It should be an interesting rest with Adair County leading the way and everyone else chasing them. If the Indians do repeat, it will be interesting to see who finishes second in a Region tat graduated a lot of talented player’s last season.
Adair County Indians (29-8)- It had been a while since Adair County had a dominating Region run like last season and there’s no reason why they can’t do the same again. Repeating will depend on his top two scorers Conner Loy and Isaiah Cochran and the rest of his teammates. Loy was the top scorer on the team and one of the top 3-point shooters as well. Cochran is the second leading scorer on the Indians and is the top rebounder. Coach Jeffrey Breeze returns pretty much everyone except two players and made quite a run through the Region Tourney and finished in the Elite Eight before falling to eventual State Champ Lyon County.
Bethlehem Eagles (16-15)- In his first season as head coach of the Eagles, Brad Greenwell took the team and the school on a run like no other for the program as they knocked off both Taylor County and LaRue County in tight Region Tourney matches before falling in the Final to Adair County. It seemed like the Eagles did all the little things you need to do to win close games and Greenwell will look to continue that run despite losing the versatile Isaiah Ballard and Nick Culver along with Emmanuel Cheek. Still, leading scorer Nick Osborne is back and will lead the Eagles along with Jack Bradley, Hayden Koch and Xander Willett.
North Hardin Trojans (22-10)- In his second year as head coach replacing Mike Cofer, Micheal Baffour looks to continue the success after the Trojans had a great run winning the District Tournament and making a deep run in the Region Tourney before losing in the semi-finals to Adair County. Baffour does lose some very important parts from last season’s team (four starters), but he does return plenty of players who got extended playing time in crunch situations like Miklos Melton, Seth Woods, Zekeriyya Mackey and Tyree John.
LaRue County Hawks (23-10)- For another season, coach Paul Childress returned a talented squad and made a deeper run knocking off Elizabethtown in the first round of the Region Tourney, before falling to Bethlehem in the Final Four. The only major loss through graduation is a big one with All Area guard Daniel Allen leaving, but Childress still returns a talented squad with plenty of experience starting with Jagger Mardis, who is one of the top outside shooters in the area. Landon Blakely is the 2nd leading scorer on the team and pulled down 251-rebounds. Ayden Seidl and Micheal Harris round out one of the top teams in the 18th District. Add to that senior Lucas Thompson, who transferred over from Central Hardin and it should be another fun year in Hodgenville.
Elizabethtown Panthers (19-11)- For the past five years, Elizabethtown has been on quite a run of success, but with that kind of winning sometimes comes a transition year afterwards and that is a very real possibility after winning 19-games last season and making another appearance in the Region Tournament. Still, coach James Haire will have some experience to fall back on with TaQuan Townsend and Reed Sherrard returning and he should still be able to put together a good starting five which will be competitive, this season.
Central Hardin Bruins (18-11)- Much like Elizabethtown and North Hardin, coach Tavon Johnson will have to deal with a new season despite graduating a large number of starters from a team which dropped a tough 17th District Semi-Final Tournament game to Elizabethtown. The loss of Brett Decker, Donovan Stone and Ace Jagger will hurt, but time moves on and Johnson will look to Camdyn Hogan, Cameron Elmore and Carson Nichols to pick up the slack.
Taylor County Cardinals (19-13)- For the third straight season, the Cardinals made an appearance in the 5th Region Tournament and despite a tough first round loss to Bethlehem, Taylor County should still contend. They will do it under a new head coach as Josh Kays will take over after Montrelle Irvin moved on to Green County as an assistant coach. Kays will have one of the top players in the area to lead as 600-point scorer Layken Lyons will return as will Jalen Gribbins.
Green County Dragons (17-14)- The Dragons have showed real progress the past several seasons and under coach Jordan Gilbert should even be better with senior guard Hayden Blakeman, who scored over 600-points (he also led the team in rebounding as well) and 2nd leading scorer Jayden Marr.
Bardstown Tigers (13-16)- For the first time since taking over the Tiger basketball program under James Brewer, Bardstown failed to make the Region Tournament falling to Bethlehem in an elimination round of the 19th District Tourney. Coming into this season, Brewer will lose some starters and scoring but will return a few as well with Bradley Moore, Jayvyn Montgomery and Brayden Barnett and will look to develop some starters as well.
