Sweet 16 leftovers ...

Kentucky basketball fans might want to file this name away: Elijah Pittman is a 6-5 sophomore at Covington Holmes who had a breakout Sweet 16 and reportedly caught the eye of UK coach Billy Gillispie last week.

Pittman was Holmes’ sixth man all season but started the championship game against Mason County. Pittman averaged 14 points in four Sweet 16 games and showed a nice outside shot, going 9-for-14 from 3-point range.

“He’s 6-5 1/2 and with the way he can shoot the three and get to the basket,” said Holmes coach David Henley, a Carlisle County native, “I’m sure I’ll be getting some calls on him.”

Gillispie was on hand for the last two days of the tournament to check out UK-bound Darius Miller, who led Mason to the state title and is expected to be named as Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball next week.

There was also a lot of chatter about the transfer of UK commitment Dakotah Euton to Scott County. Euton, a 6-8 forward who played for Rose Hill Christian in Ashland as a freshman and sophomore, is moving to Georgetown after his father lost his job at an engineering firm in Ashland and is taking a job in Lexington.

Clay Euton, his father, has told some media outlets that basketball interests played a role in the decision to send his son to Scott County, which won the state title in 2007 and regularly plays a high-exposure schedule. Last season, the Cardinals played in Marshall County’s Hoop Fest (as did Euton’s Rose Hill club) and two prestigious Christmas tournaments, the City of Palms meet in Florida and the Beach Ball Classic at Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Of course, the recent rash of transfers to Scott County has raised some eyebrows — the Cardinals will have two of the state’s top juniors next year in Euton and guard Ge-Lawn Guyn, who moved in from Lexington Henry Clay last summer.

There is also some talk that Rose Hill’s Chad Jackson, a 6-4 sophomore guard and another top prospect, may also wind up at Scott County. If he’s wearing Cardinal red next season, Scott County will have three of the state’s top half-dozen juniors and a Mr. Basketball candidate in 6-7 forward Richie Phares.

This is nothing new at Scott County, which once had back-to-back Mr. Basketball winners in Rick Jones (1999) and Scott Hundley (2000) — neither of which began their careers there.

Jones scored 30 points against Trigg County as a sophomore at Corbin, then moved to Georgetown when his father got a job at the Toyota plant there and led Scott County to the state title in 1998. Jones played a year at Vanderbilt before ending up his college career at Murray State.

Hundley played two seasons at Lexington Dunbar before moving to Scott County, and played a key role in the Cardinals’ controversial semifinal win over Paducah Tilghman in 1999. Hundley also played collegiately at Vanderbilt.