coachlee

1. Fern Creek (1-0): Fern Creek started the season with a tough opening game against the team most everyone considered as their strongest 6th region challenger, PRP. After PRP jumped to a 4-0 lead, the Tigers went on a tear and were leading 35-13 at the end of the 1st quarter. They substituted heavily the entire game and still won 87-63. Starters played no more than 20 minutes in this blowout that set the rest of the region on notice that Fern Creek may be as good as last season when they went 16-0 against 6th region foes. Ahmad Price had 23 and Anthony Wales 19 for the Tigers. The big games this week are back to back on Friday & Saturday with Doss & Trinity respectively. 2. Doss (3-0): The Dragons were ranked #3 to start the season and with the PRP loss they jump up a spot after going 3-0 with wins against all 6th region teams (Southern, Bullitt East, and Moore). Each game produced double digit wins, but they were versus teams ranked 9, 13, & 14 in the pre-season rankings so they were favored in each. Stephon Franklin as expected is leading the team to these early victories and highly ranked gridiron star, Shawnkel Knight-Goff, has shown he can play well on the court under the new coaching staff. Knight-Goff had left the team toward the end of last season, so his return is valuable to Coach Stone. It is the Dragon's turn to take on Fern Creek this coming Friday, and it is expected to be much closer than the PRP game was for Fern Creek. Last time these two teams met was the regional championship and Fern Creek won a close game to advance to Rupp Arena, so there will be plenty of motivation for Doss in this one. 3. Butler (3-0): Butler opened the season up with a one point win vs Valley 77 to 76. Pendergrass is off to a good start for the season for the Bears with a nice showing. Pendergrass could be a surprise player in the region as his stats last season really did not pop off the chart, but he already has went for 27 this season and appears to be ready for a breakout senior campaign. Seneca and Beechwood also went down to the Bears who play Bullitt East & Moore this week. 4. PRP (2-1): The Panthers were not very impressive to start off the season when they faced Fern Creek and lost by 24. However, they came back beating Jeffersontown by 21 and then beat 7th Region Seneca by 14. This week they play a tough Manual team from the 7th and will be tested in that one to see if they have rebounded from their opening loss to Fern Creek. Gerald Gray scored 13 in the opener and looks to be an important part of the Panthers again this season. Trey Hill led in one of the others with 18, and BJ Robinson scored 31 to lead in a game. These 3 will be the scoring threats for the Panthers throughout the season. 5. Valley (0-2): The Vikings have not had a great start to the season. They lost at home to Butler by 1, 76-77, and they also lost to a solid Waggener team at home by a score of 57 to 64. The loss at home to Butler was in part due to the ejection of Curt Lewis who was given two technicals that really cost his team. He missed the following game as well so when he returns Valley should rebound from those early losses if he can control his emotions. If Coach Wheat can channel some of his own court demeanor he had at U of L when he was so calm & collected it will be a lesson that Curt Lewis will benefit from and so will his entire team. 6. Bullitt East (1-2): The Chargers have struggled to start off the year losing two in a row before gaining their first victory versus district opponent Whitefield Academy with a 20 point margin. However, they did play the #1 team in the state in their first game losing to Trinity, but they held a lead after the first quarter. They also had to play Doss in their 2nd game which they loss by 11. Those losses have to be discounted as this team will improve as the season moves along with Luke Ezell's leadership already showing. 7. DeSales (0-2): The Colts started off with two consecutive losses as well, but they played teams from outside the 6th or 7th that are near the top of their respective regions. The 1 point loss to Newport Central Catholic was at a neutral court and the loss to South Oldham was a game played away at South Oldham's home court where the score was 70-81. 8. Iroquois (2-1): The Raiders lost a close one at home to Atherton 65-67 or they would be undefeated and ranked probably higher. That was not a good loss, but they won against North Oldham and Eastern which are two very good wins that recent Iroquois teams have not been able to pull off. The team is led by Keelan Kennedy who averages over 20 PPG. 9. Fairdale (2-1): The Bulldogs opened up 2-0 and one of those wins was against the #8 team in the 6th, Holy Cross where they put 100 on the scoreboard. They also beat a Western team that has yet to win a game. Still, 100 points is impressive and they were about to be ranked higher until the loss on a neutral court to West Jessamine by 14, 77-91. It is obvious the Bulldogs can score, but their defense needs to pick up which it will. Coach Hicks is a hardnose coach who will get this team to defend better over the course of the season so I expect to see Fairdale rise once they play the teams in front of them. Markelo Sullivan is averaging a blistering 27 PPG after 3 high scoring affairs. 10. Jeffersontown (1-1): Starting with two road games the Chargers beat Moore by 1 and lost by 21 to PRP. Games against Eastern, Atherton, and Valley will tell quite a bit about the progress under Coach Duncan this early in the season. 11. Southern (1-1): Started off the year by losing by 18 to Doss and then beating Western by 18. Rickie Wright is the leading scorer this season for the Trojans. 12. North Bullitt (2-0): Two victories but not against any stellar competition. Things will come to light if North Bullitt is improved when they play Southern this week. On paper it should be close, the Eagles could drop if they fail to be competitive at home. 13. Holy Cross (1-1): Two opening losses in the first week drops the Cougars from a Top 10 spot. They did prove they can score with 85 points versus Fairdale. But they gave up a 100 spot in doing so. 14. Moore (0-2): The Mustangs have lost two straight and need to get out of the dog house with a victory. They will move up as they really are not that low of a team as #14. The problem is they play Butler & Waggener this week and that means they likely will be 0-4. 15. Western (0-3): First year Coach Jones is looking for his first win after starting 0-3. That might be tough unless they can beat Holy Cross. PRP is their other foe this week. 16. Bullitt Central (2-0): Started the year with two wins, but will need to get some credible wins to move up. 17. Whitefield Academy (1-2): Beat Beth Haven to move ahead of them, but lost the next two although they showed to be much more competitive than last season. 18. Beth Haven (1-1): They lost to Whitefield Academy so now they will need to beat 6th region opponents to move up. 19. Evangel Christian (0-0): Season gets under way this week.

