GoHardITP

I used the range 6'10 - 7'0' and I had dropped it down to 6'9" on the low end it would still have held true....Believe me when I tell you as you go out and play elite teams from all over the country that many states (some much larger than ours) have an abundance of guys in that range. 7'0" kids are fewer, but there are teams loaded with guys nearing 6'9 or 6'10" and in KY they rarely are seen. When they do transfer in it becomes a much bigger deal because of the seldom seen syndrome than say in GA or AL, or especially TX or FL. I am sure it would be a big deal in West VA or Idaho like it is here in KY, but I have seen with my own eyes that this state does not have near the numbers of kids even 6'7 or 6'8" that many surrounding states seem to have. Not sure if all of these kids are homegrown from those states, because a rising number of foreign kids that are very tall for the most part are coming over to the US at a lot of prep like schools that cater to international players.

I mentioned some would be surprise picks, and of course BE is the favorite returning 4 starters for the region and they do come from the same district. But FC returns 4 starters also and three will be sophomores versus freshmen this season. The two teams played competitive games last year so to expect a potential upset from FC is not out of the question. FC could very well be a season away from being the favorite, but I am sure the BE coaches at least have an eye on their district rival as one of the few that could become a threat to what should be their year to be the heavy favorite to win the 6th region again.

I will take my shot and intentionally throw in some surprise teams 1st - Paducah Tilghman 2nd - University Heights 3rd - Apollo 4th- Bowling Green 5th- Taylor County 6th- Fern Creek 7th- Waggener 8th- Owen County 9th- Newport Central Catholic 10th - Campbell County 11th - LCA 12th- Mercer County 13th - Corbin 14th- Perry County Central 15th - Johnson Central 16th - Elliott County

This is an example of way too many assumptions and innuendo versus a fact discussion which is okay when you understand the context. Very few if any know exactly what is going on. Examples of conflicting reports is he could not play a lick of basketball to he is very good defensively, just raw on offense. I read he has been in Atlanta for less than a year and then read he has spent two years in school in Atlanta. The list could go on. We do apparently know his name and I believe it is the young man playing AAU ball with the Cincy Lakers. It is a long time coming as to whether we will see him suit up for a KY HS team. What is obvious is that a five page thread took on a life because in this state we get worked up in a frenzy when the potential of a 6'10 - 7'0" player emerges, especially a transfer and not home grown. I guess it is because we simply do not have very many big men playing KY HS basketball. They are like a sighting of Bigfoot when they show up to check out a school. It is what it is.

Major rebuild. Brandon Johnson departs and was probably about 40-50% of their scoring and it was because he needed to be. Not for sure, but freshmen and JV teams did not seem to have enough firepower to add much to the returning players either.

We can agree that a team that has a starting lineup worthy of mention as Top Players should easily be going into the season as the favorite as I too believe BE should be. Even though Doss lost a lot of seniors they also have some really good players with experience like Hall & McCloud with others. I do feel losing Collins will hurt them. Fern Creek has plenty of back court talent in Price, Hill, Wales, & Washington, but the inside will need some players to step up. The unknown is how PRP reloads and with whom they have transfer in. The kids there returning will not be enough. My surprise two teams are Fairdale with the Queen & Richardson duo along with Moore who could also benefit from the transfer season and new players. This should also be the best Valley team in recent years and they should continue to get better with the Coach they brought in last year keeping talent from the area in the school.

