GoHardITP

That looks like a solid group of teams. I am anxious to see North Laurel competing this year and believe they have the young talent & coaching to make a deep run in the region. I believe freshman, Bayley Rice, will be a very nice addition who will surprise many with his ability to score and rebound in the paint. He is a true back to the basket big man with soft hands and good footwork.

Is the proposal addressing showcase camps like the OH camp mentioned above or the John Lucas camp, or is it addressing the ability to go on an unofficial visit and join in any pick up game with current players at that school? I am trying to figure out if the rule today prohibits both once school starts and would it allow both if proposal is agreed upon? What would be penalty is a kid went on a visit to a school or a camp and actually played while there?

Hey Coach Q, I agree this is really hurtful for the kids in KY. Is this a new rule? I ask because kids from KY in the past have attended the John Lucas Midwest Fall Camp since it has been held in Louisville. I know last year several kids from KY who attended.

Not discounting the other players at all and it takes a team to win a district for sure. My point is there is not any question as to who is the most valuable player on that team is imo. He is a player that is one of the best in the region. He is a special player that can take over the game with his athletic abilities that nobody else on that team is that capable of doing. Richard can get to the rim on his own and is a very tough match up for most kids in the state.

I would agree with 6thregionguy that PRP pretty much owns this district, but they have much of that riding on a single player in my opinion, Richard Gaines. He is a Sr and once he is gone the gap closes somewhat. Kids development begins to come in play and the PRP staff does well building a team with their system. Fairdale has a new Coach so that will be something to watch the next few years. I do know that the 6th region in general has no clear cut team this year and it really becomes an open race the next several years based on players developing.

Yes it is that Tony Rogers and his Dad is a good 6'4". his Mom is a former WKU player who is over 6'0". Just looking at Tony Jr it would not be surprising to see him a 6'5 or 6'6" player in a few years. He is just 14 and he is a very good player that should also be a D1 prospect on the team. He has a very high upside.

Tough day yesterday for the kids on the team and all students at Fern Creek HS. Pretty sure almost everyone heard about the shooting situation in the school that fortunately did not result in a student death. The school has taken some hard knocks in recent years and was starting to get some positive momentum both in academic scores rising and also the excitement of the basketball program expected to do well in upcoming years. Then one bad apple brings a gun to school and all the hard work by everyone gets overshadowed by an incident that could happen in any school in the country, much less any school in the state. All kids in every school want to feel school pride, it is what makes high school sports so great. The kids hate to see their school in the news for something like this. I hope the basketball team can play a role in turning the tide once again after this major setback. Prayers for the innocent victim in this situation and all the kids there at the school who went through this ordeal.

I agree Coach Mabrey and his staff have enjoyed an unbelievable run over decades. Never underestimate the PRP team, especially this year with Gaines. Nobody can predict future growth, but one thing different with this group at Fern Creek is that nobody has ever been reclassified. They came to high school as true 14 year old freshmen. The three mentioned above (Hill, Price, & Wales) are already 6'3", 6'2" & 5'10". Tony Rogers is another young player with that group who is 6'2" so there is pretty good length and these are not 16 year old freshmen who have finished growing. The key is development under Coach Schooler who is one of the best as a young up and coming coach in the state.

This sounds like the reasons transfers from out of state should happen. It speaks well that parents see moving to the state of KY is good for their children's development educationally, socially, and for growth as a basketball player. I know Marquis is a great kid and the family is passionate about his overall growth, not just BB. He will be a great player to watch grow and I suspect he will bring more exposure to the state for being another D1 prospect down the road. The more D1 kids from our state lifts the entire perception of talent here, which is better for all kids trying to go D1 when that perception changes.

There is total agreement from me that winning in the 6th or 7th with 14 & 15 year old freshmen would be a tall order to expect. Especially so when it is not just a single player, but likely three that will be major contributors to a team that graduated their entire starting lineup and several of their top reserves. Only a couple of role players returning along with some very young influx of talent will take some time. However, the Coach at Fern Creek is one of the rising stars of coaching in the state. In his first season last year he reversed a team that was 6-20 before he arrived to a 19-10 record. If he could pull together another 19 or 20 win season in the 6th region it would send a big signal that a shift of power in the city of Louisville has begun way earlier than expected.

Coach Q is correct. Ohio State was in this past week to see the Freshmen attending Fern Creek. OSU's Head Coach, Thad Motta & his assistants had seen the Gators AAU team play in Ft. Wayne during Spiece Nationals on the final certification period of the summer. OSU assistant Greg Paulus was most interested in Trey Hill & Ahmad Price. Miss State was in later in the week and the third player Coach Q alluded to, Anthony Wales, was the freshman MSU left most interested in. They are Division 1 prospects that currently are Top 100 kids in most national rankings for their class. Both OSU & MSU said they would be down during the HS season to watch a game and the young freshmen will trip to those respective schools on unofficial visits. All three of those kids are still 14 years old and were starters on the Spiece KY Gators 2018 team that won the 9th grade state this past May. As Coach Q said, they were competing up an age division so they won both 8th & 9th grade State AAU titles a month apart. There are 3 other kids from that AAU team at Fern Creek who may not play as much varsity this year, but are still some of the Top freshmen in the 2018 class. Tony Rogers, Kobe Stanton, and AJ Thomas are other names to watch in the future.

That could happen, and they would be a good duo of guards in the 2019 class out on the AAU circuit. Watching them both leads me to believe that had Tyger Campbell moved into the state to play there in lieu of CPA in Nashville, then it would have been a bigger impact. Against older kids Tyger has fared better in the elite events from what I have seen. I just think Marquis will have less immediate impact as an 8th grader but who knows down the road as to how dominating they will become. I just think we have some kids who are freshmen here in KY that are as good if not better than both. Grade wise they may be a grade older, but age wise they are the same. I have seen it with my own eyes and of course I am partial because I have an affinity for seeing Kentucky basketball get back on top again nationally but prefer it happens with home grown talent versus imports with no ties other than they tend to end up here for awhile.

I have watched young Marquis for several years out on the national travel ball AAU circuit. About two years ago he reclassified, so like many he is a year older than many 8th graders who never repeated a grade. He is a really good young player, but I have also seen him play against other elite players from our own state who are now entering their freshmen season and we have multiple kids from our state that are more impacting players than Marquis. Is he good for being an 8th grader, absolutely yes. However, if he was attending a HS in almost any of the Jefferson County teams, he would not be a starting guard in my opinion. Again, I am not knocking his ability, I just think hyping the young man up as a OJ Mayo is way off base. He is not nearly as physical or athletic as OJ was as an 8th grade kid. Coach Breeze will do well with him as he has a high BB IQ, but the worry that some out of town phenom is coming in to dominate the local scene seems more perception than reality to me. There probably is a connection as Coach Breeze did coach an elite 7th grade AAU team based out of Nashville, We All Can Go. I am sure they probably played against the AAU team from Chicago that young Marquis played with sometime during the Spring & Summer 2014 AAU season. I wish both Marquis and Coach Breeze success. Marquis and his family are very good people who are passionate about his basketball career so I can understand why they would make this move. Best of luck to them.