If Cager and Johnson are both out, Hopkinsville is not very good. When they both are in there, that is a totally different team. BG will be fine in time, but that was a bad lost to Davies County. The win today is not as good a win as that was a bad loss considering Cager is not playing and Johnson played with a significant injury.

Great to hear that Jalen is back, that gives some hope for Hoptown. When I saw them in a scrimmage without him, they only had Shorty as a real scoring threat. Not sure what the time period is for Cager to be back if that even exists, but I feel they are better with Jalen if they only can have one of the two. Jalen will likely score close to 30 a night and will need to in order to give Hopkinsville a good chance to repeat. Without Cager sharing the scoring load it will fall on his shoulders to get a lot of shots up. I could see him hitting 40 + as he is a great scorer.

With football in particular, a verbal commit does not keep other schools from coming at you hard. There is no honor within the coaching circles to respect verbal commitments. If other bigger schools want AJ they will make a run at him. If he stays with Miami of Ohio it will bear out that other schools did not come after him or he told them all he was not interested. His verbal commit will not keep any other school away. I never have seen a negative in committing in football, schools will continue to recruit you. But in basketball they seem to have more of a code to not continue recruiting committed players.

Fern Creek hit 14 of their first 18 shots. Ahmad Price led with 23 and Anthony Wales had 19. Fern Creek had way more depth that contributed, played about 12 players in the first half trying to keep the pace at a high speed. PRP was led by Gerald Gray with 13. Very surprised at the margin, but the Tigers just seemed dialed in and angry from falling short last season. PRP unfortunately were the team that paid the price.

