Dan Weber: Getting down to business with basketball conference seasons — it’s a good time for hoops

It’s that time of year when the basketball preseason that is December with its holiday tournaments and out-of-state trips is behind most of our teams — college and high school.

And now we get down to business with the conference seasons for Thomas More, NKU and UK — the regional rivals going head-to-head for our high schools.

In other words, it’s a good time for hoops as we prepare for the third leg of basketball seasons – tournament time in two months.

Some quick thoughts about where we are this first week of January, JUST SAYIN’.

• THOMAS MORE TAKES OUR TOP SPOT – men and women. And you can see both in action Thursday evening at the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills as the defending national champion and No. 1 NAIA women celebrate Coach Jeff Hans’ 300th career win and the No. 2 NAIA men celebrate Coach Justin Ray’s 100th career win.

To say that the Saints are punching above their weight when it comes to basketball coaches is to state the oh-so-obvious. How lucky fans here are to be able to see these two coaches – and their players – accomplish what they’ve been able to. This is especially true when we say to get there for the women’s Game 1 in the doubleheader when they go head-to-head with NAIA No. 3 Campbellsville (13-0) at 5:30 Thursday. The 15-0 Saints are not overpowering physically but they’re tough-minded, confident and deep. They really believe in what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, which is how you win eight of those first 15 on the road. All that is a tribute to Hans and how he coaches.

That the TMU men (12-2), after graduating the nation’s best player, Ryan Batte, were still picked No. 1 this season for a time was a heck of a tribute to what Ray is building and that they’re still No. 2 despite a couple of losses is maybe even more impressive. Cannot recommend strongly enough how much you’ll enjoy a basketball doubleheader at the Connor Center.

• NKU GETTING IT TOGETHER: No question Darrin Horn is right that he may have “over-scheduled” his 9-6 Norse the early part of this season although he does have that historic win over Cincinnati at Truist Arena that will be the first thing anyone takes away from this season.

But those tough three losses at the Florida Gulf Coat Showcase and the 5,000-mile roundtrip for a crushing loss at Washington State may be paying off as the Norse seem to be getting it together with four wins in their last five and a perfect 4-0 mark to start the Horizon League. Led by Marques Warrick’s 19.4 points a game, the Norse have scored wins over Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky along with a couple of early league victories — a win over IUPUI at Indiana Farmers Coliseum where last season ended for NKU in that devastating loss to Wright State, another team the Norse have already beaten this season.

With a pair of winnable home games Friday and Sunday against Detroit Mercy (6-9) and Oakland (4-11), NKU has a chance with a front-loaded Horizon schedule to get an early jump. They’ll have to with seven of their last eight Horizon League games on the road.

• LOOKS LIKE $10 MILLION A YEAR AND A “LIFETIME” COACHING CONTRACT do not get you as much as you’d think for the Kentucky Wildcats these days. I know on returning from three decades away from Northern Kentucky, I was amazed at how UK basketball hats, sweatshirts, jackets and license plates seemed everywhere. And yet, last week, UK played Louisville and did anyone notice? Sure, a lot of that is Louisville’s fault.

But here’s what I’m hearing from lifelong UK fans. They tell me they can name the starting lineups for Kentucky teams in the 1950s and 1960s but have no idea who will be starting this week for the Wildcats. Which makes me think of Adolph Rupp, the man who created modern big-time college basketball with an ego to match and yet at no time, did anyone ever think this was anything but Kentucky basketball we – and Adolph — were talking about. Give The Baron credit, his teams could always shoot the ball and play offense and didn’t ever look like they needed an offensive coordinator.

Which gets me to the line about how there is no “I” in “KENTUCKY” . . . but two of them in “CALIPARI.” And how the more turnover there is among the players, the more one-and-done’s, the more transfer portal guys here for a year or two, the more this becomes about the coach and not the players. When National Signing Day and NBA Draft Day are more important than the Final Four weekend, Kentucky basketball no longer seems to be about building and maintaining the top program in college basketball history. Once upon a time that was true. But in recent years, UK has been passed up by Kansas with the Jayhawks owning a seven-win all-time edge now, 2,370 wins to No. 2 UK’s 2,363.
 
• NINTH REGION TRYING TO CATCH UP TO COVCATH AGAIN: Just as the Ninth Region coaches voted, the mini-Colonels are out front and on top. And with no starter taller than 6-foot-3, having more fun than ever even without their two big guys – 6-8 Mitchell Rylee, now at Miami of Ohio, and 6-6 Chandler Starks, a senior transfer back to Cincinnati Anderson. They’re pressing and pressuring all the way now, not having to worry about high school officials whistling their big guys out of the game for touches and can play lots of interchangeable guys, young ones too, to go along with all-state point guard Evan Ipsaro (25.4 ppg) and senior sharpshooters Brady Hussey (12.9) and Kascyl McGillis (10.1).

All this has to be a bit of a pleasant surprise for Coach Scott Ruthstatz, who hoped he could get his guys to play this way but now that they’ve run off 11 wins in their first 12 and earned the No. 1 spot in the state in the Kentucky Sports Report’s rankings this week, it’s giving the rest of the Ninth Region a familiar front-runner to go after.

Who might be next in line is a little less clear with Cooper (7-5), Conner (8-4) and Lloyd Memorial (6-3) all having issues in the early going but moving in the right direction now, especially Conner. Newport (11-3) is our dark horse. And Highlands is just Highlands. Play fast. Shoot it up. See what happens is Kevin Listerman’s mantra for his 11-3 Bluebirds.

And while we’re at it, how about a belated hat tip to Newport Coach Rod Snapp for the 12-team John Turner Classic that featured interesting matchups for teams from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Great job by Rod to make this happen and great way to preserve the name of one of Northern Kentucky’s greatest high school basketball players in the late John Turner, who would go on to become the first really outstanding player at Louisville, leading the Cards past Kentucky in 1959 to their first-ever Final Four. John is still among the Top 10 scorers and rebounders in U of L basketball history.

As for the girls’ side, it’s hard to pick between front-runners Cooper (10-2), defending Ninth Region champs and a state semifinalist last March, and Notre Dame Academy (9-1) since those teams won’t play each other until Feb. 3.

• AND FINALLY, WHAT A GREAT TRIBUTE TO THE LATE STAN STEIDEL this week and next with the All “A” Classic girls and boys basketball tournaments swinging into action in all 16 of the state’s regions heading to state championships. That allows for Kentucky to give a state title shot to small schools everywhere while preserving the Sweet 16’s special character that has every school in the state also playing in the same historic tournament in March finishing up in Rupp Arena.

Dan Weber is sports reporter/columnist for the NKyTribune. You can reach via email here: dweber3440@aol.com.