And then there were . . . 128 each, and counting down

After last weekend’s play, the countdown continued across this basketball crazy Bluegrass state, with high school numbers continuing to dwindle with each and every game.

The teams moved into the regional level of action on Monday from one end of the state to the other, and with each game, one team moved on and one team went home.

Mostly, with the girls’ Sweet 16 action coming first on the schedule this year (March 7-11), Monday and Tuesday night’s action was girls’ action and like our own 4th Region, most boys’ teams weren’t going to hit the hardwood until Wednesday night.

Our own Bulldogs are in action Wednesday night in opening round play when we take on the Purples of Bowling Green.

Like the other seven teams in this regional tournament, the Dawgs are working for the right to advance through the 4th Region bracket and on to the championship game next Tuesday night and finally becoming the Sweet 16’s 4th Region representative.

The 4th Region boys’ lineup will see opening round games on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, then the semi finals and championship games next week on Monday and Tuesday.

Girl’s 4th Region action started on Monday and Tuesday, finishing on Friday and Saturday.

The boys’ regional game schedule is all playing too late for press deadlines this week, but going into Wednesday night’s opening round action, Warren Central was the top ranked team according to the Lexington Herald Leader’s Dave Cantrell ranking system.

On down the line was second ranked Bowling Green, third ranked Monroe County, followed by Glasgow in fourth and our own Bulldogs in fifth. The region was rounded out in rankings by Todd Central, Franklin-Simpson and Russell County, sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

Of course No. 7 South Warren (29-3) is expected to come out of our 4th Region on the girls’ side of action, but that’s certainly not a given – nothing is at tourney time.

I’m not going to be surprised if a trip to Northern Kentucky University for the Girls’ Sweet 16 isn’t in the future for either the Trojanettes of Barren County (25-7) or especially our 16th District’s own Lady Lakers from neighboring Russell County (24-6).

Lakers Coach Craig Pippen has his girls at their best right now and teams in the western portion of our 4th Region tend to look both over and down upon our 16th District when we roll into Diddle Arena.

Girls’ 4th Region rankings show South Warren as the most likely to win the regional title, with Russell County second, Bowling Green in third followed by Barren in fourth.

At this stage of the game, everyone is hoping to put out the best effort they can, but there are still some lop-sided contests across the state, even at this level.

One of the worst defeats I found after Monday night’s girls’ regional play came out of the 1st Region where the Number 20 Graves County Lady Eagles (26-6), delivered a 78-9 beat-down to the Hickman County Lady Falcons (14-17).

Graves County isn’t even the favorite to come out of the 1st Region – that would be favorite Murray High School, which entered the tournament as the state’s No. 7 rated team with a record of 29-2.

and…

It’s high school basketball season and I’ll see you in the gym – don’t bother me until April!