This story originally appeared in the Dec. 15 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
It’s the second week of the high school basketball schedule, and co-captains Maddox Jones and Eli Bodkin and fellow senior Mason Hall are discussing Boone County’s promising start. They are standing in the lobby that leads to the gymnasium at the school. Inside the gym, the girls basketball team is beginning practice. The boys just completed a two-hour practice, and they’re feeling pretty good about themselves.
“Everybody here feels like we have a good team,” Jones said. “We’re playing good team basketball.”
The Rebels revved up their confidence with a surprising bolt out of the gate that featured home wins against traditional powers Newport Central Catholic and Highlands, which have 19 regional titles between them. They added a road win against Tates Creek. The Rebels beat NewCath by 13 points. They beat Highlands by 22. They beat Tates Creek by eight for an average victory margin of 14.3. It added up to Boone County’s first 3-0 start in 10 years.
The Rebels didn’t win their third game last season until Feb. 2. They now have as many wins (5) as last season when they went 5-20.
“That shows how much we’ve improved,” Bodkin said. “We came out with a chip on our shoulder, and our confidence is higher than ever before.”
Against the same three teams to start last season, the Rebels lost to NewCath by seven, they lost to Highlands by 27 and lost to Tates Creek by four. That’s a 49-point turnaround against Highlands, the 2021 state champion and winner of 23 games last season, 18 more than the Rebels.
By contrast, Boone County hasn’t had a winning season since 2017-18. Head coach Nathan Browning was a Rebels assistant that season. Entering 2023-24, the Rebels had lost 94 of their last 134 games.
“They’re all friends, and they have great chemistry. But this year, it seems like a light switch went on. It’s hard to explain. They’re just different this year,” Browning said. “We do have a new level of leadership. That’s part of it, but they’re also getting after it.”
Browning, a Boone County graduate in his fifth season as Rebels head coach, has had previous success. He compiled a 103-20 record and won three district crowns while coaching the Ockerman Middle School eighth-grade basketball team. Browning was previously boys soccer coach at Boone County, where he led the Rebels to the state tournament semifinals in 2012.
There were some silver linings inside last season’s 5-20 basketball finish. The Rebels went 4-3 over their last seven regular-season games and were expected to return a bunch of seniors hungry for a winning season in their last chance for one. Eight seniors returned, and one was added.
“We’ve lost a lot of kids who went somewhere else, and these guys stuck it out,” Browning said. “They stayed despite not having a lot of success. It’s another reason why we want to win.”
In addition to Jones, Bodkin and Hall, there’s also seniors Thomas Williams, Hunter Moore, Izaiah Burks, Brayden Clos, Marvin Bryant and Ahmed Abdulahi. Hall led the team in scoring during the early going with 18 points per game, up considerably from his average of 10 last season.
“He’s letting the play develop and taking more open shots,” Jones said of Hall, a 6-foot-4 swing player.
Hall also has expanded his game.
“I’ve been working down low, too,” Hall said. “I feel like I’m bigger and stronger this year after playing football.”
A further delving into the numbers reveals why Boone County is better. The Rebels were statistically balanced the first three contests. Jones, a 6-5 post player, averaged 15 points per game. Bodkin, a 6-2 guard, averaged 13 points. Williams, a 6-foot point guard, averaged 12 points followed by Moore (6 ppg) and Burks (5 ppg). Jones led with 11 rebounds per game, followed by Bodkin (7 rpg), Hall (6 rpg), Burks (6 rpg) and Williams (5 rpg), who led the team with an average of 4.6 assists followed by Bodkin (4.3).
The Rebels are shooting at a better overall clip in the motion offense. Jones was shooting 60% from the field. Moore made four of his first five 3-point shots, helping the Rebels shoot 37% from long range. The Rebels shot 29% last year on 3-pointers. Hall made his first 11 free throws as the Rebels shot 77% from the line, up from 70%.
Other big differences were scoring, defense and rebounding. It’s early, and these are small sample sizes, but the Rebels pulled down an average of 30 rebounds the first three games. They averaged 25 rebounds last season. The Rebels averaged 73 points, up from last year’s average of 60. They yielded 59 points per game, down from 71.
“I’m really happy for our seniors,” Browning said. “They’ve worked hard for these improvements. They deserve to win.”