Elin Logue of Walton-Verona puts up a shot Thursday at the Bluegrass Cardinal Classic. (Tonia Witt/RiseUp Sports)
The Bluegrass Cardinal Classic at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester is a 55-team, two-day event that is a NCAA live girls high school basketball event that college coaches can attend and many did Thursday.
GRC has one of the state’s most successful programs and I got a chance to chat with veteran GRC coach Robbie Graham about the event between games Thursday.
Question: First one was how do you organize a 55-team event?
Graham: “Well, it takes a lot of manpower. We’ve had parents and coaches work hard to put this together. It’s difficult. Logistics is just crazy. So it takes a lot of time a lot of planning and there is no way I can do it alone. I’m more the kind of contact the coaches, college coaches, contact high school coaches. Those other people have done a lot of legwork, a lot of hard work.”
Question: Why put together a 55-team event that takes so much work?
Graham: “This is an opportunity for our girls in Kentucky to be seen. We send stuff out to college coaches and if we can help a handful of these girls get a college offer it’s worth all the time and effort because it’s what we do because we love basketball. We love kids. So if we can give our Kentucky young ladies an opportunity, this was all worth it.
“The hardest thing is getting to 10 o’clock this morning (when the first games were played). After we tip off, things go pretty smoothly, but just getting to 10 o’clock this morning is hard. We haven’t had many hiccups at all. We tried to put things together with like competition so it’s good games. We want good balanced competition. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that.
“Coach (Steve) Anderson, he’s our scheduler. He’s an engineer by training, so he’s really really smart. He’ll ask my opinion on this and that but we kind of get out of his way.”
Question: So how many college coaches do you think will be here by the time this gets over with Friday night?
Graham: “We’re expecting probably 25-ish, give or take and then it’s on BallerTV (online). We’ve had some that have reached and said, ‘Hey, Coach, I can’t be there but I have a Baller TV subscription. I’m gonna check out this player, check out this team.’ This is year two for the scholastic event across the country. Hopefully we will continue to get to host and hopefully they’ll continue to grow.”
Question: Why was an online option added this year for fans?
Graham: “You might have a grandparent who lives in Georgia and it does not work to come to GRC, so it’s been a good partnership. We have some coaches that might be looking at 15 different kids in 15 different states. Now they can pull up the live stream and watch this kid and that kid. So it is definitely good for kids and it’s good for coaches at all levels. If we can help kids get a chance to reach their dream of playing college basketball and then get an education on top of it, there is nothing better than that.”
Question: One player not playing is your star senior Ciara Byars (a top 40 player nationally) who injured her knee last season. How is she doing?
Graham: “She’s attacking that rehab like she attacks everything. She is such a hard worker and so dedicated and she’s been around today just watching. She had to leave for rehab, but she’s back and just having her around our kids even though she can’t play is a strength because of her leadership. She’s such a leader on and off the court because she’s doing well physically and mentally doing well.”
