By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
The good news for the Ninth Region in Tuesday’s KHSAA UK Healthcare Boys Sweet 16 draw is that the Northern Kentucky champions will not have to play a first-round Thursday game as has too often been the case the past decade, necessitating four games in 48 hours for a local team to win the championship.
The bad news: Whoever wins the Ninth Region, with 21-1 Covington Catholic the clear favorite, will be facing the winner of Louisville’s Seventh Region, where favorite St. Xavier has been 1-2 in the state along with CovCath much of the season — including this week – for the March 18 game.
Game times have yet to be set but the odds are that if it’s CovCath-St. X, it will be the featured evening game at Rupp Arena. For many pundits, should that pairing happen, it could easily be the feature game for the entire tournament and a terrific argument for seeding the Sweet 16, just as almost every other team sport is. And as basketball is through the district and regional tournaments.
Quarterfinals are Friday, March 20, with semifinals and final, Saturday, March 21.
Northern Kentucky’s other two regions will play on Thursday in the bottom bracket with the Eighth Region (Simon Kenton, Walton-Verona, the Oldham County schools) playing the Second Region (Lyon County, Henderson County, Webster County) and the 10th Region (Bishop Brossart, Campbell County, George Rogers Clark, Montgomery County) playing the 15th Region (Martin County, Johnson Central, Paintsville).
Here’s the entire Boys Sweet 16 bracket:
Wednesday, March 18
*** Seventh Region (St. X, Male, Ballard) vs. Ninth Region (CovCath, Highlands, Ryle, Holy Cross, Newport, Lloyd Memorial)
*** 13th Region vs. Fourth Region
*** Third Region vs. Fifth Region
*** 11th Region vs. 12th Region)
Thursday, March 19
*** 14th Region vs. Sixth Region
*** Second Region vs. Eighth Region
*** 15th Region vs. 10th Region
*** First Region vs. 16th Region
Friday, March 20
Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 21
Semifinals and championship
Girls Tourney gets early week with 9th opening on Wednesday, 8th and 10th on Thursday
With games set for Rupp Arena, Wednesday-Saturday, March 11-14, the Girls Sweet 16 gets the postseason jump on the boys this year. Although like the boys, the Ninth Region champs (Cooper, Holy Cross, Notre Dame) get a Wednesday first-round game, going against the 15th Region champ (Johnson Central, Pikeville, Floyd Central).
In the Thursday games, the Eighth Region champ (Simon Kenton, Woodford County, Spencer County) will go against the 16th Region (Ashland Blazer, Boyd County, Russell) and the 10th Region champ (Bishop Brossart, Campbell County, George Rogers Clark) will play the 13th Region winner (North Laurel, South Laurel, Knox Central).
Tickets for both the both the boys and girls tourneys go on sale next week.
Here is the Girls Sweet 16 bracket:
Wednesday, March 11
*** 11th Region vs. Second Region
*** Seventh Region vs. First Region
*** Ninth Region vs. 15th Region
*** Fifth Region vs.12th Region
Thursday, March 12
*** 16th Region vs. Eighth Region
*** Third Region vs. 14th Region
*** Sixth Region vs. Fourth Region
*** 10th Region vs. 13th Region
Friday, March 13
Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 14
Semifinals and championship