BGElite

Its not a tourney. Its a one game deal for preseason where every program has two practice games. Madisonville and Elliott County would be a good matchup. Madisonville will not be a preseason top 20 team.

Interesting.

Pre-season games November 29 @ Sheldon Clark High. Sheldon Clark Scott County duPont Manual Madisonville Elliott County Perry Central Paul Dunbar Mason County Knott County Central Shelby Valley

Who said Little was outside of the top 10 players in the 7th? He may be inside of it. Seneca will be legit. The 7th region will go 7 or 8 teams deep in strength this season.

The last couple of years Manual and Ballard both bumped some teams and won against top out of state programs while winning tourneys. Manual bumped off the top team from ATL last year to win 3rd place in the KOB. This was after UHA upset them. Kentucky can do more than hold their own.

Agreed.

I like Justice's game too. Played well at North Hardin. Strong kid, doesn't backdown and sees the court and leads well.

I know these boards are skewed heavily in favor of mountain players, but didn't expect Vee Sanford of LC to be left off the initial list.

Absolutely the 11th region is same. The 11th and 7th regions are not safe regions even for a team that's ranked #1 or #2 statewide. It would be great if they could set up some kind of event similar to college in the ACC - Big Ten Challenge between the 7th and 11th top 5 teams in respective regions.

In the 7th, you have to win at least 2 or 3 (and sometimes) four games in a row against top 20 to even get to Rupp for the Sweet 16. The LIT and the 7th Region tourney had more top 20 teams than the Sweet16 last year. One of the teams listed on the OP didn't even see a top 40 team during their district and entire regional tourney. Spread the 7th region top teams around the state in different regions instead of letting them knock each other out and you could see Ballard, Manual, Eastern, Jtown, and Male all playing in the Elite 8.

Put them against Manual, J'Town, Male, Ballard, and Eastern all of which are as good as any you have listed above and all five of these teams could very well be in the top 15 during the season with as many as 3 in the top 5. Every team listed also had 3+ wins against top 20 teams last year.

How many teams in Kentucky wouldn't like to have him as a 7th, 8th or even 9th man? He adds depth.

I agree that Holmes is going to be a tough team to handle this year. A lot of balance and a lot of talent will add up to be a top 5 team. Another thing I really like about Holmes is their chemistry. There's some dynamite kids there that really play hard and I know their coach will have a great deal of fun coaching and working with them this year.

It cannot be overstated how good North Hardin will be this year. They have great personnel and one of the best coaching staffs in the business. North Hardin is a contender this season.

He's at Manual.

Agreed.

Greg Johnson of North Hardin may be the best player in the region. May even be top 10 in the state or better. Another top five player is Bardstown's Jordan Hickman. He belongs on the list too.

Manual had a strong summer. Only had a couple of losses and they were without Jenkins and Kimbro, Kimbro out with injury and Jenkins was at with UK Elite camp, KY allstars or other event. Here's a quick highlight of Manual's 36-point win over Louisville Trinity where Jenkins hit 8 straight treys leading to a 38-point outing. Not bad with nine stitches over his right eye from the previous game. When Manual has all their pieces clicking, they'll be tough. Video link below: http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-louisville-107-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=recruiting&maven_referralObject=774276633

Lexington Catholic highlight video versus Louisville Moore @ Derek Smith Shootout Tourney in Louisville. Lexington Cath gets the easy win. Click link below to watch video: http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-louisville-107-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=recruiting&maven_referralObject=774259512

You can place Manual, North Hardin, and J'town all at the #1 spot too. Manual was without Tony Kimbro Jr all summer due to a wrist injury, but Manual still looked strong. And yes, he will be back and there won't be a better tandem in the state than Jacob Jenkins and Kimbro. Manual may end up playing the state's toughest schedule to boot. Then there is North Hardin with Greg Johnson and Larod King another top tandem with a loaded lineup. Greg Johnson returns after sitting out a full season. J'town won the 7th region last season and returns everyone but Gagel and adds Cosby. They defeated Scott County over the summer too. These teams won't get much hoopla on BGP since there's only a few members from the 5th and 7th regions that post here, but they do pose a legit threat for the state title this year.

Who were Elliott County's losses last year? What was their biggest win? They will be tough this year.

That is probably so and Covington Holmes and Scott County will be two of the elites. Since there are going to be several teams that capable of beating them this season, I would say there's more parity. There are no locks this year.

There's a lot of talent in Kentucky. They both will be challenged.

A 40 means they have not reviewed the player. Those ESPN rankings have been like that for some 2 or 3 years now and have not been updated since. They have zero purpose. Does a 40 rating = multiple mid and high D1 offers?

Heck, coach Pitino got to see the Seattle "pipeline" of Siva, Wroten, and Smith, 3 top 25 players nationally go into box and chaser defense against the Kentucky Gators before Seattle Rotary Select one of the country's best teams came back to pull off a nailbiter win against another Kentucky upstart squad and Jenkins. So yep, I would say Kentucky's talent has repped well this spring and summer.