Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: It’s Beechwood-OC again, good job by Dayton and Holmes; hold off for now UK fans


In one of those weird coincidences that happen every so often, Beechwood’s basketball Tigers will head to Owensboro Thursday for an 12:30 p.m. EST opener in the state All-A Classic to play the unofficial host team – Region III champ Owensboro Catholic – the same school that Beechwood beat in the Class 2A football championship in December.

9th Region All-Classic MVP leads Beechwood downstate (Photo provided)

It was a win that didn’t go over well with OC’s Aces, who had the bigger name stars but not nearly the team and individual speed, to handle the Ft. Mitchell flyers. The Owensboro folks were not happy at the loss. The OC folks, in sear of their first state title, didn’t really credit 18-time champ Beechwood for the Tigers’ 50-34 win, just talked mostly about how they should have won.

But the connection between these schools 200 miles apart doesn’t end there. In the last state baseball tournament where Beechwood won a game, in the 2022 opener in Lexington, Beechwood beat Owensboro Catholic, 7-6, in eight innings.

There’s something of a trend here. Whether there’s a carryover Thursday is to be seen. Beechwood (11-5) is on a Class A tourney roll coming off four straight wins including knocking off defending All-A state champ Newport 59-57 Saturday.

Owensboro Catholic (10-5) has much the same profile, opening 1-5 and then running off nine straight wins including an 85-72 victory Monday against crosstown rival Owensboro. There’s also this: the Aces have played all but two games away from their home in the historic Owensboro Sportscenter where the All-A Classic will be played.

And while Beechwood Coach Ross Hart said he wasn’t even thinking about the next challenge right after the Newport game, his star and All-A MVP Jack Sullivan was up to speed a bit. “Their best player was on my summer basketball team,” Sullivan said. So there’s that.

Senior Luke Beickman, a 6-foot-2 guard committed to Eastern Illinois, is that Aces’ best player, having scored 37 points in the Owensboro win while averaging 20.1 points a game this season. Waryn Ebelhar (13.1 ppg) and Ronald Smith (11.5) give the Aces a trio of double-figure scorers. In a 76-49 All-A Classic regional final win over Hancock County, the Aces were able to “physically wear them down” in a 41-19 second half, said Coach Tim Riley.

Great job by Dayton in the All-A Classic

With the snow and cold and construction of the new football stadium next door limiting parking, it wasn’t easy for the host Dayton High School folks to handle the All-A Classic crowds last week. But new AD Ben Adams and dean of students/football coach Jesse Herbst pulled it off. Great job by all the Greendevils.

And much optimism by Herbst that he’ll have the new Greendevil Stadium ready to go the first week of August for his football team. Herbst says they plan to keep venerable Davis Field uptown on-line for its second century of service as a place for their youth teams to play.

Exactly right football call by Holmes

Next year’s redistricting and reclassifying in Kentucky high school football – with Highlands and Covington Catholic returning to the same Class 4A district after a couple of years apart – will make for one of the most challenging KHSAA districts in the state along with Mason County, Harrison County and Grant County.

And that move helped make sense for Covington Holmes to move in the other direction, getting the KHSAA’s permission to drop out of the district, play a regular season independent schedule with no postseason eligibility, and rebuild a program that has become completely uncompetitive as in a winless 0-20 the past two seasons.

For the 2025 and 2026 seasons, Holmes will drop out of the district as the Bulldogs need a couple of years to get their numbers up. Last year’s roster listed just 23 with 10 seniors so it will take a while to get the talent from its youth teams up to the varsity. Across the board, the changing demographics of the Holmes’ enrollment, one administrator has said of the numbers now, has hit sports like football and basketball hard with a student population of one-third Black, one-third Latino and one-third white.

Owensboro Catholic’s Luke Beickman (Photo provided)

Holmes’ move highlights one of the unforeseen negative consequences of the KHSAA’s move to six classes where almost everybody – four teams per district – gets into the seeded postseason playoff games. But the matchups have the fourth seed going against a first seed across districts with the result often a season-ending drubbing for the fourth seed.

Far better for the KHSAA to cut the playoffs in half – just two teams per district into the postseason – and allow everybody one more regular season game that teams could schedule against comparable programs. No way a rebuilding program like Holmes should have to face a tough playoff game every season against programs far more developed.

Wildcat fans better lower their hopes now that it’s SEC time

The SEC is so good this season – really the most good teams ever – that it’s not long that the league where at one time UK was the lone member with national basketball aspirations now has a dozen who do. And at least five or so who legitimately should be thinking Final Four.

Whether UK under new coach Mark Pope, who has had a marvelous transition season after John Calipari’s departure, is one of those teams will soon be determined. But Northern Kentucky UK fans had better not get too euphoric after an early start that had the ninth-ranked Wildcats – we were told many times — winning five games against Top 15 teams. What wasn’t said is the Wildcats also lost three games to unranked teams — Clemson, Oho State and Georgia.

And the two best teams that have shown up in Rupp Arena this season – Florida and Alabama – each put up 100 or more points on a UK team that sometimes seems to consider defense as optional — a mere distraction — before they get to play offense. The SEC has far too many good teams, too many good athletes, for UK to try to outscore them all – especially on the road — if it can’t slow down opponent offenses.

Stay tuned. Just don’t get too far out over your blue and white skis until the 14-4 Cats get through road games at No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 16 Ole Miss and No. 22 Missouri not to mention suddenly dangerous Vanderbilt as well as home games against No. 1 Auburn as well as Tennessee and Vandy.

Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dweber3440.


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