Sweet 16 draw ... boys

Whichever teams takes home the First Region boys' title also has a nice extra present, a winnable first-round game in Rupp Arena.

In fact, the regional draw is one of our best in several years, in the lower bracket and away from most of the state's heavyweight programs.

Paducah Tilghman remains on the fringes of the state's top 20, earning a No. 20 ranking in this week's BluegrassPreps.com rankings. Marshall County owns a win over the Tornado and visits Tilghman tonight, while Graves County has split two games with Marshall and led the Tornado by double digits before falling 90-81.

The 13th Region awaits the winner. Clay County is the favorite there, with Corbin and Bell County as the primary challengers. Bell whacked Corbin 69-40 on Thursday night, but Clay remains the slight favorite, having beaten Bell 52-50 on Tuesday night.

Clay is a solid team but hasn't fared too well against good competition outside the region, with double-digit losses to Lexington teams Henry Clay, Tates Creek and Lexington Catholic and a 20-point loss to Scott County in Corbin's Christmas tournament.

Just 10 days ago, the Tigers fell 45-40 to Perry Central, which is coached by former Graves and Marshall mentor Allan Hatcher and is favored to win the 14th Region.

The quarterfinal-round opponent could be a tough one, depending on who wins the Sixth Region on the western side of Louisville. Western has 6-8 senior Ryan Taylor, who moved in from Indianapolis after committing to play for Rick Pitino at the University of Louisville. Bullitt East has a pair of solid seniors and a player on the rise in 6-8 sophomore xxx.

Central, which usually starts slow because of its football team's postseason run, played in the state chanpionship game in 2009 and looks to be making another late-season charge, and Pleasure Ridge Park and Iroquois are solid contenders.

The upper bracket is where the power is. That starts with the absolutely loaded Louisville-based Seventh Region, which has a field that includes what may be the top three teams in the state in Eastern, Jeffersontown and Ballard and perhaps six or seven of the state's top 20 teams.

Clark County is a top-five team and the 10th Region favorite, and Christian County is the clear Second Region favorite. Also in the top half of the draw is the 11th Region, which includes Scott County, Madison Central and several good Lexington schools such as Tates Creek, Lexington Catholic, Henry Clay and Bryan Station.

Boys' Sweet 16
(at Rupp Arena)

March 16
Region 10 (Clark County, Scott, Mason County) vs. Region 8 (South Oldham, North Oldham, Oldham County, Simon Kenton), 11 a.m.
Region 4 (Bowling Green, Warren Central, Glasgow) vs. Region 7 (Louisville Eastern, Jeffersontown, Louisville Ballard, Louisville Trinity), 12:30 p.m.
Region 2 (Christian County, Henderson County) vs. Region 15 (Johnson Central, Betsy Layne, Pikeville), 5:30 p.m.
Region 11 (Lexington Tates Creek, Scott County, Lexington Catholic, Lexington Henry Clay) vs. Region 9 (Dixie Heights, Newport Catholic, Covington Holmes, Covington Catholic), 7 p.m.

March 17
Region 16 (Ashland, Rowan County, West Carter) vs. Region 3 (Muhlenberg County, Daviess County, Owensboro), 11 a.m.
Region 12 () vs. Region 14 (Perry Central, Buckhorn, Hazard), 12:30 p.m.
Region 6 (Louisville Western, Bullitt East, Pleasure Ridge Park, Louisville Central, Louisville Iroquois) vs. Region 5 (John Hardin, North Hardin, Elizabethtown, Bardstown), 5:30 p.m.
Region 1 (Paducah Tilghman, Marshall County, Graves County) vs. Region 13 (Clay County, Bell County, Corbin), 7 p.m.