coachlee

Thanks OG. Big Jake had a huge night scoring against Ramey and consistently getting 6-8 PPG all week. I have seen Ramey quite a bit and they lack size for being an Adidas Gold team, so it is good to see Jake was assertive when he recognized having a size advantage. He could be a load at CovCath this season if he continues to be assertive with so many teams not having any size to match up with him. Watch out if that assertiveness with the ball takes hold.

AK may not be scoring or shooting as well as he typically does, but that can be a good thing. Recruiters know he can score, it is what he does very well. Now they get to see how well he plays when his scoring his down or not shooting as he typically does. Coaches want to see how that impacts the other facets and AK is rebounding very well for a guard and his assist to turnover is still very good at + 2.3/1 as well. Everybody has a swing of games for whatever reason scoring dips, but he is proving he is a complete ball player this week which many of us know already.

`The way this young man (Bassey) is being fought over is what disturbs me about the game today, in particular with the young players who come over from overseas. If light was drawn upon some of these situations, it would be stories that would make many upset. NIKE and Adidas both have been fighting over Bassey. His Guardian was given a team on the Adidas circuit, YES II Success, to insure he moved to Adidas. The whole thing is mind blowing. Still apart from that situation, happy for Jalen Johnson. It should be a good move for him to pursue his goals to play college basketball at his highest level he can reach.

Your initial post didn't say anything about playing right away, you just asked if he would he get playing time. I still believe that if you are truly high on a program's board, then playing time is what the program plans from you. He will be getting playing time at some point, maybe even early. I don't disagree recruiters often tell a prospect that they are high on the board even if they are not at the top. I am not basing how high he is on their board by what they are telling Adam. I bet they would be thrilled with a verbal commit sooner than later which means he is high on the list.

Can't speak to Lexington, but both the 6th & 7th regions which comprise Louisville have returning players from 2016/17 1st team All Region honors as voted by the coaches in those respective regions. In the 7th somebody already mentioned the super talented Jay Scrubb and of course his teammate David Johnson is clearly a Top 10 player as he is ranked in the Top 50 in the country. The only other non-senior 1st team 7th region pick was Pierce Kiesler from St. X who was the leading scorer in the local All Star game at Bellarmine for rising juniors in June. In the 6th region Anthony Wales returns as the 2nd leading overall vote getter behind his FC teammate and POY, Chance Moore. Wales had previously received 1st team honors after his sophomore season, so he has a chance at his 3rd consecutive year as an All 1st team selection in the 6th. That does not happen often in Louisville. As a lead guard, his Fern Creek HS team was 35-3 and his Adidas Louisville Magic team was 8-0 during the Gold Gauntlet circuit in the spring until he suffered a broken foot in early May. He is very good leading talented teams, but he deserves the credit of being a very talented PG. He is committed to D1 Samford. Ahmad Price was the 5th leading vote getter after being a 2nd team selection his sophomore season. Both he and Wales have been starters upon entering high school which also does not happen often at the larger public schools in Louisville. Price was a leading contributor with his HoopDreams 17U team all spring & summer. These two teammates at Fern Creek each have played a major role in leading FC to an average of nearly 25 wins/season since they have arrived. Ahmad has held D1 offers and interest early in his HS career. Trey Hill obtained the sixth most votes last season after sitting out most of his previous season after his transfer from Fern Creek. He is expected to help PRP make a run for the 6th region title his senior season. Trey has multiple D1 offers, including EKU, while also playing well for Team Vision and an Under Armor team in Indianapolis, G3 Grind. Curt Lewis was right behind Trey Hill in voting and Luke Ezell followed him as the only other two underclassmen on the 1st team. Both are very fun to watch and will need to have great seasons to carry their respective teams to a regional title.

He is high on the NKU board, and that answers that question.

That is awesome, he just plays so hard that good things happen.

What a list to get to choose from and by the end of the summer it will likely be 25 or more. From that list I love the hometown Norseman as it would be great to play in front of family and friends all the time.

AK is on fire with picking up offers. Add Tenn Tech and UNC Asheville to his growing list.

They are not perfect because they have in many cases HS kids it seems keeping them, but directionally they show trends pretty good. I know it seems like the folks in NKY either align with one or the other, but I love them both. The fact is they both are very hot and probably the two hottest recruits from NKY in a single year. Plus Big Jake is a nice D1 prospect to make 3 from NKY that are getting lots of offers. I see CJ and Adam as different position players so it is hard to compare and depending what you are looking for you will like one more than the other. I see Adam developing more and more into a PG or solid CG evident from his 2-1 assist to TO ratio. He is a better FT shooter than what he shot in Adidas play. CJ is a lights out 3 point shooter and bigger than Adam so I see him more as a traditional SG. He doesn't need to be a PG with his size where Adam needs to be more of a lead guard. CJ didn't have a great assist to turnover ratio (.74) which to me is one of the best stats a PG is measured by. But his shooting and ability to take good shots is really good. They both are very solid.

You are looking at this from the wrong direction. The end game here is not Adair County in my opinion. The dots can be connected and my guess this is more related to NIKE and the EYBL. Zion just finished helping lead his Boo Williams team to the Final Four of the 17U EYBL Peach Jam and will still play EYBL for three more seasons. He is a NIKE star and you can bet the program he plays with will be playing in the 17U division which is very difficult to secure a spot in that 40 team league unless you have stars like Zion that are coveted by NIKE. If a program has Zion, that is tremendous leverage when negotiating for spots in that 40 team 17U division. Now connect the dots. Btw...this may be exactly what Zion prefers and I see nothing wrong with him playing at Adair County or playing with the NIKE program he wants to be with if he has the star power to pull it off and I think he does.

