26 Teams Left

Tonight is the last night of the Regional Tournaments.  Five Regional Titles -- including the important Eleventh and Seventh Regionals -- were decided last night:

SECOND REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Madisonville-N. Hopkins H.S.):

Henderson Co. 56, Hopkins Co. Cent. 55

Lyon Co. 80, Hopkinsville 56

FOURTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at W. Kentucky U.):

(3) Warren Cent. 73, Barren Co. 38

S. Warren 54, Monroe Co. 51

FIFTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Green Co. H.S.):

Taylor Co. 52, Caverna 35

N. Hardin 68, Adair Co. 56

SEVENTH REGION FINAL (at Valley H.S.):

(4) Lou. St. Xavier 63, (9) Lou. Ballard 49

St. X takes the Seventh Region for the second year in a row.

EIGHTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Henry Co. H.S.):

Spencer Co. 59, Henry Co. 52

(5) N. Oldham 49, (20) Woodford Co. 33

TENTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Mason Co. Fieldhouse):

(6) Geo. Rogers Clark 81, Scott 53

Montgomery Co. 91, Campbell Co. 71

ELEVENTH REGION FINAL (at E. Kentucky U.):

Great Crossing 53, (7) Lex. Frederick Douglass 45

Great Crossing, the defending State Champion, will return to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row.

TWELFTH REGION SEMI-FINAL (at Pulaski Co. H.S.):

W. Jessamine 49, Boyle Co. 48 (OT)

Danville Christian 62, Rockcastle Co. 41

THIRTEENTH REGION FINAL (at Corbin Arena):

(16) N. Laurel 51, Bell Co. 38

North Laurel takes the 13th Region for the fourth time in the last five years.

FOURTEENTH REGION FINAL (at Breathitt Co. H.S.):

Hazard 64, Powell Co. 57

The last time Hazard won the 14th Region was in 2020, and the State Tournament was canceled for COVID a few days later.  This year, the Bulldogs are scheduled to play in the State Tournament for the first time since 2010.

FIFTEENTH REGION FINAL (at Pikeville Expo Center):

Johnson Cent. 81, Pikeville 68

Johnson Central returns to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.

SIXTEENTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Morehead St. U.):

(10) Boyd Co. 76, Russell 71

Ashland Blazer 83, Raceland 55

Right now, the State Tournament draw looks like this:

(1) Cov. Catholic or Ryle v. (4) Lou. St. Xavier

(3) Warren Cent. or S. Warren v. (16) N. Laurel

N. Hardin or Taylor Co. v. Grayson Co. or Meade Co.

W. Jessamine or Danville Christian v. Great Crossing

(19) Lou. Butler or (13) Lou. Jeffersontown v. Hazard

(5) N. Oldham or Spencer Co. v. Henderson Co. or Lyon Co.

(6) Geo. Rogers Clark or Montgomery Co. v. Johnson Cent.

Marshall Co. v. (10) Boyd Co. or Ashland Blazer

Classic SEC Rankings

Rankings of the Classic SEC from Ken Pom:

4.  Florida:  25-6

13.  Vanderbilt:  24-7

14.  Tennessee:  21-10

15.  Alabama:  23-8

27.  Kentucky:  19-12

31.  Georgia:  22-9

39.  Auburn:  16-15

62.  Louisiana St:  15-16

81.  Mississippi:  12-19

100.  Mississippi St:  13-18

If the Classic SEC had its own tournament, these rankings would lead to the following quarter-finals:

Florida v. Louisiana St. or Mississippi

Alabama v. Kentucky

Vanderbilt v. Auburn or Mississippi St.

Tennessee v. Georgia

45 Teams Left

The First and the Ninth Regions are the ones most likely to play on Sunday -- I have never understood why.  Anyway, Marshall Co. (24-8) becomes the first team to qualify for the Sweet 16:

FIRST REGION FINAL (at Murray St. U.):

Marshall Co. 76, Paducah Tilghman 40

NINTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at N. Kentucky U.):

(1) Cov. Catholic 92, Conner 41

Ryle 64, Erlanger Lloyd 37

It all wraps up tonight and tomorrow night.  Here are tonight's regional finals:

7th:  (4) Lou. St. Xavier v. (9) Lou. Ballard

11th:  (7) Lex. Frederick Douglass v. Great Crossing

13th:  (16) N. Laurel v. Bell Co.

14th:  Hazard v. Powell Co.