Not many surprise picks from those being some of the top players who already have proven their abilities in varsity games, but if you call out four players from BE and leave off Bailey Rakes there is some bias going on or a huge oversight. I have watched Bailey Rakes and some may argue as their PG he makes the team go and he averaged close to double figures while being their best on ball defender. You have seen Osborne up close so he may very well break out to become one of the Top Players, but in no way can Bailey not be mentioned if you list Osborne on potential as Rakes already has proven he deserves that designation from game performance. You also have to add Delvonte McCloud to the Doss list as he is a physical player with nice size that simply has untapped potential that could propel him into being a 6th region player of the year in the future if he reaches that potential. You should add Tony Washington from Fern Creek who was the leading scorer from last season who returns as a senior who is one of the best shooters in the 6th region. Anthony Wales was the third freshmen starter for Fern Creek who like Price & Hill averaged close to 10/game in their first season of varsity. Glenn Queen from Fairdale will be a player talked about for several seasons with great scoring punch. Tre' Richardson returns and will be one of the best players in the region as well from Fairdale. Others: Jaxson Burgess- DeSales Brandon Cranford & Hunter Stevenson- PRP Chase Craddock & Cameron Dukes- Bullitt Central Donquel Andrews- Southern Austin Wise & Jaquay Wales- Butler Marquese Bolden- Iroquois Eric George- Valley Keonte Smith & Ramon Collins- Moore Best incoming freshmen likely to end up in the 6th is Justin Weaver

Waggener, Ballard, and Central stand out with a maybe on Eastern. Nobody else is even on paper close to them, but somebody could surprise just like Central came out of nowhere this season. I think KCD had their best chance this past season when McCray was there. Not much from CAL expected either. Trinity and St X both rebuilding, but I expect Trinity to be better than X. Other public schools well down the list of surprise teams in my opinion.

So Drabo is on school #3 after beginning his career at Male, then Iroquois, and now PRP? I think he had almost landed at Western HS last year at this time as well before eventually settling in at Iroquois.

Ball Coach did a great job on detailing this 6th region as well. As Q said the favorite on paper clearly has to be Bullitt East with 4 really good starters returning and other contributors as well. The rest of the region could change drastically based on transfers and which young kids end up going where. Until school opens in August nothing is set, but June could indicate where some roster additions will indeed change things around for how good certain schools may be. Last year there was really about 5 teams that separated from the pack with Doss, BE, PRP, and DeSales the Top 4 and Fern Creek looming right behind them. DeSales and Doss lose a bunch, but Doss may be more prepared to fill in with varsity bench contributors when DeSales seems to be in rebuilding mold. PRP is not the PRP of old in terms of talent, but they have their same coaching staff and they always have a surprise transfer or two so at least expect them to be in the running. If Fern Creek can replace their departing big center, they cannot help to become much better with a season of experience from their elite freshmen class. I pick the three at the top to be BE, Doss, and Fern Creek with Fairdale as the darkhorse. However, much could change based on new roster additions for many other teams like PRP and Moore.

Good write up on a very early preseason review Ball Coach. Never count out Renner and Ballard. Despite all the talk of him leaving, looks like he is coming back right where he wants to be and that makes Ballard a contender. Waggener will be tough no doubt, and so will Eastern. But if I had to make an early prediction I feel Central under the guidance of Coach Bibby will be winning many games next season. His system is designed to have kids get better the longer they are in it and with those kids returning they will be 100% bought in and ready to compete every night. I think the winner will be from one of those three...Ballard, Waggener, and Central with the darkhorse being Eastern.

At the end of the day the weekend brings a collection of KY HS kids competing against each other apart from their HS teams. Alliances come together and we get to see which kids playing against mostly other KY HS players look really good and poised for breakout seasons the next year. Other than that you get some bragging rights and such, but for me I like seeing which kids have actually gained improvement from the end of the season using the last two months to get better. Off season improvements in 60 days let's you know who is working hard and will continue to work hard the rest of the off season. It should be fun and then in about 4 weeks they get to go back to their HS teams to have the month of June to gather and improve as a team.

The Louisville Magic program does not have a 17U team this year so players that may have played Louisville Magic 16U last year or players they would have went after are still playing in the event, just with different teams. I may be wrong but HD Orange has several players (Holman & Miller) able to compete in the Adidas Gauntlet but probably not in AAU State due to reclassification rules being different in the governing bodies. When key players are not available for non-injury reasons it makes sense to potentially sit out an event.

