118 Teams Left

Here are the results of last night's Boys' Regional Games (MaxPreps rankings in parentheses):

FOURTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (at W. Kentucky):

Barren Co. 77, Clinton Co. 49

(3) Warren Cent. 67, Franklin-Simpson 27

SIXTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (home teams listed first):

(19) Lou. Butler 83 - 52 Lou. Pleasure Ridge Park

Lou. W.E.B. DuBois 71 - 59 Bullitt Cent.

Lou. Fairdale 61 - 78 (13) Lou. Jeffersontown

Lou. Moore 85 - 95 Lou. DeSales

SEVENTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (home teams listed first):

(4) Lou. St. Xavier 105 - 50 Lou. Central

Lou. Trinity 64 - 63 Lou. Eastern

(9) Lou. Ballard 78 - 76 Lou. Male

(12) Lou. DuPont Manual 60 - 51 Lou. Waggener

Note:  Christian Academy-Louisville, ranked 14th in the Commonwealth on MaxPreps, was eliminated by Lou. Eastern 80-65 in the semi-finals of the 28th District.  So, CAL did not qualify for the Seventh Region Tournament.

Lots more action on tap tonight.

1979

He was the All-Star leading scorer on the red, white and blue Washington Bullets, which won the NBA championship when I was 9 years old and went to the NBA Finals three times before I turned 11. Plus, his nickname was "The Big E," and there was this commercial. So, yes, Elvin Hayes was absolutely my favorite NBA player when I was a kid.

Interesting UK Stat

In Ken Pom's dataset, which goes back to 1997, there has never been a season in which UK was outscored in SEC play.  After 16 SEC games this year, UK had outscored its opponents by only 28 points:  1,252 to 1,224.  The Cats currently trail A & M by 18 points (70 to 52) with 11 minutes to go in the game.  If that margin holds, then UK would have to finish within nine points of Florida on Saturday to finish in positive territory.

UPDATE:  A & M went 2-6 in the month of February, but they had an easy time of it tonight, rolling over UK 96 to 85.  So, with one game left in the season, the Cats are 10-7 in the SEC, and they have outscored their SEC opponents by 17 points:  1,337 to 1,320.  That means that to finish with a positive point margin, they need to stay within 16 points of Florida on Saturday.  That will not be easy.

The Two Mitches!

Mitch Barnhart is retiring in June

Pope's victory over Vanderbilt effectively ensured that UK would get into the NCAA Tournament, and thus ended any chances that Barnhart would have to make a change in the men's basketball program after the season.  Now Barnhart has made clear that he will be retiring in June, which means that Pope's fate will be in the hands of the new AD, who will presumably wait to see how Pope does next year.

At one point, I had outlined a fairly long entry for the Heath Post to be called "The Two Mitches," about why Kentuckians so often find themselves being led by folks like Mitch McConnell and Mitch Barnhart.  It was going to be a rumination on conservatism, aristocracy, tradition, and populism.  But now I don't have to write it up.

128 Teams Left

The Boys' Basketball Regionals start this week.  Here are the Top 20 teams in the Commonwealth, according to MaxPreps:

1.  Cov. Catholic:  28-2

2.  Madison Cent:  29-3

3.  Warren Cent:  22-3

4.  Lou. St. Xavier:  22-7

5.  N. Oldham:  21-5

6.  Geo. Rogers Clark:  26-4

7.  Lex. Frederick Douglass:  19-6

8.  Daviess Co:  23-6

9.  Lou. Ballard:  20-6

10.  Boyd Co:  27-6

11.  McCracken Co:  25-3

12.  Lou. DuPont Manual:  21-6

13.  Lou. Jeffersontown:  18-7

14.  Christian Academy-Louisville:  20-9

15.  Lex. Catholic:  19-8

16.  N. Laurel:  24-7

17.  Lex. Bryan Station:  21-7

18.  S. Oldham:  20-6

19.  Lou. Butler:  22-6

20.  Woodford Co:  15-7

Marshall Co. (21-8) is Number 25.  Henderson Co. (Number 32) is the highest-ranked team in the Second Region.

By the way, if the NCAA used 16 regions, the regions were drawn in the same bracket as this year's KHSAA Tournament, and the team favored under Ken Pom's rankings won each region, then the NCAA Tournament would look like this (Ken Pom rankings in parentheses):

(35) Ohio St. v. (20) Arkansas

(17) Virginia v. (6) Houston

(1) Duke v. (34) Villanova

(11) Nebraska v. (5) Illinois

(4) Florida v. (3) Arizona

(14) Vanderbilt v. (21) St. John's

(2) Michigan v. (12) Gonzaga

(22) Saint Mary's v. (10) Connecticut