Favorites roll on

It sure wasn’t the first-round of the NCAA where upsets happened all over the country. The favorites lived up to their hype in the first-round of the KHSAA "Sweet Sixteen" Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday saw the Corbin Redhounds battle hard in a very physical contest against the Scott County Cardinals before losing 68-49. You can certainly say they are letting them play in this one as the men in stripes swallowed their whistles in the second half. It was so bad it look like the state wrestling tournament at times. But, the Redhounds never quit and for the second year gave a great effort before going down to defeat.

The big schools prevailed Wednesday with Warren Central beating East Carter, 55-36, Ballard downed Shelby County, who definitely has "The" freshman of the state in Darryl Hicks. Hicks scored 30 points and looked very impressive. He shows a lot of maturity on the floor. Ballard won that game, 90-80. If they get to Scott County Saturday morning, that game will be a BATTLE.

Christian County routed Newport, 70-51 in the other game played Wednesday.

Thursday, it was more of the favorites winning. West Jessamine and Jarrod Polson beat first-year opponent, Muhlenberg County, 73-63 while Shelby Valley was very impressive in taking apart the Tornadoe of Paducah Tilghman, 68-45. Mason County edged North Hardin in a battle of old-timers, 58-56 in overtime. Louisville Butler took the final game of the first-round, beating Knott County Central, 57-46.

Here is my picks for the semifinals: Ballard vs. Scott County and Shelby Valley vs. Mason County.