[HCS]

Yeah, Middlesboro has to be top 10 with five starters back and three other kids who either started or were sixth man somewhere else.
Williamsburg could be there also.

[tazcat]

My son plays for Middlesboro and they are gonna be pretty good this year. Got all 5 starters back plus Brock from Bell and the Overbay boys from Lynn Camp. I know its summer stuff but we ran Corbin off their own floor, lost to Knox by 5 and could have won, went undefeated at LMU, beat Harlan City by 20 and competed very well in Lexington

I can understand they won't get respect cause it's been an uphill battle for the program they will have to earn it. Schedule is favorable but not a cakewalk

Not saying Middlesboro should be a region favorite but nobody better overlook them cause they have good enough players and high school.experience to beat anybody in this region on a given night.

Football is just passing the time for basketball around here these days should be a very fun season

[ArJay]

My son plays for Middlesboro and they are gonna be pretty good this year. Got all 5 starters back plus Brock from Bell and the Overbay boys from Lynn Camp. I know its summer stuff but we ran Corbin off their own floor, lost to Knox by 5 and could have won, went undefeated at LMU, beat Harlan City by 20 and competed very well in Lexington

I can understand they won't get respect cause it's been an uphill battle for the program they will have to earn it. Schedule is favorable but not a cakewalk

Not saying Middlesboro should be a region favorite but nobody better overlook them cause they have good enough players and high school.experience to beat anybody in this region on a given night.

Football is just passing the time for basketball around here these days should be a very fun season

Middlesboro is loaded with talent. They have not had anything to work with in years. They finally were going to be in good shape this year after paying younger players the last 2 or 3 years and out of know where they pick up 3 players. I don’t know much about the Overbey brothers, but Brock is as athletic as anyone in the region.

[blueandgreen]

I don’t know much about NL and don’t put much stock into summer ball, but I did hear Bell bear them a couple times this summer. I’m surprised to see them in the top 4 or higher in rankings.

We're going to be fairly young just graduated a large senior class but they'll be some talent. Havent been impressed with Sizemore as a coach over the years but last year he done as good a job as anybody in the region. Wouldn't be surprised if my jags aren't as good as last year and win the district again.

[ArJay]

We're going to be fairly young just graduated a large senior class but they'll be some talent. Havent been impressed with Sizemore as a coach over the years but last year he done as good a job as anybody in the region. Wouldn't be surprised if my jags aren't as good as last year and win the district again.

I didn’t see the games. Shucks, North may have been missing some young’uns, but I did hear Bell beat them twice.

[TheProfessor33]

1. South Laurel - Heavy favorite - easily best talent and Ramey/Cromer combo one of best in
entire state
2. North Laurel - Will Surpise - Adam Sizemore is best PG in Mountains and will have a huge
year and Jags will be a tough out.
3. Clay County - Good young talent that will be ready to rise / watch out for Conner Robinson
4. Corbin - Always tough and could challenge by end of the year - Mattew Taylor ready to bust
out and they have some really good athletes
4. Knox County - Lost a lot from last year but will be in the mix
5. Harlan Ind. - Young players developed last year and are ready to make some noise
7. Bell County - Will be up and down but hard to beat on a given night
8. Harlan County - Rebuilding
9. Jackson County - Decent this year
10. Whitley County - Will have some good nights but struggle most of year

No way Harlan Ind will be 5th best team in the region. You do know that they have lost 6 players to transfer? Four from last years team (including 3 starters), and also their two top freshmen. They are bottom 5. It seems like they are in a tail spin right now.

[NextGeneration]

That list is not even close. Try to find out who lost what and who has the most coming back. I will promise you one thing the night any of them play Middlesboro they will know the Jackets should have been high on that list.

[Baller44]

I agree with you that Middlesboro will be one of the better teams in the region. Morris will have fun coaching this team and might knock off a few heavy weights down the road. Basketball season can't get here fast enough.

[ArJay]

No way Harlan Ind will be 5th best team in the region. You do know that they have lost 6 players to transfer? Four from last years team (including 3 starters), and also their two top freshmen. They are bottom 5. It seems like they are in a tail spin right now.

Wow! Who transferred from Harlan City? I knew Bell was hit with some transfers, but 6 players is a lot. Who left?

[TheProfessor33]

Wow! Who transferred from Harlan City? I knew Bell was hit with some transfers, but 6 players is a lot. Who left?

Wilson and Hawkins transferred to Harlan County. Shepherd transferred to Letcher County Central. Carter Barnes isn’t playing. Their two top freshman, Huff and Middleton transferred to Harlan County. Two of those kids started last year (shepherd and Wilson). Hawkins and Barnes played a lot (one or both could have possibly started this season).

