What teams will be moving up and moving down in the 7th region next season?

It is amazing to me the lack of posts and responses on this site concerning the 7th region.

I will try to answer your question.

 

J-town will be the obvious favorite in the 7th with numerous outstanding players returning(the Jackson brothers, Richard Kennedy, 6'9 Jordan Reves, Antwan Wilson,) add the transfers they have coming in Aaron Cosby(Manual), Trey Porter (Ballard), Harry Cross (Manual), and any others I don't know about the Chargers should only build on the outstanding year they had this season.

 

Manual loses 6 seniors off of this years team 3 of them starters Aaron Williams, Derrance Lawson, and James Britt. The Crimsons still have some very talented players returning in Jacob Jenkins, Tony Kimbro, Sean Samsel, Aleks Nikolic, Harold Calhoun, and Miles Mitchell. Manaul will have to find a replacement for Williams at the point. If Samsel can fill that roll then the Crimson could be a big time contender in the 7th next year. Jenkins and Kimbro are proven players and the 6'9 Nikolic continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Coach Just played a lot of players during the course of the season giving a lot of these kids valuable playing time. It can only help down the road.

 

Seneca is the team that I think will rise the most with all of their top players returning with the exception of Dominque Burdett. Burdett will be hard to replace but the Redhawks have plenty of young talent in the fold. With 4 starters returning( McElwain, Stone, Nance, and Harris) and the return of the Hearn brothers next year Seneca will be one of the favorites in the 7th.

 

Ballard just continues to reload. No school in the County has the sheer number of athletes that Ballard has. Yes they lose some very nice players the Bruins have several quality players returning that saw significant palying time last year.(Wesley Cox, Ian Chiles, Kiestan Jones, Paul Perkins, Drew Hardin, etc.) They also had a very good freshman team, losing only two games, both to Eastern. Ballard will be lacking an inside presence but will be very hard to handle come next season.

 

Eastern loses quite a bit off an outstanding team this year but they do have some very nice players returning and had the best freshman team in Jefferson County last year. Returning players that contributed this past season are Delquan Thomas, Chris Dowe, Remy Able, and Roderick Millner. Add the outstanding freshman group to this bunch and they will be tough again next year. Dowe just may have been the best player on the team at the end of the season. he played like a man possessed in the District and Region tournaments.

 

Male will have to replace Dexter Heyman Brice Mitchell and Rod Lanon, a tall order but they have some high quality players returning in James Pilleshefski, Kevin Glenn, D' Carlos Hayes and O.J. Bell. Coach Crews does an excellent job and the Dogs have some very nice young talent to complement this group. They too will be a force in the 7th.

 

Trinity is another team that I think will be improved next season. Replacing Chambliss, Kupper and Tierney will not be easy but the Rocks have some very good players returning in Josh Sewell, Melvin Little, Taylor Epley Trapper Graff and an outstanding Sophomore to be group Chance Armstrong, Darick Nix, Sam Keehner, Hayden Sweat.

 

St. Xavier's new coach Kevin Klein will find out that he has some nice talent to work with returning players include Brian Gunter, Wyatt Gray, Patrick Butcher, and Markell Carter. If what people are saying is true and there is better talent walking the halls at St. X. if coach Klein can convince these kids to play the turn around at St. X will be quicker than expected. The Tigers dealt with a lot of injuries during last season contributing to their subpar performance.

 

Atherton showed much improvement this past year and returns most of it's team from last season they competed with everyone they played but seemed to have trouble finishing games another year of experience may be just what they needed. Weatherford and Taylor are very talented players for the Rebels.

 

Waggener will be rebuilding this year but have one of the best players in the state in my opinion in Dayvon Sloan.

 

Moore is probably another year away from being a true contender for the Region but improved greatly over the course of the season and really played well during tournament time last season.

 

Fern Creek is rebuilding but I truely believe that Coach Layfield will get the Tigers headed in the right direction. My hats off to coach Layfield for having the courage to eliminate possible problems dispite the obvious talent of some of the individuals who wouldn't conform to his way of doing things.

 

I know this is long but I hope it helped to answer some of your questions about the 7th Region.

 

My preseason Top Ten for next year:

 

1) J-town

2) Manual

3) Seneca

4) Ballard

5) Male

6) Trinity

7) Eastern

8) St. Xavier

9) Moore

10)Atherton/Fern Creek

Thanks for your insights!

