This story originally appeared in the Nov. 24 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
Players, families and fans alike often count down the months, weeks and days to the start of the high school basketball season.
Kentucky is a basketball-crazed state and brings a unique touch in crowning just one state champion. Very few states do that anymore.
As the weather cools down, things heat up in the gyms and Northern Kentucky spectators will see a plethora of talent hit the hardwood this year. Counting both boys and girls, there’s over 20 student-athletes in NKY either holding Division I offers or committed to play at the highest level collegiately. Two on the boys’ side may be the most-sought-after recruits Northern Kentucky has ever seen.
The word going into the season for the 9th Region?
Dynasty.
Both the Newport boys and Cooper girls have a chance to accomplish something over the next few years that can put them in that category. The Wildcats won the region last season, despite having just one senior on the team. The Jaguars have won back-to-back 9th Region titles and look to be just as strong, if not stronger, headed into the 2023-24 season.
But the players in the northernmost part of the state are competitive and won’t make that easy. As quickly they gain all the glory, it can be taken away in a second with the amount of talent up this way.
As we take a look at the storylines below, get ready … another exciting season is ahead of us.
BOYS
Newport still the team to beat
With all but one player back from the 9th Region champs, how could anyone not put Newport first in the region to start the season? Yes, Marquez Miller is a big loss and tough to replace, but the talent returning will have the Wildcats not only atop NKY, but considered as one of the top teams in the state. The talent they have is unmatched, but the lone doubt surrounding them is how they get it all to mesh together.
“We talk about the team concept a lot and the daily grind with the guys. We reference the 2009 Holmes team a lot. They sprinkled points around, and they won,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “We talk about unpredictability a lot — we need to be unpredictable. Can we hit the 3-ball? Can we drive with our left hand? Can we get to the foul line and knock down free throws? We need to be unpredictable so it’s really hard to game-plan for us.”
In addition to sophomores Taylen Kinney (more on him later) and James Turner, senior Jabari Covington and juniors DaShawn Anderson and Noah Silverton, the Wildcats added senior DeShaun Jackson and freshman Griffin Starks, transfers coming in from Ohio. Jackson provides another bona fide ball handler, is relentless at getting to the rim and can distribute.
“With Jackson, it makes us have one of, if not the best backcourt in the state with him, Tay and Jabari,” Snapp said.
Starks is the younger brother of Chandler Starks, whom many NKY basketball fans know: He played at Covington Catholic for a couple of seasons. Listed as a 6-foot-8 guard, his potential is through the roof.
“With all these college coaches coming in to recruit our guys, they’re already asking about Griffin,” Snapp said. “His ceiling is crazy good.”
Newport is treating the regular season like it is one of the top dogs, and the schedule proves it. On top of playing top teams in the region Cooper (Feb. 13), Covington Catholic (Dec. 9) and Lloyd Memorial (Feb. 15), they’ll participate in the King of the Bluegrass in Louisville, a Christmas tournament that features some of the top teams in the state.
Also on the slate are nationally ranked Richmond Heights (OH) on Dec. 1 and Huntington Prep (Dec. 15) to give them early-season tests. Not to mention, Newport will be the favorite to win the 9th Region All “A” tournament and could make a deep run at the state tournament with a potential rematch with last season’s first-round state tournament foe Lyon County at some point.
Newport is no longer the young darling of the 9th. It’ll be the team to beat, with a target squarely on its back.
“Every game is our home-run game,” Snapp said. “Regardless of who we play, we’re going to play a bunch of teams that are going to get after us and play with nothing to lose. We want to be tested early; we’re going to lose some games against some really good teams.”
Cooper a fierce challenger
If Jabari Covington’s shot doesn’t fall at Truist Arena with the clock running down and the 9th Region championship game goes to overtime, maybe we’re talking about Cooper in the paragraphs above. Yes, the Jaguars were that close despite all the injuries they had to overcome last season. They lost big man Caleb Brooks early in the year, and after getting Shaun Pouncy eligible, lost him in the first game of the region tournament after playing just three games.
But there they were, in a dogfight with Newport for the 9th Region title after pulling off a comeback victory over Highlands in the first round and taking down Covington Catholic in the semifinals.
Now is when they can use last year’s adversity with the injuries to their strength.
“That group last year, the way they came together shows the culture and locker room with our guys,” Jaguars coach Tim Sullivan said. “Biggest thing they took from it was you got to keep fighting and leaning on each other. It was special to watch as a coach, and the kids talk about not taking a day for granted. Things can happen that quick. Just trying to understand nothing is granted, no day is given, leaning on each other can be very special.”
