Newport Catholic- that I saw, Aaron Mann. Great athlete, great scorer, hardly ever gets mentioned.

Matt Nestheide from Covington Catholic deserves a mention. A great high school player who led his team to the state semi-finals & fell only a handful of points short of the 1,000 point club.

Kevin Deaton-Hazard Bulldogs 1992-1996

Im going way back and saying Cecil Clair for Breathitt.

Cavanaugh Trent and Kevin Campbell of the Dilce Combs Panthers. These guys were the real stars of the team that did all the dirty work that Beverly never done.

Mians also score over 1,100 points while racking up around 500 assists. Great choice Birdman.

Whitley County has had a lot of underrated players. Some of us for good reason. :lol: I don't know if there's a thread for underrated coaches, but I'd have to say Rich Prewitt was one of the best. He took Whitley to a 22-6 record in 1995, with a team scoring average of 93 ppg. According to the KHSAA stats that would be about 3rd all time if it was listed. That was a great season. UK had Ricky P. we had Richey P. Last I heard, he is principal of the middle school. I sure wish we could convince him to coach again.

Dustin Grutza from Mason County might merit some consideration. Everyone remembers Lofton and rightly so, but Grutza ran the point for he Mason County 2003 championship and 2004 runner-up teams without a whole bunch of fanfare. Matter of fact, I'd throw in Jarrod Litzinger from those same teams for good measure. Not always easy playing center at (maybe) 6'2", but always held his own.

Of course Lofton got the spotlight night in and night out, but Grutza and Litzinger were known and ofton times opponents knew they couldn't stop Lofton but strategies were if they could contain Grutza and Litzinger then they would have a better opportunity to win. For that reason alone, Grutza and Litzinger in my mind were not underated players. They drew attention from opponents coaches, they were both all region players and that group of three had played together for a long period of time, so they were known pretty well and each had game. I will agree with Litzinger having the tough task at playing the 5 position and undersized, but he no way he is maybe 6'2.

Im going way back and saying Cecil Clair for Breathitt.

Also Charlie Turner of Breathitt County. He was the top sub on Breathitt's 1967 state semifinalist team, and starred for the Bobcats as a senior in '68, the year Lee County won the region (Lee beat Breathitt in Jackson that year and Breathitt beat Lee In Beattyville). Charlie went on to play for Lee's College and then Berea, where he was all conference. Actually, UK took a look at him when he was a sophomore at Lee's, after he scored over 40 points against their freshman team in a game at Memorial. However, they had a good recruiting year (Givens, Lee, etc) and didn't offer, but it was good just to be considered.

 

By the way, Breathitt is not where I graduated, that would be Owsley, but I just thought I would comment on Turner. He was a former coach at our school so I know quite a bit about his playing days.

Mians also score over 1,100 points while racking up around 500 assists. Great choice Birdman.

Lettered on Varsity for 5 years, starting 4 years.

Won 3 consecutive 38th District titles(04-06) and 1 JV District title(02).

Won school's 3rd 10th Region tournament(05).

Had a record of 77-20 over his last 3 years.

An all-region performer his senior year while playing the point.

Matt Geisler from the old St. Thomas Tomcats. If Carl Hafele and Phil Hasson would have ever passed, Matt could have been a star. (lol) Very under rated for a small school player.

Lettered on Varsity for 5 years, starting 4 years.

Won 3 consecutive 38th District titles(04-06) and 1 JV District title(02).

Won school's 3rd 10th Region tournament(05).

Had a record of 77-20 over his last 3 years.

An all-region performer his senior year while playing the point.

 

Doesn't sound too underrated to me?? Having watched him for all those years and earlier, I never thought of him as underrated--Surrounded by talent on all sides--yes; a very fine player--yes; underrated--NO??

pendleton county Jon Elrod outstanding shooter for pc in 05-06. With the buzzer beater aginst brossart in 2005 to win the game. Great player.

Eddie Hale from East Carter. He played when Jackson Julson was playing for us. Jackson got the most attention but this kid could really shoot and dribble the ball. He was over shadowed alot by Julson, who eventually went on to play at Cinn. , but I would have loved to have seen Eddie on the next level.