This is the quietest week of the year in local sports, but an event has been added for Saturday that should give basketball fans something to break the post-holiday blues.

The Todd Central-at-Russellville doubleheader, which was snowed out the first week of the season, has been rescheduled for Saturday, with the girls game beginning at 6 p.m.

"We were going to play it on Friday, but when I found out the national championship bowl game is going to be played that night, we postponed it until Saturday," Panther Coach Phil Todd said.

"We need a big crowd at that game."

When the local schools play each other, Todd Central or Franklin-Simpson in district action, the crowds are usually bigger.

People in the stands-- more precisely, people at the ticket gates-- are important to the operation of high school athletics in these days of budget crunches.

So are wins in district games when tournament seeding time comes around.

For many years, the first Friday of January was reserved for the Clash of the Cats, but it's being played the second Friday of the month now. This year's first one will be at Logan County High School Jan. 10 with the renewal at RHS Feb. 7.

This year's district tournaments will be at Todd Central.

While the boys tournament seems to be pretty even, F-S has made a strong statement of superiority in the girls division.

The team coached by former Russellville coaches Bob Matthews and Larry Brown has not only won big over Logan County and Russellville already this year, but made state news by beating perennial power Fort Thomas Highland, but they did that with Kentucky's greatest-ever high school player, Jamie Walz, coaching the Bluebirds.

n Former RHS star Squeaky Hampton's playing time was curtailed in Austin Peay's two wins this weekend in Green Bay, Wisc.

He played 10 minutes in the Governors' 74-69 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday. Besides his minutes, a defensive rebound was his only statistic.

In a 77-69 victory over Eastern Washington Saturday, the freshman played six minutes. He made a steal and hit a layup with 18 seconds remaining in the first half for his only shot and goal of the tournament. He also had a rebound and a turnover.

n Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks that LCHS sophomore Mardricus Washington looks like a young Travis 'Boo' Williams.

Boo was a standout for the Cougars in the mid-90s and now is a senior on the Faulkner University team. He helped Faulkner win the national NAIA championship two years ago.

Williams was born on Oct. 1, the last day he could have entered the first grade as a five-year-old. It showed in high school when he was so young looking while playing with such maturity.

Now Washington gives that same youtful-but-talented appearance.

We always called him 'Dreek' at Adairville School, short for Mardricus. After a recent game, I asked him now to spell it-- 'Drique,' maybe?

"Just spell it B-O-O," he said. We have a new Boo.