Pouncy is expected back at season’s start, and with Yamil Rondon running the show and fresh off a FIBA world title with the U-17 Puerto Rican team, the Jaguars might have the deepest roster in the region.
“Shaun is moving great, doing everything except playing in live situations in practice right now,” Sullivan said. “Yamil … he’s a winner. Lot of people look at him and don’t see much physically. He’s really grown up. 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 (he’ll) share that experience with us. He affects the room as soon as he walks in it, and his positive energy and right mindset reflects on everyone else. We go as he goes.”
Andy Johnson, Isaac Brown, Campbell County transfer Jaidan Combs and others will help fill out the rotation on what is expected to be a deep Cooper team.
“If you ask me right now, I couldn’t tell you who we would start,” Sullivan said. “We have a plethora of athletes and kind of a coach’s dream with high-IQ basketball players and athletes.”
Cooper is champing at the bit and could very well be the team to cut down the net come early March at Truist Arena.
Don’t forget about Covington Catholic, Lloyd Memorial
How could one forget about Covington Catholic?
The Colonels may have lost co-9th Region Player of the Year in Evan Ipsaro, but they’ve reloaded and retooled in Park Hills. Incoming transfers Caden Miller from Arkansas and Cash Harney and Logan Wermuth from Beechwood provide a post, point guard and perimeter presence to join with sharpshooters Brady Hussey and Athens McGillis. Noah Johnson, Nolan Ruthstaz and Donovan Bradshaw should help the Colonels be a deeper team this year, along with others.
Miller is listed at 6 feet, 8 inches tall. He’s getting interest from the likes of Arkansas, Xavier and Cincinnati. Harney moves over from district foe Beechwood and averaged 15 points per game as a freshman last season. Wermuth hit the game-winner against Holy Cross in the district semifinals to get the Tigers into the 9th Region tournament.
No doubt about it, CovCath will be in the conversation once again when late February, early March come rolling around.
“We have to shoot it at a high clip. Much higher percentages than last year, especially with the 3-point shot,” Colonels coach Scott Ruthsatz said. “With Caden in the post and his ability as a passer, the shots will be there. The teams that have been successful years prior with me have shot nearly 50%. We do that, we’ll be a tough out in the region.”
Don’t forget about Lloyd Memorial, either. It has arguably the best player in the region with EJ Walker (more on him later) and returns four of its top six and brings in Carter Bresser, a transfer from Simon Kenton.
The Juggs were in a dogfight with Newport in the region semifinals last season, but a few plays and some failed execution down the stretch let the game slip away late.
“We’ve preached a lot about each play matters, each 50-50 ball matters,” said Juggernauts coach Mike Walker, entering his fourth season with the team.
Instead of seeing games in the 40s and 50s, expect a quicker-paced Lloyd team this season.
“We’ll play a lot differently,” Walker said. “Get back to what I like to do. We’ll play up-tempo a lot more, but we couldn’t do that as much last year. We’re not as big as last year, and we can use our speed now.”
Anthony Blaackar will help push the tempo, and Isaiah Sebastian brings a lot of toughness to the guard position on defense, coming off a stellar football season for the Juggs. Elijah Collins brings a perimeter shooting threat, knocking down 50 three-pointers last season.
With Walker as the centerpiece and the other pieces around him, Lloyd will be as dangerous as any come late February, early March.
Watch out for Walton-Verona
Stepping out of the 9th Region and venturing over into the 8th brings us to Walton-Verona. The Bearcats bring back five of their top seven from last season’s 20-win team and should be hungry after an All “A” championship loss to Owen County and a first-round exit in the 32nd district tournament to Grant County.
“We learned a lot about adversity and mental toughness last season,” Bearcats coach Mike Hester said. “We played in so many close games and tight situations where we’re hoping that has us prepared where no game or moment will be too big for us.”
The five returning include returning leading scorers Aaron Gutman (17.5 PPG) and Julian Dixon (15.7), along with double-digit scorers Zach Smith (10.8) and Max Montgomery (10.1). Putting points up won’t be a problem for the Bearcats, averaging a 77.4 clip a season ago.
“That’s always been our motto is scoring, try to create as many possessions as possible,” Hester said. “We’re positionless 1-5, we welcome shooting the 3-pointer and aim to shoot 38% of our shots as threes.”
Now the question begs: How deep can they go? They’ll be favored to win the All “A” since they’re the host, and they won’t have to worry about Teagan Moore anymore at Owen County and should contend for a 32nd District title with Simon Kenton.
