Top 5 Teams and Prospects: Regions 15 and 16

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Regular season practice starts all across the Bluegrass state this week and scrimmages will start in the next month. I wanted to breakdown the top 5 college prospects and the top 5 teams in each region heading into the year. This should not be considered the top 5 overall players! These are the best college prospects in each region.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Region 15:</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Prospects:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1745583' first='Braxton' last='Keathley'], Prestonsburg - One of the top 2027s in Kentucky, Braxton holds multiple D1 offers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1745584' first='Austin' last='Slone'], Johnson Central - One of the leading scorers in the entire state last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2611200' first='Jaxon' last='Estridge'], Belfry - High impact transfer for the Pirates holds multiple offers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1269603' first='Jaden' last='Stewart'], Pike County Central - Already a big time scorer, he'll have to do more with Jaylan Rigdon gone.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1543312' first='Jackson' last='Keene'], Pikeville - Scored a lot of points at East Ridge last year and will need to score a lot for Pikeville this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Teams:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Martin County - Good group that will need to replace some scoring but have a chance to be really good.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lawrence County - They are relatively young but these Bulldogs should be good.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pike County Central - Life after Rigdon will be tough but they'll compete.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Johnson Central - Slone is really good. If he gets some help, they'll be able to outscore a lot of teams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Belfry - Coach Perry has a lot of new faces but the Pirates should go from worst team in the region to at least middle of the pack.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Region 16:</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Prospects:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1089524' first='Zander' last='Carter'], Ashland - Committed to Liberty. Mr Basketball finalist, barring something crazy happening.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1359133' first='Jacob' last='Spurlock'], Boyd County - Picked up a bunch of D1 offers this summer. Has "in the gym" range.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seth Hickerson, Fleming County - Underrated prospect who has a very smooth game and can fill it up.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104595' first='Preston' last='Hoskins'], Ashland - Impact transfer who will get plenty of open looks thanks to the attention paid to Carter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1745587' first='Elijah' last='Neel'], Ashland - Another big transfer. Russell's best player will get a lot of opportunities at Ashland.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Teams:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ashland - Loaded with talent and the best player in the region. Very tough to see them falling short of Rupp.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Boyd County - Spurlock got some help with a 6'8 transfer coming from WV but hard to keep up with Ashland, talent wise.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fleming County - Could actually be most capable of putting a scare into the Tomcats by March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Greenup County - Return all three leading scorers from last year. Sleeper team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Russell - Losing Neel is a tough pill to swallow. [player_tooltip player_id='1745586' first='Caleb' last='Rimmer'] will have to do A LOT for them to be relevant.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->