The gyms have gone quiet now, and it’s hard to believe another basketball season has come and gone. Business will pick up again in June, and many teams already have their summer schedules at the ready.
Lincoln County didn’t have the only local representation at the Boys Sweet Sixteen last week. Thanks to reader Bill Huff for pointing out that Harrodsburg alumnus Chris Huff was on the Ballard bench as an assistant coach with the Bruins. Huff, who missed the state tourney by one game when his Harrodsburg team lost to Monticello in the 1987 12th Region final, but he has been there twice in his five years on the Ballard staff. This time, his team missed a state championship by one game with a narrow loss to Scott County in Saturday’s title game. Congratulations to Huff and the Bruins on a wonderful season. And congratulations to Scott coach Billy Hicks, whom I covered 17 years ago in Corbin, on his second state title.
We enter the offseason with two local coaching vacancies, both at the same school. Danville is looking for coaches for both its boys and girls teams.
When it comes to forecasting next season, I see wide-open races for the boys and girls regional titles. The defending champions, the Lincoln County boys and Wayne County girls, will be right in the middle of those races, but they’ll have plenty of company.
Opening night for basketball is Nov. 26, just 245 days away.
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Now it’s time to turn the page to the spring sports season, which began today. As I type, the first baseball and softball games are already in the books or very close to it.
This will be a busy week around here, especially with most teams either going out of town or curtailing their schedule for spring break next week. The marquee event of the opening week comes Tuesday, when the Mercer County and Danville baseball teams face off in a matchup of the two best teams in the area — and maybe the entire 12th Region. First pitch is 5 p.m. at Danville. The two teams meet again May 9 at Mercer.
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