Bowling Green is very likely going to surprise people this season as those are all good wins. Summer wins can be deceiving sometimes because coaches put a different emphasis on what they are trying to accomplish and you do not always have your full roster e.g. Fern Creek played without their All-Region PG all June due to a broken foot. But those other two wins are recent and usually these scrimmages are more game like. I think people suspect they will drop off after losing their entire starting team, so the optics portray not having much experience returning. People forget these kids waited their turn to shine and practiced against the very best in KY last season. It would not surprise me to see them become very good and just think if Harmon had stayed. I still do not understand why he would not have wanted to continue there. They would be scary good then.

I especially agree that Madison Central is a very good team worthy of being a ranked team with the presence of Cozart in the middle. He will make it difficult to score inside as long as he stays out of foul trouble as he is one of the best in the state protecting the rim. Walton-Verona & Anderson are two of the best coming out of the 8th for sure, but is that enough to break the Top 20? Both play in the KOB in December and we will be able to tell how good they are as Anderson County plays Trinity and WV plays Ballard. If they win or stay competitive then they would surely play their way in. Hopkinsville has an unknown roster at this time and were beaten by 30 points in a scrimmage with Fern Creek that included Cager playing although Johnson was not. I would not consider that a Top 20 team for the moment. Same with Taylor County, they were beaten soundly in a scrimmage with Waggener by 15-20 points and Waggener was missing their very best player. Waggener is not in the Top 20 so how could you put Taylor County in there based on that preview. Pre-Season rankings are going to be off some, but "pulling names out of a hat" seems a bit too harsh. Adair County has one of the best in the state in Harmon and beyond that is not anybody significantly known, but they are right near the Top 20 for sure. Warren Central (4th) & Corbin (13th) each have serious Mr. Basketball candidates on leading their teams that are projected to win their regions by many. Mayfield has many projecting them to win the 1st region, while Butler is a top 3 or 4 team in the 6th region that may be the deepest region in the state along with the 11th. You can make a case for all of those teams to be listed in the Top 20 now. It will work it's way out soon when they start playing.

Agree with all four of those teams likely being in the Top 20 soon as others lose. You make very good points and of the four I like Madison Central the most with WV right behind them.

I know it may sound almost unbelievable, but over half of their losses were to Fern Creek. Not twice, but four times. 1st loss in the KOB, 2nd in the LIT, 3rd in regular season scheduled game, and the fourth and final time was in the Sweet 16 at Rupp. It is hard to beat a good team twice, but FC was able to beat Ballard four times. This year Ballard will be very fun to watch because Coach Renner is going to go all out on defense and his kids will be conditioned to be relentless the entire game from the moment the ball is tipped. Full court pressure will be a staple. They may set a record for forced turnovers. To beat them you will need to handle pressure and make them pay by scoring easy baskets at the rim. there is not any rim protector, but they are taught to drop to the basket when the ball gets in front of them. They will be exciting to watch.

The cottage industry of pop up prep schools have many more than this one that would make you shake your head. Aside from the tradition rich prep programs that have been around a long time, there are quite a few out there that put on a good front but are just as shady in their own way. If the NCAA wants to clean house, they shouldn't forget to take an exhaustive look at quite a few of these prep schools.

At Fern Creek it was not even a close game as they were up on Hopkinsville by 30 at the end of 3. Starters for FC never played past middle of Q3. The question mark for Hopkinsville was that Jalen Johnson was not there on the bench even. Not sure why he would not be there, even if he was not playing unless perhaps he was sick. Unless he returns, I don't believe we would see another Rupp return out of Hopkinsville based on last night unless Fern Creek is that good. Not sure if they are or are not, they lost the night before to Aspire Prep School by 15-20. Aspire has a major college lineup from a size perspective, but they jumped out and won pretty easily over Fern Creek on Friday.

