Kentucky Sweet Sixteen Pick 'Em

The KHSAA Sweet Sixteen begins Wednesday at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

The matchups:
University Heights Academy (30-4) vs. Lexington Catholic (30-3)
--UHA hasn't lost since Jan. 15, a 74-65 loss to Hopkins County Central.
--UHA won the state All 'A' Classic, a 53-46 win over Hazard.
--LexCath hasn't lost since Jan. 18, a 74-73 loss to Mason County.
--LexCath ran roughshod through the 11th Region, beating Richmond Model (81-50), Scott County (80-54) and Lexington Bryan Station (79-63).

Louisville Central (15-11) vs. Owensboro (22-9)
--Just like its football team, Central made an improbable run in the postseason, knocking off region powers Pleasure Ridge Park and Fairdale in the 6th Region Tournament.
--Central entered the 23rd District Tournament having lost 6-of-9.
--Owensboro High lost to Owensboro Apollo in the 9th District finals, only to knock off Apollo in the 3rd Region finals.

Jeffersontown (26-5) vs. Paintsville (29-3)
--J'town lost to Louisville Eastern in the 28th District final, but beat Eastern in the 7th Region title game.
--J'town has played just one team (Paducah Tilghman) in the state tourney.
--Paintsville hasn't lost since the All 'A' final to UHA.
--Paintsville is 1-2 against teams in the Sweet Sixteen. Paintsville beat Bardstown in the semifinals of the All 'A'.

Covington Holmes (31-2) vs. Bardstown (23-7)
--Holmes hasn't lost since a 47-46 loss to Newport Central Catholic on Feb. 14. Its average margin of victory since then is 26.5 points per game.
--After closing its season with a loss to North Hardin, Bardstown has won five straight games.
--Bardstown beat Central Hardin in the 5th Region championship game; the Bruins beat heavy favorite Adair County in the semifinals.
--Corey Hall scored 32 points for Bardstown against Central Hardin in the region finals.

South Laurel (27-7) vs. Hazard (30-4)
--South Laurel's last loss was a 69-65 setback to Knox County Central on Feb. 14.
--South Laurel beat Corbin, 59-49, in the region championship.
--Hazard has won 10 straight games since falling to UHA in the All 'A' finals.
--Hazard went 18-1 against 14th Region competition, with its only loss coming to last year's Cinderella, June Buchanan, on Jan. 12.

Shelby County (23-8) vs. Lincoln County (27-5)
--Shelby County lost 7 of its last 13 games to close the regular season, but has won six straight since.
--Shelby County went 14-3 against 8th Region foes.
--Lincoln County was 22-1 against 12th Region teams. Its only loss came to a 24-5 McCreary Central team on Jan. 29.
--Lincoln County is 0-1 against teams in the Sweet Sixteen. Lincoln lost to Paintsville, 78-72, on Dec. 28.

Paducah Tilghman (27-6) vs. Bowling Green Greenwood (24-10)
--Tilghman hasn't lost since Jan. 25, a 47-46 loss to Paducah Lone Oak.
--Tilghman, which is best known for its boys' and girls' track teams, is 1-1 against teams in the Sweet Sixteen. Tilghman lost to J'town (67-54) and beat UHA (77-70).
--By record, Greenwood is the third-best team out of the 4th Region.
--Greenwood lost to crosstown rival Bowling Green in the 14th District finals, 45-42, but beat the Purples in the 4th Region final, 57-49.

Mason County (30-4) vs. Elliott County (26-3)
--Mason County beat Elliott County, 90-61, on Feb. 16.
--Elliott's other losses are to Rose Hill Christian and Covington Catholic.
--Mason County is the home of Tennessee star guard Chris Lofton (Hi, Tubby!)
--Mason County's last loss came to No. 1 Lexington Bryan Station, which lost to Lexington Catholic in the 11th Region Tournament championship.

 

Please tell me that's a cut-and-paste from somewhere.

 

Is Kentucky the last one-class tourney in the country? I remember a documentary on ESPN six years ago that followed several teams that were trying to get to the tourney (Ashley Judd narrated, of course). Mayo was a seventh-grader then.

 

No. What makes you think that?

 

I'm taking Shelby County, only because Lincoln County beat my kind-of HS in the region final. It's the same building I attended, but it was a county school that split into East and West.

 

East has some rowdy fans, at least when it comes to football. Too bad the guy doing the PA at a game I covered had no clue what the hell he was talking about...

 

Those hooligans. They got the brand-new school, and they fucking TRASHED it within two months. Broken windows, broken lockers, holes in the walls...meanwhile, the Colts were stuck with the shitty old building. My brother was stuck at West (the countrier school) and East was the citier school. I remember when my brother was playing hoops, it was like a stupid-ass gang show before the game. My brother and his whitebread teammates throwing up Tupac-style Ws for West, the Easties throwing up their Es, and chanting things like "Eastside in the house."

Retarded.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

And West's football field = fucking terrible.

I remember two years ago it rained all week leading up to a game when West hosted Franklin County High School. By the end of that game, the field was slop and West couldn't play on it for the remainder of the year.

 

Oh, the field was terrible even when I was there. Or so I heard...hell if I was going to support that redneck school. The baseball field was hell too (my brother played baseball too).

What a terrible school. Though I still adore my math teacher.

 

I was hoping you didn't spend an hour doing it.

 

10 minutes.

 

Okay, here we go:

UHA over LexCath (because of the coach)
Owensboro over Central
J'town over Paintsville because Paintsville is from the 15th Region
Holmes over Bardstown
South Laurel over Hazard
Shelby County over Lincoln County
Greenwood over Tilghman
Mason County over Elliott County

Quarters:
UHA over Owensboro
J'town over Holmes
Shelby County over South Laurel
Mason County over Greenwood

Semis
UHA over J'town
Mason County over Shelby County

Championship
UHA over Mason County

And the lunatics who want to kick out the private schools will have more to complain about.