I absolutely liked McNeil and believe he can hold his own in and outside the 9th. I was giving counter to the assertion he is hands down the best 9th region player and not even close when that includes at least two other spectacular players in CVH & Weyer. To list Weyer as a good high school player but other than his size he doesn't do anything better than McNeil is discrediting Ben. When it was suggested Ben cannot defend the perimeter my point was I do not see McNeil as a lock down defender on the perimeter either based on the single time I saw him. In college at 6'6" you at least have some options to also guard the 3 and maybe the 4 some. But at 6'3" or smaller, your perimeter defense ability will in some ways limit where you project going in college. I do not think Ben has to take second hand to many in the state as a high school player or college prospect and nobody in the 9th is hands down better was my point.

He was my early pick to get the Male job when it opened up. It will be tough though, and he like anyone will need to be able to keep the best traditional middle school kids in traditional high school. The good news is that these younger traditional middle school kids will see that there are fewer kids from their middle schools that were the best players that went on to Male. I think they will believe they have a chance to play early.

I have seen all 3 of Weyer, CVH, and McNeil play, but only saw McNeil one time. They each are very good and if we are talking HS players they could all have an argument to be the top HS player in the 9th so suggesting it is not even close seems biased. Nobody can argue with what CVH has accomplished in starting as a 9th grader on a state championship team and then returning to the final four being the leader of his sophomore season. He is simply a winner in HS basketball in KY and that is why he could be #1 . Ben Weyer is the biggest and size does matter. He is pretty versatile in that he can play an inside and outside game. He probably defends better on the inside, but he is athletic enough to guard outside. All around he would be the toughest to match up and defend in my opinion for most KY HS teams which could make his case as #1 . I only saw 1 game Cooper played at Louisville Eastern's holiday tournament. He is smooth and a good scorer no doubt. At 6'3" he has good size too, but not Weyer length. The only thing I would suggest from that game was he and his teammates had trouble defending the Fern Creek guards. All four of their guards scored in double figures and 3 of them were freshmen. The Junior guard scored 26 that game so as a team (which included McNeil) defending quicker athletic guards seemed to be troublesome on that day. In the 9th he may do fine, but from that game I was more impressed with his offense because I recall him being a really good scorer which is where I could make his case for #1 . I think you could make a case for all 3. I personally feel in college that Weyer due to his size will be the most likely to have the highest Div 1 offers. He has a good combination of strength, size, agility and toughness that I like. Plus he is 6'6" so he could play the 3 or 4 in many college systems. The other two would have to play guard in college and I see good scoring from both at the 2 guard, but you have to be able to defend the perimeter which is very tough the higher up Division 1 you go.

I have no idea on whether this is the 7 footer, but according to some close coaching friends in the Cincy area there are a couple foreign kids that someone is now guardian that is looking for a place. They may be going separate schools, but my understanding is that these young men are kids that were at a basketball academy in Africa and ended up in the Cincy area that will now be placed somewhere for high school. I suspect that one of these kids is the 7 footer we are hearing about.

Not an offer, but also a major ACC school showing interest. Carson in addition to a great basketball player and young man is also a great student. Not all kids are as blessed academically or some fail to realize it before it is too late, but when you have outstanding academics/test scores an entire group of schools open up to you that many great prospects simply never gain consideration due to their grades. Carson and any of our KY prospects who have worked hard both on the court and in the classroom deserve all the attention they are garnering from schools.

Power 5 Conference offers are huge with the new split within the NCAA. Not in all cases, but getting an ability to get a scholarship from a Power 5 conference school has some really great benefits for the athletes that would make it hard to turn down over another non Power 5 conference school. Carson deserves it and I am glad he is out showing that a kid from a small county school can hit the jackpot when he goes out on the travel ball circuit holding his own against the nation's best. That is the positive about elite travel ball, college coaches can see how you compete against players who are elite division 1 prospects. High School ball in KY simply does not allow those comparisons that college coaches like to see.

