Surprises and Disappointments: Region 11 Boys Basketball

We’re now two weeks into the 2021-22 KHSAA boys basketball season and Region 11 is starting to take shape. Thus far we’ve seen upsets, thrillers and some surprises along the way. If one thing is for sure—Region 11 (District 42 and 43 in particular) will provide fans with great matchups and barn-burners for the remainder of the regular season.

Teams to Watch:

Lexington Catholic

No. 8 Lexington Catholic (5-0) has picked up right where they left off last season. In 2020, Catholic was led by current Bellarmine guard Ben Johnson (27.3 ppg), winning their first 19 games of the season. The ended up dropping three of their last five, including a district title loss and opening-round regional thriller to eventual Region 11 champions Madison Central, 101-97.

The Knights are led this season by seven-footer Reece Potter. His 18 points per game on a 50 percent clip to go with 10 boards per outing gives Catholic a dominant presence that no other team in the region has. Potter already has a signature performance against Danville where he notched 29 points to go with 17 boards.

Thanks to Potter, Lexington Catholic defeats teams by an average of 25 points through five outings. They now head to their matchup with the 3-0 Tates Creek Commodores on Monday.

Tates Creek

Creek is an interesting team. Starting 3-0 for the first time in over a decade, coach Jarrod Gay has his team focused in the early portion of their season despite losing to Central on Saturday afternoon.

Boasting a dynamic backcourt of Eric Hackett and Cobi Commodore, the two combine to average 34 of Creek’s 75 points per game. They’re the only two on the team that have scored in double figures in three games this season.

The question is—can this early-season stretch be maintained throughout the season? That could be answered Monday in a District 43 battle against LexCath.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Snagging a new head coach in Murray Garvin from the Division I college basketball coaching ranks was a huge plus over the offseason. To counter that, superstar forward Tim Hall announced his intention to transfer from Dunbar to Vertical Academy to play with five-star guard Mikey Williams.

That was a major loss for the program—but as they say: next man up. That next man comes in the form of junior point guard Nick Spalding. No. 5 Dunbar (2-1) has seen Spalding score at least 25 points in both victories. He remained the team’s leading scorer (16) in their lone loss against No. 2 Covington Catholic 67-60 as well.

With the King of the Bluegrass tournament on tap for next week along with a tough January stretch including games against Madison Central, Clark County and LexCath twice—Dunbar has a chance to prove they’re the team to beat in Region 11 this season.

Great Crossing

The Warhawks (6-1) are off to the best performance in their short three-year history.

They just placed third in the 2021 Toyota Classic from the Birds Nest. Their only loss came to Frederick Douglass in the semifinals. They bounced back in the third-place game, however, defeating Scott County 68-53 on Saturday afternoon.

With a rotating offensive cast of scorers, opposing defenses can’t just key in on one Warhawk—that’ll prove detrimental. Vince Dawson, Junius Burrell, Malachi Moreno and Gage Richardson all have the potential to take over a game on any given night. If that can continue, it’ll be an exciting season to be a Warhawk.

Henry Clay

The Blue Devils might be the most impressive team through the first two weeks of the season. Sitting at 5-0, Clay has devastated their opponents, winning all five games by double digits.

Four of their first five games have featured Region 11 opponents, winning all by an average of 19 points. Their one non-region opponent, Nicholas County—they demolished them by 49. Aziel Blackwell and Kanye Henderson combined for 33 in the impressive win.

With two games against Eastern and Harrison County on the slate before taking part in the Lee’s Famous Recipe Holiday and Traditional Bank Holiday Classics to round out 2021, the future is bright on Fontaine Road.

Disappointments:

Madison Central

Coming into the season riding high on a Sweet 16 appearance last season, the reigning Region 11 champions faced a season-opening loss to an unranked Pulaski County team.

Their second game against Lafayette was a little too close to comfort and then suffered a brutal 68-63 loss against No. 3 Clark County. Things just haven’t gone Madison Central’s way this season.

With back-to-back victories over Bryan Station and Barren County heading into a rivalry matchup against Madison Southern, the Indians can take a breath as their schedule eases up for the next few games.

Frederick Douglass

Ranked No. 24 in the KSR preseason top-25, Frederick Douglass was torn apart 68-45 by Henry Clay in the season opener. Ever since, they have remained inconsistent—you never know what you’re going to get.

After losing their first three games of the season, things seemed to flow the Broncos way after entering the Toyota Classic. Douglass ran the gauntlet into the finals of the tournament, taking down Holy Cross (Covington) and Great Crossing along the way. South Laurel would eventually defeat Douglass 53-46 in the finals.

Given that this team is nine months removed from a two-loss season and a regional runner-up, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with wearing the name Frederick Douglass across your chest. People expect great things out of you.

With Madison Central and Douglass–the two Region 11 finalists–on the ropes this early in the season, will there be a new champion come tournament time? Or is it still too early to tell?