The Best Seat in the House

Pairings were drawn today for next month’s boys and girls Sweet Sixteen basketball tournaments during a live telecast in Lexington.

In the Girls Sweet Sixteen, the 12th Region champion will play the 13th Region champion in the final first-round game at 9 p.m. March 8 in Bowling Green. Clay County is the favorite to win the 13th, while Bell County, Harlan County and Whitley County are also among those who might contend.

The Boys Sweet Sixteen draw pits the 12th Region champion against the winner of the 2nd Region at 1:30 p.m. March 14 in Lexington. Hopkinsville is currently the top team in the 2nd, with Madisonville-North Hopkins and Trigg County also among the contenders.

The Danville boys return to the Frankfort Convention Center and the All “A” Classic tonight for a quarterfinal game after beating DeSales 46-41 in their first-round game late Thursday night.

The Admirals play Collegiate for a berth in the semifinals. It’s another 9:30 p.m. tipoff, though the Thursday night game didn’t start until 10:10 because the preceding game went to overtime.

The game will be broadcast on WRNZ-FM (105.1) and at hometownlive.net. Live stats will also be available here during the game.

You can also check the Advocate’s Facebook page, where I’ll post periodic updates on the game tonight.

Pairings for the boys and girls Sweet Sixteen basketball tournaments will be drawn at 10:30 a.m. Friday during a live telecast on WKYT-TV (Ch. 27).

The draw show will also be streamed on www.khsaa.tv and replayed at 1 p.m. on CWKYT (Time Warner Cable ch. 99).

The girls tournament will be held March 7-10 in Bowling Green; the boys tourney is March 14-17 in Lexington.

All-session tickets for both tournaments are on sale through the KHSAA’s website. Tickets are $70 and $120 for all 15 games in each tournament. (Click these direct links to order girls tickets and boys tickets.)

The All “A” Classic is underway, but the Danville boys won’t be involved until the end of the first round.

The Admirals make their sixth All “A” appearance — and their fourth in a row — when it plays DeSales at 9:30 p.m. today at Frankfort Convention Center. It’s yet another late-night game for Danville, whose boys and girls teams almost always seem to be in the 9:30 time slot — in a game that probably won’t tip off before 10 p.m. at best.

The Admirals (7-10) hope to build on the success they had in this tournament a year ago, when they won two games to reach the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Betsy Layne. They return one starter, guard Tryston Ford, and have a new coach, Andrew Zaheri. Danville is 4-5 all-time in the tourney.

The Colts (9-10) lost to Betsy Layne in last year’s championship game and were also in the finals in 2010. They lost six starters from last year’s team.

Danville’s game tonight — and any subsequent games — will be broadcast on WRNZ-FM (105.1) and at hometownlive.net. Live stats will also be available here during the game.

You can also check the Advocate’s Facebook page for periodic updates on the game tonight.

The KHSAA Board of Control has approved a new boys and girls soccer alignment that does no favors for Advocate-area teams, some of whom have had it pretty good since the last realignment in 2004.

That shift moved Boyle County, Danville and other local teams farther away from other teams in the Bluegrass, making it easier for them to get to the state tournament and giving a couple of team —  the 2008 Boyle boys and ’09 Danville boys — a smoother road to the final four.

This realignment, however, dumps a load of rocks squarely in the middle of that road. The 16 regions and 53 districts will now be matched as closely as possible to those in basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball. That means:

• Boyle, Danville, Garrard County and Lincoln County will be together in the 45th District.
• Mercer County will be out of the Boyle-Danville district but will be in the 46th District with East Jessamine and West Jessamine.
• East Jessamine and West Jessamine add strength to the region — West Jessamine’s girls made the final four last year — that the teams leaving the local region — Campbellsville, Marion County, Russell County and Taylor County — don’t exactly counterbalance.

In addition, it’s likely that the 12th Region winners would advance to a four-team sectional that would the winners of Regions 9 through 11, meaning that teams that emerge from the 12th would probably have to beat two really good teams — probably one from the Lexington area and one from northern Kentucky — to reach the final four.

The alignment is effective with the 2012 season.

Discounted tickets for the Danville boys’ game in the All “A” Classic are available at Danville during regular school hours through Thursday.

Danville will play DeSales in a first-round game at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Frankfort Convention Center. Tickets, which are good for the entire four-game session that includes Danville’s game, are $8 each if purchased at the school or $10 at the arena.

Sections 7 and 10 will be designated for Danville fans.

Hometown Radio also announced today that the game will be broadcast on WRNZ-FM (105.1) and on its website, www.hometownlive.net.

The Garrard County-Casey County boys basketball game scheduled for tonight in Liberty has been postponed following the death of the mother of two Casey players.

Roseann Carman, the mother of senior center Luke Carman and freshman guard Landon Carman and the wife of former Casey coach Todd Carman, died Sunday at age 42. She is also survived by a daughter, LaShaya.

The visitation is tonight and the funeral will be Wednesday, and Garrard agreed to postpone tonight’s game until Thursday.

The news is not good for the Casey County girls and Megan Pittman, who suffered a serious knee injury that may cost her the rest of her senior season and deal a serious blow to the Lady Rebels’ hopes of winning the 12th Region.

