District surprises

• Two defending boys’ regional basketball champs were eliminated from the post-season race last night. Graves County, a Sweet Sixteen semifinalist last year and top-rated in the 1st Region this year, fell to St. Mary 49-32 in the 3rd District semifinals. And Johnson Central, which won the 15th Region last March, lost to cross-town rival Paintsville 84-71 in the 57th District.

• But the biggest surprise of the night was Frankfort’s 64-59 upset of Franklin County in the 41st District semfinals at Woodford County. Franklin County beat the Panthers 86-52 in December, and 63-48 in January, but Frankfort got the one that counted for first-year coach Juan Byars. The Panthers (10-1 were led by Zed Smith’s 20 points.

• The most lopsided boys’ score of the night: Henderson County thumped Providence 111-22. It was the Colonels’ largest margin of victory in school history, and their second highest point total (they rang up 113 points on, yep, Providence, in 1994). Providence, which will consolidate with Webster County before next school year, finished the season 1-22.

Knights a pre-season hit

We interrupt post-season basketball for pre-season baseball. Defending state baseball champ Lexington Catholic is getting some national hype, and more is sure to come. Coach Rodney Martin’s Knights are 16th in studentsports.com’s Fab 50 national rankings, and 17th in Baseball America. They’ll surely be in USA Today’s pre-season Super 25 when it’s released in a few weeks. “I think it’s a good thing,” Martin said of the national notice. “We’re a senior-laden team that should be able to handle it. I won’t let them get the big head.” Lexington Catholic will be led by senior centerfielder Ben Revere (left), a University of Georgia signee who is rated among the top 100 seniors in the country. (Revere’s No. 83 rank in Baseball America makes one wonder how there could be 82 players better than him.) Knights’ lefty Nick Maronde, who was 13-0 last year, is rated among the top 100 juniors. Martin returns all of his starters except outfielder/pitcher Michael Fahs. Lexington Catholic opens the season March 28 at home against Conner before heading to Tennessee and Florida during spring break. Thanks to their artificial turf facility, the Knights have been able to practice outside pretty regularly the last couple weeks.

Pleasure Ridge Park, which had four sophomore starters on last year’s state tournament team, is rated 32nd in the Fab 50.

Aaron Morris: double trouble

Here’s a trick question, hoops fans. What “name” player is the state’s leading scorer in boys’ basketball? Steffphon Pettigrew has been atop the statistics all season, and is currently averaging 34 points a game. But the “name” player leading the state in offensive firepower is junior standout Aaron Morris, who is averaging 42 points for Muhlenberg North and Madison Central. That’s right. The best player for Muhlenberg North is named Aaron Morris (left), a 6-foot-3 junior who’s averaging 23 points and excels against top competition. He had more than 30 points in a win over Owensboro. The best player for Madison Central is also named Aaron Morris (right), a 6-5 junior who’s averaging 19 points and excels against top competition. He had 32 points, including 4-for-6 three-point shooting, and 15 rebounds in a 78-72 loss to No. 1 Scott County in the regular-season finale last week. Bottom line: Aaron Morris is good enough to make his team(s) a contender in the 3rd and 11th regions.

** When I made my picks for the Sweet Sixteen, I thought taking Christian County to win the 2nd Region was risky because the Colonels had to face University Heights Academy on the first night of district play. I shouldn’t have worried. Christian County bashed the Blazers 92-57 last night. Hopkinsville radio man Andy Mays said that UHA junior stars Scotty Hopson and Tyshawn Edmonson didn’t play in the first quarter for discipline reasons, and Christian County took advantage by blowing out to a 12-0 lead that eventually grew to 40-13. Jamaizz Baker had 23 points for the winners. UHA was rated No. 15 in the state in the pre-season, but it never played up to its potential and finished the year with a 13-14 record.

Tournament tip-off

Three months after the season began, we’re ready for the real business of basketball. District tournaments begin across Kentucky tonight. Between now and the end of the week, approximately 550 boys’ and girls’ teams will be whittled down to 356 district winners and runners-up who’ll move on to regional tournaments next week. Defending boys’ champ Jeffersontown opens defense of its title against Kentucky Country Day on Wednesday. Defending girls’ champ Lexington Catholic will face Lafayette or Tates Creek on Wednesday. Here are 10 first-round district matchups that could sideline a state contender or two:

• Boys’ 8th: University Heights (led by Scotty Hopson, above) at Christian County, tonight

