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Last year the 13th District was chaos, with seemingly anyone capable of beating any other team. There’s not nearly as much of that this season and everything settled into a nice package at the end, with Logan County sweeping everyone, Russellville sweeping everyone else, and Franklin-Simpson just sweeping Todd County Central. Which would seem to set up a boring 13th District tournament, but there is just a bit of intrigue out there thanks to a long midseason absence of the best player in the district, and what his return might bring to the postseason. To the matchups….. February 24th #1 Logan County vs. #4 Todd County Central – Logan County may have been sweating it down the stretch, watching the scoreboard to see what was happening with Franklin-Simpson. Last year Franklin-Simpson fell into the 4 spot and knocked off the Cougars by 1, ending Logan County’s hopes of returning to the region tournament for just the second time since 1998. This year Logan County played the Wildcats for a half with a healthy Tavin Lovan, and held on to win by 8. Without Lovan in January, Logan County blew the doors off by 21. But they knew Lovan would be back, and thankfully he returned in time to lead the Wildcats to a pair of wins over Todd County Central, knocking the Rebels down into the 1/4 game with Logan County. The Cougars dominated the season series between the two, winning by 35 on their homecourt, then 18 on the road back on January 9th. They do have the disadvantage of playing the Rebels on the road, but it’s a far less daunting task. Todd County Central is just 3-26 on the year with only a single region win, that over hapless Glasgow. The Cougars were playing well leading up to the snow layoff, with close losses to powerful Hopkinsville and Bowling Green interspersed with a trio of wins. The Cougars should roll with their balanced attack from Ben Wright (15.5 PPG), Tahmir Graham (12.1 PPG), Taylor Blakemore (12.0 PPG), and Noah Whittinghill (10.8 PPG). Prediction: Logan County by 23 February 25th #2 Russellville vs. #3 Franklin-Simpson – This is the one to watch. This is probably the best 2/3 game in the entire region. Franklin-Simpson’s 9-17 record is the most deceiving record in the entire Commonwealth because of the midseason absence of Tavin Lovan. Lovan averages 26.4 points per game. 26.4. Leaves just a bit of a gap when he’s not on the floor, which he wasn’t thanks to a broken non-shooting wrist suffered in their loss against Logan County on December 12th. He did not return until January 30th against Todd County Central. In between, the Wildcats went 2-14, including losing their last nine without him. You can do the quick math to see that they went 7-3 when was in uniform, and that includes the game he only played a half of against Logan County. He played against Russellville in their second matchup, in just his second game back. The Panthers won a tight one 68-66 despite Lovan’s 35 points. That matchup proves that even with Lovan there the Wildcats need someone else to step up. Russellville for their part has put together a solid 12-11 campaign, with many of their losses suffered against the upper echelon of the region. They put together a strong 7 game winning streak during the middle of January, and have a trio of double digit scorers in DeAndre Bradshaw (13.4 PPG), Lee McMurry (13.1 PPG), and Jason Mitchell (12.0 PPG). The Panthers have a history of winning in the district semifinals, and their 11 straight region tournament appearances are a 4th Region record. Neither team in this is going to be an easy out, but someone has to come out on top. In this case, we’re going with the team with the best player. Prediction: Franklin-Simpson by 2 February 27th Predicted Matchup #1 Logan County vs. #3 Franklin-Simpson – It’s been hammered above that the season matchups between these two aren’t necessarily indicative of what will happen here, so we won’t dwell on it. Logan County, though, has established themselves as a bit of a dark horse for the entire region. They’ve had some lows (13 point loss to Greenwood, 24 point loss to Barren County), but have put up a lot of fight when playing the likes of Warren Central and Bowling Green, and have proven themselves capable of making some noise in the region tournament. It was mentioned in last year’s preview that Logan County has not won the district since 1993 when there were only three teams, and haven’t won a four team district tourney since 1988. We thought they’d get it done then but Franklin-Simpson was standing in their way. They’ll be in their way again, but this time the Cougars finish the job. Prediction: Logan County by 6