[Cactus Jack]

Warren Central wasn't as good as the year before, but the 4th Region is still a tough draw. Bowling Green was one of the few teams that had beaten Harlan County this season, but they were upset in the regional. Newport was one of only two teams ranked above HC in the tournament field, but they lost to Campbell County in the first round.
Tough draw, but they got some help along the way.

Anyone who thought the 4th was an easy draw didn't see the same Bowling Green team that I saw three to four times. Ritter would have been a major problem for any Mountain team and definitely capable of winning the entire tournament. Warren Central was no pushover either; they had some losses early but injuries at key positions really effected them during that span.

Aside from Great Crossing, Lyon County, a healthy Trinity, a healthy Newport, or arguably Ashland, Spencer County, or Evangel (who Harlan County beat), there's no way that you could say that it could have been worse.

Just me, but if you look at last year's draw going into the tournament, the only places that you could flip Harlan County with someone else and say that they were worse would be to just match them up with Great Crossing, Lyon County, Trinity, or Newport from the jump.

Newport's injuries were the type you really couldn't overcome; it would have been similar to Lyon County losing Perry. Trinity had some kids banged up, but Harlan County has a much smaller talent pool and having a starter with a broken wrist was much harder on them than what Trinity had to overcome if we're just comparing talent.