[Cactus Jack]

Final from NKU. Another 9th Region contest filled with tons of scoring-- the excitement must bleed from the banks of the Ohio River.

Lloyd trailed two and missed their initial look but Jayden Humphrey stuck it back in as time expired.

The Juggernauts move on to face Cooper in the final on March 18th at Northern Kentucky University.

[4 Quarters]

Final from NKU. Another 9th Region contest filled with tons of scoring-- the excitement must bleed from the banks of the Ohio River.

Lloyd trailed two and missed their initial look but Jayden Humphrey stuck it back in as time expired.

The Juggernauts move on to face Cooper in the final on March 18th at Northern Kentucky University.

Actually. their being played closer to the banks of the Licking River, there lies the problem.
If only Taylen Kinney had stayed at Newport.

[Cactus Jack]

Actually. their being played closer to the banks of the Licking River, there lies the problem.
If only Taylen Kinney had stayed at Newport.

This isn't meant to be a knock on Lloyd, just an overall observation on the 9th:

The 9th Region has always confused me. Some of the first teams I can really remember are the Highlands teams with Lorenzen and Smith. They were really fun to watch even if they weren't putting up 80.

I can see why an area full of schools and communities more geared toward football would want to try to play at a crawl and to try to beat you to death, but I don't think it's a coincidence that most teams from the 9th who were actually contenders didn't play like that (or could at least match really good teams who tried to play max possessions).

I don't agree with every new trend in modern basketball, but I think we're to the point where things are going to make a huge shift in the opposite direction before you can expect that trying to play in the 40's and 50's is going to do anything other than keep the other team in the game and put you at huge risk of getting buried by a big run or two. It's probably a bit more complicated than everyone falling in love with the three, but I think that's the biggest reason why.

40 points in a high school game is a pace of 5 points every four minutes. So basically someone can take two shots (3's) and come out better than what you've taken half of a quarter to do. Plodding usually isn't going to get the other team in foul trouble or you in the bonus either. It's one thing if you are running patient offense and hitting high percentage looks, but it's another if you are so far into your kid's heads that they hesitate to take open shots. At that point, you are running a variant of late-Kentucky Calipari's three man weave to nowhere while the other team sits back and clogs everything up. Yes, there'll be a Virginia or someone similar who comes along every now and then, but it's just as likely to be the #1 seed that lost to a #16 as it is to be the National Champion.