You are very well versed on the 7th region and I basically agree with your assessments for next year.

J'Town should be the overwheming favorite!!

If Waggener can bolster their inside game,they may break the top 10.

Great insight Crimson......Jtown should definitely be strong. I think the darkhorse is CAL. Watched them a couple of times last year - played Jtown to wire in Districts, Manual/Seneca close, beat Trinity and Moore. Have two underrated sophs coming back in Lopez and Henderson. Also like X to bounce back if young guys can develop. Also, Manual's Jenkins is coming to South. Big blow to them.

I agree with you GoSouth, CAL will be a sleeper next year along with Lopez and Henderson they had a nice freshman group that really competed with everyone. Coach Imlays' teams alway are very competitive and can pull the upset at anytime. Their Gym is one of the toughest places to play in Jefferson County. No one shoots a good percentage on the rims in that gym.

 

As for Jenkins, after talking to him, I am confident that he will be a Crimson next year. That is great because he is one of the top returning players in the State and one of the hardest working kids in the State. If you looked up the definition of a gym-rat, you would see his picture next to the definition.

Jenkins does work hard. Who will be the best players in the region? Alot of good players graduated......

Top Players:

Seniors:

Jacob Jenkins-Manual

Dayvon Sloan-Waggener

Wesley Cox-Ballard

Chris Dowe- Eastern

Melvin Little-Trinity

O.J. Bell-Male

Kevin Glenn-Male

Brian Gunter- St. X

Antwan Wilson-J-town

Jordan Reves-J-town

 

I don't think it is a very deep Senior Class as far as talent is concerned. The Junior and Sophomore to be classes are loaded with talent.

 

I will list my top Juniors and Sophomores later.

Nice rundown of 7th region teams. Id love to see mor information about this region on here!

Really good post crimsonfan. J'town and Eastern are loaded with talent in the Junior and sophomore grades. J'town is the class of this region. They should repeat as regional champs.

 

Jenkins from Manual is the best of the 7th region. If he had some help, he could make a run at Mr. Basketball. If Kimbro leaves, there is no talent left besides Jenkins. He will have trouble with the other teams defensive game plans. They will key on him, which will make it tough for him to get his shot off. Too bad Cosby left for J'town.

Eastern has a great deal to replace. Other than Thomas, who will be players to start and contribute next year. Eastern is always a contender.

Of the players returning, that dressed varsity last year. I would think that they would start:

 

Remy Able So.

Delquan Thomas Jr.

Chris Dowell Sr.

Lyonell Gaines Sr.

Roderick Millner Sr.

 

Ken Parker Sr. and Jon Davis So. dressed varsity last year. They also had the best freshman team in the 7th region last season, and have some very nice freshman coming in this year. One being Chris Harrison from Crosby.

Crimsonfan seems to have a good grasp of the 7th region. You listed the top seniors to watch next year. Who are the top Junior and Sophomore players in the 7th? Any D-1 or D-2 talent in this bunch?

There are some really talented Juniors in the 7th Region next year several will be D1 or D2caliber by the time they graduate.

 

Ian Chiles- Ballard

Keisten Jones - Ballard

Tyrell Means - Ballard

Delquan Thomas - Eastern

Thomas jackson - J-town

Tim Jackson - J-town

Richard Kennedy - J-town

Aaron Cosby - J-town

Sam Tolliver - J-town

Kevin Glenn - Male

James Pillischafske - Male

D' Carlo Hayes - Male

Tony Horne - Male

Sean Samsel - Manual

Aleks Nikolic - Manual

Miles Mitchell - Manual

Reggie Breeden - Moore

Zach McElwain - Seneca

Aaron Nance - Seneca

Andre Hearn - Seneca

Josh Sewell - Trinity

Daniel Corbett - Trinity

Patrick Butcher - St. X

Markell Carter - St. X

Wyatt Gray - St. X

Tim Henderson - Chr. Acad.

Collin Lopez - Chr. Acad.

Carlos Smith - Fern Creek

Dwayne Gordan -Atherton

Great information...:thumb: Each school is/will be getting their own thread on the upcoming season. They are being done by alphabetical order. I have started this year with the bottom of the alphabet and processing upward. I have already posted the "W" and "V". Look for these threads and give your input.:thumb: