By JON WEBB
LUCAS — Monroe County’s number-one seed in the boys District 15 tournament didn’t come courtesy of a coin flip, and it wasn’t determined by points. It was prescribed.
The Falcons were drawn as the number one seed for Feb. 22-26 basketball tournament after Glasgow Head Coach Jeff Hall blindly drew one of two pill bottles during the annual District 15 meeting at Barren River State Park Wednesday night.
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Both Monroe and Glasgow finished 4-2 in district standings and split their season series, forcing a draw to determine the top seed. Glasgow High School Athletic Director Dennis Smith, this year’s tournament manager, presented Hall with a blue duffle bag containing two prescription bottles. Each bottle housed a piece of paper either emblazoned with a “1” for the one seed or a “2” for the two seed. Hall turned his head and reached into the bag, only to fish out the “2”, setting up a first-round date with three-seed Allen County-Scottsville on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.
The one-seeded Falcons will face four-seed Barren County on Feb. 23.
Hall said considering the competitive nature of the district, seeding doesn’t mean much.
“We split with Monroe and Allen and beat Barren twice,” he said. “From that analysis, you’d think Barren would be a better matchup, but (the Trojans) proved last year that wasn’t the case.”
Barren upset then one-seeded Glasgow in the first round of last year’s district tournament to pick up its fifth win of the season. This year, Trojans head coach Warren Cunningham said his his team’s first-round competition would be tough, regardless of the draw’s results.
“Either way, we were going to be playing a really good team. Monroe has a very solid team, and they’re very disciplined in what they do,” he said. “The big thing with them is that they don’t beat themselves with turnovers. And they shoot the ball well.”
Monroe County head coach Steve Kirkpatrick had praise for Barren as well.
“It’s been close each time we’ve played them,” he said. “It’s going to be a really tough battle.”
The girls district tournament didn’t require a pill-bottle-draw to determine seeding. The Monroe County Lady Falcons used their 6-0 district record to secure a first-round matchup against four-seed Allen County-Scottsville, while the Glasgow Lady Scotties will face the Barren County Trojanettes in the two/three seed matchup.
The girls portion of the tournament will tip off at Glasgow High School with a double-header on Monday, Feb. 22. Monroe and Allen will serve as openers at 6 p.m. with Barren-Glasgow following at 8 p.m.
The winners will move on to play each other in the championship game the following Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Falcons and Trojans will play at Glasgow High School on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. The Scotties and Patriots will follow 24 hours later, and the winners of each game will play for the district championship on Friday.
Glasgow girls head coach Chris Crain hopes home court advantage will give the Lady Scotties a boost come district time.
“It’ll be nice to have home court,” he said. “But when the district comes around all records and past accomplishments go out the window.”
The regular season isn’t out the window just yet. With the exception of the Lady Scotties, district squads still have three games remaining on their schedules. The Glasgow girls still have four to play.
But finishing the season hasn’t been easy due to the region’s inclement weather. Monroe, Barren and Glasgow all cancelled Tuesday night games due to snow, and Cunningham said avoiding the same fate on Friday is essential this close to the district tournament.
“We need to get that one in on Friday for sure,” he said. “We need to get into a little more of a routine than we’ve been in lately.”
Each team has endured grueling routines to reach this point in the season, which, for the Falcons and Scotties, cultimated in a draw featuring paper-pregnant pill bottles. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) doesn’t list any specific way to determine seeding in the event of a two-team tie, leaving each district to determine its own methods.
Hall said he has been involved in a similar drawing before, and Kirkpatrick said Smith told him the district had conducted its drawings using pill bottles in the past.
But Kirkpatrick knows seeding and team records don’t matter in the district tournament. How a team plays does.
“You think about all the time you’ve worked to get to that situation (of being a one or two seed) and it comes down to (a drawing),” he said. “But in the district tournament, everybody is 0-0. It doesn’t matter if you’re 20-0 or 0-20.
“Everybody’s starting over again.”