The Fern Creek Tigers made school history last season advancing to the State Sweet 16 Championship for the 1st time in school history. After taking 94 years for Fern Creek to win a regional championship, can they turn around and repeat this season for their 2nd consecutive trip to Rupp? Recent history in the 6th region indicates that trips to Rupp in March come in 2's. In 2011 & 2012 Bullitt East went back to back. In 2013 & 2014 PRP represented the 6th in Lexington. Then in 2015 & 2016 it was the turn of the Doss Dragons to have a repeat trip. Now in 2018 will it be Fern Creek to continue the interesting trend of back to back championships after going to Rupp in 2017? PRP and Doss should have something to say about Fern Creek keeping up that repeat trend as they both will field strong clubs, especially PRP. Valley & Butler are likely the strongest contenders to join PRP & Doss in keeping Fern Creek from advancing in consecutive years. But as the season kicks off, Fern Creek appears to have history on their side and they have the personnel to make a repeat trip to Rupp Arena in March with 4 of their top 5 scorers returning from their history making season last year. TEAM RANKINGS 1. Fern Creek Tigers Recent repeat history aside, picking Fern Creek as the top team in the region makes the most sense. Coach James Schooler, is entering his fifth season as the Tiger's head coach. When entering only his second season as a head coach, it was widely known that Coach Schooler had a very highly rated freshman 2018 class. The question was whether he could win going young while competing in the 6th region. He took the risk as he opted to start three of those freshman with the hopes they would gain experience that would pay off down the road. The end of the road is appearing and that experience should have a major impact in this 2018 season for the Tigers. After going 35-3 while making it to the Final Four of the State Tournament, the season brings high expectations. Schooler welcomes back two of those former freshmen who have become 4 year starters for the Tigers, elite PG Anthony Wales and versatile Wing, Ahmad Price. They are arguably the best two players in the region. Region Coaches have elected Wales to the 1st team All-6th Region after both his sophomore & junior seasons while Price was a 1st team selection after his junior season. Seniors Tony Rogers and Clint Wickliffe did not play as early as Wales or Price in their careers, but they were major contributors last season and are expected to be two of the better players in the region this season with plenty of experience themselves. Look for freshmen Jayden Rogers (Tony's younger brother) to contribute in scoring and 6'6" Darius Washington to add presence in the paint as Schooler continues to not be afraid to send freshmen to battle in the rugged 6th region. 2. Pleasure Ridge Park Panthers Coach Dale Mabry is simply a legend in the 6th Region and Metro Louisville; for the entire state for that matter. His teams becomes especially dangerous when he returns as many contributing players as he has coming back this season. Rarely does PRP avoid the loss of talented seniors to graduation, but this season their top 3 scorers return and 7 of their top 8 from last season. Last season had some ups and downs, but PRP finished with a very respectable 18-11 record. Doss ended the Panther's season in the region semi-finals when PRP only scored 29 points. This season the team has 3 seniors that averaged double figure scoring led by Trey Hill followed by Gerald Gray and BJ Robinson. This year they should continue to lead PRP along with 6'7" Junior Darius Osborne who could be a surprise top player in the region as he matures into his long body. Trey Hill started his career as a key member of the 2018 Fern Creek class until he transferred to PRP during his sophomore season. Now he will be the key to the PRP team that is aiming to dethrone his former teammates. PRP and Fern Creek open the season on November 28 against each other in a preview of what could become the regional final in February. 