As far as the region? Woodford County is the defending champion, but star guard Jasper Johnson left for prep school while perennial contenders North Oldham and Collins had a lot of seniors depart.
“We’re excited to host the All ‘A,’ and we tell our guys all the time we love playing at home and we’ll play anyone at any given time at our place,” Hester said. “Life in the 32nd District is never easy, so we know Simon Kenton and Grant County will be tough. As far as the region, I feel it’s more wide open than it’s ever been, and the eight that make it will have a chance to win it. Woodford is still the team to beat, but come March at Henry County, anything can happen at any given night.”
New coaches at Beechwood, Calvary Christian, Campbell County, Dayton, Holy Cross
Each year brings coaching turnover with the high school coaching landscape, but not too many changed head coaches in the offseason.
Of the coaching hires in NKY, four of the five just moved a chair or two over into the head coach’s seat.
Beechwood, Campbell County, Calvary Christian and Dayton kept things in house with their coaching hires, with the Tigers electing to hire assistant Ross Hart while the Camels appointed Brent Sowder. Hart was on Erik Goetz’s staff the last five seasons, while Sowder was with Aric Russell for nine years. Ben Mulling was an assistant on Orlando Donaldson’s staff at Calvary Christian before taking over, while Darian Witherspoon was with Mike Walls at Dayton last season.
Holy Cross is the only one to go outside the program, making a splash hire by bringing on Ricardo Johnson, who had been in the college ranks to start his coaching career after being on the Holmes 2009 state championship team and playing his college career at Ohio University.
Kinney, Walker highest-rated recruits since?
The current days of social media certainly help, but Newport’s Taylen Kinney and Lloyd Memorial’s EJ Walker have to be the most sought-after recruits in the history of Northern Kentucky. They both hold over 30 Division I offers, and the blue bloods and Power Fives are knocking at the door.
Every other day the two are either picking up another offer or making visits to big-time programs. The scary thing about it is Walker is a junior, and Kinney only a sophomore. They’ll be able to expand on their games even more before they hit the college level.
“They’re good and classy kids, and that helps. They’re humble,” Newport coach Snapp said. “Just speaking for Tay, he hates to lose, loves to win as much as a coach. Haven’t had someone that extreme like that. He can’t stand losing. Even in practice. You can’t teach that.”
Sit back and enjoy the show for those two young men. It’s only going to get better.
GIRLS
Cooper-Ryle part III?
Since 2018, the standard in the 9th Region has been out of the 33rd District for five of the six seasons. Ryle won 9th Region titles from 2018-20, Cooper has won the last two in 2022 and ’23.
That doesn’t look like it will change much heading into the season, as both schools are filled with star-studded rosters and on a crash course once again to meet three times this season.
Cooper’s roster features five players that either are committed or hold Division I offers, with another committed to the Division II level, while Ryle has four either committed or holding Division I offers.
“I knew when I took over we had the pieces, but it doesn’t happen overnight,” Jaguars coach Justin Holthaus said. “They picked it up and built this thing so quickly, and as juniors and sophomores they make the Final Four. It’s special to see how far they’ve come and a testament to how far they’ve come on and off the floor.”
The Jaguars may have lost 9th Region Player of the Year Whitney Lind to graduation, but the players returning certainly won’t have anyone feeling bad for them.
Liz Freihofer, Logan Palmer and Maleah Alexander form a solid trio of seniors with a lot of experience under their belt, while seniors Damysia Knox and Bella Deere should see expanded roles this season. Deere will be inserted into the starting lineup and brings a post presence as well as a perimeter threat, while Knox recovers from a season-ending knee injury last year and looks to be ready to go by season’s start.
Haylee Noel, Zene Thompson and Aliva Scott, a transfer from Boone County, provide a ton of depth for the Jaguars this season.
Ryle might have the toughest duo in the region with Quinn Eubank and Sarah Baker. Austin Johnson and Abby Holtman were big losses to graduation, but Eubank and Baker, along with Jaelyn Jones, should form a formidable trio that will be tough to stop on any given night. The wildcard out of the bunch is seventh-grader Jayden McClain, who stands at 6 feet, 5 inches, and her presence in the paint should cause some problems.
The Raiders also benefited from a couple of transfers in seniors Rose Miller and Cassidy Peters. Miller comes in from Notre Dame, Peters from Boone County.
“We can go 8-9 deep by the end of year, which will be a little different for us than prior years,” Raiders coach Katie Haitz said. “Having these three new girls coming in, some other JV girls have those opportunities to get minutes, as well. It makes a difference to push tempo.”
