Ready or not, hoops are here
The high school basketball regular season begins tonight across Kentucky and for five of the 16 local boys and girls teams. Another intriguing season is at hand both locally and within the 12th Region, where there are clear favorites to win the championship (McCreary Central’s boys, Rockcastle County’s girls) but a number of teams in each division that could be in position to grab the top prizes a little over three months from now.
Here are some highlights from the earliest days of the regular season:
- The Lincoln County girls begin what I think is pound for pound the toughest schedule in the area when they play at Pulaski County tonight, then dive right into the fire by facing Lexington Catholic in their home opener on Tuesday. That’s followed by games against Rockcastle County and Wayne County, all in the first nine days.
- Many eyes will be on the Mercer County boys to see if they can produce a trouble-free and successful season. The Titans begin with two tough ones, Tuesday at McCreary Central and Friday against Wayne County, then play their first district game against East Jessamine on Dec. 9.
- Two of the area’s three new coaches debut Tuesday, when Steve Adams’ Boyle County boys play at East Jessamine and Jacqueline Coleman’s Burgin girls host Portland Christian. Scott Bolin debuts with the Garrard County girls Wednesday at Sayre, where they’ll play Model.
Here are the season openers for all of the area teams:
- Boyle County: boys, Tuesday at East Jessamine; girls, tonight at East Jessamine.
- Burgin: boys and girls, Tuesday vs. Portland Christian.
- Casey County: boys, Tuesday vs. Anderson County; girls, tonight at Madison Central.
- Danville: boys, Dec. 9 vs. South Oldham; girls, Thursday at Burgin.
- Garrard County: boys, tonight at Anderson County; girls, Wednesday vs. Model at Sayre.
- KSD: boys, Tuesday vs. Eminence; girls, tonight vs. Jackson City.
- Lincoln County: boys, Tuesday at Russell County; girls, tonight at Pulaski County.
- Mercer County: boys, Tuesday at McCreary Central; girls, Tuesday vs. George Rogers Clark.
And for those of you looking ahead, the district tournaments begin just 12 weeks from today (Feb. 23).
