Boyle County players celebrated winning the 12th Region championship. State tourney play begins today with Knott County Central facing Elizabethtown in the first game. (Chris Zollner Photo)
Bowling Green has one of the better teams in Kentucky but the 4th Region champion could not beat Ballard during the season and coach D.G. Sherrill is not sure anyone will at the state tournament either.
“They are exceptional. Chris Renner is as good a coach as has ever coached in our state, It will take a heck of a job to beat those guys,” Sherrill said.
Madison Central gets the first chance to knock off Ballard (19-2) today at 5 p.m. EST in the third game of the state tourney at Rupp Arena following the Knott County Central-Elizabethtown and Bowling Green-University Heights games.
Renner said Monday during a pre-tourney Zoom call that he didn’t know a lot about Central specifically but knew all he needed.
“I can tell you this. If they are capable of beating Lexington Catholic and (Frederick) Douglass in a week’s time (in the 11th Region Tournament) they are a darn good team. They got talent. This is probably the toughest first-round challenge that I have had in my nine years getting to the state tournament.”
The last time Central (21-9) was in the state was 2013 when the Indians beat Ballard 65-64 in the championship game.
“They broke our heart. We had that game won. It stung. That loss hurt but there is always another side to the story. There is another team,” Renner said. “All those championships I have lost I have built relationships with other coaches. If we lose I am happy for the other coach because he works just as hard.”
His relationship with Madison Central coach Allen Feldhaus can be a bit “explosive” at times. They both run fireworks stands for different companies in the summer and don’t mind trash talking about who is more successful.
“His tent might do a little more money sales but I will put my sales up against him any day of the week,” Renner said. “It was fun this summer. We were both killing it with fireworks.”
Feldhaus calls Renner “one of my best friends in the coaching business” but says his sales have exceeded Renner’s in the last two years.
“We ride each other constantly, especially when we are selling fireworks,” the Madison Central coach said. “But when it comes to talking, he has me beat.”
Feldhaus returned his top seven players this season but Madison Central was never considered the team to beat in the 11th Region. The Indians had eight positive COVID issues during the season and had a player lose his father during the season. Only two players played in every game but Feldhaus says his team is playing its best basketball now because he has the best perimeter shooting team in his 35 years of coaching.
“Our last five games we are shooting almost 60 percent (from the field),” he said.
Still, Feldhaus knows his team is an underdog against Ballard.
“We have not faced a team with as much depth as they have,” Feldhaus said. “I thought they would definitely be the favorite (to win state). They are so athletic and so hard to score on but we are playing our best basketball and are going to give it our best shot.”