The ironic thing is that the answer to both your questions may end up being the same answer.

I agree that it will not be unheard of that elite kids forego playing high school in lieu of focusing on elite training. Along with that is home schooling and not being in a school building from 8-3 on the horizon. I get that, but what I don't get is why Zion would not just go back home in MD to directly train at the Pat the Roc Skills Academy. Coach Breeze may be great at skills development, but why not go to a pro that is in your backyard that is renown and you can be surrounded by other elite prospects to push you? If it is about the best interest for Zion, I could think of other choices ahead of Adair. I suspect there is more to the decision than we will ever know or even need to know. If his family believes Adair is best for him, then I am glad he will be playing in KHSAA next season regardless where he is playing.

Wiseman from Ensworth is a Junior to be, so I am unsure why he would be drawn to Adair County. That makes no sense to me. He played for Team Penny out of Memphis so there is not any AAU connection with Zion other than they both played with NIKE teams. I can't see that rumor coming to life.

In each of these cases the younger players have never been in high school so by rule they are not considered transfers. Same situation with Sloan and Taylor County, he came there entering his HS career. I just don't think transfer rules apply to these younger kids who have never enrolled at any other HS.

You have to remember that in each case it was kids pre-high school age so it really is not a transfer rule. Same when Sloan went to taylor County for his freshman year, the rules only seem to apply once you are in high school and then transfer that a "move" must be the reason without sitting down a year.

Evidently the WACG connection was a strong pull. Earlier in the thread I hinted at this as a possibility if indeed this happens, but it was simply a guess knowing the history with Coach Breeze and Zion from the NIKE circuit.

Any other freshman and I see your point. But this freshman if he stays in KY is very likely the best HS player in KY for the next four years running if he stayed that long. He changes the landscape more than any other player, he is simply that good. He would become the highest national top ranked recruit this state has seen in a long time, that is why we are talking about him. He came up to KY from TN, but he is not really from the TN area either. He originally is from the DC area I believe. I have no clue where he played in 7th grade and whether in 8th grade he no longer could play in TN HS or not. What I do know is that he is not the first player with ties to the same TN based travel ball program that ended up playing KY HS BB with a Bowling Green HS. South Warren had another 8th grader the year before who also played with the same program. So the tie in is with the travel ball program and there is nothing wrong with it or these young men would not have been eligible. The rules allowed them to play and thus as said by PP92 it is a non-issue.

I would agree with you in most cases, but this situation is so unusual. Everything is different in this case, starting with Zion himself. He is a phenom that has not surfaced in this state recently or likely will not again in the near future. He is that good and his impact is being made at a young age. He also is not from KY, he ended up in BG primarily because he was placed there by his travel ball team. This is not a situation where he just showed up in a BGHS uniform because the family moved into town on a whim. Whatever calculation went in to arriving at BGHS, it is only fair that the same thought pattern is applied to the beginning of his HS career. So a decision that is obviously driven by various factors is going to either put him back at BGHS or perhaps start a new chapter elsewhere. I wish him well wherever that may be and by all accounts he seems like a great young man in addition to be a great basketball phenom.

Good catch, I am not affiliated with the KOB but the 2017 calendar shows Wednesday and Thursday 1st round games as the 20th & 21st. The Friday 2nd round would be on the 22nd, 3rd round on Saturday the 23rd and the championship on Sunday on the 24th. That Sunday is Christmas Eve, so perhaps these are not the days at all. I am sure KOB will clear up the exact days of the event. I just have always enjoyed this event more than any HS holiday tourney I have ever attended. It is far and away the best in KY during December in my opinion.

It could be stated that it is more difficult to win the KOB than the LIT or even the Boys Sweet 16 and you could have many in agreement. The field that the leadership of the KOB bring from out of state is what makes this event special. They select teams from all over the country as shown this year while mixing in strong locals area teams and a few from elsewhere in the state to bring a good mix of solid teams seldom found in a 16 team field. Very few easy games when this tourney kicks off.

The elite age division of the EYBL is 17U and it is the best of the best. Zion played some 17U last year when WACG did have a 17U team in the EYBL. They did not win many games at all and were not renewed as a 17U EYBL program this year. So Zion who wanted to play 17U elected to move to Boo Williams in 17U age division where WACG lacked a team in that age division of the EYBL. Zion deserves credit in that he chose to play in the most elite league of high school players in the world. That speaks volumes of his confidence.

The HS Coach with a previous connection would make one believe Adair County, but not sure that connection is as strong now that Zion plays with Boo Williams on the NIKE EYBL circuit. Previously, We All Can Go (Connection with Coach Breeze) was his connection to moving to TN and subsequently BGHS, but I have no idea if that tie has been maintained since joining Boo Williams NIKE program which is a flagship to NIKE. NIKE is going to want to keep young Zion in the fold and I believe that wherever he plays HS is secondary to the primary influences that want to insure he never leaves NIKE. I hope he stays somewhere in KY to at least play next year, he is fun to watch and very good.

Very interesting, I can see how that speculation could produce scenarios that he may not be at WKU. Does anyone know why he resigned or what he is leaving to do?

I am not sure on the exact number, but WKU seemed to oversign and they may have needed to free up more than 1 just to get to their 13. I doubt WKU has any open spots still after the announced departure this week. Nobody has said anything about Mitchell Robinson leaving have they? Where did that come from?