[kywldcat01]

Last year yes, two years ago, I'll differ with you.

Go back to Arrez's Senior year, they took care of business, and I give that young man 100% of the credit. Besides the loss to NCC that year, the beat the teams they were supposed to beat, and they beat them convincingly. If you had an Arrez on that team last year, they would not have had a single loss on the record. I was hopeful that Avery could be that floor leader for the Dogs, that guy who could set the tone. Rico and Elisha are just too strong of personality's to let that happen.

Will they be a different team in two weeks, yes, I believe they will be. But I am questioning whether they can be as good as the last two years without that court leader. We shall see. I am pulling for them, but see a major hole in their ability to three-peat to the championship game.

Very true...that 07/08 team was one of the most dominant teams in 9th region history. They won by an average margin of 21 ppg and their only loss was to Newcath by 1.

In 08/09, their margin of victory against 9th region competition was 15 ppg with their only loss coming to Boone by 7.

This year, their average margin of victory against 9th region competition is actually higher than last year's at 17 ppg. Only loss is to Ryle by 5. They still have games left against Conner and Boone too though to finish out the season.

Do you think the 9th was as good top to bottom in 07/08 as it was last year and this year? I personally don't think so, but am interested in hearing what you think.

As far as Avery being the team leader, he simply is too quiet for that. He is a team player and just does what the coach tells him to do. Not sure if you noticed or not, but Pittman was trying to be the vocal leader in this game and has throughout the season. He was constantly telling his teammates "Come on Red, pick it up, play defense" after Holmes would score or CC would get a defensive stop.

I agree though that it's still to be determined whether or not this team can be as good as the last two. What some fail to realize is those two teams were deeper than this year's team.

In 07/08, Holmes went 10 deep and pressed the entire game. They played uptempo but got after it on defense and in their press which led to a lot of transition points.

In 08/09, Holmes brough Rice and Housely off the bench. I don't think some realize how good of a supporting cast that was as a 6th and 7th man. Housely went on to play at Cincinnati St and Rice is starting this year.

This year, Holmes is bringing Herndon, Avery, and Hayes off the bench. No disrespect to any of those players but there's no comparison when comparing those 3 to Rice and Housely last year. Credit Henley though for bringing those players along to a point where they can consistently contribute now.

Should be interesting to see where Holmes is in two weeks when the region tourney rolls around. Hopefully this was just "one of those games". Last year they almost lost to a horrible Simon Kenton team that was worse than this Campbell Co team. They only beat them by 8 and that was cause of free throws late in the game.