Friday, December 16, 2011

When a boy was to be King

Today, Mark Maynard gets the nostalgia machine pumping. Maynard pens an article in today's ADI, that hearkens back to 10 years ago, on this very day, when a legend was born.
It was 10 years ago that Rose Hill rose went from whipping boy to master in the 16th Region, all on the back of 7th grader OJ Mayo. The events that introduced us to 'big time' High School basketball, and also ushered in an era of hysteria and frenzy that has yet to be duplicated again. However, the echoes of it still can be heard in the hollows and foothills.
To this day, Ashland still hates and despises Rose Hill, maybe even more so than they ever hated Boyd County. Boyd County is still struggling to regain it's place as one of the 2 signature programs in the region, years after Mayo and company have long since moved on. It changed the power structure.
Rose Hill is now a struggling program again, having been hurt by sanctions in the past couple years and one mass exodus after another. It could be, however,  only a matter of time before another group comes into the school and once more has the Royals reloaded, and primed for another run at the top.Just to be clear, we don't have any idea what the small baptist school , nestled in the Eastern Kentucky hills, will or will not do. But, you would have to assume they miss it. They miss in the insanity of it all. They miss the notoriety, and they miss the winning. And, they probably have a bitter taste in their mouths with how the most recent end to their success went down. However, they are also fairly gun shy about making a run at it. We have seen it happen all before. D1 type prospects leave the school, they struggle for a year or so, but then more D1 Prospects come in, they win, they leave,then some more talented players replace them, something happens, they leave, etc.,
This year's Rose Hill team is in no danger of recapturing any of the former glory that program has had in the last 10 years or so....but you know, it's still in the back of  the region's minds...Is it only a matter of time before they do it again?

You can read Mark Maynard's article here: A Royal Uprising

No comments: