Top 5 Teams and Prospects: Regions 11 and 12

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Regular season practice has started all across the Bluegrass state 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 11:</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Prospects:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1130310' first='Malachi' last='Moreno'], Great Crossing (2025) - A top 25-50 player in America and committed to Kentucky. The biggest difference maker in the state with his rim protection.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1110323' first='Vince' last='Dawson'], Great Crossing (20250 - Committed to Morehead State, Dawson is the leading scorer for the Warhawks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1543594' first='DeMarcus' last='Surratt'], Frederick Douglass (2026) - Coming off a big offseason, Surratt has added several D1 offers in recent months.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2091803' first='LJ' last='Holman'], Great Crossing (2027) - In line for a bigger role this season at Great Crossing, Holman holds multiple D1 offers and has big time athleticism.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1565985' first='Amari' last='Owens'], Bryan Station (2026) - Recently earned his first D1 offer (from EKU). Amari is right up there with Moreno when discussing most valuable players to their team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Teams:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Great Crossing - Loaded with talent and the heavy favorites to win it all at Rupp in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bryan Station - Owens and [player_tooltip player_id='2317259' first='Taeshawn' last='Adams'] are a talented duo and will have the Defenders competing for a regional title run by March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Frederick Douglass - Losing Melo Boone hurts but there is a lot of young talent at Douglass that spent all summer getting better.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Henry Clay - Coach Brown has 6 Seniors and a couple of good younger players. They'll be a factor this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lexington Catholic - The Knights have to rebuild this season but they've ran the same plays for 15 years and they still work. Players come and go but Catholic will always be solid.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Region 12:</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Prospects:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1543201' first='Walker' last='Craig'], Rockcastle County (2026) - Unfortunately out for the season with a torn ACL. Was a 49% three point shooter last year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2522623' first='John' last='Luk Padiel Tut'], West Jessamine (2027) - He sat out last season after transferring into West but will be a difference maker this year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2357272' first='Geu' last='Ateny'], Danville Christian (2026) - The younger half of DCA's twin towers, Ateny is a little more polished offensively and has more time to continue developing.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1513538' first='Lual' last='Ayiei'], Danville Christian (2025) - The other half of the twin towers at DCA, Lual is the more raw of the two prospects but offers real rim protection and rebounding.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2450182' first='Tyson' last='Duke'], East Jessamine (2028) - At 6'3 and very fluid athletically, Duke has the highest long term upside of any prospect in the region. If he gets a mean streak, he'll be tough to slow down.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Teams:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pulaski County - The Maroons benefitted from the addition of [player_tooltip player_id='1564305' first='Seth' last='Farmer'] from Wayne County and will have the most complete team in the 12th.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Danville Christian - The two bigs get most of the attention but Senior [player_tooltip player_id='2323778' first='Titus' last='Boyd'] is DCA's best player and will make a difference in a lot of games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Jessamine - Coach Adams inherited a good roster with [player_tooltip player_id='1543633' first='Gavin' last='Murphy'] and a strong Junior class as well as having Tut eligible this year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mercer County - [player_tooltip player_id='1512908' first='Trevor' last='Ellis'] has been a force for the Titans for years and Senior transfer [player_tooltip player_id='1342689' first='Hagan' last='Preston'] will be a top 5-10 guard in the region.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Southwestern - The Warriors took their lumps with a young roster last year. Now they have a good bit of experience and plan to have a long postseason run.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->