It’s a district where there’s no easy outs. Even when program’s are on a down year, it’s a fight every night in the 33rd District when the teams from Boone County meet.
This year will be no different despite a heavy favorite at the top in the Cooper Jaguars. Cooper returns a loaded team off a 9th Region runner-up finish. Ryle, Boone County and Heritage Academy also return the majority of their rosters while Conner has a lot to replace from a productive senior class last season.
Here’s a look at the boys 33rd District for the 2023-24 season.
Cooper (18-13 in 2022-23)
Starting off with the defending 33rd District champs, the finished product will be a process thanks to a deep football run, head coach Tim Sullivan saying it’s tough to even figure out who his starting lineup will be when the Jaguars roll the ball out for real on Nov. 28 against St. Henry.
It’s something Sullivan welcomes.
“Just have to be patient, a few years ago I’d be flipping out,” he said. “Love to have football players in our program. The physicality part in today’s world with strength and conditioning and with that depth and playing guys in different situations and styles, we can adapt to that.”
There’s at least four to five players coming over from football to the varsity roster whenever their season ends as the Jaguars head to Southwestern for a regional championship on Friday.
Until then, it’s Yamil Rondon’s task to keep everything afloat. The junior point guard will run the show for the Jaguars this season and is he more than capable of doing so. After all, he does have a gold medal at home after winning the FIBA U-17 Centrobasket Championship with the Puerto Rican national team this summer.
“He’s a winner,” Sullivan said. “His grades are much better, he’s our catalyst on the floor and that comes with a lot of responsibility and he’s relishing that role. That experience with Puerto Rico really helped him and share that experience with us.”
Health was the big issue for Cooper last season. They lost big man Caleb Brooks early in the season to a season-ending injury, then when Shaun Pouncy became eligible for the postseason run, suffered a season-ending injury in the first round of the region tournament.
Despite that, the Jaguars were a shot away from the 9th Region championship game with Newport going to overtime.
Now they’ll have Pouncy for the start of the season most likely. He hasn’t been cleared yet for live action, but is participating in every drill in practice and should be ready to go by season’s start. He’ll bring a double-double threat nightly in the paint.
From there Andy Johnson looks to build off a strong sophomore season while Isaac Brown is a part of a big junior class with Campbell County transfer Jaidan Combs also in that bunch. Tanner Murphy and Evan Blackburn bring senior leadership to the backcourt and have been in the program for four years now.
Isaiah Johnson and Austin Alexander should help provide even more depth for what figures to be a deep team.
“I’m really excited about this bunch. Their personality has some swag with some goofiness,” Sullivan said. “We have a plethora of athletes and it’s kind of a coaches dream with a mix of high IQ basketball players and athletes.”
We’ll certainly get a gauge on the Jaguars in the month of December. They’re playing in the Ohio Valley Hoops Classic against Deleware Christian (Ohio), the John Turner Classic at Newport against St. Xavier (Ohio), Legacy Charter (South Carolina) in the Griffin Elite Showcase in Erlanger and the White, Greer and Maggard Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic after Christmas. January gets into the heart of their 9th Region schedule with Highlands, Ryle, Lloyd Memorial and Covington Catholic on the docket. The 9th Region championship rematch with Newport takes place on Feb. 13.
Ryle (10-18 in 2022-23)
The Raiders starting five and seven of their top nine return this season in what looks to be a promising year ahead.
Much like Cooper, they’re also awaiting the arrival of some football guys as the Raiders are set to play for a region championship in Lexington against Bryan Station on Friday.
Among those returning for the Raiders are their top five scorers from a season ago starting with Logan Verax and Landon Lorms. Grady Reynolds and Evan Smith are the returning rebounders while Anthony Coppola returns as the point guard.
“Our top seven players should have good continuity (once football players return) and we feel our guys will play for each other,” Raiders coach Nicholas Dorning said. “Improved strength should also be in our favor. Our kids have been in the weight room with Jordan Nevels at Nevels Fitness two times per week since April.”
Dorning is also excited in the potential that Jonathan DeGroff and AJ Davis showed last season and expects them to have plenty of opportunities to increase their production this year.
In a bit of a rollercoaster year last season, the Raiders started 3-7, fought back to get to 9-12 before going 1-6 down the stretch and missed the region tournament. With what’s returning, they should be able to avoid such stretches this season and show more consistency.
“Experience and team chemistry are key pieces of success at any level of basketball. Those things bode well in our favor this season,” Dorning said. “Execution in all three phases, rebounding and taking care of the basketball will be huge for us. With that said, we are excited to have our starting five back, and what we consider seven of our top nine from last season. Plus, we’ll add a few younger, talented players to the mix.”
With what’s returning, Ryle very well could be slotted in as the No. 2 team in the district and a return trip to the region tournament.
