Christmas in February, Great Crossing Checks First Win Off Of List on Road To Rupp, Silent Night in “The Kettle”

February 27th, 2024

A few days ago I attended a Great Crossing basketball game. I wanted to see what all of the hype is about the relatively new school in Scott County and especially catch a glimpse of their own 7’1” big man Malachi Moreno. Moreno, whom is currently ranked #42 in the ESPN 100 Recruiting Rankings for the Class of 2025, is being sought after by most high major D1 programs. The last time I was in this gym Sean May from North Carolina as well staff members from the Indiana Hoosiers were here to watch him play. Something else happened on the last time in this gym that I feel is worth mentioning. I went “mini-viral” over a tweet about Great Crossing lacking a proper student section. I figured it was an innocent tweet about a new generation not showing much school spirit. (See tweet below) It turns out many of the Great Crossing parents shared my sentiments as I began to watch my tweet make the rounds of Georgetown.

I felt the need to come back and watch the team that is my current pick to win the KHSAA Sweet 16 kick off their Road to Rupp Arena. Into the car I jumped and off to Great Crossing High School I sped away. I also had other intentions….I wanted to issue a challenge to the Great Crossing Student Section (see below), dubbed as “The Kettle”. This team had a regular season consisting of only one loss, they deserved the support.

The Frankfort Panthers start a freshman, an 8th grader, and a sophomore. They were matched up against an upperclass clad Great Crossing starting lineup. The Warhawks put a quick 7 points on the board less than 30 seconds into the game. They came focused and ready to soar their way into the regional tournament as they nailed another quick three point shot to take a 10-0 lead on the young Panther squad, forcing Frankfort to take a timeout just 1:06 into the game. That helped nothing, the Warhawks continued to score in every way imaginable and held a 33-0 lead before Frankforts #4 hit a basket with 10 seconds remaining in the first. The quarter ended with the score being 35-2, Great Crossing nearly missing the rare shutout.

The story here is not really in the game itself, let’s be real, it was a tune-up for the WarHawks. The story here is that this team is ranked nationally in most polls and put the entire state of Kentucky on notice tonight. The student section never showed up. That really is a shame for a team that is on this pace and has had such great success. I have seen great student sections in Kentucky, I don’t think it’s the “culture” as some have felt the need to place blame there in the past. Hopefully they catch on, these kids are worth the price of admission in entertainment value alone. (Just watch the warmup dunk contests)