[Cactus Jack]

Between my brother and me, we had 6 grandchildren; 5 of which were boys. So we drug that one girl all over the place watching sporting events. lol She brought her babies from Georgetown to watch that game tonight. She sent me a text and said....culture shock!! I forgot what it was like to go to a Harlan Co/Clay Co ballgame. One fight, a couple chokes and the coaches had to be seperated. LOLOLOL

Hey.....redneck passion.

We wouldn't have it any other way. A lot of respect both ways. I'll be cheering for Harlan County against those Dirty Dogs and in Rupp if they make it.


Surprised that this storyline wasn't brought up in the lead in, but this was also basically the 30th anniversary of the infamous Clay County-Harlan Independent regional tournament game in '94. I think that some folks from Harlan took issue with a late over the back call in that one, but I may be mistaken.

Clay County went on to win the region and had a six point lead against Fairdale in the first round of the Sweet 16 at Freedom Hall. Fairdale would go on to win that game 77-75 and went on to win the tournament. That year was essentially Clay County's last real chance at winning or making a deep run in the Sweet 16. There'd be other teams who were in the Top 25 (I know that '98 and '99 squads were good teams with bad draws), but in hindsight, that season or '92 was probably Clay County's last real chance at #2.

It wouldn't be very long after that the Golden Age of the 13th Region would come to a close, as the Clay County, Harlan, and Corbin teams just didn't seem to go nearly as deep in the tournament past the mid-90's.


We've both said it, but just one that you hate to see either team lose this one. I'd be foaming at the mouth over the loser of this game either way, but I really mean it when I say that Clay County's kids have nothing to hang their head about. Jones came in to a tough situation and had to break a lot of bad basketball habits and instill accountability for errors that players had been allowed to get away with in the past because their previous coach didn't really know any better but was too proud to take advice from people who'd try to help him. I know that there are plenty of people in the community who wish that "Little Mike" or someone similar could have had a shot with the group that graduated in 2021, but we can't go back in time.

I do think it's safe to say that the Tigers are long past the days of hoping to avoid the embarrassment of a loss to Jackson County in the district opener, and this was the same group that lost to Barbourville in the regional opener last season, but it only took a year to get to the point that they expected to win against one of the top teams and heaviest regional favorites in the state.

It took awhile for the kids to buy in this season, and I'm sure that it wasn't an easy process or always pretty, but there's a renewed excitement around the program. If you don't believe me, look no further than the North Laurel district final-- at least then, it gave plenty in the community that feeling that "we're back". Close to a great career and nice senior years for Bundy, Harris, and Rice. The Tigers will bring back Roark, Grubb, Wagers, Jackson, and Hooker; this should give them one of the better returning groups in the 13th next season.


Back to this game... I thought Cottrell played a little better than I'd seen him look earlier this season-- still maybe a turnover or shot or two that you'd like to have back, but he looked better in this one than I'd seen him look all year (I admittedly only saw Harlan County about 4 other times).

I didn't think that Harlan County would back down from Clay County on the glass, and they were able to make some adjustments in the second half (despite being in foul trouble) that made the difference. Getting some stops and buckets when they'd went down 10 early in the 3rd was huge-- plenty of lesser teams would have folded.

Noah was so cool and composed throughout this one. Every other kid that touched the floor showed lots of emotion, but he was collected throughout-- any time he showed emotion, it seemed to be more geared at rallying his team than to bring attention to himself. I thought it said a lot about his character to see him picking up some of the younger players like Napier and Blevins who were essentially forced into more (big) minutes than they were used to playing. I've seen more than one similar occasion where the older kid or star gets onto them for a mistake and it ends up killing their confidence or rattling them even further and costs the team in the long-run.

I think that Harlan County will be a fairly large favorite in the regional final, but you do worry about the grinding path that they've had to take to get there. Corbin will be another physical game, and you hope that they aren't too banged up. The Black Bears will need another game where they get some complementary scoring from Huff, meaningful contributions from their supporting cast, and can stay out of foul trouble. At the end of the day, I think that the taste of last year's upset will be enough motivation either way, but it could be interesting.