5 Questions After A Day Watching Hoops

<p>Pre-season scrimmage season is in full swing and I made my way to 3 gyms on Saturday and caught 5 games over the course of the day. Here are some of my takeaways from the day.</p> <p><strong>Is Conner the sleeper pick in the 9th? </strong></p> <p>I watched the Cougars win three quarters over Oldham County at Oldham Saturday morning and Conner looks legit. And they were missing 2 starters while beating Oldham. <strong>Jalen Scott</strong> had 9 first quarter points before a groin injury slowed him down. Freshman <strong>Landen Hamilton </strong>had a strong showing, making several threes and Conner surprised me with their ability to block shots throughout the game. Oldham County eventually settled down and played some defense in the second half of the scrimmage but the big takeaway for me was that Conner could be a legitimate threat to win the 9th region this season.</p> <p><strong>Is Eastern ahead of schedule?</strong></p> <p>With such a young team, I figured Eastern would be competitive this year and maybe have a surprise win or two this season but after they completely throttled a good Spencer County team on Saturday, I wonder if they can be a serious competitor this year. <strong>James Jewell </strong>was his usual self but the revelation of the day was Sophomore <strong>Christian Spalding. </strong>Spalding has the look of a big time player and showed good passing ability and the ability to get to the rim and finish through contact. He's a young Sophomore who will only get better and could be a big time recruit in the future.</p> <p><strong>Is Travis Perry the next big thing in the 2nd Region?</strong></p> <p>His detractors will point to the fact that he's at a small school and wouldn't play at the other 2nd region powerhouses. I'd beg to differ. Perry reminds me of former Corbin star and current Marshall PG <strong>Andrew Taylor. </strong>Travis is super skilled and wired to score. He has a good handle that will continue to improve and the "it" factor to be a star for years to come. He scored so much against North Bullitt that they decided to face guard him the entire second half and he scored at every level. He even dropped a defender on a crossover. If you live in Western Kentucky, get out and see Perry this season.</p> <p><strong>Is St. X a legit contender in the 7th?</strong></p> <p>Not only did they beat Bowling Green by 20 points in their scrimmage Saturday, the Tigers looked dominant in doing it. They didn't have Super Sophomore <strong>Mekhi Smith </strong>but Coach Klein played a lot of different players and executed their offense at a level that most cannot pull off after a month of practice. The Tigers are formidable in the half court, forcing a lot of turnovers. On offense, they refused to get sped up and executed over and over again off back cuts and hit a ton of 3s, topping the 80 point mark. Look for St. X to be the 3rd best team in the 7th region behind Male and Ballard.</p> <p><strong>Is Bowling Green tough enough to beat Warren Central?</strong></p> <p>It's hard to say right now because they were missing <strong>Conner Cooper, Jacobi Huddleston, Jordan Dingle and Dezmond Wilson </strong>all missed the scrimmage on Saturday due to football or injury but I left their loss to St. X wondering if this particular group of Purples is going to be tough enough to beat a Warren Central team that gets in your face and doesn't back down for 32 minutes. We're a long way away from February but everyone knows that the 4th region title runs through the 14th district and has for years. If Bowling Green doesn't start playing harder and smarter (they had about 25 turnovers Saturday) then they will struggle to beat the older and tougher Warren Central team who returns a lot of their championship roster from a season ago.</p>