Our varsity basketball team had a wonderful opportunity to participate in one of the finest high school basketball tournaments in the country this past week in Louisville, Kentucky. Fairdale High School was the host of the 28th annual King of the Bluegrass Holiday tourney. The KOB has hosted some of the best teams in the state of Kentucky and the country during that time, including future college and NBA players like Rex Chapman, Mugsy Bogues, Reggie Lewis, Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble, last year's MVP Peyton Siva (Louisville) and many others. It is a top-notch tourney.

We flew in to Louisville on the 16th and attended the Oral Roberts/Louisville game that night at Freedom Hall. There is a lot of great basketball history there and despite a couple of early, unexpected losses by the Cardinals, the place was rocking. They were filming a March Madness commercial for Papa John's and Papa John, himself, was there handing out free pizzas and our boys might just be in a nationally televised spot during the "Dance." They're keeping their fingers crossed.

We had a shoot around the next morning at Fairdale and prepared for our first opponent, Trinity Catholic. We played the late game at 9pm and were introduced to the wonderful world of Kentucky High School basketball. Nearly 2,000 fans showed up, despite the fact that Zeke Chapman would not play in any of our games. The lights went out for starting lineups and a spotlight followed players out to shake coaches' hands and onto the court. It was a great atmosphere.

I knew that Trinity was a solid team and had two people watch them play in a previous game. They are led by Miami (Ohio) commit Josh Sewell (6-4), and (6-5) Taylor Epley. These two came out hot in the 1st half, and we struggled for the first three ½ minutes of the game. The score at half was Trinity 30 and Chaparral 21. Sewell and Epley combined for 23 out of 30pts. We made some adjustments at half and started getting strong play from seniors Mike Moffet, Nick Tomsick, and Jarett Upchurch (all finished in double figures). Our adjustments forced their starters out of the game for nearly five minutes, but despite cutting the lead to one early in the 4th quarter, we couldn't get ahead. Down by three with about five minutes to go, their point guard knocked down two consecutive 3's, and we lost by 11 on some late free throws.

On Friday, we practiced again and scouted games for potential opponents for the rest of the tourney. Unfortunately, we drew defending state champion and preseason #1, Covington Holmes on Saturday. Holmes returns their top three players from last year's team, including Ricardo Johnson (Ohio U) commit and 6-7 Elijah Pittman (non-qualifier), but a definite D1 prospect. They lost in the 1st round to McEachern, GA with a guard that has committed to Tennessee. Against Holmes, we played a great 1st half (our best of the season) and led by one at the half, with an opportunity to lead by as many as seven, but missed FT's and two lay-ups late in the quarter. In the 3rd quarter, we forced bad shot after bad shot and only scored 4pts, eventually losing by 15.

On Sunday, we drove to Hardinsburg, KY, home of Breckinridge County High School (1995 state champs) and practiced in the nicest high school gym that I have ever seen. Zeke Chapman's grandfather coached there for nearly 20 years before retiring after winning the title in 1995. The Hobbs family fed the boys all afternoon, and we watched tape of the semi-finals and finals in 1995. Two of his best players from that team went on to win national championships at Kentucky Wesleyan. There are no classes in basketball in Kentucky, so winning a state championship there means beating 240 other teams and winning 10 games in a row to take it all. The host school, Fairdale, has titles in 90, 91, and 94.

On Monday, we had another shoot around and prepared for our last opponent, Lee High School from Huntsville, AL. Then, the coaching staff went to the U. of Louisville and watched Coach Pitino and the Cardinals practice. I am a big fan of Pitino, so that was a big thrill for me. We got to see them practice twice during our trip.

That night we played Lee. They are led by former Louisville commit Josh Langford. Langford is 6-7 with great touch, athleticism, and skill. Their team was athletic and quick on quick. They pressed for 32 minutes, and we did a nice job of handling their pressure. Without Tomsick (injury), I inserted our 6th man, junior Alex Pyper, into the starting lineup for the first time and he responded with 21pts, senior Jon Balchev hit three 3's and finished with 16pts, and Moffet had his best game of the tourney with 15pts and several big plays on the defensive end. The Birds picked up a victory by nine.

The tournament director offered us a 4th game on Tuesday, but it depended on the outcome of another game and the team we needed to lose, won. So, we ended the tourney 1-2. On Tuesday, the coaching staff had another great opportunity to go watch the U. of Kentucky practice. The facility at UK is amazing, and we all enjoyed meeting Coach Calipari and his staff.

We then drove back to Louisville and picked up our kids to watch the championship game of the KOB. Trinity Catholic had reached the finals against Seneca (also from Kentucky). Seneca fit the description of several of the city schools in Kentucky…quick times 10. However, Trinity was able to control the tempo for most of the game and behind some great shooting by Epley in the 1st half, led by 10. Seneca cut it to four midway through the 3rd quarter, but never got closer and Trinity won by 17. Trinity was ranked 21st and Seneca was not in the top 40 in the preseason coaches poll in Kentucky, which shows you how much talent there is in the state.

I was most impressed with Ballard (KY), preseason #3 and Memphis Central, but there were 13 or 14 really good teams in this tourney. Overall, it was a tremendous experience for our kids. They got to play against and see some unbelievable basketball from some very talented high school basketball teams. Most importantly, we all had a great opportunity to bond with each other for eight days, share the basketball experience on many different levels, and laugh with and at each other. The best part of all, they invited us back next year, the only time they have invited back an out-of-state team.

Let me know if you have any questions about our trip or our program. Happy Holidays!

Coach Windler

Chaparralbasketball.com

awindler@susd.org