[bballmama]

When was the last time you saw a good pickup game of young kids.

almost every summer weekend at "the cage" you can watch a great game of bball

[Batpuff]

almost every summer weekend at "the cage" you can watch a great game of bball

Hell just about eveynight in the summer you can get a good game in before dark and its been known to play in the dark on a few nights at "THE CAGE" where men are men and boys become men. (lol)

[Matney's Prodigey]

Did they win state like paintsville did in 96, i dont think so, did they have a player that went to uk,nope....i would consider these things actaully doing something.....but i will give it to ya winning a game down there is good but winning the whole thing is alot better.......

I know that if you asked any coach in the 15th region if they thought going to Rupp and winning a game was an acomplishment they would answer yes. Even BMR would tell you that it is something that dosn't happen often. All I said was that winning a game in the State Tournament makes you one of the last 8 teams in the state. That in any book is an acomplishment and is doing something.

[TERMINATOR X]

yep i agree

[Degree]

yup i 100% agree with you

[ekybballfan]

It's hard for the smaller Eastern KY schools to come up with enough talent 7-8 or 9 deep to consistently compete against the larger schools in Central, Western and Northern KY. Occasionally E. KY will come up with a power house team but that does not happen very often. Just look at the results of the Class A tournament and the Sweet Sixteen Tournament. Now, (South Laurel) has a "power house" team, but that group of boys have played AAU ball together for years (this is the result of playing together for years against "top shelf" competition).

The smaller communities usually can't put AAU teams together that can compete at the AAU Div 1 state or national level. It's just a simple case of numbers, when you have a larger pool to pick from there is usually more talent in those large pools.

At the middle school level seems like the E. KY schools dominate, but here is my theory why....

Seems like it's more acceptable and more common to hold kids back to play ball in E. KY. Sometimes you will see an 8th grade team that has 5-10 hold backs on one team. From my observation, N. KY, Central KY and W. KY does not hold as many kids back to play sports. When boys are in that 13-15 age range, 1-2 years makes a huge difference in speed & strength.
However, when these boys get up to the 11th & 12th grade the speed and strength factor starts to even out around the ages of 17-19. That's when the talent comes in to play. Resulting in, More Talent, More Wins!

[WOW]

I agree with your holdback "theory". While the team full of holdbacks is dominating their competition-- the group of non holdbacks is playing against teams that are some times 2 years older. These teams of true middle school students are playing against a higher level of competition which improves their game/skills. On average-- how much of challenge is there in a team of boys who should be sophomores playing against a team of "true" 7th and 8th graders?

[camera_crazy]

The 15 region is behind, do to location and size of the other schools in Lex. Louisville are larger and serve as magnet schools. This attracts more big time players, most of their teams play year round anyway.

[CaptianAmericia]

To be a contender a team must play together more than just the season.The teams in eastern ky just does not have enough kids that just play one sport.South Laurel Scott Co. Mason Co ect. have solid programs in which these kids continue to play together before and after the regular season.

[BasketBallonlyfan]

I dont think the size of the schools has as much to do with it as alot of the younger people on here. I can remember back when teams like Virgie, Elkhorn City, and a few others would win a few games in the sweet 16. I dont know what changed besides x box and playstations...