HS Basketball: Scott County is the top ranked team in the Courier Journal’s Litkenhous Top 20 rankings this week. Owensboro is 15th and Paducah Tilghman is 16th in the statewide poll.
University Heights tops the 2nd region boys’ poll followed by Christian County, Madisonville, Hopkinsville and Henderson County. Paducah Tilghman tops the 1st region poll, Owensboro heads the 3rd region poll and Warren Central leads the 4th region poll.
College Football: It will be an all SEC national championship game tonight at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Alabama Crimson Tide, seeking their fifth national championship under Nick Saban since 2009 meet the Georgia Bulldogs, led by Saban’s former defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.
The Courier Journal reports Kentucky has lost its fourth player from the 2018 roster in about a week’s time. Four star wide receiver recruit Javonte Richardson is headed to junior college. Richardson had been the highest rated recruit in the 2017 recruiting class.
Coaches Frank Beamer and Mack Brown were selected today for the College Football Hall of Fame, part of a class of 13 that includes former players Ed Reed and Calvin Johnson.
Brown won 244 games in a 30-year head coaching career at four schools that featured 16 seasons and a national championship at Texas. Beamer built Virginia Tech football into a national power and before that was head coach at Murray State.
The rest of the 2018 class includes Trevor Cobb of Rice; Kerry Collins of Penn State; Dave Dickenson of Montana; Dana Howard of Illinois; Paul Palmer of Temple; Matt Stinchcomb of Georgia; Aaron Taylor of Nebraska and Michigan’s Charles Woodson.
Golf: When defending champion Justin Thomas competes in the Sony Open in Hawaii later this week, he will have a temporary new caddie on the bag. Jim “Bones” McKay-who most recently looped for Phil Mickelson-will fill in for regular caddie Jimmy Johnson, who is bothered by a foot injury.
McKay currently works as an on course reporter for Golf Channel. The Louisville area native’s father Mike caddied for him at the Sentry Tournament of Champions this past week.