[kywldcat01]

In my opinion none of the teams in the 9th Region can match up with Holmes. But, I can see Boone Co. giving them a potential game. But, not to much of a game.

I think Highlands will give Holmes a much better game and has more of a chance to knock them off than Boone does.

Why?

1. Holmes will have to play Highlands at Highlands. Highlands returns everyone from last year's team that only lost to Holmes by 9 AT Holmes. That same team also scored the second most points on Holmes last season (68), so they have the offensive firepower to keep up with Holmes. The past two times Holmes has played at Highlands, they've won in overtime one game and had to make a late comeback in the 4th quarter to win the other. I also think Highlands has the front court (Grubbs 6'5 , Watson 6'5 , Dill 6'4 , Stewart 6'5) to rebound with Holmes and they have a very solid back court with Kowlonek (6'2), Grote (6'1), and Gordon (6'0).

2. Boone will have to travel to Holmes. The last time this group played Holmes at Holmes, they lost by 20 points. Boone also showed this past year that they simply don't have the offense to score many points against Holmes. (29 points in a loss and 45 in a win) Not to mention, Boone loses their leader in Mcfarland and also loses 2 other key contributors in Brown and Spaulding. Boone lacks the size to rebound with Holmes.

Looking at the match ups, Highlands matches up with Holmes much better than Boone:

(Excluding Avery since nothing is official yet)
Holmes v Highlands

6'0 Mayfield v 6'1 Grote
6'5 R. Johnson v 6'2 Kowlonek
6'5 J. Johnson v 6'4 Dill
6'6 Rice v 6'5 Watson
6'8 Pittman v 6'5 Grubbs

Holmes v Boone:

6'0 Mayfield v 6'0 Popp
6'5 R. Johnson v 6'0 Gabbard
6'5 J. Johnson v 6'3 Cotton
6'6 Rice v 6'3 Montgomery/6'4 Brown
6'8 Pittman v 6'6 Earls

Now if Avery (6'3) ends up at Holmes like everyone believes he will (including Coach Henley according to a Ryan Ernst blog), then all becomes moot IMO and Holmes walks through the region because nobody will have the talent, size, or athleticism to compete with that starting lineup.