Now that we've got through the holidays, what is everyone's take on the 13th so far? I would go like this.
1. Clay Co. Thought South would be a little closer, but Clay is a battle-tested, talented team. Region is theirs to lose.
2. South Laurel. A tough matchup for Clay with their size. If Griffith ever gets comfortable they could be really good. But Davis has to prove himself at crunch time, hasn't so far.
3. (Tie) North Laurel and Harlan Co. North is improved over last year, not on the level of the top 2, but could pull off a win on a good night. Harlan Co. could do the same, they have really good guard play.
Tough for me after that. Corbin will always be dangerous, Knox Central, Barbourville and Whitley all have some ability. But its hard for me to see a region winner other than Clay or South. At least right now.
1. Clay Co.
2. SL
3. Harlan Co.
4. NL
5. Barbourville
6. Whitley Co.
7. Knox Central
8. Corbin
9. Bell Co.
10. OBI
11. Lynn Camp
12. Jackson Co.
13. Pineville
14. Harlan Ind.
15. Williamsburg
16. Middlesboro
17. Red Bird
Clay and South are definitely the favorites. The next level would be Harlan Co. and NL. Either of these teams could win it if they get hot at the right time. After that, barbourville, Whitley, and Knox Central are teams that are good, but not good enough to cut down the nets. I don't see any real contenders outside of the top four. Players to watch are....Smith, Farmer, Wolfe, Broughton, Carmichael, Perry, Turner, C. Taylor, Grubb, Griffith, Marsee, Woods
Agree 100 percent with Hagar
The Jags are WAY different than last year and a LOT better than people are giving them credit, just hope people keep sleeping on them. South No where near the team that people say they are. Coaching will kill them like always.
It will come down to Big Clay and the Jags. Harlan Co not far behind.
Looks about right to me guys.
South has the best assistant coach in the region sitting on the bench. They will be fine!!!! Also NL soft schedule will get them in the end. How many times can you play Redbird, OBI and Lynn Camp.
In fairness, Red Bird and OBI are district games, but I expected a stronger schedule this year.
I agree with Norths schedule being as weak as anything out there. But i believe this was modeled after Williamsburgs last year in hope to build confidence in this team. This group has lost a lot in the prior years
Not going to defend Norths schedule, because it has been weak (but don't forget Apollo was supposed to have Eli Wright and Clark Co. is almost always good, just aren't this year), but it does pick up, as over the last month they play Clay home-and-home, at South, at Pulaski, vs. Owen Co.on a neutral court, so there will be opportunities to see if they are a legitimate contender.
I think north will have a chance in any game they play. They are long where they need to be. They have not shot the ball well from three but they will get it going. Roscoe on the bench is a huge help this year. I don't think any coach would be upset with having Broughton Sizemore Asher Jeffers gray on their team Gonna be some great games coming in jan feb March. I already dread it ending lol
The second half of their schedule is a lot better. It is going to be a great second half of the season in the 13th region. Let's just enjoy it while it lasts.
Clay has stepped up to the favorites role. Still have to sort out who the go to guy is. South has better talent but the kids from Clay have been together forever. North is good but are coach challenged. They floundered last year when Roscoe got ill. Roscoe was able to carry Steve Wright. Maybe he can get North to play up to their potential.
I can't imagine a senario where South's inside present doesn't really cause major matchup issues for Clay Co. No possible way they can matchup unless there is foul trouble with South's bigs. This matchup will tell everyone a lot about these two coaches.
How anybody say clay has pushed theirselves to the favorite I will never know. They are one of the two favorites for sure but they have played one ranked team and lost and should have lost to Franklin Simpson. Anybody watched that one knows Franklin got hosed. I think the team was ranked 21 or so in their state that they lost too. They did beat ballard but I promise ballard is not a top 20 team this year. South lost to the only two ranked teams they played too. We will know more on jan 18th. Beat Whitley by 10 or so. South beat them 20 at Whitley. No favorite in my eyes just yet.
I think they were pretty even from the start. South looked to have a little more talent on paper, but Clay had big-game experience and had experienced quite a bit of success as a team.
I agree with Van Hagar's earlier post. I think North and HCHS deserve to be 3 and 4 in some order, but I'm not sure they are clearly better than Barbourville, Whitley or KC.
ky playmaker Wrote:How anybody say clay has pushed theirselves to the favorite I will never know. They are one of the two favorites for sure but they have played one ranked team and lost and should have lost to Franklin Simpson. Anybody watched that one knows Franklin got hosed. I think the team was ranked 21 or so in their state that they lost too. They did beat ballard but I promise ballard is not a top 20 team this year. South lost to the only two ranked teams they played too. We will know more on jan 18th. Beat Whitley by 10 or so. South beat them 20 at Whitley. No favorite in my eyes just yet.
Ok playmaker lets compare , because at this point there isn't much to compare, clays win against Ballard is head and shoulders better than any win south has. Clays beats Corbin by 32 and then is ahead 20 with 2 mins to go before the ref tried everyway possible to give it back to Corbin. South beat Corbin by 2 at home. Whitley was content on only losing by 12 instead of getting ran out of gym. 3 out of the 4 teams in Vegas was quality and summit Utah was a top 20 team as well.
