kentuckian

Anybody have a schedule for this tournament?

I saw the game, dude ... did you? Westview was something like 3-20 from the 3 line ... they were bricking them.

What the heck does that rambling post have to do with my assessment of the first Marshall-Westview game?

I saw the game, and my most vivid memory is of Westview bricking a bunch of 3-pointers against Marshall's zone. I certainly don't remember them getting hammered on nearly every shot.

If someone came on a message board, posted an article I wrote and attacked my integrity and professionalism, I would want to respond, too. You're the one that has chosen to make this personal. And it's pretty obvious as to which of you two has the more objective, unbiased viewpoint on the matter.

No one is defending Howard Beth's actions on here, but it seems that some of the Martin people (or at least one particular poster) is a little sensitive about the issue and bent on attacking Beth and anyone else that doesn't see things his way. Bottom line ... the tournament is over and Westview won the title. And I fail to see how the article in question was disparaging of the Lions Club Tournament ... Beth issued his opinion, and he is entitled to it. Others can judge the veracity of it for themselves. Believe me, not everyone in western Kentucky (or Marshall County, for that matter) subscribes to Beth's point of view.

Probably because he was covering the game itself, not some post-game locker room meeting.

I get tired of this argument. A bigger school, by definition, has more athletes from which to put together their team ... that's the advantage. That's why most every state has several classes.

Vashon is one of the best teams in Missouri in any class. Warren Central is a top-10 team in Kentucky, perhaps a top-5 team. How many Class A teams in Tennessee could realistically compete with those clubs night in and night out? In all likelihood ... none.

Alcoa and Hopkinsville were scheduled to be the first game this year ... that argument is bogus. The reason the game started late last year was the extreme heat. The first game was delayed because the heat index was over 100 degrees at the time of the scheduled kickoff. What is more important? A timely start or kids not playing in dangerous weather conditions?

No one said that they were. A pretty bold statement, considering that Alcoa is forking over thousands of dollars not to play the game.

What, WB and Heritage forced Alcoa to drop a game under contract two months before it is supposed to be played? I guess we're blaming the wrong people, then. Sorry, Alcoa. On what do you base those claims?

Jinxed up rules? The Alcoa-Hopkinsville game ended around 12:30 a.m., best I recall. It was the second game of a doubleheader ... the first game was delayed by over an hour because the heat index exceeded 95 or 100, whatever the KHSAA standard is. It's done for safety reasons.

And how many of those people aren't seeing things through Alcoa-filtered glasses? Bottom line ... if Warren did something to warrant ejection from a quarterfinal playoff game, it isn't far-fetched to suggest he did something against Hopkinsville to warrant one, either. And there are people that were close to the play that said he threw a punch. Regardless of your feelings on the issue and what occurred last year, it doesn't explain why Alcoa waited until June to pull out of the rematch.

I'm not arguing with your assessment of Hopkinsville's program ... I'm not about to tell you that you didn't experience what you say you did with them. But it seems that most of the Alcoa complaints had to do with the facilities and officiating, neither of which had anything to do with Hopkinsville. Trigg County is the program that's getting screwed here, just as much or more so than Hopkinsville is.

If Alcoa had to make this decision, why didn't they do it over the winter, giving Trigg County and Hopkinsville more time to find a suitable opponent? Instead, they waited until June, two months before the game.

Alcoa won 37-6. And ... wasn't Warren ejected from another game during the playoffs? Gee, maybe the first one wasn't as much "crap" as you claim it was. I can only imagine the sour grapes had Alcoa actually lost ...

Word is that Alcoa has informed Trigg County officials that they will not be returning to fulfill its contractual obligation to play Hopkinsville in the Integra Bowl. Apparently, they waited until June to make their decision known, leaving Trigg officials two months to find a new opponent for Hopkinsville. Alcoa has apparently picked up Booker T. Washington to fill that date on the schedule, a game which will require the Tornadoes to barely break a sweat. Classy move, guys ...

Of course, it certainly didn't hurt that one of those D-1 players transferred in from another successful program.

Lake County was 23 of 40 from the foul line. Yes, they would have won if they had made more FTs, but they're not 20 points better than St. Mary. Plus, St. Mary is playing without their best shooter (out with a stress fracture) and their 6-7 center that was injured the previous night. The shot at the end of the first OT was a 40-footer, just a step or two inside halfcourt. The second OT shot was a standard 3-pointer at the buzzer. Both shots could have been prevented if Lake County had played any defense. Lake made no effort to deny Roof (who hit the halfcourt shot) the ball and gave him an unfettered path toward the goal. On the second shot, no one picked up Roof as he crossed halfcourt and passed to the open man on the 3-point line.

I was told Central-Merry would be there as well.

Schedule anyone?

True, but then the IHSA granted "waivers" to several magnet schools and small private schools. Then the IHSA, after denying waivers for about a dozen other Catholic schools, granted one to a Chicago school that won the Class A basketball title in 2004. Also, the multiplier applies only to schools above a certain enrollment. Left unaffected were one of the state's football powers (currently on a streak of four consecutive state titles) and another school that won basketball titles in 2003 and 2005 with some high-profile transfers. In short, Illinois' execution of their multiplier plan was very hasty and sloppy, and now they're paying the price for it. At least Tennessee has some consistency to their plan.

I was there, and this is how I saw it. The starters went against each other for five series, then both teams began working in the JVs. Mayfield led 13-7, but it shouldn't have been that close. Mayfield fumbled twice and had a pass tipped and then intercepted by a defensive lineman ... two of the turnovers were well inside Milan territory. Milan's only score was on a short drive after they recovered a Mayfield fumble. My guess is that Mayfield would have had about a 2-1 edge in total yards, maybe more, but was hurt by the turnovers. Mayfield could win a Class A state title ... the Cardinals are ranked #3 in the preseason and return 17 starters from a team that reached the semifinals last fall. They also had a good player (a FB and LB) transfer in when his father was hired as the principal.

It's the influence of Memphis, a city that produces as much talent per capita as nearly any city in America. Teams in west Tennessee have to compete with the Memphis schools during the season. They play with and against the Memphis kids in summer leagues and AAU ball. All of that competition tends to raise the bar for teams in the west.