Madisonville-North Hopkins has made basketball news on two fronts this week.
First, Marty Cline has been named the new boys coach at the school, moving over from the girls team to replace James Davis, who spent 22 seasons total on the Maroons bench.
Second, heralded recruit Jon Hood, who will be a senior next season, has listed the University of Kentucky as the frontrunner for his services.
Hood is still recovering from a wrist injury suffered during the 7th District basketball tournament. He had his cast removed last month.
“He probably won’t be 100 percent until sometime in June or July,” Hood’s father, Brian, told the Madisonville Messenger. “He’s hoping to get it back to at least playing strength before then.”
Hood, who projects as a 6-foot-7 shooting guard in college, said he plans to finalize his college decision before his senior year at Madisonville.
“I want to decide this summer,” he told Kentucky Sports Radio. “I don’t want to have to worry about who’s in the crowd or anything like that next year. But I would say that UK is my leader right now, and everyone else is together behind them.”
Hood has reportedly been offered scholarships by Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Georgia. Duke and numerous other schools have also shown interest.
Hood, who figures to be among the frontrunners for Mr. Basketball 2009, puts the Maroons among the favorites in the 2nd Region next season.
Cline, his new head coach, has plenty of experience guiding contenders. He took University Heights Academy to back-to-back state tournaments before leaving that school and taking over the girls program at Madisonville three years ago.
“The cupboards are definitely not bare,” Cline told the Madisonville newspaper. “I’ve been blessed to step into a situation where there’s a great deal of talent returning even though a great deal of talent has graduated.”
Edmondson picks St. John’s
University Heights senior guard Tyshwan Edmondson has spurned Western Kentucky University, instead signing a national letter-of-intent with St. John’s University during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon in the UHA library.
Edmondson, a 6-foot-4 guard, had also considered Dayton. Virginia Commonwealth and Massachusetts offered the UHA star scholarships as well.
“It was the chance to play against some of the best competition in the world,” Edmondson told the Kentucky New Era of the opportunity to play in the Big East Conference. “I know I’m going to be prosperous in the business school too. They have one of the best business schools in the world and it’s going to be a good situation for me.”
During his senior season, Edmondson averaged 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals per game. His play attracted the attention of Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Edmondson is the second UHA player to sign with St. John’s. The late Sergio Luyk played at St. John’s from 1991-95.
Other signings
• UHA’s Elizabeth Bressler will play basketball at Centre College in Danville.
A six-year starter on the Lady Blazers basketball team, Bressler, a 5-4 guard, signed with the NCAA Division III school on Tuesday at the school.
She averaged 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists last season for the Lady Blazers.
• Hopkins County Central teammates Bradley Sadler and Michael Seiber will play college football at Kentucky Wesleyan.
Sadler is projected to play on the offensive line at either guard or center while Seiber will play either safety or outside linebacker. Both signed with KWC on Wednesday at Hopkins County Central High School.
• Union College in Barbourville has signed former University Heights soccer player Carson Rager to a scholarship.
Rager, a defender, played at UHA and was all-district in 2005 and 2006.
He is the third player from Hopkinsville to sign with Union this spring. Former Christian County stars Jared Blue and Chase Lester signed with the college the previous week.
• UHA basketball coach Randy McCoy told the Kentucky New Era he expects senior point guard DaQuan Brown to sign to play college ball in the next week.
State sportsmanship winners
Anna Roarx from Holy Cross in Louisville and Evan Bennett of George Rogers Clark were named statewide winners in the Forcht Group of Kentucky/KHSAA Sportsmanship Recognition Program at the annual banquet held this past Sunday at the Embassy Suites in Lexington. Both received a one-time $3,000 scholarship, courtesy of the Forcht Group of Kentucky.
Also at the banquet, the 32 regional winners were recognized and honored. That group included Caldwell County senior Mandy Gray and UHA’s Spencer Workman, who were the 2nd Region winners of the award. Each regional winner received a plaque, a mantel clock from the KHSAA Officials Division and a chair and $200 book scholarship courtesy of Forcht Group of Kentucky.
This marked the 12th year of the program recognizing outstanding sportsmanship. KHSAA member schools each selected one boy and one girl as the local school sportsmanship winner. School winners were then eligible to be selected as the regional winner. From the 32 regional winners, the statewide winners (one boy and one girl) were selected. Selection criteria includes: Grade-Point-Average; letters of recommendations; leadership roles/honors; response to case study essay; verification of no game disqualifications.
Louisville gets state volleyball
The 2008 KHSAA State Volleyball Tournament is returning to Louisville after a 10 year absence. Bellarmine University has been named site of the 2008 event that will be played Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 in Knights Hall.
The last time the event was in Louisville was in 1997 when Bellarmine (College) served as host as Assumption defeated Mercy for the championship.
Over the past 10 years, the event has been played at Ryle High School and Gray Middle School in Union, Frankfort Convention Complex and Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights.
Caldwell County played in last year’s state tourney at NKU, falling to Notre Dame in the opening round.
State tourneys near
Brackets have been set for state softball and baseball tournaments, which will be played next month.
The 2008 KHSAA State Softball Tournament will be held June 6-7 at Fisher Park in Owensboro.
Just as in 2007, the 2nd Region champion has drawn the 4th Region champion in the first round on Friday, June 6. Christian County is the top-ranked team and a heavy favorite in the 2nd Region while defending state champion Greenwood is the top-rated team in the 4th Region.
Other first round matchups will pit the 3rd Region against the 14th Region, 15th vs. 1st, 10th vs. 8th, 9th vs. 12th, 7th vs. 6th, 5th vs. 13th and 11th vs. 16th.
The double-elimination tournament is scheduled to conclude Saturday, June 7.
Meanwhile, the Forcht Bank/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament will begin Thursday, June 12, with all four first-round games played that day.
As was announced back in February with the signing of the title sponsor and Applebee’s Park site extension, the event will be 3 days, June 12-14. Friday’s second day action will include the two semifinals with the state championship slated for Saturday, June 14.
The state baseball tourney is single elimination, although sectional play will be a best-of-3 format. The 2nd Region champion will face the 4th Region champ in that series June 4-6 at Henderson County. The sectional winner there will face the victor of the 6th Region vs. 8th Region sectional in the opening round at state.
District tourneys for both baseball and softball are scheduled to get under way on Monday, May 19, across the state. Locally, the 7th District softball tournament will be played at Caldwell County’s Lady Tiger Field while the baseball tourney will be played at the Madisonville City Park. The 5th District baseball and softball tourneys will both be held at Lyon County.
Regional tourneys are slated to begin Monday, May 26. The 2nd Region baseball and softball tournaments will both be played in Henderson.
Other sports are also approaching postseason play.
Regional tennis tourneys are slated to begin May 12. Both Caldwell and Lyon will play in the 2nd Region tournament at Henderson. The state tennis tourney is May 22-24 in Lexington.
Regional track meets are scheduled for the week of May 19-24. The state track and field meet will be held May 30-31 at Owsley Park in Louisville.
