The 12th Region. That long, meandering slice of Central Kentucky that snakes down US 27 south of Lexington down to near the Tennessee border and settles in the Lake Cumberland area. Basketball runs deep here and it is the pride of many of the rural communities throughout the region. None may hold more pride than the city of Monticello and surrounding Wayne County. There was a time where it had a city-county rivalry, back when Monticello High was still in existence. But just like Harrodsburg getting swallowed up by Mercer elsewhere in the region, that time is gone. And after 38 years, so is the Rodney Woods Era.
Coach Woods received notice on March 25, 2024 that he was not being retained as the head boys basketball coach at Wayne County. Thus ended one of the most storied tenures in the state. And, really, so begins the story of the 2024-2025 season in the 12th Region.
We are in a period of time now where transfers are not only common, but expected. Roster turnover is at an all time high. The Wayne County coaching change only added fuel to that fire. It also helped launch an offseason that was rife with speculation, storylines, and excitement. The offseason discussion thread here at BluegrassPreps had more views and replies than any other offseason discussion thread.
Now practice has begun. Wayne County was thought to be a contender before March 25th came and went and Antajuan Dumphord and Kendall Phillips left, Dumphord to Southwestern and Phillips to Pulaski. But wait... Kendall Phillips is back at Wayne County and not playing. But wait... Kendall Phillips is back at Wayne County and is playing. Is that enough to consider Wayne County a contender with their first year coach?
In other transfer news, Braden Fugate transferred within the 45th district, going from DCA to Lincoln County, probably one of the two biggest transfers in the region alongside Dumphord to Southwestern.
Walker Craig is out for either the whole year or virtually the whole year, leaving Rockcastle without the lifeblood of its team. Montavin Quisenberry has committed to play football at UK and will not be suiting up for Boyle. The incredibly talented but oft-injured Carson Fraley sat out all summer for Pulaski and his health will be essential to their success. It will also be interesting to see what the Somerset roster looks like when the dust settles and football season has come to an end.
Overall, 2023-2024 saw the region at it's worst talent-wise in a very long time and it was just a very down year. I think you will see marked improvement and some fresh faces this year, the level of competition directly benefitting from that. There is no clear front-runner and the list of contenders may be 5 or 6 teams deep, possibly deeper once we see what these teams are made of.
The Preseason Top 25 Players (no order):
Pulaski County - Seth Farmer, Carson Fraley, Zak Anderson
DCA - Titus Boyd, Lual Ayiei, Geu Ateny
Wayne County - Kendall Phillips
Rockcastle County - Walker Craig (still deserving of the distinction, even if injured)
Mercer County - Trevor Ellis
Somerset - Aedyn Absher
Lincoln County - Braden Fugate, Cash Baird, Sawyer Robbins
East Jessamine - Miyo Jones
Boyle County - Demauriah Brown, Seneca Driver, Guy Turner
Southwestern - Zachary Hutchinson, Antajuan Dumphord, Jarrett Simpson
Trinity Christian - Alan Coffman
McCreary County - Peyton Higginbotham
Danville - Trevarion Paige
Garrard County - Jayden Noe
West Jessamine - Gavin Murphy
Preseason Team Rankings
1. Pulaski County - The reigning champion Maroons lose Will Blankenship but gain Seth Farmer, the rough and tumble big man from Wayne County. The biggest question here is Carson Fraley and his health. Out of 34 games played by Pulaski last year, he played in only 14. He also sat out the entire summer. This number one ranking is in place under the assumption that he will be playing and close to full strength. However, they are not to be discounted even when he is not on the floor. Along with newcomer Farmer, Zak Anderson, Gavin Cook, and Ethan Idlewine makeup the other probable opening day starters alongside Carson Fraley. That is a very dangerous group but the specter of injury may be looming over them all season unless they can deepen their bench.
2. Lincoln County - Another team that benefits from a massive transfer get. Braden Fugate hopes to fill the hole left by Blade Nuckols. Trevor Miracle and Sawyer Horton are also graduated. Cash Baird was one of the best freshmen in the region last year and will look to lead a very guard heavy Patriots group that, besides him and Fugate, features Sawyer Robbins in the backcourt. Mason Agee should be the primary post player but had limited offensive production last year. Like fellow contender Pulaski, they have a short bench but Coach Jeff Jackson has an excellent history of getting players ready for the spotlight.
3. Danville Christian Academy - The big changes - Emmanuel Dut has graduated, Braden Fugate has gone to Lincoln, and Shaun Busick takes over head coaching duties from Don Story. Geu Ateny will be available from day 1, an advantage the Warriors did not have last year. Alongside him they also have Titus Boyd who has been integral every step of the way for DCA's rise to a regional contender. Rounding out their top 3 is Lual Ayiei. Besides Billy Inmon, look for a lot of fresh faces beyond that group. The routine weaknesses for DCA are still there - lack of depth, lack of quickness and the possibility that the bucket may close up on them for long periods of time. However, there is little doubt they have the core to make some noise in the region, and it is almost a certainty they will be battling Somerset for a chance at a return trip to the All A State tournament.
