The 11th Region is now wide open. And yet another hit to talent leaving the state. Brutal start to the school year with kids leaving left and right. 

With all due respect, Great Crossing was no better than fourth going into the season in the 11th region with Holman. I don't feel this move has now made the 11th region wide open. Bryan Station, Madison Central and Frederick Douglass were all substantially better than Great Crossing with Holman. 

Scott County might not beat Great Crossing this season, but in 26-27 they will go back to being the best team in Georgetown. 

Great Crossing has a fantastic program, but I can certainly understand this decision. Occasionally being involved with the Tigers at Hargrave Military Academy, I found out that L.J. will be playing at the postgraduate level. For those who may not be familiar since there is not a lot of this in Kentucky (It is big toward Virginia and Maryland) you are allowed to take a year after your senior year to play postgrad before officially going to college. Players take this for various reasons. Some take it to improve their academic standing, some will take it to focus on trying to get additional exposure and get to a higher level school. Others, like L.J., will have a lot of additional exposure from this with the rare opportunity to play as an undergrad.

You do not have to necessarily be a high school graduate to play. Some schools (Hargrave Military Academy started this last year) will allow a player or two on their squad as an undergraduate depending on their skill level and academic ability. Almost every team L.J. competes against will have multiple players, at least, that are Division I prospects. I know two seasons ago Hargrave Military Academy had players off their bench that went D1. 

L.J. will have the opportunity to play 40 - 50 games in the season. These games are two 20 minute halves, near-identical to NCAA rules. Last year the Tigers went 36-10 and adding to their impressive 100+ game home winning streak. Coach Ben Veshi, in his second year at the helm with his relationship-oriented approach, does a fantastic job and L.J. should fit right in his system. Usually they are a top ranked team nationally and the coaching tree is quite strong. Over the past two decades Kevin Keatts (2024 Final Four at NC State) and A.W. Hamilton (Had some success at EKU) were two of their coaches. They went a combined 499-39 with three national titles. Two under Keatts and one under Hamilton.

One key player returning will be Shane Pendergrass, a third-team All-American who is a 4-star forward and in the top 100 players in the '26 class. Shane joined the team last year as a junior. 

The 11th region is a real bear to win no matter how talented a team is. Great Crossing had a tough road to win it last year even with a talented team and strong senior leadership and I am sure they have some guys waiting for their opportunity to step it up to keep them in contention this season. After winning in 2024 Lyon County lost three Division 1 basketball players in Travis Perry, Brady Shoulders, and Jack Reddick and their young team this year won 25 games and challenged just about anybody they played. I'm sure Great Crossing will find a way to continue to be a tough out.