[Old School Hound]

Can North hang with the phycicality of Knox, I think that's where the rubber hits the road.  Tonight I suspect KC will be cutting down their third straight set of nets.

Dammit , tiger, bite your tongue. I don't want to see Knox set  their sneakers on the hallowed hardwood of Rupp again, only to lay another egg for our region.

North beat Corbin twice and Corbin beat Knox twice, so I'm relying on the transitive property to save the day.  North wins the 13th  and will be one of the  final four teams left standing , getting a rematch with Ashland in the semis.

13th region teams are almost always 1 or 2 and done in Rupp. Only South Laurel has put up a good showing in recent history.

Probably too miniscule of a sample size to say that Knox would definitely lay another egg since they've only played one Sweet Sixteen game since the Nixon administration, a 22-pt. loss to a team making its first-ever appearance in the  Sweet Sixteen. On the other hand, some 13th region teams have represented the region very well:

Corbin won their opening round in '18  and was competitive against eventual runner-up Scott County.

South lost in the semis in '16.

In '15 , Wburg led Doss by 10 at halftime before falling in a close game late.

Clay lost a two-point barnburner to eventual state champion Cov. Cath in '14.

Corbin played top-ranked Eastern close in '09 before falling late.

South lost by 1 pt. in the quarterfinals to Graves. Co. in '06.

Corbin won their first round game in '05 and lost a close one in the Quarters to UHeights.

South Laurel won the state title in '05.

South won an opening round game in '01.

Corbin scored 105 pts. in an opening round win in '97 and lost in OT in the quarterfinals.

Harlan beat Fairdale in  '96  before losing to Henderson Co. in the Quarters.

Harlan  lost in the semis to eventual state runner-up PRP  in '95 .

Clay Co. lost by  2 pts. to eventual state champion Fairdale in '94.

Harlan won opening round game in '93 and lost to eventual state runner-up Dunbar

Clay beat Ballard and Franklin-Simpson and lost a close game to eventual runner-up Lex. Cath. in '92 .

Corbin did everything but beat eventual state champ Fairdale in a close loss in '91.  

Clay lost in the semis  in '90 to eventual  state champ Fairdale .

Clay was state runner-up  in '88 (Farmer MVP)

Clay won state title in  '87 over Ballard

Clay was state runner-up  in '85 .

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Clay with  29 state tourney appearances ,  1 state title and  2 state runner-ups .
Corbin 15 state tourney appearances ,  1 state title.
Harlan with  11  state tourney appearances , 1 state title .
South Laurel with 1 state title .
Prior to their 22 pt. loss in 2019 , Knox Central last appeared in the state tourney eight months after we first landed a man on the moon.

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Note: South Laurel's state title occurred the year before they moved to the 13th region.

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Harlan also has 1 state runner-up to go along with the 1 state title.

 In the past 10 years the 13th has advanced past the second round once I believe. No question in the 90’s they had better showings, talent in the 13th was amazing then, great times. Sheesh your Knox hate is strong, yikes haha.

Nah, not hate. They are just one team that I'm not fond of. I root for all of the other 13th region schools. It's probably a Corbin thing.  Almost unanimous animosity for Corbinites towards Knox.. Knox feels the same way about Corbin. Corbin's two wins over Knox this season more than compensated for the North Laurel loss. 

Having said that, a three-peat is an extremely impressive accomplishment if they achieve it.

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By far, the most impressive performance in this tournament. Overall, I think the quality of play has been pretty poor throughout this tournament, but Knox is spot on tonight.