The 13th Region. What a ride we had last season. Harlan County was the clear favorite all season in the region, but almost got upset in the first round of region by South Laurel. Then they came from behind against Clay County in another thriller before beating the Redhounds in the region finals. The close games may have been what the Black Bears needed as they rode that momentum onto the State Finals behind monster games from Trent Noah who is now playing for The University of Kentucky. 

Where do we go from here now? Trent Noah is gone. The region runner ups, the Redhounds lost three key senior pieces for them, none likely more important than their heartbeat Zander Curry. Clay County graduated Elijah Bundy and Hayden Harris, two of their big pieces. South Laurel didn’t lose a lot to graduation, and Bell County lost no one to graduation. Will North Laurel come back to relevance since the Reed Shepherd days? Can Whitley and Knox Central both make any noise? 

As far as transfers go, Harlan County has picked up Trent Cole from Harlan Independent. Landon Dezarn is now with Clay County from Jackson County. Cam Puckett is at Pineville from Berea. Kaiden McQueen is at North Laurel from South Laurel. Corbin has added a couple West Virginia kids that should also help on the basketball team barring eligibility. That is all the transfers I’ve seen in the transfer thread, if someone knows more feel free to add them in! 

The Preseason Top 20 Players (no order):

Grayson Burton (Knox Central)

Maddox Huff (Harlan County)

Reggie Cottrell (Harlan County)

Cameron Hall (Bell County)

Blake Burnett (Bell County)

Ethan Buell (Bell County)

Eli Pietrowski (Corbin)

Ryder Adkins (Corbin)

Colton Rawlings (South Laurel)

Jordan Mabe (South Laurel)

Jerrod Roark (Clay County)

Evan Ellis ?? Not on Roster Currently*  (Whitley County)

Reece Davidson (North Laurel)

Kole Jervis (North Laurel)

Ashton Moser (Pineville)

Sawyer Thompson (Pineville)

Andrew Smith (Williamsburg)

Keagan Ward (Jackson County)

Jermiah Beck (Middlesboro)

Trenton Cole (Harlan County)

 

Preseason Team Rankings

1. South Laurel: I think the Cardinals have to be the prohibitive favorite. They return what I think will be the RPOY in Jordan Mabe who can truly guard 1-5 and is a matchup nightmare with his size and speed. They played the state runner ups down to the wire last year and this is the year I think they return back as region champs. Colton Rawlings and others will help guide the way. 

2. Harlan County: Maddox Huff, Reggie Cottrell, and Jaycee Carter will be the three headed monsters for the Black Bears. If anyone will push South Laurel, it will be these guys. They’ve played in big games now and know what it means. Maddox Huff will also be a top 3 player in the region and has the ability to fill it up at any point in time. The difference this year will be he has to be the man, instead of being in a robin role. 

3. Bell County: I think there’s a few teams that could go here. I’m going to roll with the bobcats. I think Brad Sizemore is a good coach, and they return their entire roster. I wish their schedule was beefed up a little more, but they should run most of the gauntlet with their schedule. I’m not sure they can knock off HC, but they should be able to make the region as a runner up and be a headache first round draw for a region winner. 

4. Clay County: Going to go with the tigers here. Dezarn, Hooker, and Roark should be a formidable big three. The Tigers struggled without Harris last year when he was out with injury, so they’re going to have to make sure they have an identity outside of him. I think Michael Jones is a good coach, and his teams are always competitive so they should be ready to make a run as a dark horse. 

5. Corbin: Let’s go with the Redhounds to round out the top five. Ryder Adkins, Eli Pietrowski, and Malachi Brown should be a good core group. Coach P always gets the most out of his guys. We will know quickly what they’re made out of as they open the season with Harlan County. 

6. North Laurel: The Jaguars are full of good pieces and didn’t lose all that much to graduation. They could very well be in that 4-5 range, but they just fell outside of it in this one. Coach Valentine typically schedules tough so they should be battle tested by the time district rolls around. 

7. Knox Central: I think the Panthers ride the hand of Grayson Burton to win their district. They had a lot of young guys get valuable reps last year and had a pretty solid season. They will have to replace the production from Gavin Chadwell which will be hard to do, but I think KC is trending in the right direction. 

8. Pineville: I think Pineville can push Knox in the district if a team is going to do it. Sawyer and Ashton are two of the top bucket getters in the region, unfortunately they just don’t have a ton outside of those two being a small 1A school. If these two get hot though, they can fill it up just as good as anybody. 

9. OBI: Skyler Roberts and Jacob Rogers were both 8th graders last season and were 2nd and 3rd on the team in scoring. A year of lifting and working should help these two carry the weight of OBI on their shoulders. Their work is cut out for them though in a district with Clay County and North Laurel. 

10. Whitley County: Whitley was a fun team to watch last season, but couldn’t upset one of the big two in their district to make the region. I have Evan Ellis as a top player in the region, but right now he isn’t on their roster on KHSAA. That means either he has left, quit, or maybe there’s something up with it. Nevertheless, something to keep an eye on. 

11. Williamsburg: There’s been some talk of Jerrod Roark coming back from Clay County, but nothing has happened yet. If he was to come back this would be a huge boost for the yellow jackets. Right now, they have five seniors and are senior laden for a school so small that looks to make some noise. 

12. Jackson County: The Generals will be led by Tydus Summers. He will look to help add wins for the generals. They will look to make some noise in the All A Classic and improve on last season. 

13. Harlan: The Green Dragons had a tough season last year but made some noise in the All A where they lost in the championship of their region game. Darius Akal will have to make up for the loss in scoring from Kyler McLendon who graduated. 

14. Barbourville: The Tigers bring back their three top scorers from last season. After a 7-24 season, they should be able to build off of it and improve behind those three. A win or two in the All A is very well capable. 

15. Middlesboro: Middlesboro lost two of their three leading scorers to graduation. They had a better season last year from the year before by going 10-20. How far can Jerimah Beck carry these guys? 

16. Lynn Camp: Right now the Campers are without a Head Coach from the drama that has circulated around their old coach. As if finding a head coach wasn’t hard enough, they’ll also have to find some production to replace their 8 seniors they lost to graduation. Right now they have 8 kids on their roster. 

17. Red Bird: The Cardinals went 5-17 last year and lost their best player to graduation. It will likely be another long year for Red Bird. 

Hearing Evan Ellis has enrolled at Corbin. This would bump Corbin up in the rankings. 

Bump.