The "Great alumni another bonus" cuts both ways. I had kids go to Male, some played sports there and some not. Great school and when Coach Redman was the FB coach you could not ask for a better experience from the alumni as they supported the school well without interference. Redman would not allow it. However, I have always heard a problem for coaches at Male includes the interference or just plain meddling of the alumni. I do not know that for certain, but the perception exists that a coach will have some alumni or booster issues that other places do not exist.

I never saw either game, but that makes sense as a contributing factor to the high turnover ratio. I do know that against elite level competition (which Indiana All Stars will have) that if Beetle struggles then any other PG in the 2015 class would likely be in more trouble. There is a reason Beetle is going to play his college ball at a Power 5 Conference school. There is not another PG in 2015 class that had any offers that I can recall to play at that level. That I recall, Camron Justice may be the only other 2015 signee with a Power Conference school in the state beside Beetle this year. Knocking the best we got doesn't say much for our chances. I also have confidence in Jalen Perry. He has improved a bunch since last June.

I guess you could call the traditional schools in Jefferson County (Butler & Male) as close to a private or parochial school as you can get in the public school system. There are three middle schools that also have this "traditional" school approach. They are Johnson Middle which feeds Butler, and Jefferson County Traditional Middle School & Barrett Traditional. If you go to those middle schools you are almost a lock to get in to either Butler or Male. Male is always full of freshmen applicants and they take the kids who apply from the traditional middle schools first. As someone pointed out, Butler tends to not have as many applicants so they have room for more non-traditional middle school kids. It has changed, but I think the BB Coach and FB Coach at Male have had so many spots to basically grab non-traditional kids but it is limited. Also someone pointed out that Male has suffered in recent years because the best kids from JCTMS and Barrett did not go to Male. Unless that changes with the new coach, Male will not be able to field as talented a team as they need to in order to compete for the 7th region title.

Traditional schools use an old school approach. It is a public school that you apply for and must accept their rules such as facial hair, hair styles & length, uniforms, several hours of daily homework, belts, and no tolerance for bad grades or behavior. If you fail to live up to their standard or code of conduct you are put out and must go to your school that is based on your address.

I agree with this sentiment. I would suggest that when you compare win/loss records there is a tougher level of competition that EYBL provides in terms of depth and a .500 team playing an EYBL schedule may be better than an .750 winning percentage team in another circuit or team that does not play a circuit. But Elite players who are playing in the 3 top circuits are not better than other Elite players just because they happen to be playing EYBL. There are even a few that slip out of the shoe sponsored circuits that may be just as Elite, but very few slip off the radar of those teams sponsored and playing in the shoe circuits.

The 2016 graduating class in KY would likely have a consensus Top 4 for most that follow BB recruiting closely. Goodin with many D1 offers, Wright, Beverly, and Carson Williams. All hold some nice offers and are going D1 without question. Not to knock any of the other state players, but those 4 are a bit head & shoulders above the rest in the 2016 class based on most opinions. They are split evenly (2 & 2 to the Nike/Adidas state teams). To say who is the best team or not the best team is of one's own opinion. Some programs have the ability to take reclassified players and also you can ad border state kids (up to 3) which also impact how good a team is. The debate will last all summer, but the level of competition is good on the shoe circuit sponsored leagues due to the $$$ that fund travel. Follow the money and you usually will find the best gathered. Some leagues are better than others, but there are great players in all the leagues. Under Armor has arguably the #1 2016 kid in Josh Jackson and UA does not even sponsor any team in KY on their UA Association circuit this season. While we pat our backs then kick our foes, fact still remains there have been few and far between elite D1 recruits from our state that make the shoe companies drool over us. DeAngelo Russel who left the state to go to HS in FL and ended up playing for E1T1 out of FL is by far the biggest catch that each of the shoe companies are eager to shovel out endorsement dollars to now that he will be a Top 5 lottery pick.