3. Doss Dragons Doss was just minutes away from a third straight trip to Rupp Arena until a very close game with Fern Creek tilted towards the Tigers in the last minutes. Doss must recover from losing their best player who also was one of the best players in all of Louisville, Jaylon Hall. Hall has moved on to play Division 1 basketball at Wright State, but the team leader is now Stephon Franklin who has a lot of experience leading winning teams. Stephon played in the State Tournament as a sophomore and is the leader of the Dragons this season. There have been some question marks exactly who will be on the floor with Franklin, but from what we expect it seems like 1st year Coach Blake Stone has assembled a solid supporting cast to go along with Franklin. Several contributors from last season are big time football players, Terez Traynor & Shawnkel Knight-Goff, who still could change their mind by electing to forego basketball to concentrate on preparing for college football. So far it seems Coach Stone has kept their interest in returning to the basketball court upon football ending. But the major addition is Taye Calloway who followed Coach Stone from Henderson to move to Louisville to complete his final year with Doss. Calloway was the leading scorer for Henderson County last season. The addition of Calloway is why Doss lands in the top 3 and puts them in a position to regain the 6th region title they lost to Fern Creek last season. However, it will be more of a challenge for Doss if any of of that trio ends up not suiting up for the Dragons this season. 4. Butler Bears Coach KC Goodin returns for his 3rd season with perhaps his best scenario for reaching the regional tournament after being eliminated twice by DeSales in 22nd District 1st round play. There is not an overwhelming favorite between Doss, Butler, or DeSales this season and it is not unreasonable to think Butler could obtain the #1 seed heading into the District tournament. In order to make it to the regionals a #1 district seed almost insures avoiding DeSales a 3rd straight time with a regional berth at stake. Butler at a minimum will improve on their 16-12 record from last season. Goodin has to replace his three top scorers, but PG Jaquay Wales and Center Michael Burns have plenty of experience with many other younger players looking good at times last seasons as well. Maurice Tolley leads a strong junior class, but the team will only go as far as Wales & Burns are able to take them. 5. Valley Vikings Valley had an outstanding season last year finishing 22-9 before dropping to Fern Creek in the Regional Semi-Finals. The good news is they return their top 2 scorers in Junior Cam Wilson (15 ppg) and Senior Curt Lewis (13 ppg). Tre Anderson, another senior is the third Viking that returns with a double digit scoring average, but the Vikings lose their 2 post players in Eric George and Raekwon Evans who were also their best rebounders. Valley Head Coach, DeJuan Wheat, made a name for himself as one of the best guards to ever come out of Louisville. How Coach Wheat can improve upon his first season will depend on his ability to get the most out of his trio of guards that all scored in double figures last season. 6. DeSales Colts The 2016-17 season produced a 18-13 record and advancement to the Sixth Regionals where they lost in a first round game with Fern Creek. The loss of Jaxon Burgess (19 ppg) will make it difficult to achieve the same level of success, but Head Coach Tom Crews is one of the best in the 6th at getting the most of his talent. Fortunately he does have his 2nd leading scorer, Sam Weining, back to lessen the load of replacing Burgess. Sam is a very good player that will pair with big man Travis Seibert to lead the Colts who should be a very good rebounding team as they were the leading rebounders on the team last season. DeSales will need Dalton Kelly to step up his scoring as he returns with the most experience from the guard positions. 7. Fairdale Bulldogs The Bulldogs have some questions entering the 2017-18 season. Gone from last year’s 13-17 team are the top 2 rebounders and inside players, Craig Ashe & Isaiah Roby. The good news is Glenn Queen returns and he was the leading scorer and playmaker of the team. Coach David Hicks had his team very competitive in the region going 9-9 and will have his team playing hard as they most often do. The 21st District is very competitive and this year will be no different. PRP & Valley may be higher ranked going into the season, but do not be surprised to see the Bulldogs heading to regionals this season. Along with Queen, look for sharpshooters Markelo Sullivan (senior) and Jaxon Gaddie (junior) to lead the team in scoring. This team could surprise people if they are able to get some post play and rebounding help. 8. Holy Cross Cougars Coach Kent Foushee, returns again this season as his first full season at the top after stepping in for Holy Cross last year mid-season. His biggest weapon will be the tallest player in the 6th region, Ethan Driskell, who also happens to be a Division 1 football prospect. Ethan was the 3rd leading scorer (7 ppg) last season on a team that scored by committee without any scorer in double figures. However, Ethan was far and away the team's leading rebounder as he averaged 7 rpg as well. This year he is poised to have a very good season as he has worked to improve on his overall game. Expect a double double average for points & rebounds from what could be the best big man in all of Louisville. Cooper Scott, Jaren McDonald, Cade Crowley, and Sam Bearden all contributed last season and will do so again this year. Could Holy Cross ride their dominant post player to the regional tournament? 