• Boys’ 25th: St. Xavier at Manual, tonight

• Boys’ 35th: Cov. Holy Cross vs. Holmes at CovCath, Tuesday

• Boys’ 42nd: Henry Clay at Scott County, Tuesday

• Boys’ 43rd: Lafayette at Lexington Catholic, Tuesday

• Girls’ 43rd: Lexington Christian vs. Dunbar at Lexington Catholic, Tuesday

• Boys’ 46th: Mercer County at East Jessamine, Tuesday

• Girls’ 17th: Central Hardin vs. North Hardin at Elizabethtown, Wednesday

• Boys’ 22nd: DeSales at Butler, Wednesday

• Boys’ 17th: John Hardin at Central Hardin, Thursday

Bevars slam-dunks rumors

Rumors sometimes take on a life of their own in this day of radio call-in shows and internet message boards, as North Hardin boys’ basketball coach Ron Bevars will attest. Bevars, who has 677 wins and 11 region titles in 32 years with the Trojans, has heard lots of talk that he’s going to put away his clipboard after North Hardin’s second consecutive losing record this year. That’s why Bevars issued a statement yesterday saying he has “no intentions of going anywhere. My health is good and we have a great nucleus of young kids here at North Hardin.” He also said he plans to coach the current freshmen “until they graduate, and as long as my health is good . . . I have a great staff in place and I think we have things headed in the right direction . . . I’m really looking forward to the future here at North Hardin.”

Bevars will coach the Kentucky All-Stars against Indiana this summer

A call for basketball classes

From the mailbag:

Don Miller, a hoops star at Carr Creek in the 1940s and author of a book about Carr Creek’s 1956 state champs (shown below enjoying a victory ride), thinks it’s time for Kentucky to split its basketball into two classes. “A change is needed,” Miller said in a letter. He noted the dominance of big schools in Dave Cantrall’s top 25 ratings, and that June Buchanan is the only small school rated No. 1 in its region. Miller would like to see eight regions for smaller schools and eight regions for larger schools, similar to the format for the 1928 state tournament. That year Ashland won the “A” championship for large schools, and Carr Creek won the “B” championship for small schools. They met in an overall title game, and Ashland won in four overtimes. “Times have changed,” Miller wrote. “Now a small school might win once every 20 years.”

I agree, Don, that the odds are stacked against a small school winning the Sweet Sixteen these days, but I can’t imagine the KHSAA splitting basketball into classes any time soon. The Sweet Sixteen generates most of the revenue that supports the other KHSAA sports. The Touchstone Energy All “A” Classic gives small schools a chance to shine, although it is played out on a smaller stage.

Beaumont heads football stars

Male’s Douglas Beaumont, Mr. Football, heads the 2007 Kentucky football all-stars who will play Tennessee this summer.

Nick Petrino of state champ Trinity and Kaelin Ammons of Franklin County figure to share quarterback duties for the all-stars, who will play host to Tennessee on June 15. The game will be played at either UK’s Commonwealth Stadium or Louisville’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

Four Lexington players were selected for the team — Chase Minnifield and Clark Jeter (below) of Henry Clay, and Wes Caldwell and Ben Revere of Lexington Catholic. Minnifield won’t be able to play, however, because he will still be recovering from knee surgery. Caldwell and Revere might not be available, either, since they might still be playing baseball for the defending state champ Knights.

Kentucky’s all-stars have won five of the last seven games against Tennessee.

Here’s the Kentucky roster:

• Kaelin Ammons, Franklin Co. QB/DB
• Vic Anderson, St. Xavier RB
• Ryan Beard, Bowling Green DB
• Nikko Beason, Warren Central WR
• Douglas Beaumont, Male RB/DB
• Wes Caldwell, Lexington Catholic WR
• Trent Calhoun, Lincoln County RB/DB
• Joe Castaneda, Covington Catholic DB
• Kasey Clark, Russell RB/LB
• Chase Dumphord, Paris OL/DL
• Brad Durham, Rockcastle County OL/DL
• Ben Duvall, Apollo LB/TE
• Wenquel Graves, Bardstown WR/DB
• Phillip Hibbard, South Laurel OL/DL
• Avery Hibbitt, Bowling Green RB/DB
• Stuart Hines, Bowling Green OL/DL
• Tim Huguley, Lou. Central RB/DB
• Duran Jefferson, Holmes DB
• Wes Jeffries, Warren Central OL
• Clark Jeter, Henry Clay WR
• Tristan Jones, Clark County DE
• Zach Kiernan, Newport Catholic OL/DL
• Dee Lett, Christian County LB
• Antoinne Lightfoot, Henderson County RB/DB
• Paul Millay, Owensboro Catholic OL/DL
• Josh Miller, Boyle County WR
• Braxton Miller, Lincoln County RB/DB
• Chase Minnifield, Henry Clay WR/DB
• Billy Joe Murphy, Monroe County OL/DL
• Vince Murray, Ryle RB/LB
• Marcus Patterson, Casey County DB
• Nick Petrino, Trinity QB
• Ben Revere, Lex. Catholic WR/DB
• Joe Scott, Lou. Central DL
• James Sheperd, Christian County OL/DL
• Dane Spoelker, Trinity OL
• Pete Sutton, Covington Catholic TE
• Keith Tandy, Christian County QB/DB
• Casey Tinius, Bowling Green K
• Ryan Tydlacka, Trinity P/K
• Sam Webb, Male OL/DL
• Josh Williams, Male WR
• Scott Wise, Highlands OL
• Wes Woods, Prestonsburg DL

Head coach: Joey Downs of Bardstown. Assistant head coach (and 2008 head coach): Kevin Wallace of Bowling Green.

