crazy8s

I didn't know that Anderson was "the" favorite to win the 8th! South Oldham beats Boone by 10 in today's scrimmage game- scrappy, physical play most of the game by both teams!

I agree with you SportsLady- well said! It is hard to pick one over the other - especially if there is not a clear cut definition. You make an argument for better stats, scoring, etc which to me is hard to overlook for Whitfield, but better stats has not always been the decisive factor in the 8th. Perhaps we need to have a defensive and a offensive player of the year in the voting and make it more objective verses subjective. Both are great players!

More great news for the 8th region. Congrats Sydney- OVC is a good fit for her with her size and physical-ness.

A couple of things... Top four teams(Anderson, Owen, South Oldham, & Walton) are all within striking distance of each other no clear cut favorite- will be another exciting tournamant this year. Last year, semi's were all determined by a 1 or 2 points if my memory serves me correctly. As for the best player, depends what your determining factors are and that will vary among folks. Both players are excellent and invaluable to their respective teams! Both have committed to play at the next level which will be D1 for both as NKU will be bumping up starting next year. The Big East is pretty imperssive level to play though and she also had offers from the SEC. If you base it on stats, who has the better ones and which ones matter the most? Sometimes the best scorer in the region is not the POY- look at Devine last year for that matter or Jones from SO a few years back- they too were invaluable to their teams. Or do you base it on who put the team on their back and carried them to a title or took them farther that was expected? When the two met head to head last year at Owen, Whitfield won that battle I beleive, but I would give Gayheart the edge in regional tournament performance but POY was voted on before the tourney. It is really hard to pick one over the other as both are great players so it comes down to votes and that is where the smaller schools stick together IMO and Gayheart comes out of top.

Sportslady you have a pretty good take on things. I too would love to see Wright have a better season this year. She is a good kid but it can sometimes be mentally difficult to play for a parent. Hopefully this year, she will come out and be a consistent contributor from the get go. Sedoris needs to be a physicial factor at the 5 spot- definitely need her and I can see her possibly starting. Whitfield and Dye are still THE key players IMO. They should lead the way yet again for them and cannot afford to take any nights off as their schedule is as tough this year as it has ever been in a long while. Great tournaments with higher competition should really benefit them come tourney time along with coming together as a complete team, one cohesive unit, where everyone understands and perfprms their role completely. Team chemistry is so HUGE for girls. Don't ever under estimate that factor as I have seen it ruin plenty of quality teams. They are senior heavy so EVERYONE needs step up and finish. This is the last go round for this class who has had high expectations for the past several seasons but has failed to deliver in the end. Hopefully they finally get it done and make it to the sweet sixteen. It would be awesome to go to Diddle! Go Lady Dragons!

Great news for Jasmine and her family.

Yea! He finally posted soemthing about her! Great list of schools- hope she visits all 5 before she makes her final decision as it is so easy to get caught up in the hype of the visit. So very happy for her and her family.

I am glad that she has so many choices and in several conferences to boot. Good for her- she deserves it and is overlooked by many of the local sports writers and coaches. Signing early should take a big weight off her shoulders.

I would hope that she would not re-apply after the way they have treated her. There is much more here than they are saying.

That is great to hear for Jasmine! CONGRATS! It's a shame that Jody Demling(CJ) only mentioned the guys MVP today in his blog. 8th Region has never gotten much "Love" from him. What schools have offered her so far?

I heard the same thing Retro - no teaching positions open to bring anyone in so that had to high from within.

North Oldham has been a revolving door for coaches for the past several years with the exception of girls basketball until now. Rumors have flown for years about administration and parental influence issues. They certainly have nice facilities that were updated recently and a better record the past two seasons. Unfortunately, they have not had the success that most thought they would over the years. Lots of player turnover and they haven't even fielded a freshman team the last 2 seasons so they appear to be short on numbers. Coach Martin all but guarenteed in the local paper that they would make it to the region tournament last year and that did not happen. Perhaps a new coach will revive the program. They have an outstanding player in Nicole Bryant which is a great place to start.

Might be with AD's?

Does anyone have a listing of the region all tournament team? MVP awards many times go to seniors over underclassman, not sure if that is what happened here or not. In my opinion, Sandlin should have gotten MVP for the tournament- she came up HUGE in the last two games. 9/10 is alot from two teams- I think I like the way they use to do it CM.

Walton is very deserving of the regional crown. Congrats! Very well coached group of young ladies. Good luck at WKU next week.

Very impressive!

I had to chuckle at your comparison - but it is very true. I also had Alydar in those races CM. I do think there should be some consideration for CO-POY in some instances - but probably not practical unless the votes are tied. No one likes to be second, it iis human nature.

You have to be a senior to be recognized as the KABC player of the year which is recognized at the state tournament.. There is a separate vote for that award, not the ssme as what the 8th region coaches just voted for, and ballots are send out the schools who have KABC memebership. You can also vote for your own player with the KABC and have more than one caoch at your shcool vote, but you cannot with the Region Coaches. vote.

Who was voted coach of the year?

Very interesting thread and I am curious to see the complete list of players that made it. I agree with CM about it being tough to decide which factor is the most important in deciding who are the top players. I wonder if smaller schools vote for other smaller schools "Best Player" when that player may not really be one of the top 10 players, just to have some representation in the list. I also wonder if you are the coach of one of the better players, you cannot vote for your own player btw, if you place another top player down a few spots in order to give your player a better chance. No one would want to admit it, but I would bet that it goes on. IMO- Whitfiled is the best player "all around" in the region but the best player doesn't always get the votes. Perhaps her goal is more team oreinted- SWEET SIXTEEN!!!

There was such a fluke ending to that game that WV won that I think we have to throw it out. Yes they won by the final score but there were several calls that would have not happened with a better crew of ref's calling the game IMO. WV has a very nice team but I would have to put SO ahead based on strength of schedule. I give WV the nod over Anderson though. They did not impress me at all against SO on Friday night.

I agree with SportsLady that this is a big game for South Oldham and staying out of foul trouble will be the key to winning for them. Whitfield is a tough match up but it will be interesting to how McKee deals with her. Should be another outstanding game and when Whitfiled, Dye, and a thrid scorer for the lady dragons step up, they will be tough to beat. The big question will be who that third person will be tonight- Housley stepped up against Owen and there are several that are capable. I give a slight edge to South Oldham tonight but know that Anderson is fully capable of pulling out the win.

Local paper in Oldham picks the Colonels. There is some motivation for the South players!