9. Bullitt East Chargers This is probably the lowest the Chargers have been in a pre-season rating in a long time and it is too low based on their tradition. They have lost so much to graduation and the returning squad does not have much experience returning beyond the very talented Luke Ezell. Jason Couch is a very good coach and the combination of his coaching and Luke leading this team should not be underestimated. It is very possible that Bullitt East will continue their run and be right outside the top 2 or 3 teams while making another regional tournament after being upset by Jeffersontown last season. Luke is a very exciting and fun player to watch, but will need some help. Sean Johnson is another guard who played last season, but will need to really come on to form a guard tandem that helps this team along as the inexperienced players get used to game situations. 10. Jeffersontown Chargers Jeffersontown has a new coach that will bring this team the experience and winning tradition it needs very badly. Richard Duncan has been with Doss the past few seasons going to back to back state tournaments prior to last season. Richard was a great player himself back in the day and was noted for his defensive excellence. If Coach Duncan can get his team to buy in to his fundamentals training and defensive strategy they could take a big leap this season despite losing talented players to graduation. This season his primary scoring contributors will be junior Chris Trigg and senior Jalen Davis. 11. Western Warriors Coach James Jones begins his 1st season after replacing long time coach, Terrence Moorman. Coach Jones will bring his enthusiasm and training philosophy to improve the talent that is at Western. Stoney Mack (senior), Rusean Wright (junior), and Kharee Edelen (junior) all appear to be ready to contribute in the new era of the Warriors under Coach Jones. 12. Iroquois Raiders Coach Jeff Morrow is one of the better X & O coaches on the sidelines in the 6th region. His stint at Iroquois has not provided him the talent he has coached in his previous stops. This year he hopes to improve upon last season's 15-17 record and he has the 2nd & 3rd leading scorers returning to give him more than a fighting chance. Keelan Kennedy and Davarrio Martin were each double figure scorers and will lead this team to what could be a surprise ending if Coach Morrow can work his magic again. 13. Moore Mustangs Coach Roy Sutton has done a great job advancing to the regional tournament in both of his seasons as the head coach of the Mustangs. As he enters his 3rd season, he needs to rebuild some. His best player will be Junior JJ Weaver who also happens to be one of the best football players in the state of the 2019 class. JJ will keep this team competitive and Coach Sutton could likely reach the regional tournament a third consecutive time. 14. Southern Trojans Long time Coach Shedrick Jones must replace the vast majority of his team as the three top scorers all graduated and they each were the primary players in all aspects. The lone returning starter is Matthew Jones who will be counted upon to score in double figures as they look to find a replacement for all of their departing scorers. 15. North Bullitt Eagles Coach Korey Craddock will look to improve on a 7-23 season. This season Peyton Luttrell will be the most experienced returning starter and expect freshman TJ Toney to be a big assist to the team's future success. 16. Bullitt Central Cougars Coach Jesse Curry is coming off a 10-18 season and hopes to improve enough to challenge for making the regional tournament again. Tyler Tatum had a great freshman season leading the team in scoring and returns as a sophomore expecting to step up his game with a season under his belt. 17. Beth Haven Bearcats Coach Timothy Hood will try to improve upon a 12-16 record last season. Beth Haven will play a schedule that allows it to taste some success during the regular season. However, once post-season starts it will struggle again. 18. Evangel Christian Eagles Coach Joe Washington had a 6-22 season last season. Malik Shabazz returns for his senior season who averaged over 17 ppg last season. He may be the best player without awareness in the region. 