The off-season is now upon us. Some of the storylines in the 12th include:

- Who will be the head coach at Mercer County? Can that person resurrect the Titan program to it's previous greatness?

- The never-ending ebb and flow of transfers impacting rosters can be expected to make waves as always.

- Will DCA be able to continue building it's dynasty?

- Is Somerset Christian on their way to becoming a team that is regularly competitive or will they recede like Trinity Christian?

Even with DCA ending up on top, this has been a region that has been filled with parity. There is no reason to think that stops.

Most of the better teams will lose key players.  DCA, Wayne, West, and Somerset are all in that boat.

PC has some good shooters returning but limited size.  Boyle has some good players coming back but if Driver makes the expected jump to college for football that will really hurt them.  

1 hour ago, 24Rocks said:

Most of the better teams will lose key players.  DCA, Wayne, West, and Somerset are all in that boat.

PC has some good shooters returning but limited size.  Boyle has some good players coming back but if Driver makes the expected jump to college for football that will really hurt them.  

The basketball program at Boyle will continue to experience the yo-yo effect due to relying on football players. 

Some of the best players in the region are graduating and their teams were at the top.  Phillips and Farmer from Wayne.  Grundy and Absher from Somerset.  Ateny and Mikels from DCA.  Some of these losses are huge because of the makeup of the teams and the way the coaches used them.  Somerset will still have some good three point shooters but Absher and Grundy were a big part of their offense.  Similarly, Wayne and DCA are both losing a huge chunk of their offensive production.  

 

3 hours ago, 24Rocks said:

Most of the better teams will lose key players.  DCA, Wayne, West, and Somerset are all in that boat.

PC has some good shooters returning but limited size.  Boyle has some good players coming back but if Driver makes the expected jump to college for football that will really hurt them.  

Driver will 100% be gone. Hager is the one to keep an eye on. 

14 minutes ago, DearToday said:

Driver will 100% be gone. Hager is the one to keep an eye on. 

Did Hager play basketball last year?

28 minutes ago, Run it Back said:

Did Hager play basketball last year?

He played a little at Boyle in the 8th grade.  Sat out the next year.  Went to GRC his sophomore year and played (averaged about 9) and sat out this year due to an ACL injury.  He’s a bit of a mystery.  When he was at GRC and surrounded with good players he did pretty well.  He’s not as athletic as Driver but then few people are.  

15 hours ago, se7ens said:

The off-season is now upon us. Some of the storylines in the 12th include:

- Who will be the head coach at Mercer County? Can that person resurrect the Titan program to it's previous greatness?

- The never-ending ebb and flow of transfers impacting rosters can be expected to make waves as always.

- Will DCA be able to continue building it's dynasty?

- Is Somerset Christian on their way to becoming a team that is regularly competitive or will they recede like Trinity Christian?

Even with DCA ending up on top, this has been a region that has been filled with parity. There is no reason to think that stops.

Thanks for always providing great context for the region.  I will try answer a few of the good questions you proposed.  

Mercer Co. job has been fairly quiet.  I would think it would be closed to being filled with the month window closing.  Does this mean they're staying local, or is Coach Booher trying to swing for the fences?  I have more questions than answers on that one.  No one saw Coach Adkins coming the last time it opened up.  

DCA will be at the top again.  Heard a lot of good things about their incoming players that sat out this season and played JV in Lexington last week.  I wasn't able to see them any, so can't really speak to much on it but Graham will be one of the best players in the region as well.  He had a great season leading their team.   

SCS will be an interesting team.  They lose their backcourt that had started for many years (Hensley and Baker), but will return their whole front court.  There frontcourt will be extremely athletic with the addition of their new player who played JV all season.  I think they very well could be back in the region tournament next season.  

Pulaski Co. played a ton of young guards this year, and will be back towards the top of the region.  Blake Fraley and Tanner Absher will be one of the better backcourts in the region.  Somerset has a solid core with Brock Stevens, Josh Lewis and Marcus Jones.  They will have to fill in some gaps, and could potentially play a rising 8th grader who is a top middle schooler in his class this year.  A lot of young talent specifically in the 8th grade class.  I'm a little bit more unfamiliar with the teams up North, but I know West Jessamine has a strong young group.  I was really impressed with them watching them in JV games this season.

As a whole, I would expect a similar year to this one.  A lot of parity with everyone trying to chase down DCA.  

11 hours ago, DearToday said:

Driver will 100% be gone. Hager is the one to keep an eye on. 

Hager will be a stud.  Wheeler and Hager will be one of the better inside-out duos for next season.

9 minutes ago, LethalPG said:

Hager will be a stud.  Wheeler and Hager will be one of the better inside-out duos for next season.

I was under the impression Hager went back to Boyle from GRC to focus entirely on football. Isn't he a really good tight end or wide receiver? Has Boyle changed basketball coaches recently to entice him to stick with basketball at Boyle or why would he have left for GRC to begin with?

29 minutes ago, LethalPG said:

Mercer Co. job has been fairly quiet.  I would think it would be closed to being filled with the month window closing.  Does this mean they're staying local, or is Coach Booher trying to swing for the fences?  I have more questions than answers on that one.  No one saw Coach Adkins coming the last time it opened up

I believe job is going to stay open through spring break (next week), and interviews to come after that. Hopefully will have an answer over the next couple of week!

56 minutes ago, Run it Back said:

I was under the impression Hager went back to Boyle from GRC to focus entirely on football. Isn't he a really good tight end or wide receiver? Has Boyle changed basketball coaches recently to entice him to stick with basketball at Boyle or why would he have left for GRC to begin with?

Yes, I'm sure that is the primary focus.  He was on the bench with them all season in basketball, so I would assume he plays. 

15 hours ago, Run it Back said:

Did Hager play basketball last year?

No he tore his ACL in summer basketball. He's not as athletic as Driver but he's probably more polished as a basketball player. 

I think East Jessamine will be a lot better next year, they return 2 of there top scores. Tyson Duke is a great player. 

6 hours ago, Statsdontlie said:

I think East Jessamine will be a lot better next year, they return 2 of there top scores. Tyson Duke is a great player. 

And he has a name like an action movie hero.