What We Learned: King of the Bluegrass Night 1
The annual King of the Bluegrass tournament tipped off on Wednesday with 4 big time games. Here are my takeaways from the opening night. Collins’ Junior guards were great against Male. Marcellus Vail had a game high 24 points for the Titans.…
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Continue ReadingThe annual King of the Bluegrass tournament tipped off on Wednesday with 4 big time games. Here are my takeaways from the opening night.
- Collins’ Junior guards were great against Male. Marcellus Vail had a game high 24 points for the Titans. His back court mate Dayvion McKnight scored 23 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, dished out 7 assists and had 3 steals while handling Male’s press all game long. Fellow Junior Tyson Turner added 9 points while playing a nice all around game. Collins showed that they have a real shot at getting out of the 8th region and getting to Rupp Arena in March.
- Male needs Howard Fleming back. There were stretches yesterday where the Bulldogs struggled to score. Junior Noah Courtney had a great all around game but battled some foul trouble. Tyren Moore struggled to get his offense going. Sophomore Cameron Pope had a big game as he hit several threes. If Howard can get back soon, I think Male can avoid some of the scoring droughts that they endured on Wednesday.
- LaRue County has no quit in them. When their game against Trinity started out 12-0 in favor of the Rocks, the Hawks could have laid down. But they aren’t wired that way. A very veteran team, LaRue was led by seniors Dailliss Cox and Anthony Adkins and made several runs to get back in the game in the third and fourth quarters and their 1-3-1 zone caused problems for Trinity in the second half. LaRue is still the favorite in the 5th region and have a good chance to make it to Rupp in March.
- Trinity has quality depth. Last season, Jay Scrubb, Justin Powell and David Johnson did the majority of the scoring for the Rocks. This season has a more balanced attack and the Rocks showed that depth last night. Freshman Miles Franklin flashed some serious ability and will be one to watch in the future. Seniors Stan Turnier and Jamil Hardaway played well Wednesday while David Johnson showed his point guard abilities in front of his future coach Chris Mack.
- Madison Central plays super hard. This Indians team isn’t as talented as last year’s group that was a state title contender all season long. But this team is scrappy and dive on the floor, take charges and have all the earmarks of a typical Allen Feldhaus team. They may not be able to challenge Scott County for the 11th but they won’t make it easy either.
- Walton-Verona can really grind teams out with defense and solid half court offense. I’m interested to see when they play South Oldham and Simon Kenton as those teams are very fast paced and shoot a lot of 3s. Walton has 3 scorers in double figures and another averaging 9 points per game. With that balance and their overall team size, they are the favorite in the 8th region but I can see a team beat them with a hot night of outside shooting.
- Even with injuries and in a “down year” Ballard is still Ballard. Senior Alex Holley is in a walking boot but Walter Johnson and Rashad Bishop played well enough for the Bruins to knock off Spencer County in the last game of the night. They’ve already taken a couple of lumps this season but these Bruins will peak in February and be a legitimate threat to win the 7th region yet again.
- Spencer County may have lost but they will be better for the experience. With a relatively young team, these type of experiences will make them better in the long haul and playing teams like Ballard will only get them more ready for a potential postseason run this season and beyond. The fact that they had to play in Fairdale’s jerseys because they brought the wrong color was a first for the KOB but will certainly be memorable for them and the fans that came with them.