by Alan B. Gibson

Headed down the home stretch

Hard to believe, but we’re already in what we high school basketball lovers call the home stretch.

Yep, there’s plenty of good basketball ahead, but if you look at the calendar, you’ll see that we’re finishing out the month of January – in fact, this week is the last full week of January, and before my next column comes out, we’ll be into February already.

While March Madness is the catch-phrase used to refer to tournament time when basketball is concerned, that’s not really the case anymore when it comes to Kentucky High School basketball.

In Kentucky – March Madness actually begins in February, and we’re staring that month right in the face.

So – get ready for a fast and furious next couple of weeks because the schedule can get pretty obscene.

In February, we’re going to get in all of the rest of regular season action, we’re going to hold the annual Booster Club Radio Auction, we’re going to play the 16th District Tournament then we’re going to Bowling Green to get the 4th Region tournament underway – and we’re going to do that all the while trying to dodge snow and ice in what is traditionally the nastiest month weather-wise in Kentucky.

Did I mention that February is the shortest month of the season.

All of that before we get into March and the two respective Sweet 16 State Tournaments that are what we’ve been playing for since late November.

Hold on to your seats – the fun part is just ahead.

A slide down the rankings.

You had to know that losing to Glasgow last week in the 4th Region All “A” Classic would cause the Dawgs to drop out of the Lexington Herald Leader’s Dave Cantrall Top 25. If that wouldn’t cause it – that hiccup the Bulldogs suffered by losing to a 9-8 Jackson County Generals hot shooting team on Saturday – sealed the drop out of the Top 25 for sure.

So now – we can begin the climb back in, which makes for another goal to look forward to.

Looking at the rankings this week for the boys, once again a considerable amount of disparity exists between the two polls – the H-L Cantrall system, and the Courier Journal Litkenhous rating.

In the HL list – where Clinton County held down the No. 17 spot last week in the state, the Bulldogs dropped out of the Top 25, and now are the fifth ranked team in the 4th Region. Glasgow, which competes this week in the All “A” Classic as the 4th Region representative, moved up to the 23rd ranking in the state, making them the second team from our region to hold a Top 25 position, behind Bowling Green (No. 10). Topping out the top five in our 4th Region is Warren Central, Russell County then Clinton County.

Over in the CJ Litkenhous ranking system, (which only ranks a state Top 20), things are a whole lot different, with only Bowling Green making that state rankings from the 4th Region – at No. 20.

Rounding out our 4th Region, according to the Litkenhous system, behind Bowling Green is Warren Central, Glasgow, Clinton County and Russell County.

Both systems still have Louisville Trinity as the state’s top ranked squad, despite the Shamrocks losing last weekend to Allen Feldhouse’s Madison Central Indians in a down to the wire thriller, 78-77.

Trinity now sports a 17-3 overall record, and only one of those losses came at the hands of an in-state opponent – Madison Central, it should have at least moved them out of that coveted No. 1 spot. Of course the Litkenhous has always favored Jefferson County schools over the rest of the state, so if you accept that going in, it makes it easier to understand.

Madison Central still sports a 20-0 record – they deserve more than a No. 6 (Cantrall) or No. 7 (Lit) ranking.