Jeffersontown turned heads last year when they handed Butler the Bears only loss to regional competition in the 6th Region Championship game. They turned even more heads when they took down potential state contender St. Xavier in the first round of the Sweet 16. They nearly continued the magic, losing by 1 to South Oldham in Round 2. 

Now the 2025-2026 is upon us and the 6th Region looks to pick-up where they left off - a two team race between Jeffersontown and Butler. Much of the region below them has suffered a massive exodus in either graduation or transfers. WEB DuBois joins the 6th region this year and will immediately look to make an impact as they return a solid core and are coming from the pressure cooker that is the 7th. Pleasure Ridge Park and Fairdale look to recover after some big losses to their roster while DeSales, Fern Creek and Holy Cross all have compelling arguments to be competitive in that second tier of teams behind the two frontrunners. 

Rankings:

1. Jeffersontown: 2024-2025 - 27-7, lost to South Oldham in the second round of the Sweet 16. Camron McDaniels and Prince Kahnplaye have graduated.  McDaniels is playing JUCO ball at John A. Logan and Kahnplaye just zipped across on 64 to Georgetown. The Chargers return Dayvone Harrison at point and Larron Westmoreland as their leading rebounder. Damere Clark also returns as a serious scoring threat. Westmoreland is a future Division 1 football player, possibly even a Power 4 player. The 6'4 athletic wing represents the only real size the Chargers have and he isn't in any way a back to the basket type. The Chargers regularly scored in the 80s last year. Watch that continue here as they will be forced to go small and fast. They have a scrimmage on November 19th at Oldham County, for those that may be interested in seeing the offseason progress of the reigning champs.

2. Butler: 2024-2025 - 26-5, lost to Jeffersontown in regional championship game. The runners-up from last year's regional tournament look to remain a contender this year and the road may very well lead to a rematch between Butler and JTown. The Bears lose Michael Jones, their leading rebounder, to graduation but return Adrian Wilder, Henrich Barjolo and a strong backcourt overall. Like JTown, they will look to go fast and small. Jaion Hansberry is poised to fill the shoes Jones left behind as the team's leading rebounder, but he doesn't have a lot of proven help around him when it comes to post play. Circle December 12th as Butler takes on one of the best in the 7th in Male.

3. WEB DuBois: 2024-2025 - 10-19, lost opening game of the 26th district. A big welcome to the 6th region to the WEB DuBois Lions. They come primed and ready to make some noise as they return Ja'Rye Brown (27.3 points per game), Khalil Ogletree (13.7 points per game), and Kenyon Sykes (9.2 points per game). Even though they were 9 games below .500 last year, they played in the fearsome 7th and they return more of a core than pretty much any other team in the top ten in the 6th. That includes the explosive Brown, who immediately becomes a real candidate for player of the year consideration. The Lions represent the "best of the rest" or the start of Tier 2 in the region, which ever way you would like to look at it. 

4. Pleasure Ridge Park: 2024-2025 - 24-5, lost by 1 to Butler in the regional tournament semifinals. This was the the other contender in the region last year alongsisde JTown and Butler. PRP has a tougher road to travel this year though as they do with only one returner out of their top 5. That returner is Neyco Jenkins, a junior point guard. They also add guard Brenden Hardman from Holy Cross who shot 43 percent from beyond the arc last year.

5. Fairdale: 2024 - 2025 - 21-11, lost to JTown by 5 in opening game of the regional tournament. The biggest offseason news in the entire region may have been Ferlandas Wright transferring to La Lumiere in Indiana. Michael Ray Stinnett, the coach's son and a deadeye shooter, shot over 43 percent from 3 last year and will look to be the conduit of Fairdale's offensive success this year. They are poised to rack up some wins again this year as they play a relatively soft schedule.

6. Moore: 2024-2025 - 19-11, lost in regional semifinals to JTown. Moses Bedell returns and should be the crux to Moore's success if they are to make a run as good as last year's. Brandon Williams is also a senior and will likely have an enlarged role this year. Also keep a lookout for Sean Anderson II to complement Bedell in the backcourt. Moore is not certainly taking it easy out of the gate as they face St. Xavier and Butler back-to-back to open the year.

7. Fern Creek: 2024-2025 - 16-15, lost in opener of the regional tournament to Butler. Gone to graduation is superstar Noah Glover as well as LeKendrick Morris and Kaden Martin. JD Flippens from Manual and Johnny McFarland from Eastern are incoming, both having played supporting roles at their previous schools. Both will probably be asked to play leading roles for Fern Creek this year. 

