Sweet Sixteen: the final four
Posted by Mike Fields on March 21, 2008
PODCAST: Hear Mike preview the semifinals.
Four teams are left standing in the 91st Sweet Sixteen. Saturday morning’s semifinals look like this:
** Lexington Catholic (32-3) vs. Holmes (33-2), 10 a.m.
** Shelby County (25- 
vs. Mason County (32-4), 11:45.
The final four is fairly familiar to three of the teams. Lexington Catholic is in the semifinals for the fourth time since 1998. The Knights won the title in 2002, and were runners-up to Elizabethtown in 2000. Holmes Coach David Henley (shown above) had his Bulldogs in the semifinals last year where they lost to eventual champ Scott County. Mason County is in the final four for the third time since it won the state title in 2003 and was runner-up in 04.
Holmes has shown tenacious defense in beating Bardstown and Paintsville. Arrez Henderson has been terrific. It’ll be interesting to see who he’ll guard — LexCath’s Taylor Stewart or Vee Sanford. LexCath didn’t play well in beating Owensboro in the quarterfinals. The Knights’ long bodies make their pressure defense that much more effective, so Holmes will have to take care of the ball.
Shelby County will be an underdog in its semifinal. The Rockets will face a Mason County team that destroyed Paducah Tilghman in the quarterfinals. If Darius Miller, Trevor Setty and Russ Middleton are on their game, the Royals will be hard to handle. Like LexCath, Mason County has long, tall bodies that figure to give Shelby County trouble defensively.
