Low voter response for all-state

Every four years when the United States elects a president, everybody bemoans the fact that less than 60% of the voting-age population casts a ballot for the leader of the Free World.

I only wish the Herald-Leader got that kind of participation from Kentucky’s high school basketball coaches in determining who makes all-state.

The Herald-Leader’s 2007 boys’ and girls’ all-state teams will be published on Sunday. I feel confident that they’ll be a pretty good representation of the best players in the state, but not because of an overwhelming response from the people most closely involved in hoops. Every coach in the state receives a ballot from us, and they’re asked to list the 10 best players, along with a coach of the year. That doesn’t sound like a difficult or time-consuming task, but it apparently is to the majority of coaches. This year only about 35% of them bothered to return a ballot. For a (supposed) basketball-crazy state, that’s a pitiful response.

So if you’ve got a gripe about who did or didn’t make our all-state teams, don’t lodge it with me. Ask the coaches in your region if they filled out a ballot. If they said they did, they were in the minority.

Billy G. knows about Darius M.

Mason County basketball coach Chris O’Hearn has already heard from new UK Coach Billy Gillispie and assistant Jeremy Cox, both of whom told him they’re going to put a relentless recruiting rush on Royals’ 6-foot-6 junior star Darius Miller (shown at left). O’Hearn said Cox watched Miller play in an all-star game in Arkansas last week “and liked his game,” and that the UK coaches “were basically going to live in Maysville” to get Miller to sign with the Big Blue.

O’Hearn also said Miller is “still wide open” about college “and he’ll certainly still consider Kentucky and several others. He doesn’t give me any indication he’s leaning anywhere.” Miller will play summer hoops with Reebok’s D-I Greyhounds out of Cincinnati, which is what he did last year.

Miller is one of three Kentucky high school players rated among the top 50 juniors in the nation by scout.com. Scotty Hopson of University Heights, who has commited to Mississippi State, is No. 19. Miller is No. 24. Bud Mackey of Scott County, who has announced for Indiana, is No. 43. If you want to check out scout.com’s top 100 juniors, and see what players have UK on their “interest” list, click on: class of 2008

Knowles ready for U of L

When Clark County star Preston Knowles made a recruiting visit to the University of Louisville last weekend, he wanted to make sure he could play at that level of basketball. So he scrimmaged against U of L’s best players, including Edgar Sosa, Brandon Jenkins, Earl Clark and Derrick Caracter. “I wanted to see if I was ready to compete as a legitimate D-I player,” Knowles said. “I found out I was.” When he returned home to Winchester to think things over, he decided to commit to U of L on Monday morning. “Before I visited Louisville, I didn’t think any school could top VCU,” he said, referring to Virginia Commonwealth University, which had been the leader in his recruitment all season. “But Louisville answered every question I had about myself.”

Knowles, a 6-foot-2 combo guard, averaged 21 points and 7 rebounds in leading Clark County to the Sweet Sixteen this season. He was something of a free spirit in high school, a trait that got him into occasional trouble on and off the court. But he said U of L Coach Rick Pitino has already laid down the law to him. “I know how he is,” Knowles said. “He demands obedience and discipline. I’m not saying I’m undisciplined, but he’ll help me grow even more into a good young man. He’s already told me I won’t be going home any. He said don’t even think about that. I won’t have any spare time, and if I do, I’ll need it to sleep because I’m going to be so tired from working hard.”

U of L is stacked with underclassmen, so Knowles knows he might not get a lot of playing time early on. “It probably won’t be that much, but I’m just going to bring it day in and day out and see what happens,” he said. “I’m ready for the challenge.”

‘Proud as a peacock’ about Pelphrey

It was 20 years ago this Saturday that Paintsville basketball star John Pelphrey (shown at right) signed with the University of Kentucky, and went on to have an “Unforgettable” career with the Cats. Earlier this week Pelphrey signed on to become the coach at Arkansas, another giant step in his career. “It makes you proud as a peacock to see a kid you had in high school go on and become a coach in the SEC,” Paintsville Coach Bill Mike Runyon said. “As a player, John thought the game and saw the court as well as anybody I’ve ever had. His leadership ability was a strong asset, too, and you knew he could eventually be a great coach someday. I don’t think he’ll have any problems winning at Arkansas.”

