Way Too Early 2025 Mr. Basketball Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the dead period underway and AAU ramping back up, let's take a minute to look ahead to the high school season and do some early handicapping of the field for 2025 Mr. Basketball award. While there is a clear front runner, the award is not quite the slam dunk that Travis Perry was for this past season's award. Here's a look at contenders for the award.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Favorite:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1130310' first='Malachi' last='Moreno'], Great Crossing - As things stand right now, it would be a massive upset if anyone other than Moreno won the award. He's a top 25-50 recruit in America and has been well known for a long time. He's also played at Rupp Arena, which helps with the voters across the state. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Second Favorite:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1089524' first='Zander' last='Carter'], Ashland - Zander checks a lot of boxes that voters are looking for in Mr Basketball. He's got great career stats and is by all indications a high character young man. He's also gotten to Rupp every year of his career as 16th region champs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Question Mark:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jasper Johnson, High School TBD - Jasper played at Woodford County for 3 years before transferring to Link Academy last season. There have been rumors that Johnson will return for his upcoming Senior season. He has yet to make his plans known but he did play one game at Collins with Woodford last weekend. If he comes back, it becomes a two horse race between Moreno and Johnson to win the award.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Predicting Regional Players of the Year:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1st Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1513532' first='Jonah' last='Butler'], Calloway County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2nd Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1320168' first='Cooper' last='Davenport'], Henderson County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3rd Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1229151' first='Ty' last='Price'], Butler County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1418233' first='Cannon' last='Young'], Clinton County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1123543' first='Hayden' last='Blakeman'], Green County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1304751' first='Nate' last='Wilson'], Bullitt East</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>7th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1302983' first='Chance' last='Dillingham'], Saint Xavier</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>8th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1876862' first='Aaron' last='Gutman'], Walton-Verona</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>9th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1252216' first='EJ' last='Walker'], Lloyd Memorial</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>10th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='2694631' first='Garyn' last='Jackson'], Campbell County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>11th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1130310' first='Malachi' last='Moreno'], Great Crossing</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>12th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1512908' first='Trevor' last='Ellis'], Mercer County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>13th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1130313' first='Maddox' last='Huff'], Harlan County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>14th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1111948' first='Austin' last='Sperry'], Breathitt County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>15th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1269603' first='Jaden' last='Stewart'], Perry County Central</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>16th Region - [player_tooltip player_id='1089524' first='Zander' last='Carter'], Ashland Blazer</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->