19. Whitefield Academy Wildcats Coach Chris Vaughn has the difficult task of rebuilding the Wildcats after 6 wins last season. Tyler Nauert hopes to lead his team to an improved record. TOP TEN PLAYERS At the end of the 2016/17 season, 6th regions coaches voted for the CJ All-Region team and 5 juniors were selected to the 1st team while 4 landed on the 2nd team. No sophomores or freshmen were elected. These rankings will start off with those 9 and add a tenth because these are proven players from the 2018 class. That doesn't mean there won't be others worthy, plenty of players like Clint Wickliffe, Cam Wilson, Jaquay Wales, and Tony Rogers could end up being Top 10 players by the time the season ends. Here are the Top 10 to start the season..... 1. Anthony Wales, Fern Creek, 5’11” senior Elite PG who facilitates and who can score from anywhere on the floor. Only D-1 signee during the early signing period as he executed his LOI with Samford University. He has been on the 1st team 6th Region in both his sophomore and junior seasons while last year being the 2nd leader of receiving votes behind his Fern Creek teammate, Chance Moore, who was Regional POY. Best about Wales is that he carries the "winner" tag when being described. 2. Ahamd Price, Fern Creek, 6’3” senior 5th leading vote getter at the end of last season and again he carries the "winner" tag like his teammate Wales. They each have started since their freshmen campaigns. Price is a great rebounding wing who slashes to the hole with a mean streak. He will play D-1 basketball and has several schools with interest that are awaiting his senior season. 3. Trey Hill, PRP, 6’4” senior Trey followed Price as the 6th leading vote getter and another well-rounded player who can score when attacking the basket like few can. Trey was also at Fern Creek his freshman season, but has done extremely well at PRP after leaving during his sophomore year. Trey also will play at the D-1 level and has several schools including EKU watching him this senior season. He has very good size and can guard many positions at the next level as well. 4. Curt Lewis, Valley 6’3” senior Curt was 7th in votes placed after last season and should gain more attention this season while leaving high school with Division I offers as he is very solid in all aspects of his game. He is a good combo guard that has an athletic way about him that leaves you wanting even more production because the game comes so easy to him. 5. Luke Ezell, Bullitt East, 5’10” senior Luke finished with the 8th leading vote total behind Lewis and was the 5th Junior to make the 1st All-6th Region team along with those mentioned above. He is the most exciting and fun player to watch in the 6th region. He is so smart and exceptional with his penetration. Despite not being as big or strong as others, he still produces at a high level. Luke will be playing basketball at some level in the future when he ends his career at Bullitt East. 6. Glenn Queen, Fairdale, 5'11"” senior A finisher with the ability to make scoring opportunities for his teammates as well. Queen can get it done from both the outside and inside, but it is his strength going to the hole that makes him an intriguing prospect at some level in college. 7. Gerald Gray, PRP, 6’2” senior Gerald has a high basketball IQ and is a good shooter at both the 3 point line and with an improving mid-range game. Gerald has some of his best basketball ahead of him and should land at some level in the future, especially if he continues to grow as he is starting to show. 8. Stephon Franklin, Doss, 6’1” senior Significant contributor for the Doss Dragons the past two seasons. Should lead his team in scoring and be the leader who is capable of playing D-1 basketball if the right things fall in place for him. Very strong going to the hole and if his quickness improves could be an exceptional defender with his strong upper body. 9. BJ Robinson, PRP, 6’2” senior A standout on the football field, BJ was voted to the 2nd team last year in basketball as well. He has been focused on his football during the off season, so it will be interesting to see if others who focused on basketball will catch up to this high leaper. 10. Ethan Driskell, Holy Cross, 6’9” senior There are many players worthy of taking this last and final spot, but not many have the size to dominate a game like Ethan does. He will likely play football in college as he has a D1 offer from Marshall to do so already, but a great year on the basketball court could have some college basketball programs calling. Hope you have comments and can add to this preview with your thoughts on the rugged 6th Region. This is a strong 6th region this year with as many as 5-7 players that could easily end up on a Division 1 roster at some time in their college career.

