The Professor

OBI brought their golf team to our course a few years ago to practice and I was talking to some of their kids. One was from Vietnam, another from Mongolia, one from Thailand and one from China. That’s just the ones I spoke to, there were more foreign kids with them. Their student enrollment is from all over the U.S. and overseas. I think about 25% of the enrollment are local Clay County and surrounding counties students. Recently a former OBI graduate from China who has made it big in Silicon Valley donated $6 million to the school. They have a nice campus and facilities.

OBI could literally dominate the 13th region if they so chose. They are a private institution and a boarding school. They have the means of moving in an entire team of national and international elite players and it would be totally legal.

That’s a big loss for MoCo. 6’6 and good shooter and rebounder. I had heard that he might do that, graduate school in December and get married. And maybe work for his dad.

It’s amazing what Mac Whitaker has accomplished in baseball at a school with no bigger enrollment than Harrison County.

He was the coach that many had predicted would most likely end up with the job. I think a couple of his Knott Central players enrolled at Hazard a week or so back. The Bulldogs will probably be the pick by most prognosticators to win the 14th next season. They lose their best player Evin Eversole to graduation but return Seth Caudell (likely the preseason # 1 rated player in the region), Trace Kincaid, Tucker Johnson, and I’m hearing two starters for Knott Central last season, Michael Gibson and Talen Osborne.

It’s really amazing how Hazard, with a high school enrollment of barely over 300 students, competes for regional basketball titles nearly every year. And they have won more than any school in the 14th region.

I’m not sure about why he retired at Hazard and then came back several years ago but it might have had something to do with the retirement pension and second hire with a second salary. I think I said that right. A lot of people have done that in past years in many school positions. But that may not be the situation. Just a guess on my part.

I really hate Zander Carter will not be able to play. He would be such a factor for the Kentucky team. 6’5 highly talented guard committed to the Liberty Flames, where his former Ashland teammate Colin Porter has been a starter since his freshman season.

Their roster on KHSAA shows GRC returning all their key players from a 27-6 team, so they will be a handful for everyone in 2025-26 season. Montgomery County (24-11) returns four starters but lose their pilot in PG Cayden Reed. To illustrate how important he was to the Indians without him they lost at Clark 73-47, a 26 point shellacking in mid-January. With Reed in the lineup (eligible Jan 25) they lost at home to the Cardinals in triple overtime 80-72 but won in the district championship game 60-55 and in the regional championship 59-56. So they will need to develop someone for that position. I don’t know much about Campbell County but they are usually in the mix for regional titles, but according to KHSAA they lose six seniors from this year’s 22-10 team. Nicholas County returns all but one player from a 21-12 team and I hear have some very promising young athletes in their program.

Well welcome back!

Yes. They return all their key players from a 17-12 team.

Whoever gets the Hazard job will probably be one of the favorites to win the region. They return most of their team. Losing Eversole, Ratliff, Beverly and Higgins will hurt but Caudill is back, and there is a good supporting cast. That is assuming they all return to Hazard next year. Knott Central loses Drake Slone but they have all their other key players returning. They will be in the hunt as well. Perry Central graduates Woods but will have most of their team returning from a young Commodore team. The thing about Perry Central and Knott Central that I noticed this season is they have very good feeder programs and some good athletes on the way from their middle school programs. Hometown24 does a great job covering their elementary and middle school teams and I was impressed with their youth programs. In addition, the Sportsplex is a godsend for the kids in that area. That facility is well used throughout the year by Perry, Knott, Floyd and other schools in those counties.

I heard Coach Huff is going to be a principal at one of their schools. My guess is they may ask former Knott girls and boys coach….and present Breathitt coach, Jeff Honeycutt to return.

Well, actually you can’t. And he didn’t. But I suppose with final statistics and the paper they’re written on,….. he did, lol.

Same here. I remember watching games in the ‘80s and it was nothing to have crowds of 15,000 and rare to find a seat in the lower sections.

North Laurel’s fan turnout is disappointing considering they are a high school of 1500 students. Breathitt County has them outnumbered quite a bit.

Besides having Reed as a dynamic guard and great facilitator the Indians have size with Jarvis at 6’5, Fawns at 6’6 and Terry at 6’7. And they are not the type of size that can just post up or rebound. They are very mobile and move well without the ball, can shoot the 3, defend and rebound. Versatility is a good description. I think MoCo has a more than good chance of making it to Saturday morning’s games.

Yes, that is a factor.

It’s nice to know that a school and program is so well thought of that it attracts kids like this. Reed will be a good college player. Coach Mays has quite a few former players playing college basketball from his days at Ashland, one which will be going up against Oregon this week in the NCAA. Being a former college coach himself, in my opinion, he knows how to develop and prepare players for the next level and get all out of them they have to offer.

Different school now but Jason Mays’ teams have never lost a regional championship game. He is 4-0. Not that it means all that much but it does mean that he’s been there before and the moment isn’t going to overwhelm him. And knowing him he will make sure it doesn’t his team as well.

I don’t know why I can’t ever pick lottery numbers worth a darn. I picked Johnson to win this senior award when she was in her freshman season after I saw her perform at the state tournament that year. ?

Is the 10th region being streamed by any service? If not I’d like to at least get a audio broadcast of the games. Our 14th region had three different streaming services carrying the games.

Most definitely.

Clark County had a 3 point lead and the ball with about 1:20 left in the game but too many turnovers such as 10 second calls and errant passes allowed Sacred Heart to defeat them in the end. I think they made four turnovers within a minute span that cost them dearly. Zakiyah Johnson made a huge 3 and a driving shot in the lane to help them regain the lead in the closing seconds.

If the Cats could cut down on their wayward passes, Chandler’s no-look intercepted pass and I believe a couple by Williams and a few more, they would be in a little better shape at halftime.