. This may be the year for Holmes!

Hazard is very good and I think they will win this game, but SL will make it interesting. I dont think Hazard will be effected psychologically by South like most of the teams in the 13th region are and they have a better cast of players IMO and pretty good coaching staff as well. The winner of this game actually has a very legitimate shot at a final four appearance on Saturday.

Hats off to South Laurel from their student managers to their players and especially their outstanding coaching staff for a job very well done!!! I didnt think they would win this region all the way up to the overtime period Tuesday night and I was wrong obviously. They officially have a stranglehold on the 13th region to say the least. Steve Wright probably could be a very good coach at the next level if he wanted to make that jump. I think he is probably the best coach in the mountains and one of the very best in the state.

If the Skins bring their A game they can win this game and if they get this win their confidence will grow and they will be hard to beat.

You might see both, but you might not see either team in the finals of the Region??

Brooks Hogue's little brother (Kyle) came through last night big in the clutch against M'boro, first diving on the floor and getting a loose ball for one possession, 2nd got a huge offensive rebound and assist very late and 3rd hit a front end of a bonus free throw with Cumberland leading by only one with around 1:00 left. Blake Polson also had a very good game for Cumberland and has become an excellent rebounder and defender and can score also inside. Let's give some props to these kids, they could step up and make a huge contribution to the Skins post season run. PD Creech is also capable of getting hot and having a big game. Go Skins!!!

Are you sure? I hope you are, that would be good

My vote for the top 4 candidates for Mr Basketball would be like this: 1. Scotty Hopson 2. Darius Miller 3. Shelvin Mack 4. Tyshawn Edmonson I dont agree with those of you that choose to believe that Miller's committment to UK will not effect the voting. If Hopson was verbally committed instead of Miller to UK with him being a Mcdonalds All American IMO it would not even be close. Hopson would be a lock

Dont get to ahead of yourself there Master, after the WYMT tournament a lot of people thought JBS was unbeatable in that region and that Hazard had to play really well in that championship game just to make it close. Hazard has improved a lot with the addition of Warren and clearly look like the best team, but I wouldnt starting counting chickens just yet! This post of yours is no doubt the kind of stuff that would make for excellet bulletin board material for a team like JBS!!

I dont think it is stretching it at all!

Congratulations to Mr Hopson, he is truly a great talent. He also has another great talent playing beside him that I would say could hold his own with any of the guards selected to this All American Team and IMO is the best guard in Kentucky (Mr Edmunson).

Mason has survived the mild drop in their level of play that they seemed to suffer after that murderous early to midseason schedule they played. They may just about be primed to make a major run toward a state championship and even though Station is very good I dont see any way Mason loses this game. Mason 78 Station 68

Very well said sir.

I would like Cumberland's chances against this team on a neutral floor!

Yes sir, there are a lot of ifs and question marks in your ONE SIDED STORY. The last time I checked a high school game does last 32 minutes, not 10 or 11??? A lot of your story here (or should I say the short BOOK you have written) is not even worth commenting on, but I would like to point out that considering MCC doesnt have a player over 6'1" it seemed very convenient for them that all 3 of Cumberlands front line players were in foul trouble in the first quarter including their best player Johnson getting his 2nd early in the first quarter sending him to the bench for almost the entire first half. There wouldn't be any reason to include that in your story would there? Also, from your onesided view on the MCC side you must not have seen their player dive on the floor forearm first extended to the face of #33 on that one play that #33 spent a little time conferring with the official??? Having said that, this was a game between two good teams that was a rollercoaster ride for both teams where in the end the home team made every free throw they shot and also shot extremely well from 3 point land the entire night to get the win. Cumberland will live to fight another battle or two this year, maybe a few more! Congratulations to the Raiders on the win!

Cumberland played a very solid game. With about two and a half minutes left in the game they were down 62-60 and Garfield Wilson got a good look for the lead from behind the 3 point line that went in and out. UHA out scored them 10-2 to end the game. The Skins and Johnson played very well and had a chance to win this game. This was a great test for Cumberland that will be beneficial down the road! Brooks Hogue hit some big shots down the stretch for the Skins that helped give them a shot at the victory. Hopson and Edmunson both had big games including some high flying dunks, the last one of the 360 variety for Hopson on a breakaway for their last bucket. Very entertaining game to watch!!

If the Skins take care of business the way they are capable of doing maybe they wont have to depend on a call or two late in the game to get out of there with a victory.

Should be an entertaining and interesting game. Cumberland is about to get healthy and should be looking to make a statement in this game. My prediction: a very competitive, well played game by both teams.

Yes, let's take a look at the Georgetown game, a very light contact foul called with .10 seconds on the clock 75 feet away from the goal compared to this game where there was a heavy contact foul ignored 50 feet from the goal with probably a full second left on the clock, and then to add to it these officials give Bell the bucket at the end of overtime clearly after the horn sounded on a play that if you stopped and thought about for just a bit would realize could not have happened in 1.0 seconds. The combination of these two plays in the same game is just NOT RIGHT and anyone that understands the game knows this. The Cumberland kids I believe are very mentally tough and Will bounce back from this with a lot of class and character and finish the year strong.

Very good post sir with a lot of good points. I believe Cumberland will be fine as long as they keep playing good solid defense like they always have and remain confident in themselves regardless of what has happened. I actually have always promoted a positive outlook toward officiating, believing that everyone gets bad calls and that you have to be mentally tough enough to overcome them. Sometimes however, when games that take championships away such as the All A Regional and the District regular season title it just really hurts a little more than just another regular season game. Having said all I have I do believe the Skins will regroup and bring their very best to the tournament and make the people of the Tri-City area very proud of them.