Yeagle, yes; Couch, no

* Welcome back, coach. Mike Yeagle (right), who won a state-record eight state football titles at Beechwood between 1991 and 2004, is returning to the sidelines as the new coach at Lloyd. Yeagle resigned as Beechwood’s coach after the 2005 season, and was out of football last year. Yeagle, 46, will replace Roy Lucas Jr. as boss of the Juggernauts, but Lucas will serve as Yeagle’s offensive coordinator. Yeagle, whose passion for the game may be unmatched, had a 171-24 record in 13 seasons at Beechwood.

* Tim Couch was recently offered a contract to play quarterback again. Sounds like big news, but it’s not. Lexington Horsemen Coach Mike Zuckerman, a former Henry Clay QB and current Lafayette assistant, moonlights as a high school basketball stat keeper for WLSTATS. Zuckerman recently ran into Couch at a Bob Evans restaurant in Lexington, and, with tongue in cheek, told the Leslie County/UK legend that he’d give him a contract to play QB for the Horsemen. Couch’s response? “He said, ‘Coach, I appreciate it. Ya’ll have a good season.’ I took that as a no,” Zuckerman said with a laugh.

* ESPN2 will televise tonight’s high school basketball showdown between No. 1 St. Patrick of Elizabeth, N.J., and No. 6 Huntington, W.Va.. More than 9,000 fans are expected to pack Marshall University’s Cam Henderson Center to watch their hometown heroes, O.J. Mayo and Patrick Patterson. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.

* The state track and field championships will be held at Paul Dunbar again this year. Maybe. Dunbar will host the event June 1-2, but only if school isn’t still in session. If snow days extend the Fayette County school calendar to June 1, the state meet instead will be held at the University of Louisville. The KHSAA awarded the 2008 state meet to U of L’s Owsley B. Frazier Stadium in Cardinal Park. Dunbar proved to be a terrific host for last year’s track and field championships when UK’s facilities were unavailable because of a conflict with the SEC baseball tournament.

* Banners flying outside the Frankfort Convention Center last weekend welcomed the “Boy’s State Wrestling Tournament.” Oops. Wrestling is no longer gender specific. Priscilla Brownfield of Campbell County wrestled in last year’s state tournament..

Who’s No. 52?

* The 90th Boys’ Sweet Sixteen tips off a month from today. If you go by this week’s ratings, Scott County and Ballard will play their way to the championship game in Rupp Arena. But don’t bet on it. Nobody predicted that Jeffersontown and Apollo would meet in the 2006 finals. This week last year, Dave Cantrall had J-town rated eighth in the state, and Apollo No. 52. Filling those slots this year are No. 8 Covington Catholic and No. 52 Seneca. And before you guess what high-profile star will be MVP of the Sweet Sixteen next month, remember that Ceedrick Ware (right), won the award last March after leading J-town to the championship. Ware wasn’t rated among the top 25 players in the state, and was ranked only seventh best in the 7th Region.

* Can anybody give Mason County at run for the 10th Region title? We might get a clue tonight when the fourth-ranked Royals play host to No. 18 Bishop Brossart. Mason County mauled the Mustangs 56-33 in early January. But Coach Mike Code’s team has since hit its stride as it showed in winning the All “A” Classic a few weeks ago. Brossart closes the regular season with another tough test — a trip to No. 8 Covington Catholic on Friday. Clark County could give Mason County trouble if star Preston Knowles rejoins the team from suspension.

* North Hardin’s girls had their game in high gear Monday night when they beat Caverna 114-29. They were 17 points shy of the state scoring record for girls (Leslie County rang up 131 against Red Bird in 1999), but the Lady Trojans did set a state record for field goal attempts with 111, including 45 three-pointers. Senior point guard Hope Brown almost had a quadruple-double with 15 points, 13 assists, 10 steals and nine rebounds.

AAU hoop$$$

I’ve seen it happen. A high school basketball player’s stock as a college prospect skyrockets after he lights up the AAU and summer camps circuit. But when the high school season rolls around a few months later, that same player doesn’t live up to the hype. In fact, the player doesn’t seem as interested in playing for his high school team as much as he did strutting his stuff for his summer all-stars.

How do you explain such a shift in basketball priorities? Former Bryan Station Coach Bobby Washington provided part of the answer when he referred me to an amazing story that was in the Dallas Morning News last year. It’s about Texas billionaire Kenny Troutt (known in the thoroughbred industry as one of the owners of WinStar Farm in Versailles) who bankrolls a couple AAU teams called the Texas Titans. The third- and fifth-graders sometimes fly on a private jet to tournaments, accompained by three coaches, two skill instructors, a general manager, a traveling secretary and a trainer/nutritionist. You’ve got to read it to believe it: click on AAU $$$