Pelphrey, who averaged 20 points and 10.5 rebounds in his senior season at Paintsville, isn’t the first former Kentucky Mr. Basketball to become a high-profile hoops coach. He follows in the footsteps of Wes Unseld and Butch Beard, who coached in the NBA; Jeff Mullins, who coached at UNC-Charlotte, and Randy Embry, who stacked up a lot of wins at Owensboro High School.

J.R. VanHoose, a fellow Paintsville grad and former Mr. Basketball, is now an assistant coach at Paintsville. Could he be the guy to succeed Runyon as the Tigers’ coach? Runyon (shown at right), who’s been on the sidelines for almost three decades, is still undecided about whether he’ll return as coach next season. He said he’s “kind of torn” about the decision. He’s been dealing with tough times recently. His father, William H. Runyon, passed away a few weeks ago, and his mother Janet died 18 months ago. “I’ll take a little time and weigh my options some time soon,” he said.

Mr. Basketball is Mr. Pettigrew

Elizabethtown star Steffphon Pettigrew was announced as Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball for 2007 at a school assembly this afternoon. He will wear the No. 1 jersey for the Kentucky All-Stars in the two-game series against Indiana this summer. “Coming into my senior year I tried not to think about (Mr. Basketball),” Pettigrew said. “I just went out and played hard and tried to improve my game. But now that I’ve gotten this award, it’s exciting and a real honor.”

“Steffphon played at an extremely high level all year,” E-town Coach James Haire said. Pettigrew led the state in scoring (33.6) and was among the leaders in rebounding (13.3). The 6-foot-5 senior, who was named Gatorade’s Player of the Year in Kentucky last week, has yet to make his college choice. St. Louis, Western Kentucky, Xavier and Duquesne are among those recruiting him. Pettigrew said a UK assistant coach named Cox has been in touch this week. That might be Jeremy Cox, who was an assistant to Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M before Gillespie took the UK job. If UK offered, would Pettigrew become a Cat? “I don’t know yet,” he said. “I still have to think about everything.”

Pettigrew is the third Mr. Basketball from the 5th Region, joining Marion County’s Elton Scott (1994) and Hart County’s Tick Rogers (1992).

There have been 53 Mr. Basketball honorees since the award began in 1956. (There were co-winners in 1958.) The 7th Region has produced 11 Mr. Basketball winners. The 11th Region has had seven. The 4th, 8th and 15th regions each have had five. Only two regions — the 14th and 16th — have never had the state’s No. 1 player.

Four schools have produced almost one-fourth of all Mr. Basketball winners — Male with Wesley Cox, Darrell Griffith, Winston Bennett and Jason Osborne; Lafayette with Billy Ray Lickert, Jeff Mullins and Dirk Minnifield; Owensboro with Randy Embry, Jerry Thruston and Brandon Davenport, and Seneca with Mike Redd, Wes Unseld and Tony Kimbro.

Baseball’s sweet spot: Lexington

Having produced three of the last four state champions, Lexington owns bragging rights to being the baseball center of the Bluegrass State. The first poll of the 2007 regular season, compiled by the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association (shown in the left margin), shows that local teams are setting the pace again this spring. Defending state titlist Lexington Catholic is No.1, 2003 champ Paul Dunbar is No. 2 and 2005 champ Lexington Christian Academy is No. 3.

LexCath, Dunbar and LCA are all in the 43rd District, along with 2004 state runner-up Lafayette, which is No. 24 in the poll, and Tates Creek, which is No. 11. “I knew our district would be extremely tough,” LCA Coach Keith Galloway said last night from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where his Eagles are playing during spring break. “But I’m kind of surprised we’re ranked so high. I was hoping we’d fly under the radar a little bit.” LCA is 5-3, with three losses to Florida teams teams this week — defending state champ Pensacola Pace, Niceville and Choctaw.

LexCath was 7-1 going into action in a tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last night. Dunbar was 8-0 going into a game against Paducah St. Mary at Reidland last night. Five of Dunbar’s wins have come against ranked teams — No. 4 Pleasure Ridge Park, No. 5 Trinity, No. 9 Ballard and No. 21 Beechwood (twice).

LexCath, Dunbar and LCA will return home from spring break this weekend, and get ready to start battling each other next week.