“(Tim) Sullivan does a great job. I have no doubt that Matt Otte (Conner) and Nate Browning (Boone County) will have their teams really well-prepared, as well,” Browning said. “Three very good coaches in our district. We want to focus on ourselves, game by game…just get better throughout the season. With that said, our goal is to get Ryle Men’s Basketball back into the 9th Region tournament. We’re excited for the opportunity.”
District contests against Boone County (Dec. 15), Cooper (Jan. 12) and Conner (Jan. 19) highlight the three most important games of the regular season. The Raiders will also get the honor of playing in the historic Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana where the movie ‘Hoosiers’ was filmed on Jan. 27 against Bell County.
Conner (19-9 in 2022-23)
Things will look much differently on the floor for the Conner Cougars this season. Seven of their top nine players have graduated, one of the two returning is out for the season due to an injury in football.
The Cougars return just 50 points scored from last season as they look to build things back up.
“I don’t think that it starts with just one person. It’s going to take everyone focusing on and doing what they do best for us to reach our potential,” Cougars coach Matthew Otte said.
Finn Louden scored 40 of the 50 points returning and will be looked upon for an increased role after seeing spot minutes as a freshman. From there it’s an unknown. Ben Fay would have provided another piece to the puzzle, but an injury suffered during football has him out for the year.
“It’s a challenge, but there is some sort of challenge each year,” Otte said. “All of the kids are showing up and putting forth great effort every day to try and take those open spots.”
Mariano Romero saw action in 12 games as a junior, Logan Back with nine games, Brady Bushman with six and Landen Rankin with three. Jackson Marks and Elian Ruzindana are two other seniors listed on the roster.
Conner will see where they stand in the district with Cooper (Dec. 15), Boone County (Jan. 12) and Ryle (Jan. 19). One thing is certain in the 33rd, even when you think you can count a team out…don’t.
“With our district, even when you think you know something, you usually are wrong,” Otte said. “It’s always so competitive no matter what. We just have to keep working each day to try and get better and see what happens when we go into those games and hopefully be playing our best at the end of the year.”
Boone County (5-20 in 2022-23)
There’s no better time than right now for Boone County to make a trip to their first region tournament since 2015. They return their top three scores and four of their starting five. Conner graduated a lot, Ryle returns the most, but they were able to solve the Raiders last season in a 74-50 victory.
That win over Ryle was just one of five last season for the Rebels as they look for a big improvement this season.
“If all these guys keep being leaders and buying in to what we are trying to do as a team, we have a great shot to win a lot of games this season,” Rebels coach Nathan Browning said. “Having a big group of guys that I am now coaching for the third year is something we haven’t had a lot of in the past. I know them and what makes them go and they understand me and what I expect of them as individuals and as a team.”
Maddox Jones, Thomas Williams and Mason Hall along with Elijah Bodkin return, which accounted for 48.6 of the 60 points per game the Rebels scored per game last season. The four also happen to be the returning leading rebounders.
“If they keep coming to practice every day and pushing themselves and pushing each other, they will definitely get themselves to the next level,” Browning said. “They need to bring that work ethic and that positive attitude every day to practice to help them consistently play at a higher level.”
Filling out the depth from there will be key and Browning thinks seniors Izaiah Burks, Ahmed Abdulahi and Hunter Moore will provide that depth. It’s a senior heavy roster with nine of the 13 on the KHSAA roster in their final year of high school. The other four are listed as juniors.
“Our guys are hungry and excited for the opportunity that they have this year,” Browning said. “We have a lot of seniors who have been around for a couple years and experienced what it’s like to not make the regional tournament. They are working extremely hard to try to change that this year.”
Defense at times was an issue last season, allowing more than 80 points six times in their first 10 games of the season. They cleaned that up as the season went along, allowing more than 80 just twice in its final 15 games.
“We have really put an emphasis on defense the entire off season and really focused on improving both individually and as a team,” Browning said. “We have really focused on every little detail to help us continue improving on the defensive end of the floor. I feel that defense is more effort than skill and buying into that as a team is important. If we can get guys to buy in to giving 110% on the defensive end of the floor every single time then we have a great shot at being a solid defensive team.”
Heritage Academy (17-11 in 2022-23)
The Eagles won 17 games last season, their most since the KHSAA started keeping wins and losses in the 1997-98 season.
They didn’t have a senior on the roster last year but leading scorer Landon Warner is not listed on the KHSAA roster for the upcoming season, neither is Tyler Warner. Five of the top seven do return, including Elisha Schultz, Trent Stone, Cade Holtman, Jackson Mark and Cameron Baker.
The Eagles have 11 players listed on the roster and 26 games on the schedule.
Attempts to reach out to head coach Jerry Miles were unsuccessful.