8. DeSales: 2024-2025 - 18-12, lost to Western in district opener. DeSales may be the most intriguing team to me in the region. They return Cameron Bischoff who averaged more than 18 points per game and shot over 42 percent from beyond the arc. They also return their primary post DaShawn Harris as well as Kaden Childs. They competed with Butler last year the second time around and really got hurt towards the end of the year before being unceremoniously dismissed is the first round of the district tournament by Western.

9. Bullitt East: 2024-2025 - 18-10, lost in opener of the district tournament to Fern Creek. Connor Stinnett is the only returner out of last year's top 7 scorers. Clay Reynolds and Drake Mefford will look to assume starting duties in the back court. Huge questions about depth and size remain though after being so senior-laden last year. 

10. Holy Cross: 2024-2025 - 15-12, lost to Fairdale in district tournament opener. Norman Ellis has been elevated to head coach and will face a tough task in year one. Last year's Cougars had four players average double figures in points. Only one, Tresson Ohler, returns. Wade Kramer has graduated, Jordan Jackson has transferred to St. Xavier, and Brenden Hardman is playing for PRP. Holy Cross will look to repeat as All A regional champs but they certainly have some development to undergo.

11. North Bullitt: 2024-2025 - 19-13, lost opener in regional tournament to PRP. Kaylen Alexander and Braxton Sievert have graduated. Guard Alex Eddington and post player Dylan Hornback are the key returners. Hornback was the team's second leading rebounder behind Alexander and has a chance to be one of the better true post players in the region.

12. Bullitt Central: 2024-2025 - 10-18, lost opener in district tournament to Evangel Christian. The Cougars retained their roster almost entirely, the two most important returners being AJ Lee and Trevor Carnes. There is a real chance for them to compete for a spot in the regional tournament this year with what they return. They still play a softer schedule than most of the teams above them but that should certainly allow them to surpass their record from last year.

13. Iroquois: 2024-2025 - 16-15, lost in district semifinals to Butler. D'Anthony Ortiz was the squad's only double-digit average scorer last year. He has graduated as well as the next four leading scorers. It is going to be a complete rebuild for Iroquois. Zimmie Millhouse might be the most experienced part of that rebuild.

14. Southern: 2024-2025 - 11-18, lost to North Bullitt in district tournament opener. Kaevon Ennis is gone as well as Julian Duliba. Elijah Simpson should be the key returner here. The Trojans have given themselves a softer schedule to hopefully ease the rebuild.

15. Western: 2024-2025 - 8-18, lost in opener of regional tournament to Moore. Last year was a roller coaster for Western as they had both streaks of success and drought. They were able to make it to the regional tournament but were a non-factor. Jerrode Hammond is the most significant returner as the majority of the roster looks to turnover.

16. Evangel Christian: 2024-2025 - 9-22, lost to Moore in district semifinals. No team in the region probably suffered a bigger graduation exodus than Evangel Christian. Their most experienced returner only averaged 3.3 points per game last year. 

17. Doss: 2024-2025 - 5-23, lost to Iroquois in district opener. Tayveon Coleman is the key returner for a Doss team that never really could get off the ground last year. They are currently on an active 14 game losing streak stretching back to last year. 

18. Whitefield Academy: 2024 - 2025 - 12-19, lost to JTown in district opener. Guard Jaxon Morris is back and will look to lead Whitefield again this season. They compete in the 7th Region's All A and they won it last year. Even though that region is tougher in general, it is the easier All A field and Whitefield may again have a chance.

19. Valley: 2024-2025 - 1-27, lost to PRP in district opener. North Hardin Classical was their only win last year. It will be interesting where they can find wins this year as they aren't on the schedule, at least yet. Anthony Gaddie looks to be the focal point for the Vikings if they want to better that record.

Thanks for stepping up to cover the 6th Region this season @se7ens.

Doing double duty with your usual excellent coverage of the 12th is yeoman's work. 

Looking forward to your takes on developments in the 'Ville.

Well the water just got deeper for everyone not named JTown.

Jayden Johnson (ex Trinity, prep school) now coming to JTown for Senior season.

11 minutes ago, Falcon Pride said:

Well the water just got deeper for everyone not named JTown.

Jayden Johnson (ex Trinity, prep school) now coming to JTown for Senior season.

Will they scratch his name off the 1000 point club?

I have only been keeping up with KY high school basketball for a few years now.  
But the amount of big names going to different schools is amazing to me. Has it always been like this in the Louisville area? 
 

It’s always been a bit of a nomad society but has recently gotten worse.

Stems from AAU basketball in my opinion AND the trickle down effect. If it happens in college eventually it will happen in HS!