15th:  Pikeville v. Johnson Cent.

48 Teams Left

Now the season starts to run out very quickly, and there were huge games all over the Commonwealth on Saturday, with a fair number of upsets:

FIRST REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Murray St. U.):

Marshall Co. 47, (11) McCracken Co. 44

Paducah Tilghman 53, Murray 51

THIRD REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Owensboro Sportscenter):

Grayson Co. 65, (8) Daviess Co. 62

Meade Co. 48, Owensboro Apollo 46

SIXTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Valley H.S.):

(19) Lou. Butler 62, Lou. W.E.B. DuBois 56

(13) Lou. Jeffersontown 63, Lou. DeSales 45

NINTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (at N. Kentucky U.):

Conner 79, Ft. Thomas Highlands 76

(1) Cov. Catholic 71, Dixie Heights 41

Erlanger Lloyd 63, Cov. Holy Cross 50

Ryle 56, Newport 46

ELEVENTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at E. Kentucky U.):

Great Crossing 50, (15) Lex. Catholic 41

(7) Lex. Frederick Douglass 58, (2) Madison Cent. 49

THIRTEENTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Corbin Arena):

Bell Co. 68, Whitley Co. 39

(16) N. Laurel 66, Corbin 46

FOURTEENTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Breathitt Co. H.S.):

Powell Co. 56, Perry Co. Cent. 54

Hazard 57, Wolfe Co. 46

FIFTEENTH REGION SEMI-FINALS (at Pikeville Expo Center):

Johnson Cent. 79, Floyd Cent. 59

Pikeville 70, Martin Co. 61

SIXTEENTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (at Morehead St. U.):

(10) Boyd Co. 63, Elliott Co. 53

Russell 68, Fleming Co. 47

Raceland 64, Morgan Co. 61

Ashland Blazer 75, Rowan Co. 40

Pope Update

UK was flattened at home on Senior Day by the dominant team in the SEC, Florida.  The Gators jumped out to an 11-0 lead and were never challenged.  They led by 17 at the half, but eased up down the stretch, allowing UK to make the final score a less embarrassing 84 to 77.  The Cats finish with a record of 10-8 in the SEC and 19-12 overall.  They are ranked 27 on Ken Pom, and in SEC play they outscored their opponents by 10 points:  1,414 to 1,404.  They played 80 minutes of basketball against Florida, and never held the lead.  They will be seeded 9th in the SEC Tournament, where they will play LSU on Wednesday.  I believe that this will be the lowest seed UK has ever had in the SEC Tournament.  And yet, they will probably still get into the NCAA Tournament -- which means that Mark Pope is coming back for another year.  So, from the perspective of the UK Athletics Department, it's been an almost perfect season.

Credit to Vandy, which went to Knoxville on the last day of the season and beat Tennessee 86 to 82.  Vandy is ranked 13 on Ken Pom.  In the entire Ken Pom database -- going back to 1997 -- the highest Vandy has ever finished is 16 -- which was their mark in 2012.  I think Todd Golden or Mark Byington should be the SEC Coach of the Year.

According to Ken Pom, Vandy's point guard -- a sophomore named Tyler Tanner -- was the best player in the SEC this year.  I agree with that.  Here's Ken-Pom's all-conference team:

1.  Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt (sophomore)

2.  Darius Acuff, Arkansas (freshman)

3.  Alex Condon, Florida (junior)

4.  Labaron Philon, Alabama (sophomore)

5.  Thomas Haugh, Florida (junior)

The last Kentucky player to make Ken-Pom's all-conference team was Oscar Tshiebwe in 2023.

Here are the final standings, along with each team's seed in the SEC Tournament:

1.  Florida:  16-2

2.  Alabama:  13-5

3.  Arkansas:  13-5

4.  Vanderbilt:  11-7

5.  Tennessee:  11-7

6.  Texas A & M:  11-7

7.  Georgia:  10-8

8.  Missouri:  10-8

9.  Kentucky:  10-8

10.  Texas:  9-9

11.  Oklahoma:  7-11

12.  Auburn:  7-11

13.  Mississippi St:  5-13

14.  S. Carolina:  4-12

15.  Mississippi:  4-12

16.  Louisiana St:  3-15

Ken Pom has UK beating LSU 79 to 74, but there's a 31 percent chance the Tigers will pull the upset.  That would be awkward for the Powers That Be in Lexington, but it would be unlikely to change their minds.