The two should be top 10 teams in the state when the season starts, and don’t expect that to change much as the season progresses.
Can Holy Cross, Highlands provide the upsets?
While Cooper and Ryle have been the two teams to beat over the last couple of years, Holy Cross and Highlands certainly have the teams capable of pulling out an upset in the 9th Region tournament. Both fell to Ryle last season in the 9th Region tournament, with Highlands bowing out in the first round,and Holy Cross in the semifinals.
But with Julia Hunt back for the Indians and Marissa Green back for the Bluebirds, anything is possible. Holy Cross returns five of its top seven players and has some promising youth on the roster with senior leadership in Hunt, Miyah Wimzie and Aaliyah Hayes. They’re the defending All “A” state champs and went 26-8 last year. They may not be as deep as last year with nine players playing in at least 28 games, but the main core remains mostly intact. They’ll feature a rather tall lineup at times, too.
“There’s a potential starting lineup where the smallest player is 5-foot-10,” Indians coach Ted Arlinghaus said. “We had a really good defense last year, and now we got taller and longer. If we can show some consistent perimeter shooting, we will be a tough out.”
Hunt could easily be a Division I basketball player, but with her star power on the volleyball court, she’s headed to the University of Washington to play volleyball. Some schools even offered her the opportunity to play both in college, but as the 2023 Ms. Kentucky Volleyball award winner, it’s hard to blame her for taking time to focus on volleyball. With her defensive prowess and if the Indians can knock down perimeter shots, they’re certainly a threat to break the Cooper-Ryle monotony.
Highlands went 23-9 last season despite having just one senior on the roster. Green enters her junior season already with multiple Division I offers and potential through the roof.
They return seven of their top nine from last season’s team that maybe was a year ahead of schedule.
“The year before, they were a bunch of eighth-graders, for the most part. Last year, they were freshmen, now they’re sophomores,” Bluebirds coach Jaime Richey said. “We’re still working on the growth process. Some practices as coaches we look at each other, and they’re really getting it. They’re understanding the process a little bit more.”
Holy Cross last made a region final in 2015, when it went on to win a state championship. Highlands’ last trip to a region final was 2013. The two certainly have the talent to end the Cooper-Ryle run and make a region final.
Simon Kenton now has target on its back
The best part of Simon Kenton’s run through the 8th Region and to the state tournament last year? They did it by starting a senior, three freshmen and an eighth-grader.
“We’re still young. There’s a potential we start three sophomores, a freshman and an eighth-grader,” Pioneers coach Brenden Stowers said.
The Pioneers return seven of nine players that played in at least 27 games last season. The difference is they won’t be sneaking up on anyone because they move from the hunter to become the hunted.
“We got hot when we needed to get hot, but that trophy was for 2022-23. We’re on to winning the next one now,” Stowers said.
Simon Kenton didn’t take much time relishing its accomplishments, Stowers said. The players were in the gym days after their state tournament defeat by Henderson County. They’ll feature an even deeper team than the one they deployed last season and should be right in the mix once again when the 8th Region tournament rolls around at Henry County.
Expect them to have competitive battles with Anderson County, South Oldham, Spencer County and district foes Grant County and Walton-Verona this season.
A highly competitive schedule will have them prepared, playing top contenders in the 9th Region as well as participating in the Queen of the Commonwealth, a tournament that features some of the top teams in the state in a pre-Christmas tournament.
The amount of D-1 talent in the area is unmatched
If my math is correct, there are 14 girls in NKY that hold Division I offers. Conner’s Anna Hamilton (NKU), Ryle’s Quinn Eubank (Belmont) and Sarah Baker (Youngstown State), Cooper’s Liz Freihofer (EKU), Logan Palmer (Evansville) and Maleah Alexander (Liberty) are all committed to play at the next level.
“In my time coaching here or with JV or at Boone County, more and more girls are getting D-I offers,” Ryle coach Katie Haitz said. “Now we’re talking D-I, Power Five situations that they weren’t seeing before, and that’s awesome to see and promotes our area. Couldn’t be happier for all of them. It’s a win for our region.”
Several others hold Division I offers, including Highlands’ Marissa Green, Newport Central Catholic’s Caroline Eaglin, Cooper’s Haylee Noel and Damysia Knox, Ryle’s Jaelyn Jones and Jayden McClain, Notre Dame’s Sophia Gibson and not to mention Holy Cross’ Julia Hunt, who could play basketball at the Division I level if it weren’t for her stardom on the volleyball court.