In the 6th, PRP is very near the top. They have almost their entire team back from last season and made the Regional Semi-Finals then.

Keep the stories coming...I know it is exciting for so many families and friends. Fern Creek had a signing event at their media room in the school at 2:30 today. They had 2018 PG Anthony Wales sign with Samford and 2017 Wing Chance Moore signing with Wichita State. Chance is at a prep school in West Virginia but came back to Fern Creek for his signing. It was attended well by the local media as well.

On Wednesday there will be a group of 2018 seniors signing their Letter of Intent and Scholarship papers binding the school and recruit. Many times this is done at the high school and in some cases with some fanfare. I was wondering if anyone can share plans with any signee and their high school on their big day. Just curious what their high school coaches & administration do unique that day if anything.

Not that it would be a surprise, but David Johnson (Jr) and Justin Powell (Soph) are legit Top 100 kids in their respective classes. Both will have plenty of P5 college offers over the next few years. Aside from Scrubb, the senior, these two are the stars with the highest potential in college. They are each excellent players.

Went to Bylaw 22 and Nathaniel is correct about the In-State distinction. However, it applies to competing in contests which is referenced as one of the allowable regular season games/meets/tournaments/matches detailed in KHSAA Bylaw 23. Case ByLaw-22-4 distinguishes that a scrimmage against a nonmember school in Kentucky may be played and that the restriction is only contests that count against the limits of ByLaw 23 restricting to member schools.

Preston was a really great success story and I agree his HS play gave him a boost, especially at the end when U of L was a late offer. Regardless HS basketball is so special to the overall high school experience and memories of a lifetime for any young man. Is it important for recruiting? Of course it plays a role, but as Shoe Circuit and overall grassroots travel basketball has grown with ever so important Spring & Summer liver periods, the role of HS basketball changed to a lesser degree than before. Preston's recruiting days from HS were over 10 years ago, before NIKE EYBL, Adidas Gauntlet & the UA Association existed or were just developing. So his example is from a different time. Jake O from Scott is a better example as it played a huge role for him. In both of their cases it was local Universities that decided to offer after big Sweet 16s from each. I do hope that with what has been exposed in the Pay for Play scandal that there is a movement back to putting more relevance to HS basketball. Travel ball is still always going to be there, but the key is how the NCAA changes the "live periods" and shoe company's involvement, especially with the higher major colleges.

Some rule went into effect last year that allowed some competition as I recall Hopkinsville HS played Findley Prep last regular season.

Last year Hopkinsville played versus Findley Prep in season so my assumption is this is within the KHSAA rules. However, it seems that if DeSales and AA wanted to practice once a week all season long then that is running afoul based on some posters comments.

How true, but if the DeSales team got occassion to go up against the Aspire team every so often, then I could see a benefit in that way. I believe that playing against better competition fosters improvement.

Courtney's Webster Grove HS teammate, Carte'Are Gordon, who is 6'9", starred on the USA 17U team at the FIBA World Championships in summer of 2016, and who is ranked higher chose SLU over Mizzou and Kansas. In 2017 they landed another local star who chose them over Mizzou, Purdue, & Michigan State. Point is Travis Ford is a recruiter and he hired an assistant with ties to the NIKE EYBL St. Louis Eagles program that has many strong relationships with local coaches. That said, I do not think Courtney's dad is a big fan of SLU and he had his own Adidas program the last few years that competed with the Eagles for players so the relationship factor is not going to be as strong in getting Courtney. Mickey will be playing with some really high rated recruits though, SLU should become very good the next fews seasons.

You may get your wish this season Sinbad. Trinity is very good and if not this year they will be even better next season.

Thanks, I knew he was at HC and took a stab at the spelling. Point is that he is underrated and my slip up underscores that. With his size in a region that lacks very many big men, he can do some damage. The big football player at DeSales who plays center is also very tough. Watching those two play against each other would be fun if you appreciate the battle in the paint.

SLU is a great fit and I can see why Mickey would want to spend his next 4 years there. It is in a great conference, great academics, great coaching, and just the right distance to be away from home but close for family to come watch a lot of games. They have a nice 2018 recruiting class already and I would think they will make a run at Courtney Ramey who decommitted from U of L. His HS teammate is committed there and being a hometown school they could make a hard run at him.