January is the dog days of the high school basketball season.

Teams are positioning themselves for that February run that they hope carries them on a high into March Madness. But it’s cold and, for the most part, the games are meaningless as coaches try mix after mix looking for that perfect chemistry.

But one event in January that does bring the goosebumps — as opposed to just the chillbumps — is the All “A” Classic.

Elliott County is the big favorite to win that boys’ title, but it’s going to be a good tournament with some outstanding small school teams from the 16th Region — there’s Fairview, Rose Hill, Bath County, Menifee County, Raceland and Elliott County. That’s a formidable field any way you cut it.

The tournament will be played Jan. 17, 19, 20 and 23 at Menifee County High School in Frenchburg.

One half of the bracket has Elliott County, Fairview and Menifee and the other side has Bath, Raceland and Rose Hill.

First-round games are Jan. 17 with girl-boy doubleheaders for every night (actually two girl-boy doubleheaders on the first night). Semifinal games are Jan. 19 and 20 and the championship is Jan. 23.

The pairings are the same for the girls where Elliott County goes in as the big favorite as well.

The winners advance to the All “A” Classic state tournament in Richmond.

If all goes as planned — and it seldom does — the state tournament could include the likes of Elliott County, Shelby Valley, Hazard and Beechwood. The draw for the state tournament comes Saturday.

Last year Rose Hill’s boys and Elliott County’s girls represented the region.

New KHSAA SID

Congratulations to Elden May, a former sportswriter at The Independent who has been named as the sports information director for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.

May came to The Independent in 2002 after a two-year stint as sports editor of The Ledger Independent in Maysville. He left Ashland in the summer of 2006. May, who worked for Host Communications and then the state the past couple of years, begins his new assignment on Monday.

May is a 1995 graduate of Lewis County High School and 2000 graduate of Northern Kentucky University.

In his spare time, May has been assembling a book for Lewis County basketball. He was well-liked during his brief time with us here. We wish him well.

Derby Classic restart

The Raceland Derby Classic will have its third-place and championship games on Monday, Jan. 26, at Raceland High School.

The boys basketball games were scheduled to be played on Dec. 23 but an ice storm that slammed the area postponed the last two games.

Greenup County will play Raceland in the third-place game at 6 p.m. and the championship game between Boyd County and West Carter follows at 7:45 p.m.

Carpenter on Wheaties

John Carpenter, who has what’s been called the largest, private sports memorabilia collection in the world, is featured on the front of a Wheaties cereal box.

Carpenter received four boxes with his picture on the front and back in the mail. However, the General Mills cereal boxes aren’t available for sale in the Tri-State. Carpenter’s inclusion on the cereal box is part of Wheaties current project to promote a variety of sports personalities, items and events.

Carpenter has had other honors come his way. The state of Kentucky put up a sign in Firebrick — Carpenter’s hometown — with information about Carpenter’s collection, which has more than 6,000 pieces. He has been collecting items since 1981.

General Mills picked him based on the sports memorabilia collection and getting items in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

800 for Cougars

Morgan County’s 53-43 win over Raceland on Dec. 13 was the 800th in Cougars basketball history.

Morgan County (3-5 this season) is 802-651 all-time.

The Cougars had a 170-112 record from 1999-2008, trailing only Ashland (194) and East Carter (172) in total victories in the 16th region. Elliott County (168) and Rowan County (167) rank fourth and fifth over that 10-year period.

Border Bowl battle

The second annual National Guard Border Bowl will have a local flavor with four area players and one coach on the Kentucky roster.

The all-star high school football game for seniors will be played Jan. 17 at the University of Cumberlands in Williamsburg at 1 p.m. Kentucky will be pitted against East Tennessee.

Raceland’s Robby Logan and Bret Denton and Johnson Central’s Ian Welch and Chase Richardson are on the Kentucky roster. Raceland coach Randy Vanderhoof is on the Kentucky coaching staff, which is being headed up by Lexington Christian Academy’s Paul Rains.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@

dailyindependent.com

or (606) 326-2648.