[Belichick]

Magoffin doesn’t handle pressure well and their defense isn’t good enough to beat Martin County.  Martin will get the ball out of Barnett’s hands and make this one look easy if they show up and play as hard as they did last night.

They’ve played 3 times this season, with Martin County winning all 3. In those 3 losses, Barnett is averaging 35.6 ppg against them. They very well may shut him down this time, but I look for others to step it up this go round. Magoffin is gonna have to come out and play the entire game like they did the first half against Johnson Central. One thing that Magoffin cannot do is let Luke Hale get going. They’re gonna have to figure something out to slow him down. Magoffin can beat Martin County, but they’re gonna have to play one of their best performances on BOTH ends of the floor. I sure hope the refs let the kids play in this one.

Regular season doesn’t mean anything this time of year. I honestly don’t care if Magoffin had beaten Martin all 3 games. Once you get to this point, it’s different. If Martin County watches film, blueprint is there to get the ball out of Barnett’s hands. I think their staff will know how and they have the talent to do it. If they let them play, it benefits Martin County who is bigger and stronger except for Barnett. Barnett tends to take defensive possessions off. Martin will exploit that. Like I said, I’ve seen Martin lay some eggs and they may have been laser focused on Pikeville just to relax tonight. But if they show up prepared and play aggressive, nothing Magoffin can do to win that game. I am rooting for them to do it just because they haven’t been before but Martin has a special senior group.