Pittman was injured Tuesday in Casey’s win over Pulaski, ironically on the night that Casey coach Randy Salyers got his 300th career victory. She left the gym in a wheelchair, and reports are circulating that the senior center has suffered a second torn anterior cruciate ligament, this time in her left knee.

Pittman missed the first 18 games of last season while rehabilitating a torn ACL in her right knee suffered in the summer of 2010. She signed with Coastal Carolina last fall, scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season and is averaging 22.6 points and 11.3 rebounds.

She did not play Friday in the Lady Rebels’ 63-40 home loss to Rockcastle County, a team they had beaten 53-44 a week earlier in Mount Vernon, when she had 24 points and 13 rebounds.

If Pittman is indeed lost for the season, it’s a crushing blow to Casey and a cruel blow to a girl who has distinguished herself as the top player in the 12th Region this season and as a one whose character and personality have made her well-liked in her community and by opponents as well.

She returned from her 2010 ACL injury in just 5 1/2 months, and a second speedy recovery would allow her to be playing again by mid-summer.

The Danville boys won their fourth consecutive 12th Region All “A” Classic championship tonight, beating Burgin 75-49 in the title game at Monticello.

The game was tied at 34-all late in the first half, but Danville (7-10) then scored 13 consecutive points while Burgin (13-4) was shut out for the final 1:18 of the first half and the first 3:46 of the second.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Admirals, led by Tryston Ford with 16 points and Devonta Alcorn with 15. Alex Beckerson led the Bulldogs with 13 points.

Danville advances to the statewide All “A” Classic, where they reached the semifinals last year before losing to eventual champion Betsy Layne. The Admirals will play DeSales (9-9), which defeated Louisville Holy Cross 65-55 tonight for the 6th Region title, in their first-round game at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Frankfort Convention Center.

This is the sixth All “A” regional title for Danville, which also won in 1998 and ’99 and is 4-5 at the statewide tourney. It is also the third time in four years that the Admirals have beaten Burgin for the championship.

Somerset won the girls All “A” regional title, rallying from an early 20-5 deficit to defeat Monticello 67-57 in double-overtime.

(Jan. 17: Corrected to show that statewide All “A” Classic is in Frankfort.)

Boys and girls teams from Burgin and Danville will compete this week in the 12th Region All “A” Classic, a qualifier for the All “A” Classic, the statewide tournament for Kentucky’s small schools that will be held later this month.

The regional games will be played as a series of three girls-boys doubleheaders at Monticello. Under an agreement of the four participating schools, Burgin can win the right to host Friday’s championship games if its boys and girls teams defeat Monticello in the semifinals. If either Monticello team advances, both finals will be played there.

The Danville boys and girls won last year’s All “A” regionals. Danville’s boys defeated Metcalfe County and Heath at the All “A” state tournament before losing to eventual champion Betsy Layne in the semifinals. The Danville girls defeated Walton-Verona in the first round before losing to Newport Central Catholic in the quarterfinals.

The statewide tournament will be held in Frankfort for the first time after a long and successful run in Richmond. The 5,365-seat Frankfort Convention Center will host the tourney for at least the next three years.

12th Region All “A” Classic

BOYS

At Monticello

• Monday, Jan. 16: Somerset (11-5) vs. Danville (5-9), 7:45 p.m.
• Tuesday, Jan. 17: Burgin (12-3) vs. Monticello (5-14), 8 p.m.

At Burgin or Monticello

• Friday, Jan. 20: Championship, 8 p.m.

GIRLS

At Monticello

• Monday, Jan. 16: Somerset (7-9) vs. Danville (11-5), 6 p.m.
• Tuesday, Jan. 17: Burgin (9-11) vs. Monticello (9-9), 6 p.m.

At Burgin or Monticello

• Friday, Jan. 20: Championship, 6 p.m.

* * *

All “A” Classic

At Frankfort Convention Center, Frankfort

First-Round Pairings

BOYS

Thursday, Jan. 26

• 16th Region champion vs. 2nd Region champion, 8:30 a.m.
• 1st Region champion vs. 15th Region champion, 10 a.m.
• 11th Region champion vs. 5th Region champion, 11:30 a.m.
• 4th Region champion vs. 3rd Region champion, 1 p.m.
• 9th Region champion vs. 13th Region champion, 5 p.m.
• 8th Region champion vs. 14th Region champion, 6:30 p.m.
• 10th Region champion vs. 7th Region champion, 8 p.m.
• 6th Region champion vs. 12th Region champion, 9:30 p.m.

GIRLS

Wednesday, Jan. 25

• 5th Region champion vs. 11th Region champion, 8:30 a.m.
• 9th Region champion vs. 14th Region champion, 10 a.m.
• 16th Region champion vs. 6th Region champion, 11:30 a.m.
• 10th Region champion vs. 13th Region champion, 1 p.m.
• 15th Region champion vs. 2nd Region champion, 5 p.m.
• 1st Region champion vs. 3rd Region champion, 6:30 p.m.
• 7th Region champion vs. 8th Region champion, 8 p.m.
• 12th Region champion vs. 4th Region champion, 9:30 p.m.