Bear Down Jamboree: Five Team Takeaways

<p>Saturday was a full day at Butler High School for the annual Bear Down Jamboree and had several really competitive games. They were fun to watch as a fan and even better for evaluating some new faces in high school basketball this season. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the games on Saturday.</p> <p><strong>Male is extremely deep. </strong>Coach Haworth told me that this Bulldog group is the most talented team he's ever had. If you ever saw his Hoptown teams, you know what a proclamation that is. Missing <strong>Howard Fleming</strong> due to injury, Male didn't slow down a bit as <strong>Cam Pope and Tyren Moore</strong> shot the ball extremely well and the trio of <strong>Tyren Moore, Noah Courtney and Kobey Scott </strong>held down the interior while <strong>Jake Evans</strong> continues to be the steady hand at the point guard spot. That doesn't even include <strong>Dez Lindsay</strong> (still playing football), <strong>Elijah Priest</strong> (injured) or <strong>Trey Stone</strong> who would be a starter at almost any other school in the state. As long as the ball moves on offense, Male will be a very tough out in March because they're only going to keep improving defensively.</p> <p><strong>Bourbon County can have a special season. </strong>If you only saw the final score of their game with Male, you'd think it had been a one sided game but the Colonels didn't show any back down and competed with one of the top teams in the state. The football players had only been through two practices and you could see it on the court. <strong>Amirion Joyce </strong> was a non-factor too. And yet Bourbon never stopped competing. That bodes well for their long term success and if <strong>Nakyir Joyce </strong>can be as good all year as he showed on Saturday, the 10th region title could run through Paris.</p> <p><strong>Taylor County has all the pieces to win the 5th region. </strong>Coach Irvin's team played hard and relatively smart over while facing 40 minutes of pressure from Moore. They won all 4 quarters and did their damage all over the floor on offense. They dominated the post with <strong>Zach Martin</strong> and scored on the wings with <strong>Kybrin Smith and Nick Knifley.</strong> With that "Big 3", Taylor can compete with anyone in the 5th and if they can develop some quality bench depth, Taylor County can be a threat to win the region by the end of the year.</p> <p><strong>Jeffersontown has a lot of talent. </strong>The Chargers have a lot of really nice players but it will be interesting to watch how their chemistry comes along over the course of the season. Coach Duncan will have to figure out his rotations over the course of the year but <strong>Brandon Rayzer-Moore, Casey Steadmon and Jaylen Fairman</strong> are a tremendous back court and their transfer from Indiana is a solid anchor in the post. In a very tough 6th region, J-Town is a legitimate threat to win big this season.</p> <p><strong>Butler is really good when they play hard. </strong>The Bears treated warm-ups like it was a dunk contest but when the ball went up for the tip, it was Scott County who came ready to play. The Cards ran out to a 14-2 lead after the first 10 minutes and took a 21-8 lead into halftime. After what was sure to be a very motivational speech from Coach KC Goodin, Butler turned it on in the third quarter en route to a 26-12 win for the quarter and an 8 point win for the game. Butler has a chance to be special this season in their defense of their regional title but if they don't take a more business like approach to their games, they'll hit some bumps along the way.</p>