4. Southwestern - The Warriors of Southwestern were the late season story last year as they had an incredible surge heading into the district tournament and were really in every game they played started in February, even when facing regional contenders. With the addition of Antajuan Dumphord from Wayne County, they should be in the mix for the regional title. Though they lose Connor Hudson, they do return Zachary Hutchinson and Jarrett Simpson off last year's team. Also their schedule is backloaded in terms of difficulty so look for them to take off quick out of the gate.
5. Mercer County - The Titans have arguably the best player in the region in Trevor Ellis. But how much will depth factor in to their chances at larger success? They lost Barnes and Perry to graduation but do return Kaleb Murray to help complement Ellis. They will also have to overcome possibly stronger district foes this year as West AND East Jessamine both look to have improved. It is always hard to go against the team with the best player on the court, and they are going to be that in a lot of games, but depth is a serious question.
6. Boyle County - The Rebels had a predictably bad start to the regular season last year as they had to wait on football players (and will certainly have to do the same this year). However, this season there is one football player they won't get - Montavin Quisenberry. They still have Demauriah Brown as well as Seneca and Brock Driver and, in my opinion, the underrated Guy Turner. They play in a tough district but there is reason to believe in them with the athleticism and physicality they can put on the court.
7. West Jessamine - Who is ready for the turnaround? West struggled mightily last year but has seasoned coach Steve Adams now at the helm as well as D1 offered Gavin Murphy and the mystery 6'10 big man who is now eligible and collecting big college looks. There are obviously a ton of questions to be answered and they have some really talented players in their district to contend with. But the interest is piqued and it will be intriguing to see what Coach Adams can do here.
8. Somerset - Aedyn Absher leads a Briar Jumper group in flux. Ben Godby and Indred Whitaker are gone and it will be near impossible to replace their offensive output with any two player set. However, Somerset should be able to string together a quality squad around Absher, it just depends what they pull out of football. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention Kole Grundy here as a player to keep your eye on.
9. Wayne County - Well, here they are. The Cardinals of Wayne County. Do they deserve to be this low with Kendall Phillips reportedly playing? They lost a lot for sure, including a Hall of Fame coach. I just don't see how they are going to be able to string together regular success. But as I stated earlier with Mercer, when you have the best player on the court you will be hard to go against. There will be a good number of those games where Phillips fits that description.
10. East Jessamine - The Jaguars are another team that centers around a hot name - Miyo Jones. He averaged over 18 points per game last year. Keelyn Daniel also returns, another double digit average scorer last season. Righteous Harris has graduated and new coach Jon Bentley will need to develop depth. But there is good reason to believe he may very well be able to do that and have the Jaguars in the conversation to make it to the regional tournament after being knocked out in the district tournament in overtime by Trinity Christian last year.
11. Garrard County - The story here is Jayden Noe. The Golden Lions had a really rough season last year and had no regular season wins in the region (though they would beat Danville in the district tournament). Noe has a chance to make them the "best of the rest" though. What does that translate to for them? Possibly a chance to be a 3 seed in the district with Boyle or Lincoln between them and the regional tournament. But they have a ton of work to get to that point.
12. McCreary County Central - The Raiders are probably the biggest loser when it comes to the surge of Southwestern and their addition of Dumphord. However, they may be the biggest winner of the chaos at Wayne County. McCreary features Peyton Higginbotham and he is not to be overlooked. We will just have to wait and see if they have the pieces around him to be dangerous this year.
13. Trinity Christian - They made it to the regional tournament last year, had some big wins, and were competitive in games people probably thought they never stood a chance in. They return the talented Alan Coffman and will try to repeat their success from last year's campaign. However, they will have to do so in a district that has gotten tougher.
14. Danville - Trevarion Paige leads Coach Ford's group this year. They had a good start last year but quickly fell into irrelevance and lost in the 4 vs. 5 game in the district tournament. The district remains tough and it will be hard imagining the Ads being a threat in it.
15. Rockcastle County - Walker Craig sadly will miss either all or virtually all of the year. I hope the Rockets can be competitive without him but that is a tough ask. Hopefully this is a chance to develop pieces to be arranged around him for his senior campaign in the 2025-2026 season.
16. Casey County - Sophomore Owen Willoughby is the bright spot for the Rebels. However, they lost their top two scorers to graduation so they have a tough task in front of them.
17. Somerset Christian School - The Cougars had a very rough finish to the season last year, going winless after January 27th. Ethan Warren is also gone so they will need to fill that leading scorer role with someone new.
18. Burgin - Coach Todd Claunch is back with a Bulldogs squad that will square off with a mix of regional competitors and small schools from across the state. They will also have to fill the shoes of Jacobe Taylor, who average twice as many points as the next leading scorer on the team last year.
19. Kentucky School for the Deaf - The Colonels went winless last year. They only have a limited schedule up right now but will certainly add more deaf academies to it. As of now, they open with Frankfort Christian on December 12th.
