Written by Marc Hardin/ Kentucky Enquirer

 

1. Dixie Heights

2. Boone Co

3. Holmes

3. Newport Central Catholic

4. Holy Cross

6. Ryle

7. Covington Catholic

8, Highlands

9. Beechwood

10. Cooper

Dixie is right.

 

BW at 9 is surprising considering they lost their top player on an average team.

 

Boone will be interesting.

 

The rest? Tossup.

Dixie is right.

 

Agree

 

BW at 9 is surprising considering they lost their top player on an average team.

 

The most all around talent Beechwood has had in several years, with good size at 6'5" across the front line and Nussbaum at PG .... but where do the points come from? New coach. So talent there but a lot of question marks????

 

Boone will be interesting.

 

No doubt. This will be a very different Boone team with not much size and a lot of speed.

 

The rest? Tossup.

 

See blue above.

The top 10 players list is a joke:

 

1. Brandon Hatton- Dixie

2. Zane McQueary- Boone

3. Zeke Pike- Dixie

4. Jake Burger- Holy Cross

5. Chris Hayes- Holmes

6. Dontel Rice- Holmes

7. Brady Hightchew- Newcath

8. Parker Stansberry- Dixie

9. Corey Cruse- Beechwood

10. Tate Mullins- Ryle

 

All very good players but here is my opinion...

 

1. Chris Hayes graduated last year but Hardin has him at #5.

 

2. Brady Hightchew is arguably the best all around guard in the region, not named Hatton, but he is at #7???

 

3. Zane McQueary is a good kid and player but should be more in the 5-8 range. For his position alone I'd have both Rice and Stansberry ahead of him. Both are much more athletic and better defensively.

 

4. If any player from Holy Cross is going to be included, I would think it'd be McClendon and not Burger.

 

5. Year after year I buy this and am disappoined every year. Harding really doesnt seem very connected to 9th region Bball and it seems as if he goes off just stats. No Cooper Downs or Chase Stanley...really???

 

I would go with the following:

 

1. Brandon Hatton - Dixie

2. Brady Hightchew- Newcath

3. Dontel Rice- Holmes

4. Parker Stansberry- Dixie

5. Zeke Pike- Dixie

6. Zane McQueary- Boone

7. Chase Stanley- Boone

8. Christian McClendon- Holy Cross

9. Jake Burger- Holy Cross

10. Corey Cruse - Beechwood

As far as teams go, I think it once again comes sown to Dixie, Holmes, Boone, and Newcath.

 

If I had to pick someone other than Dixie to win region, I'd go with Holmes. They will be tough to match up with having the following lineup:

 

6'0 Quan Palmer

6'1 BJ Coston

6'3 Dasean Peterson/6'3 Chris Englemon

6'2 Charles Knox

6'5 Dontel Rice

 

Palmer and Coston will be the best backcourt in nky their senior year.

 

Peterson and Englemon are two athletic and physical 3 players.

 

Knox is undersized but very tough down low...mini Trevan Brown, IMO.

 

Rice is the best athlete in the region and his size and versatility make him tough to match up with.

 

I also like Holmes depth much more now as well. I'd expect them to go atleast 9 deep with Tre Lewis, Tannen Tevis, Carlos Mullins Evans, Hunter Hoskins, and the frosh duo of Covington and Potter to all have some role off the bench.

That donkey listed Hayes at #5? Who hires these people to submit these previews?

 

Burger at #4? He is a nice player but the poor kid may have shot 22% last year. Holy Cross at #4? Wow, I think tHe boys here on BGP could much better than this joker.

See blue above.

 

I'll respectfully disagree on BW's talent. They have good athletes but not basketball players.

A few years ago they listed a football player from NKY as one of the tops in the state yet he didn't even play much that year. I never put any credence in this publication's list.

A few years ago they listed a football player from NKY as one of the tops in the state yet he didn't even play much that year. I never put any credence in this publication's list.

Some regions are fairly good, others are terrible. 10th and 11th being on the negative side. 11th region ..don't believe that guy does his research, especially on the players. The 10th , last year he didn't have the player that won the player of the year in the top 10 players. How can you miss that one?? Agree some of the writers for this publication has little credence when it come to representing the teams and players of that region.

Edited October 7, 201115 yr by gold sunrise

Not only is Chris Hayes listed, but at 5 under Burger. I personally think Jack Jennings should be added to this list.

Marc Hardin is listed on the byline for the 9th region preview and he usually does a pretty solid job. Everybody makes mistakes and he messed up on that one. Probably stretched too thin. I will cut him some slack, but when your name goes on the byline you should make sure it is work you feel good about.

Rankings are a joke and only about an ounce of thought was put into these rankings. Looks like Hardin got a call and was told we need 9th Region rankings in about an hour. Garbage in, garbage out. Rankings should not even come out until 3-4 weeks into the season.

I have yet to see this year's but the whole publication is usually full of mistakes and uneducated opinions.

Rankings are a joke and only about an ounce of thought was put into these rankings. Looks like Hardin got a call and was told we need 9th Region rankings in about an hour. Garbage in, garbage out. Rankings should not even come out until 3-4 weeks into the season.

 

Agreed!

The top 10 players list is a joke:

 

1. Brandon Hatton- Dixie

2. Zane McQueary- Boone

3. Zeke Pike- Dixie

4. Jake Burger- Holy Cross

5. Chris Hayes- Holmes

6. Dontel Rice- Holmes

7. Brady Hightchew- Newcath

8. Parker Stansberry- Dixie

9. Corey Cruse- Beechwood

10. Tate Mullins- Ryle

 

All very good players but here is my opinion...

 

1. Chris Hayes graduated last year but Hardin has him at #5.

 

2. Brady Hightchew is arguably the best all around guard in the region, not named Hatton, but he is at #7???

 

3. Zane McQueary is a good kid and player but should be more in the 5-8 range. For his position alone I'd have both Rice and Stansberry ahead of him. Both are much more athletic and better defensively.

 

4. If any player from Holy Cross is going to be included, I would think it'd be McClendon and not Burger.

 

5. Year after year I buy this and am disappoined every year. Harding really doesnt seem very connected to 9th region Bball and it seems as if he goes off just stats. No Cooper Downs or Chase Stanley...really???

 

I would go with the following:

 

1. Brandon Hatton - Dixie

2. Brady Hightchew- Newcath

3. Dontel Rice- Holmes

4. Parker Stansberry- Dixie

5. Zeke Pike- Dixie

6. Zane McQueary- Boone

7. Chase Stanley- Boone

8. Christian McClendon- Holy Cross

9. Jake Burger- Holy Cross

10. Corey Cruse - Beechwood

 

I agree with your list of top players in the 9th region. Not sure about #10 though as I am not as familiar with him. As far as teams go I will go with Dixie at 1 and Holmes at 2. Boone, NCC, CovCath, Ryle and HC are all solid as 3 thru 7.