Keith Adkins named boys basketball coach at Mercer County.

[BasketballFan24]

Looks like a great hire for the Titans. 

[QueenoftheSouth]

A very impressive resume. I expect that he will make Mercer relevant again. With what they have returning, I think they will start the season ranked top 5 in the region.

[LethalPG]

Mercer has been relevant.  It's a good job.  They just have not been able to win in the region tournament recently.  Coach Adkins will do a good job.

[QueenoftheSouth]

8 hours ago, LethalPG said:

Mercer has been relevant.  It's a good job.  They just have not been able to win in the region tournament recently.  Coach Adkins will do a good job.

I’ll have to disagree with you on the relevancy comment. They haven’t really been since Baughman’s last year. They generally make the region as the runner up in their district, but that is because of how weak that district is (outside of West).

[titan101]

29 minutes ago, QueenoftheSouth said:

I’ll have to disagree with you on the relevancy comment. They haven’t really been since Baughman’s last year. They generally make the region as the runner up in their district, but that is because of how weak that district is (outside of West).

They weren’t really relevant that year either.  Didn’t win district and lost 1st round of region same as what they have done last two years.  Have not won district or a region tourney game since Faulkner was there 2018. 

[LethalPG]

How many regions have they won in school history?  I know 2000 when they had the surprise run and Cook's last year in 2016?  Is that it?

[LethalPG]

My point was I wouldn't label Mercer as a powerhouse job traditionally in the region on the boys side.  So, that would change the definition of relevancy to me.  To me, there are 3 traditional powers in 12th---Lincoln Co., Wayne Co. and Pulaski Co.  Mercer Co. could certainly turn into one though.

[QueenoftheSouth]

2 hours ago, LethalPG said:

My point was I wouldn't label Mercer as a powerhouse job traditionally in the region on the boys side.  So, that would change the definition of relevancy to me.  To me, there are 3 traditional powers in 12th---Lincoln Co., Wayne Co. and Pulaski Co.  Mercer Co. could certainly turn into one though.

First, relevant vs powerhouse are two very different things. The three schools you mentioned would definitely be at the top over the years. But to me, if a team is top 5 in their region, they’re relevant. I did some research to make sure I wasn’t off base. Here’s a 14 year look back at Mercer (09-10 thru 22-23):

09-10 3rd in region 

10-11 4th in region/won district/made it to regional championship

Next 3 seasons irrelevant

14-15 4th in region/won district

15-16 1st in region/won district/won region

16-17 2nd in region/won district/made it to regional championship

17-18 1st in region/won district/made it to regional championship

18-19 2nd in region

Over the last 4 seasons, the best they finished was 10th/16 and were 14th twice and 11th once. Never won the district and had a combined 52-53 record. And that record is a probably better than it should have been as they started playing teams such as Wellspring Guardians, Heart for Christ, Central KY Homeschool, Whitefiled Academy, etc. 

Overall, they’ve been pretty relevant. It seems they’re either relevant or not good at all. Over the last 9 years, they had 5 very good teams (in a row) that won the district 4 times; finished 4th, 1st, 2nd, 1st, & 2nd in the region (RPI); won the region once; and made it to the regional championship 3 times. Heck, that might be more along the lines of powerhouse performance over that stint. Then the last 4 years have been awful. So when I say return to relevancy, that’s the basis.

 

[LethalPG]

33 minutes ago, QueenoftheSouth said:

First, relevant vs powerhouse are two very different things. The three schools you mentioned would definitely be at the top over the years. But to me, if a team is top 5 in their region, they’re relevant. I did some research to make sure I wasn’t off base. Here’s a 14 year look back at Mercer (09-10 thru 22-23):

09-10 3rd in region 

10-11 4th in region/won district/made it to regional championship

Next 3 seasons irrelevant

14-15 4th in region/won district

15-16 1st in region/won district/won region

16-17 2nd in region/won district/made it to regional championship

17-18 1st in region/won district/made it to regional championship

18-19 2nd in region

Over the last 4 seasons, the best they finished was 10th/16 and were 14th twice and 11th once. Never won the district and had a combined 52-53 record. And that record is a probably better than it should have been as they started playing teams such as Wellspring Guardians, Heart for Christ, Central KY Homeschool, Whitefiled Academy, etc. 

Overall, they’ve been pretty relevant. It seems they’re either relevant or not good at all. Over the last 9 years, they had 5 very good teams (in a row) that won the district 4 times; finished 4th, 1st, 2nd, 1st, & 2nd in the region (RPI); won the region once; and made it to the regional championship 3 times. Heck, that might be more along the lines of powerhouse performance over that stint. Then the last 4 years have been awful. So when I say return to relevancy, that’s the basis.

 

Good info.  What I'm seeing is relevant when the Cook/Faulkner era started in 14/15.  Generational HS player and coach (and a few other additions).  They do have a good team returning, so should be in the mix.

[QueenoftheSouth]

Faulkner is the best player that I’ve seen play in the 12th, and that’s in over 20 years worth of paying attention. So yeah, a huge factor. But there were years on both ends of that run where he either maybe wasn’t the best player on the team/wasn’t dominant (first year he played varsity) or had already graduated. Plus, all of those Mercer teams had multiple good players relative to the talent in the 12th at the time. Point being that, during that span, they would’ve still been “relevant” (somewhere in the top 5 depending on the year)  without Faulkner. 

My original point is they were relevant for five straight years then were largely irrelevant the last four. They had the talent to be relevant this past year, at least in my opinion. And when you consider the team talent levels across the region, they have the talent to be relevant/top 5 again over the next few years.

 

[titan101]

I think being relevant  for Mercer would be winning district and a game or two in the region tourney.  May not be the favorite to win region but should be a contender for it.   Should win in the 20 game range without playing multiple home schools.  Don't have to do that every year but can't go 4 years without doing it at all. No reason for Mercer to be in the bottom half maybe bottom 1/3 of the region which is what they have been lately. 

[PurplePride92]

Just saw on twitter that Owen Barnes has transferred from Danville to Mercer County.