Action across the region has picked up, and we can start to formulate some questions based off what has been seen so far:

- There are four clear teams above the rest. Can Pulaski County reestablish themselves as a contender and make it 5?

- Can Garrard County rise to the top of the teams behind the contenders?

- Can Lincoln, Somerset, and Boyle establish some consistency and improve at a pace good enough to make them contenders at the end?

- Are East Jessamine and Danville experiencing rough starts or indicators of what the rest of the season will bring?

- Can McCreary Central and Somerset Christian School make some noise by getting some unexpected wins? 

We will see a lot of regular action during the week but the weekend will be especially fun as it will feature a good number of holiday tournaments and showcases. This includes a few of the teams at the top of the 12th traveling to different areas of the state. 

Let's dive in to the rankings, taking a look at the results of last week and the games to come this week.

Rankings

1. Mercer County (5-0) - Mercer continues their hot start with a blow out win over district foe Trinity Christian followed by a 52 to 43 win over Caverna at Bardstown. They do not face a 12th region team again until January 11th. This week they travel to Taylor County and then host first Harrison County followed by Tates Creek. They will wait until after Christmas to go to a holiday tournament, that one being in Campbellsville. That means they could end up playing the same number of games in Taylor County as Mercer County when December ends, just a weird wrinkle in the schedule.

2.  Danville Christian Academy (4-1) - The wild thing about DCA's season so far is that they are 4 - 1 and Titus Boyd has only played in the one loss. Hopefully his health is turning around and they can get back to full strength soon. However, the Warriors have still been impressive without him, defeating East Jessamine, Garrard County, and West Jessamine this past week. Geu Leek Ateny had 21 in the most recent win over the Colts. Ateny and Lual Ayiei will continue to power the Warriors and hope to be complemented by Boyd's tenacity and explosiveness soon. They play in the Stockyards Bank Challenge starting Friday, opening with Oldham County. 

3. West Jessamine (3-1) - After a hot start, the Colts had a small stumble at the hands of DCA last week. They had opened the week with a 81 - 65 win over Somerset that saw 5 players reach double digits in points scored. They travel to Lincoln County for a game against the Patriots mid-week. The Colts then pack their bags and head to Sayre right down the road in Lexington for the Republic Bank-Lankster Classic. West doesn't play a home game again until January 7th.

4. Southwestern (3-1) - The Warriors picked up two home wins last week over Danville and Boyle County. Zachary Hutchinson is at 16.5 points per game, Jarrett Simpson is averaging 14.5 and Antajuan Dumphord is at 11. Simpson has 7 rebounds per game and Dumphord has 6 per game. Junior Wyatt Stevenson is also someone you'll want to start paying attention to as he has 8.8 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game. He is also a perfect 11 for 11 from the charity stripe. What Southwestern hasn't done well so far is shoot from the perimeter. They are right above 28 percent with Hutchinson and Adam Marcum combining for 37 of the team's 53 three point shots, only making 8 of them. The Warriors face Somerset Christian, McCreary Central and Madison Central this week.

5. Pulaski County (2-3) - The Maroons finally picked up a couple of wins with blowout victories over McCreary Central and Casey County. Carson Fraley has played in all 5 games and is averaging 14.4 points per game. Pulaski travels to Wayne County before hosting their holiday classic this weekend. They will face Henry Clay, Harlan, and Spring Hill (TN). That will be their last scheduled game of 2024.

6. Lincoln County (3-1) - The Patriots split games last week, losing to Henry Clay but beating East Jessamine. Sawyer Robbins had 16 in the win over the Jaguars. They now travel to Marion County for a road game before coming home to host West Jessamine and Trinity Christian. An undefeated week would signify for me that they are ready for the label of contender but that is a tall ask. 

7. Somerset (2-2) - The Briar Jumpers split games again last week, losing to West Jessamine but defeating Rockcastle County. Aedyn Absher had 18 in the win over Rockcastle. Freshman Brock Stevens added 14, going 3 for 6 from three point range. He is shooting fifty percent from that range this year. Conversely, Absher is 4 of 22 from 3. The Jumpers have the pieces to really be dangerous. They just need to establish consistency, especially offensively. They face Casey County on the road before hosting their winter classic where they play Cumberland County and Somerset Christian.

8. Boyle County (1-1) - The Rebels fell to Southwestern in their only game last week. Lyndon Smith had 12 and Harper Webb had 11. They host Rockcastle County next week before heading up to Fort Thomas. They start their trip their with a game at Highlands versus the Cincinnati Trailblazers' home school program. They then face host Highlands in a matchup that obviously invokes thoughts of the gridiron. That should be a fun environment and will help determine how good the Rebels really all. 

9. Wayne County (2-2) - Last week the Cardinals fell to Taylor County but defeated Knox Central. Kendall Phillips is at 16.5 points per game. Ryder Bell is at 12 points per game. Phillips has 8 rebounds per game and Bell has 7.5. Korbyn Edwards is third in both of those categories with 8.8 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. Depth is still the biggest question in the early parts of the season. They host Pulaski County before participating in the Republic Bank - Lankster Classic at Sayre, opening with Clay County.

