It’s spring and around here, that means 79 degrees one day, below freezing the next. Or the day before. Or . . .
OK, sounds like the former high school baseball coach in me recalling how one year we played 45 games, the next just 21. It’s still not all that easy to be a baseball coach in these parts, even now with much better facilities – and artificial turf . . . Just Sayin’.
*** But then we see that Thomas More baseball, for example, has already played 30 games – and we’re not out of March yet and the weather hasn’t been all that great . . . Just Sayin’.
*** If you like the way Covington’s Meinken Field has turned out thanks to the help of so many, take a look at the brand-new Lemker Field in Ludlow. Again, a great group effort has produced a much more useable and visually attractive place to play baseball . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Not sure this might be the deciding factor but how smart would it be for a Northern Kentucky business to get involved with Thomas More basketball and, thanks to the new NIL opportunities for college athletes, sign on senior-to-be Ryan Batte as a spokesperson and representative. Not only will Ryan most likely be the best player in all of NAIA basketball next season, his return could guarantee that the Saints would open the season at No. 1 in the nation. And maybe finish that way. In addition to the top-ranked TMU women. What a terrific positive hit for Northern Kentucky – the two best NAIA teams in the nation. And for everybody who associates with the Saints – and with Batte not to mention the TMU women – what a winning way to go. Because Batte is far more than an outstanding basketball player. Terrific personality. Great story of how a kid from Cincinnati’s west side made himself the best NAIA player in the nation . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Does anybody else around here this week miss the Spiral Stakes/Jim Beam Stakes (now the Jeff Ruby Steaks) when Northern Kentucky – starting 50 years ago — had a race for fans here to go out and in person see horses and jockeys and owners/trainers with a chance to go on to the Kentucky Derby? . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Speaking of the Spiral/Jim Beam Stakes, is it not the biggest upset in the world of sports that Brooklyn boy Andy Furman, who came here from every small sports outpost in the nation, it seems, to publicize the doings at Latonia/Turfway Park and who still writes a weekly column for The Brooklyn Eagle back home and proudly wears his New York Knicks NBA championship ring and is a national Fox Sports Radio host and maybe the most connected – and zany — PR pro ever, has become a lifelong Northern Kentuckian calling Florence his forever home? Cool for us . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Wishing there weren’t something of a disconnect between Northern Kentucky and the Sweet 16 but you get the sense from recent trips to Rupp Arena that this area’s high school basketball fans don’t care as much for the state high school basketball tournaments as they once did. Now that’s probably as much a statewide thing as it is just for Northern Kentucky. But a shame, nevertheless. The folks at Rupp surely were welcoming to visitors the last couple of weeks . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Also wishing that when Covington Catholic is representing the Ninth Region, as it often is and will be, the rest of Northern Kentucky could find a way to root for the Colonels. But as long as the specter of recruiting dogs the CovCath program, which is having more and more trouble scheduling teams here, that’s probably not happening. As someone who wants kids to be able to attend the school that suits them best, and as a former teacher and coach at CovCath, I’m all for free choice for young people and their parents. But there’s really no place for recruiting either. Would like to see a clear line drawn there by CovCath, as difficult as that might be to do . . . Just Sayin’.
*** One thing you notice at the Boys Sweet 16 games is that – no surprise – the games are officiated by high school basketball refs. If they were better than that, they’d be doing college games. So yeah, they’re about half-a-beat behind too often. To often they see the result of the play, not the play. And yeah, if teams realize that playing CovCath’s front line straight might result in a 30-12 rebounding deficit the way it did in the opening round with a good Ashland team, what’s the downside to undercutting and grabbing and pulling and pushing against the Colonels. As we saw, when a 6-foot-8 Mitch Rylee or 6-6 Chandler Starks got pulled down with both hands by smaller players behind them or under them, when the refs looked at the pile, they were more than likely to whistle the CovCath big guys on top of the pile for the foul for falling on the smaller guy – who pulled them down. And it wasn’t just the big guys. By my count, CovCath’s explosive 5-11 point guard Evan Ipsaro hit the deck at least a dozen times in three Sweet 16 games. But at least he did it mostly by his choice, running by and past defenders as the most exciting player in this year’s Sweet 16. Maybe that’s the way CovCath has to play – as fast as possible so the downstate teams can’t pull them down and before the officials blow their whistles . . . Just Sayin’.
*** In all the deserved hoopla for Thomas More, do not lose track of NKU. Don’t be surprised if the Norse men use the disappointment of that Horizon Tournament championship game collapse denying them an NCAA trip to vault themselves into next year’s tourney with a team mature enough to handle the moment and do so from Day 1 . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Looking at what happened to UK’s shooters in John Calipari’s offense this season, you have to think that CJ Fredrick, the Sweet 16 MVP from CovCath who transferred from Iowa as the nation’s leading three-point shooter, may have been the lucky one when his hamstring injury and surgery prevented him from playing this season. Who knows, by next season maybe the Wildcat offense will be able to get shooters their shots . . . Just Sayin’.
*** Speaking of shooters from Northern Kentucky, how good has the Xavier offense looked since Cooper alum and Hebron’s own Adam Kunkel, a 6-4 transfer from Belmont, has been elevated to a starter’s role thanks to an injury for the Musketeers who have won four straight – and lost their head coach — all the way into the NIT Finals at Madison Square Garden Thursday night. Although Kunkel has become the primary ball-handler, he still can score, hitting for 18 Tuesday in a semifinal win over St. Bonaventure . . . Just Sayin’.
