The first day of the Kentucky Machine and Engineering Classic went well, with 10 of the 28 games in the books.
As usual, the girls' tournament proved to be competitive in the first round with the four games decided by a margin of 6.2 points.
The six boys' games were decided by an average margin of 12.3 points, giving the fans a good first day of basketball in the tournament.
To take it a step further, the five games played in Wildcat Gym were decided by an average margin of 8.6 points, while the games played in the middle school gym were separated by 11.7 points.
Some observations from the first day:
- Carlisle County appeared in the 12 Games of Christmas Tournament in the first two years (2001-02), winning the first title and finishing second in 2002. In making their third appearance in the tourney, they have beaten Trigg County in each of their three appearances.
- Reidland, making their fourth appearance in Trigg's tournament, won a first round game for the first time Saturday, beating Dawson Springs 45-43 in the first round.
- Playing the girls in a double-elimination format and the boys in a pool play format can make things confusing to the fans. However, each coach has solid reasoning for playing their respective format. For the gals, it's consistency in keeping with the past six years of the tournament. Teams can watch the path their teams will take in the bracket. For the guys, it gives them one extra game that doesn't count against their total of games scheduled.
- There were38 fouls called in Hancock County's 61-57 overtime win over Union City, Tennessee. When some Hancock County fans complained about what they perceived was a lack of even more fouls to be called, one Union City fan shot back "You haven't seen fouls yet. Come play in Tennessee." Western Tennessee basketball has a reputation of being a little rougher than other areas, which lent some credence to the fan's statement. The comment also garnered a chuckle on press row.
- The tournament staff and volunteers should be commended for a job well done. It's small things like this that make people want to return to your tournaments in the future.
- Barring a speedbump along the way, it should be Trigg County and Larue County in the boys' championship game Tuesday.
- The girls' first round game between Hancock County and Union City, Tenn. may have featured the two best teams in the tournament.
- All eight girls' teams have appeared previously in Trigg County's Christmas tournament.
- Trigg County is already off to a better start than the last boys' tournament they hosted in 1995. The Wildcats positioned the brackets for an expected trip to the title game but were knocked off by Providence 85-75 in the first round and sent home in fourth place in the four-team field with a 79-62 loss to Reidland the following night. Prior to that, Trigg County had not hosted an in-season invitational tournament since 1968.
- I'm still not a fan of playing games in two different gyms but understand the reason why they have to this year. Hopefully in 2009, one of two things will happen to keep this from happening again. Maybe the tournament will be split into a pre-Christmas girls' tournament and a post-Christmas boys' tournament or the more likely scenario, adding a fourth day.
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