Thursday, February 16, 2023

Top KHSAA Boys' Basketball Teams by Region

Since we now have the draw for the KHSAA Boys' Basketball Tournament, we're going to organize the top teams in the Commonwealth -- according to MaxPreps -- by region.  The chart below shows the top 20 teams in the Commonwealth, as well as the highest-ranked team in each region:

1st:  McCracken Co. (6)
2d:  Lyon Co. (12)
3d:  Owensboro Catholic (20)
4th:  Warren Cent. (1), Bowling Green (10)
5th:  LaRue Co. (35)
6th:  Lou. Evangel Christian (7), Lou. Western (13)
7th:  Lou. Ballard (8), Lou. Male (14), Lou. Trinity (15)
8th:  N. Oldham (4), Collins (11)
9th:  Cov. Catholic (3)
10th:  George Rogers Clark (9), Mason Co. (17)
11th:  Lex. Catholic (2), Great Crossing (5), Lex. Douglass (18)
12th:  Pulaski Co. (19)
13th:  N. Laurel (16)
14th:  Hazard (41)
15th:  Pikeville (57)
16th:  Ashland Blazer (31)

If all the favorites advance, the Sweet 16 would look like this (top 20 teams have their ranking next to their name):

Wednesday, March 15:
LaRue Co. (18-7) v. (6) McCracken Co. (24-5)
(7) Lou. Evangel Christian (25-4) v. (4) N. Oldham (22-5)
(1) Warren Cent. (25-1) v. (19) Pulaski Co. (22-5)
(20) Owensboro Catholic (25-3) v. Ashland Blazer (18-10)

Thursday, March 16:
(2) Lex. Catholic (27-2) v. Pikeville (17-7)
(8) Lou. Ballard (22-4) v. Hazard (25-3)
(12) Lyon Co. (24-5) v. (3) Cov. Catholic (22-4)
(9) George Rogers Clark (21-5) v. (16) N. Laurel (19-10)

That is a very tough draw for Lyon County, but overall the draw is quite fair.  The top four teams would not have to meet each other until the semi-finals, and no one else can reach the semi-finals without having to beat a top-four team.  There are only four teams outside the top 20 who are favored to make it to State, and they've all been kept away from each other.  It should be a great tournament.

17 comments:

  1. This is getting me all whipped up for the tournaments!

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  2. Lyon County won last night at Dawson Springs, 114-56.

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    1. The Madisonville Messenger had a front-page story in Saturday's paper about Coach John Calipari coming to Dawson Springs to watch this game. He was there to watch Travis Perry, the Lyon County star, who scored 61. But it was also Coach Cal's third trip to Dawson since the Dec. 10, 2021, tornado. In addition, while their gym was still being used for relief-supply storage and they weren't playing games, the UK basketball team had the Dawson Springs Panthers boys' and girls' basketball teams to Lexington to watch the Wildcats practice and visit campus.

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    2. By the way, Matt Hughes in the Messenger story quoted the Dawson Springs boys' head coach, Mickey Blue, about the lopsided loss to Lyon County: "I want to go on record by saying this--in no way did Lyon County head coach Ryan Perry run the score up on us tonight. I personally asked Coach Perry to not take his son out of the game. I wanted my young team to learn from Travis and the rest of the Lyons that there is more to the game than just shooting threes."

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  3. Seasons start ending Sunday:

    — Cumberland County vs. Russell County in the 16th District at Metcalfe County, Iroquois at Doss in the 22nd and Trinity vs. Waggener and Highlands Latin at Atherton in the 27th in boys’ tournaments

    — Cumberland County vs. Russell County in the 16th at Metcalfe County, Fern Creek at Jeffersontown in the 24th, Waggener vs. Highland Latin and Seneca at Atherton in the 27th in girls’ tournaments

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  4. Mortons Gap Hopkins County Central and Madisonville-North Hopkins advanced out of the Fifth District FPS tournament, into the Second Region finals. Competition was Monday at Hopkinsville University Heights, and results will be announced this afternoon—along with results from other Governor’s Cup competitions (individual assessments in math, science, social studies, language arts, arts and humanities and composition), following the quick-recall finals.

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  5. I'm pretty sure that its top two FPS teams out of regionals that advance to the state finals next month in Louisville. And there, they will compete alongside with FPS teams from schools whose academic teams qualify for state based on their overall regional performance.

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    1. Correction: The FPS teams who don't directly qualify from their regionals but instead go to Governor's Cup with their larger, overall-qualifying teams do. not compete for the FPS state championship. It's an alternative, parallel competition using the same scenarios, etc.

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  6. The KHSAA has hourly-updated RPI rankings for both boys' and girls' basketball.

    As I've regularly said for about the last 25 years (but maybe not once here), Software Solves Everything.

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  7. Season's over, by the way, for the Madisonville-North Hopkins Future Problem Solving team. The FPS Maroons finished fourth in Second Region. Congratulations to Hopkinsville Heritage Christian Academy for winning the region and advancing to the state finals next month. This was the Maroons' best FPS season since 2018, and the team this season had two freshman among its starting four, so we fans are very optimistic about the next years of competition.

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  8. Boys’ basketball … University Heights is done. The Blazers of Hoptown lost to the Tigers of Hoptown in the Eighth District semifinals. University Heights was No. 3 in RPI in the Second Region behind Lyon County and Henderson County.

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  9. Girls’ basketball … Union County was No. 4 in Second Region RPI—behind Henderson County, Crittenden County and Mortons Gap Hopkins County Central—but the Bravettes are done after losing to Webster County in the Sixth District semis. ... Franklin-Simpson is out. They were No. 3 in Fourth Region RPI, behind Bowling Green and Barren County. Russellville beat the Lady Wildcats in the 13th District semifinals last night.

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