Pairings are set for the boys basketball Louisville Invitational Tournament
The Ballard High School boys basketball team will be the No. 1 seed for next week’s Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament.
The LIT committee on Monday morning released the 24-team field for the tournament that will start next Monday, Jan. 10. The teams were selected via the SETH Ratings, a system devised by Jerry Wyman, the former director of athletics for Jefferson County Public Schools.
Ballard is 10-4 after finishing as the runner-up in last week’s WG&M Orthodontics Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic. The Bruins lost to George Rogers Clark 65-56 in the championship game.
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“We had some tough circumstances to overcome against GRC … and we still had our chances to win it,” Bruins coach Chris Renner said. “Just driving back and forth there every day and not practicing, those things were difficult obstacles. That loss exposed some things for us, and we’ll try to have a good week of practice this week and get better.”
Pleasure Ridge Park (10-3) earned the No. 2 seed for the LIT and is followed by No. 3 Doss (11-4) and No. 4 Manual (9-3). The field includes 13 schools from the Sixth Region and 11 teams from the Seventh Region.
“I think the field is great and a lot of teams have a chance to win it,” Renner said. “You want to win it, but at the same time I’d trade an LIT trophy for a regional trophy every day of the week. It’s about getting better, and you get better through good games. There will be a lot of good games in the LIT.”
Evangel Christian (4-7) ranked No. 19 in the SETH Ratings but opted out of the LIT to play in the All “A” Sixth Region Tournament. No. 25 Holy Cross (5-6) and No. 26 Beth Haven (11-2) were next in line to replace Evangel Christian but also will be playing in the All “A” regional. That left No. 27 Moore (2-9) as the final team to make the field.
Atherton (7-3) and Kentucky Country Day (7-6) were the first two teams left out, according to the SETH Ratings.
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First-round games on Jan. 10 and second-round games on Jan. 11 will be hosted by the higher seeds. The top eight seeds earned first-round byes. The rest of the tournament will be played at Valley High School, with quarterfinals on Wednesday, Jan. 12, semifinals on Friday, Jan. 14, and the final on Saturday, Jan. 15.
DeSales won last year’s LIT, beating Ballard 74-73 in overtime for the first title in school history.
Here’s the schedule (seeds in parentheses):
Monday, Jan. 10 (all games at 7:30 p.m. unless noted, hosted by higher seed)
Iroquois (17) at Bullitt East (16)
Moore (24) at Western (9)
Central (20) at Eastern (13)
Fairdale (21) at Bullitt Central (12)
Fern Creek (18) at DeSales (15)
Collegiate (23) at Butler (10)
Waggener (19) at Southern (14)
Seneca (22) at St. Xavier (11), 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 11 (all games at 7:30 p.m., hosted by higher seed)
Iroquois-Bullitt East winner at Ballard (1)
Moore-Western winner at Jeffersontown (8)
Central-Eastern winner at Manual (4)
Fairdale-Bullitt Central winner at Male (5)
Fern Creek-DeSales winner at Pleasure Ridge Park (2)
Collegiate-Butler winner at Christian Academy (7)
Waggener-Southern winner at Doss (3)
Seneca-St. Xavier winner at Trinity (6)
Wednesday, Jan. 12 (at Valley High School)
Quarterfinals at 4, 5:30, 7 and 8:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 14 (at Valley High School)
Semifinals at 6 and 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 15 (at Valley High School)
Final at 7:30 p.m.
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Invitational Tournament: Boys basketball team matchups