Souths only decent win is Cordia and they was without there coach , plays east ridge which is terrible, phelps who is even worse, and only beats pike central by single digits. Yes they played well against Owen and mercer but lost both, a loss is a loss.
Now I'm not saying south isn't good cause they are, and they deserved to be ranked in the top 20 in the state, but until they beat clay or someone in kentucky does they are ahead of south, and Franklin Simpson shot 37 % of there shots from 3. If you want foul calls drive to the basket, clay makes a living at it even on the road.
Oh by the way Ballard ran Owen county ( which beat south) out of the gym in the KoB and beat Bowling green as well another top 10 team, which makes clays win even better. Your argument please.
HCS Wrote:I think they were pretty even from the start. South looked to have a little more talent on paper, but Clay had big-game experience and had experienced quite a bit of success as a team.
I agree with Van Hagar's earlier post. I think North and HCHS deserve to be 3 and 4 in some order, but I'm not sure they are clearly better than Barbourville, Whitley or KC.
No I don't think North or Harlan are clearly better than those teams either, any matchup with them would be basically toss up games, I just give them a little edge based on their play to date.
As for why I would put Clay over South (right now), I go back to the old reliable, the eye-test. I've seen every legit region team at least once, South and Clay three times each, and so far Clay just looks a little more in sync to me. I don't argue though that South has basically every ingredient to be really, really good. But man they let inferior teams hang around too often, might bite them when it matters most.
I was waiting for someone to mention Ballard's big win over Owen County!
I'm still trying to figure out how Clay, or anyone in the 13th is "battle tested" or a favorite. Clay and South has beat absolutely no one. I'm not counting the FS game for Clay because anyone with half a brain could see why they won that game. Or the fact that Clay is suppose to be some kind of measuring stick for other teams to see where they stack up. North is much improved this year, and I would put money on them beating Clay once this regular season. But until South, North, and Clay play each other, it's all homers/parents stating why their team is best. I do give Clay the advantage in that area though.
Ballard win is a good one but I don't think it's enough to push them ahead as fav. Ballard played the night before and then had to take bus to clay co next day. Clay was fresh. It does make a diff but still good win and I agree south needed to win the mercer or Owen or both to be the fav also. I also know the fav don't win the 13th very often so clay can have it. Clay was fav last year I think.
1. Clay
2. South
3. Don't matter.
Ballards big win over Owen came in a week that Owen had to play Trinity, Louisville Fairdale, and Taylor county. I would imagine having to face a quick aggressive team like Ballard in the championship would be a big hill to climb. Not to mention it is a bad matchup game for Owen. As big of a beast as Carson Williams is, if you can shut down their perimeter shooters and let Carson get his, they are very beatable. Ballard has the quick guards to stay in the perimeter shooters face non-stop. They also only beat Owen by 13 on late fts in a close game. Not really a beat down. Lol. But that is a unbiased opinion.
This is why this board is great!
Well if you want to look at it that way clays only loss was the 4 game in as many days against very quick and athletic teams, (not mountain teams), on a trip that was thousands of miles from home, jet lagged and distractions of sin city. You can make excuses for any situation, and i didn't see one single FACT to support SL being ahead of Clay.
I rest my case. True stery, ding, ding , ding
walterwhite Wrote:This is why this board is great!
True story right there
BrokenArrow Wrote:Well if you want to look at it that way clays only loss was the 4 game in as many days against very quick and athletic teams, (not mountain teams), on a trip that was thousands of miles from home, jet lagged and distractions of sin city. You can make excuses for any situation, and i didn't see one single FACT to support SL being ahead of Clay.
I rest my case. True stery, ding, ding , ding
I never said south was a head of clay. Said no clear fav to me yet. U all get ur panties in a wad to easy. I will say if farmer keeps playing like he is its over. Best player in Corbin tourny by far. Smooth Hope his back gets sore carrying the load.
BrokenArrow Wrote:Well if you want to look at it that way clays only loss was the 4 game in as many days against very quick and athletic teams, (not mountain teams), on a trip that was thousands of miles from home, jet lagged and distractions of sin city. You can make excuses for any situation, and i didn't see one single FACT to support SL being ahead of Clay.
I rest my case. True stery, ding, ding , ding
I don't think anyone is a favorite yet, but I'll play Devils advocate I guess.
First of all, Vegas isn't "thousands" of miles away. Close to 2000.
Secondly, if Utah doesn't have mountain teams, then we don't either. Lol.
Finally, let's talk match ups. Here's how it looks to most outsiders. Blake Smith/Ryan Anders (both kids are very hard to score on.) Farmer/Griffith (Griffith a lot more athletic, but Farmer can shoot over anyone.) Wolfe/Grubb (Huge advantage for South, because Wolfe can't guard Grubb on the perimeter, and Grubb won't have to guard Wolfe.) Miller/Sexton (Really a wash, but could be the difference, depending on hit hits the most open looks that they'll get.)
I honestly have no clue who will win, and it doesn't matter until region anyway. But the more a fan base keeps saying they're the favorite, it makes it look like if you keep saying it, than it has to be true.