[ArJay]

Wilson and Hawkins transferred to Harlan County. Shepherd transferred to Letcher County Central. Carter Barnes isn’t playing. Their two top freshman, Huff and Middleton transferred to Harlan County. Two of those kids started last year (shepherd and Wilson). Hawkins and Barnes played a lot (one or both could have possibly started this season).

Well goodness. At the end of last year I thought that the district would be balanced, but with Bell and Harlan both losing players and Middlesboro and HC gaining players you figure Middlesboro and HC will be the favorites. I hope my Bobcats can get it turned around. I still think we have good players even though we lost some high flying young’uns. Harlan still has Ledford and the coach’s son so they still got some bullets left in the chamber.

[HCS]

The last I heard Hawkins was still at Harlan. So, they still have Akal, Barnes, Hawkins, Ledford and Eldridge. I think they are still an All A contender.

[TheProfessor33]

The last I heard Hawkins was still at Harlan. So, they still have Akal, Barnes, Hawkins, Ledford and Eldridge. I think they are still an All A contender.

Aren’t all the class A teams contenders...lol. There isn’t a whole lot that separates any of them.

[HCS]

There is some truth to that - one reason the tournament is good for the smaller schools.
I think Middlesboro, Harlan and W-burg are slightly ahead of the pack at this point though.

It wasn't that competitive on the girls side in some years though, including a few years back during Brock's time with Harlan.

[ArJay]

If Harlan is hitting 3s they are very dangerous. I thought we would handle them last year, but we didn't. They beat us twice in a row. I thought they would be better than Middlesboro until the boro picked up all those transfers. I wish some more of Bell's football players would change their minds and come back out for basketball! It would really help. We got some great athletes on the field right now! I think we open with Clay this year. That should be a good measuring stick.
I'm guessing SL and Knox will be 1 and 2 to start the year.

[JerryGarcia]

The last I heard Hawkins was still at Harlan. So, they still have Akal, Barnes, Hawkins, Ledford and Eldridge. I think they are still an All A contender.

Hey HCS have you heard the Noah kid transferred today from Harlan Ind. ? At least that’s what I’m hearing.

[HCS]

Not heard anything on that. I think he's in middle school.

[ArJay]

Didn't Harlan City's middle school when some kind of regional tournament last year or something?

[JerryGarcia]

Not heard anything on that. I think he's in middle school.

I was thinking the kid was a freshmen. Just know he was playing this summer with the varsity.

[HCS]

I don't think so - one of the players played on a championship AAU team from London.

[JayTiger]

What's Jackson County got coming in ?? I heard the Bingham kid was back and the bowling kid is the only starter returning? I also heard Jackson County had a transfer kid come in from Clay County who was he ?? Somebody said he was going to be a future star for Jackson and if so what's up with Clay starting to lose transfer kids ??

[ky playmaker]

What's Jackson County got coming in ?? I heard the Bingham kid was back and the bowling kid is the only starter returning? I also heard Jackson County had a transfer kid come in from Clay County who was he ?? Somebody said he was going to be a future star for Jackson and if so what's up with Clay starting to lose transfer kids ??

I heard Hunter Bowling transferred to annville christian academy

[JayTiger]

Don't know about bowling transferring to annville Christan but the talk is about him (Bowling) n Bingham being back at Jackson and some kid transfer from Clay County that is supposedly be pretty good. I've heard that Clay or North neither one needs to over look Jackson County because they could be dangerous team again this year but I'm just trying to figure out who left Clay again.

[JayTiger]

I know Clay has lost 2 talented players to the Annville Christian School but CC has got some major problems going on up their kids falling off like apples for some reason and usually it's kids transferring to Clay to play not transferring out. Just doesn't seem Clay could be to bigger of a contest with all of the drama taking place it's not the Coach Keith style.

[ArJay]

There is a lot of moving around in the 13th! I kinda figured Clay would make a step up this year. I thought Clay and Bell would both be top 5 regional teams. I hope Bell still is, but it looks like both teams have lost some great players! Jackson Co. is usually always solid.

Another question, where the heck is Annville Christian School?

[ky playmaker]

There is a lot of moving around in the 13th! I kinda figured Clay would make a step up this year. I thought Clay and Bell would both be top 5 regional teams. I hope Bell still is, but it looks like both teams have lost some great players! Jackson Co. is usually always solid.

Another question, where the heck is Annville Christian School?

jackson co

[HCS]

Was it Annville Institute that had a team up to the mid 70s? I guess the school there now just plays Christian school teams then?

[UKCC]

Clay County had a reserve transfer to OBI, I believe. Haven’t heard anything about Jackson County. The transfer issue goes back to a decision made a few years ago.

[pjdoug]

Go Colonels.

[ArJay]

Go Colonels.

How is Whitley going to be? I haven't heard anything about them. I know Bell didn't play them last year. I wish we'd start playing them again.