10. East Jessamine (0-5) - The Jaguars are winless and the only thing keeping them in the top ten is how hard their schedule has been. Last week saw losses to DCA, Lincoln County and Mason County. East had Mason on the ropes at the Fieldhouse but fell 49-47. They have three road games this week, facing Burgin, Henry Clay and GRC.

11. Garrard County (3-2) - The Golden Lions defeated Somerset Christian and Burgin but fell to DCA. Jaydon Noe is averaging 16.5 points per game. This accounts for nearly a third of the team's total points per game. If the pieces around Noe can continue to develop, this can be a dangerous team. 

12. McCreary Central (2-1) - The Raiders fell to Pulaski but bested Danville 58 to 44. Noah Shook had 17 in the victory. Their week coming up includes a quick trip over the border to Tennessee.

13. Danville (2-3) - The Ads fell to McCreary Central and Southwestern. Trevarion Paige is now at 23.3 points per game. They have no games this week. 

14. Somerset Christian School (6-1) - Only a one point loss to Garrard County is blemishing the Cougars' record. They are fresh off an impressive 71 to 61 win over Harlan. Isaiah Hensley had 25 in that game and Jack Baker is up over 20 points per game for the year so far. The Cougars now face another level of competition of this week as they face Southwestern, Cumberland County and Somerset, all on the road (with Cumberland County being a neutral site game at Somerset). 

15. Trinity Christian (4-1) - The Titans fell to Mercer County but defeated Burgin and Harrison County. Bryce Thompson scored 31 in the win over Harrison. They face Frankfort Christian and Lincoln County this week.

16. Rockcastle County (1-3) - The Rockets' lone win is over Berea where Connor Hunt scored 22 and Jace Rogers had 20. They face Boyle County and Glasgow this week.

17. Burgin (1-5) - The Bulldogs got in the win column with a victory over Casey County. JT Boswell had 23 points in the win.

18. Casey County (0-5) - It has all been blowout losses for Casey since their opening three point loss to Frankfort Christian. They host Somerset before heading off to Marion County for a holiday tournament.

19. Kentucky School for the Deaf (0-2) - Freshman Dakota Cox had 25 in their loss to their Tennessee counterpart. They host Wellspring this week.

 

Three games pop out to me this week:

1. Wayne & Pulaski- For obvious reasons, with the players trading places in the off-season (with Phillips going back in the fall) this should be a contentious matchup .  I think this a chance for Wayne Co., but expect Pulaski Co. to win.
2. Lincoln Co. & West Jessamine- To me, this is the best game of the week.  West Jessamine's size and strength vs. Lincoln Co. talented guards.  Two old coaching foes (Adams and Jackson) have had some classic games in the past.
3. Somerset Christian & Southwestern- We've heard a lot of noise about the Cougars early.  My guess, SOS matters here and the Warriors will take care of business.

It's a little early for the computerized ranking systems to have enough data but for what it's worth I like to look at the Massey rankings.

I find the Massey rankings for defense to be the most useful.

The top defensive teams in the 12th are:

1. DCA - 8     
2. Lincoln - 20
3. Mercer - 30
4. Pulaski - 40
5. Wayne - 49

The rankings for strength of schedule are:

1. East Jessamine - 44
2. McCreary - 72
3. West Jessamine - 75
4. DCA - 80
5. Lincoln - 85
6. Pulaski - 86

With a few exceptions you see the same names crop up that are in your top rankings.  I do find it interesting that Mercer is 157th on the strength of schedule ranking.  Does it mean a lot?  Who knows.  They may do just fine against regional competition.  And, the computer rankings will mean more as more data is available.  

47 minutes ago, 24Rocks said:

It's a little early for the computerized ranking systems to have enough data but for what it's worth I like to look at the Massey rankings.

I find the Massey rankings for defense to be the most useful.

The top defensive teams in the 12th are:

1. DCA - 8     
2. Lincoln - 20
3. Mercer - 30
4. Pulaski - 40
5. Wayne - 49

The rankings for strength of schedule are:

1. East Jessamine - 44
2. McCreary - 72
3. West Jessamine - 75
4. DCA - 80
5. Lincoln - 85
6. Pulaski - 86

With a few exceptions you see the same names crop up that are in your top rankings.  I do find it interesting that Mercer is 157th on the strength of schedule ranking.  Does it mean a lot?  Who knows.  They may do just fine against regional competition.  And, the computer rankings will mean more as more data is available.  

I understand what you’re saying, but I believe we need to wait for a larger sample size (after Christmas) to compare strength of schedule. Mercer has played two district games already (burgin and Trinity) who definitely hurt their sos. They can’t be blamed for who is in their district. 

1 hour ago, LethalPG said:

Lincoln Co. & West Jessamine- To me, this is the best game of the week. West Jessamine's size and strength vs. Lincoln Co. talented guards. Two old coaching foes (Adams and Jackson) have had some classic games in the past.

So, so, so many classics. Should be a great game but maybe not the intensity of those many Lincoln/Boyle games that were almost always do-or-die situations.

3 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

So, so, so many classics. Should be a great game but maybe not the intensity of those many Lincoln/Boyle games that were almost always do-or-die situations.

A lot of respect, but these 2 guys love to WIN against each other!