Top 5 Teams and Prospects: Regions 9 and 10

<!-- 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 9:</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Prospects:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1252216' first='EJ' last='Walker'], Lloyd Memorial (2025) - Committed to South Carolina, Walker is a versatile forward who can be a mismatch against any team in the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2272617' first='Griffin' last='Starks'], Newport (2027) - Starks racked up several D1 offers in the last year and found himself inside the top 60 of some rankings services top 2027s.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2357590' first='Andy' last='Johnson'], Cooper (2025) - Andy had maybe the best summer of anyone in Kentucky. He earned a bunch of offers then committed to UIC.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1359138' first='James' last='Turner'], Newport (2026) - Turner will be interesting to watch this season after [player_tooltip player_id='1359137' first='Taylen' last='Kinney'] left Newport. It may actually help James' development.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2248846' first='Anthony' last='Blaackar'], Lloyd Memorial (2026) - One of the quickest guards in the state, Blaackar is athletic and a good finisher. If he starts shooting 3s with more confidence. he'll be tough to stop.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Teams:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Newport - Losing Kinney hurts their star power but the Wildcats are more than capable of losing a guard and still being favored to win the region. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lloyd Memorial - Walker and Blaackar are a formidable duo but they also have depth as the Juggernauts didn't graduate much last year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cooper - Johnson and the Combs brothers (Jaiden and Roman) are a good trio and Coach Sullivan's teams always guard at a high level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ryle - Ryle has a veteran roster with some talent and a lot of chemistry. They will have high expectations for this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Covington Catholic - This will not be your typical Cov Cath team and losing Coach Ruthsatz is a big blow. Barring some transfers, this will be the least talented Colonel roster in a while.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Region 10:</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Prospects:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2026991' first='Tyce' last='Jarvis'], Montgomery County (2027) - Jarvis had a quiet freshman season and 15u AAU but he has a ton of potential that earned him 3 D1 offers before he played a high school game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2122438' first='Montez' last='Gay'], George Rogers Clark (2027) - Montez was one of the most impressive players at Kentucky Elite Camp last month and looks like he is ready for a big Sophomore season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2120028' first='Malachi' last='Ashford'], George Rogers Clark (2026) - Back from a gnarly injury that put him out for nearly 6 months, Malachi is ready to show why he got early offers from EKU and ETSU last year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2529539' first='Andrew' last='Terry'], Montgomery County (2028) - Only a freshman but Terry is going to be an impactful one. He projects to be a D1 talent, long term.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1543588' first='Sam' last='Spillman'], George Rogers Clark (2026) - Spillman was offered by Cal State Northridge over the summer and should be an impactful transfer for the Cards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top 5 Teams:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>George Rogers Clark - Loaded with talent, there may not be a team in Kentucky that benefited more from the transfer portal this summer than GRC.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Montgomery County - Another popular transfer destination, the point guard matchup of [player_tooltip player_id='2120028' first='Malachi' last='Ashford'] vs [player_tooltip player_id='1149267' first='Cayden' last='Reed'] should be top tier entertainment this year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Campbell County - The Camels just compete at a high level every year. The reigning champs are led by [player_tooltip player_id='2694631' first='Garyn' last='Jackson'] and will once again expect to compete for titles in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nicholas County - The 10th region seems to be way down this season but Nicholas County is trending up. [player_tooltip player_id='2569322' first='Braxton' last='Martin'] could be a breakout star.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Scott - Scott has some returning depth and they're always in the hunt by the postseason.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->