[catscards]

After watching UK and IU score 192 points last night this article by Mike Fields of the Lexington paper Thursday is very timely. What do you think this says about the state of high school basketball in Kentucky?

"Rupp Arena was a fairly quiet place last week, not a good thing considering the 95th PNC/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen was going on.

It was the dullest state basketball tournament I've witnessed in the last 37 years. Absolutely zero electricity in the big house. The loudest cheer during the four-day hoopfest came Friday night when it was announced that Duke had lost to Lehigh.

There was only one close game in Rupp, and it wasn't pretty to watch. Oldham County edged Knott County Central 36-34 as the teams missed 44 of 63 shots. It was the fewest points scored by a winning team in the Sweet Sixteen since Henry Clay beat Carlisle County 35-33 in triple-overtime in the 1983 championship game.

Trinity proved convincingly that it was the best team as it won four games by an average of 17.5 points. The Rocks shot the rock well — 49 percent, including 46 percent from three-point range. The other 15 teams shot a combined 39 percent, including 29 percent on threes.

It was torture to watch teams struggle to get 20 points in a half. There were 35 quarters in which a team scored in single digits.

A total of 1,516 points were scored in the tournament, the fewest in more than 50 years. The week before in Bowling Green, the Sweet Sixteen girls' teams scored 174 more points, and hit 98 more shots.

One consistent complaint from coaches, fans (and media) was that the play in Rupp was way too physical. Hand-checking and shoving have eliminated the finesse from the games and given defenses a huge advantage.

Oh, what I'd give to see a free-flowing, up-and-down 85-83 shootout. I don't even fantasize about anybody scoring 100. It's been 15 years since a team hit the century mark in the Sweet Sixteen. (Corbin outgunned Trigg County 105-84 in 1997.) Only five teams have scored 90 points in the last 15 years. Pretty depressing stuff."

http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/22/21218...ality.html