It was about 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday when Lehigh sophomore basketball player Whitney Lind woke up and prepared for her three morning classes.
At about the same hour, DePaul sophomore Jacob Meyer lifted weights before getting taped for an upcoming practice.
Some 740 miles and a time zone separate Lehigh’s Bethlehem, Pennsylvania campus and DePaul’s Chicago home. Lind and Meyer nevertheless have something in common – they are two of 16 Northern Kentuckians playing NCAA Division I basketball.
“I’ve always said Northern Kentucky has great basketball talent,” Lind said. “I think the Ninth Region is always super-competitive …”
The 20 players fanned out like a shotgun start at a golf tournament.
Two former Ryle Raiders traveled west – 2020 Miss Basketball Maddie Scherr is a graduate student at TCU via Oregon and Kentucky, and Brie Crittendon is a redshirt junior at Utah Tech via Eastern Kentucky.
Six traveled north – Meyer (Holy Cross), Lind (Cooper), Mercyhurst freshman Deshaun Jackson (Newport), Ball State senior Marie Kiefer (Bishop Brossart), and two at Youngstown State, sophomore Gabe Dynes (Simon Kenton) and freshman Sarah Baker (Ryle).
Four headed south: EKU freshman Liz Freihofer (Cooper), Belmont freshman Quinn Eubank (Ryle), Evansville freshman Logan Luebbers Palmer (Cooper) and Liberty University freshman Maleah Alexander (Cooper).
Eight stayed in the Tri-State – Cincinnati sophomore Abby Holtman (Ryle), Miami University sophomore Evan Ipsaro (Covington Catholic), UC graduate student CJ Fredrick (CovCath), NKU’s Sam Vinson (Highlands), Jeremiah Israel (Lloyd Memorial), Anna Hamilton (Conner), Noelle Hubert (Notre Dame) and Mya Meredith (Scott).
The 6-2 Meyer is the most prolific scorer so far – he’s averaging 16 points for the 3-0 Blue Demons on 46.9% shooting (15-of-32), including 31.3% of his 3-pointers (5-of-16).
DePaul head coach Chris Holtmann called Meyer “really good in a lot of ways.”
“And I think he’s a young man that is getting better with each passing day,” Holtmann said.
When former Coastal Carolina men’s coach Cliff Ellis retired last December after 49 years and 831 wins with the Chanticleers, Auburn, Clemson, South Alabama, and Cumberland, Meyer said it was time to enter the transfer portal after the season.
“It definitely persuaded me to hit the transfer portal,” Meyer said. He chose DePaul over California-Berkeley and Vanderbilt.
A superb start
Meyer had quite the DePaul debut – 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting (and 4-of-9 from 3) in DePaul’s 80-78 overtime win over Southern Indiana on Nov. 4. He followed with 13 points in a 92-59 win over Prairie View A&M three days later and 16 in a 95-64 victory over Mercer on Monday.
“My challenge for young players is, when you have that kind of moment early in your time, it’s phenomenal, but obviously you don’t want it to be the peak,” Holtmann said. “You want to keep building and knowing there’s not gonna be nights where he scores it like that.”
Meyer doesn’t stress out over scoring. “I take every game time by time,” he said. “… When things go wrong, I’ve noticed that I try to stay positive.”
Meyer is continuing at DePaul what he started last season at Coastal Carolina. His team-high 15.7 points a game for the Chanticleers was fifth in the nation among true freshmen, he made 45% from the field and a team-best 41% from 3-point range, and he was the only player who started all 31 games, reaching double-digit scoring in 28.
Coaching and better training
Simon Kenton girls coach Jeff Stowers has a theory for so many Northern Kentuckians playing D-I.
“It’s got to be coaching in the area,” Stowers said. “ … These kids are getting out during the summer, playing the AAU circuit. Once you get out on that circuit and see what the other kids are doing, either you step up your game or you get left behind.”
Dynes didn’t know how many D-I players have come from Simon Kenton, “but it’s below 10, probably below five, D-I basketball players ever out of Simon Kenton High School.”
“There’s been good enough players, and it’s like, there was a little bit of an under-recruitment in that area,” Dynes said.
Highlands boys coach Kevin Listerman said training facilities like Griffin Elite in Erlanger, ASAP at Covington, Nevels Fitness in Newport and D1 Training Northern Kentucky in Hebron have helped players be noticed by AAU and college coaches.
Lind averages 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds for the 2-1 Mountain Hawks.
“I think something else is that a lot of people around here train together and push each other, and the competition level is high,” Lind said. “You go to any one of those training facilities, and you’ll see a rival team or a rival high school component at that gym.”
Listerman isn’t surprised so many local players are in D-I programs. He said all you need to do is look at recent KHSAA state tournament success – his Bluebirds won the boys Sweet 16 in 2021, Ryle’s girls took the trophy in 2019, CovCath’s boys did the same in 2014 and 2018, and Holy Cross’ girls won in 2015.
The state All “A” Classic championship list is lengthy, too – Holy Cross girls in 2023 and 2024, Newport’s boys last season and St. Henry’s boys in 2020 and 2021.
When it comes to sending local players to D-I programs, Listerman said girls teams have been more successful recently – nine are playing – but the boys are catching up.
“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had some more physically gifted kids than we’ve had in the past,” Listerman said. “You look at Gabe Dynes, he’s a 7-footer. Sam Vinson is a 6-5 point guard … Jacob Meyer, I think he’s got a 40-something-inch vertical leap.”
Dynes considers it a privilege to be one of the 16 Northern Kentuckians playing D-I basketball.
“It is pretty rare to be D-I in any sport, D-I in any facet,” Dynes said. “And I think, (20) in Northern Kentucky, it’s an honor to be part of it.”