Top 10: The 11th Region’s best boys basketball teams for the 2023-24 season
There has been no shortage of expectations on Great Crossing’s boys basketball team over the last two seasons.
Ahead of the 2023-24 campaign that tips off Monday, those expectations are higher than ever.
The Warhawks rank as the No. 1 team in the 11th Region this preseason, according to the Herald-Leader’s coaches poll within the division, and they rank No. 2 in the state, according to our statewide survey.
Last season ended in disappointment when the Warhawks fell to Lexington Catholic in the 11th Region semifinals. A core group of juniors led by Malachi Moreno, one of the nation’s highest-rated centers in the class of 2025, aims to make a much deeper postseason run this time around.
“The mindset’s a little bit different,” Great Crossing coach Steve Page said. “Our practices have been much better … and we’ll be a lot deeper than we were last year. That was probably our biggest deficiency.”
Page will also look to get the ball moving around and through his big man to get more opportunities for him, dynamic shooting guard Vince Dawson and the rest of the Warhawks. Page acknowledged their offense looked stagnant at times last season.
“They’ve got to play off each other a little bit more and move the ball a little bit more,” Page said. “We’re focused in on that.”
But don’t expect any of the other contenders to cede anything to the Warhawks. Defending 11th Region champion Frederick Douglass lost two starters to graduation but returned clutch shooter Armelo Boone and the unbelievably athletic Aveion Chenault.
Douglass, which reached the state semifinals last season, garnered two No. 1 votes to Great Crossing’s 14 among the 16 region 11th Region coaches who responded to the Herald-Leader’s survey.
As always, Douglass will have a slow start due to some of its two-sport standouts just finishing up football season. They will also be without last season’s 11th Region coach of the year, Wes Scarberry, for an undetermined amount of time. On Nov. 14, the school announced Scarberry is on a leave of absence due to personal reasons. Head assistant coach Stephon Harris has taken over in the interim.
Here’s a rundown of the 11th Region’s best teams for the 2023-24 season in order of how they were rated in our survey, with last year’s record and a brief summary. Coaches were asked to “rank the top 10 teams” in the region.
1. Great Crossing (28-6)
The Warhawks have four juniors and a senior in their starting lineup who have grown together as a team as they’ve climbed the rankings.
Malachi Moreno (14.8 points), their 7-1 forward/center, garners the most attention, but 6-5 guard Vince Dawson (15.8 points) is also considered one of the region’s best players. Gage Richardson (9.1 points), a 6-4 guard, offers up the most 3-pointers of the bunch while Junius Burrell (11.6 points), a 5-9 point guard, gets everything started. Lone senior Jeremiah Godfrey (8.3 points), a 6-7 forward, cannot be taken for granted. He scored 19 against George Rogers Clark last season.
“Our kids are focused on one goal this year — making it to Rupp Arena,” Page said. “The last two seasons have ended in disappointment and that is fueling us to do what it takes this year to get it done.”
2. Frederick Douglass (33-3)
Juniors Armelo Boone (16.0 points) and Aveion Chenault (13.2 points) thrilled Rupp Arena at last season’s Boys’ Sweet 16 with their remarkable athletic ability and clutch performances. Fellow junior Logan Busson (5.4 points), a 6-2 forward, often took on the toughest interior defensive assignments and showed incredible resolve despite usually facing much taller opponents.
They’ll get help this season from Lafayette transfer DeMarcus Surratt (13.8 points), a 6-4 sophomore. Noah Jones, a 6-1 senior and soccer standout, is set to come back from a foot injury that sidelined him last season.
The Broncos beat teams by an average of 15.3 points last season, one of the best margins in the state and did so with a relentless pressing defense and opportunistic fast-moving offense.
Their coaches expect more of the same in 2023-24..
3. Lexington Catholic (32-3)
Tyler Doyle (10.3 points), a 6-5 Bellarmine signee, returns to lead a senior-laden team that includes prolific 3-point shooter John Reinheirt (8.6 points), who made 43.1% of his long-range attempts last season. Rowan Williams (5.3 rebounds) was the Knights’ second-leading rebounder behind departed 7-footer Reece Potter.
“If we can get our younger players to fill their roles, we will have one of the deepest teams we have had in my tenure,” Coach Brandon Salsman said.
4. Bryan Station (11-19)
Coach Champ Ligon expects to go 12 players deep in his third season back in charge on the Northside. The emergence of 6-1 sophomore Amari Owens (15.2 points) and Felix De Los Santos (8.9) should help the Defenders vastly improve on last season’s record.
“The sky is the limit for this group,” Ligon said. “We’ve got depth, experience, size, length and athleticism. The 11th Region is loaded, but we feel like we have the pieces in place to make some noise come tournament time. All the hard work the past two years should start to show dividends this season.”
5. Lexington Christian (23-10)
LCA returns three juniors who have combined for 150 career starts — Anderson Green (13.5 points), Saxton Howard (12.0) and Hagan Preston (7.6) and helped the Eagles win the All “A” Classic’s 11th Region title last season.
New to the lineup this season will be Henry Clay transfer Payton Mahorn, a 6-8 senior, and Madison Central transfer Kenyatta Harge, a 6-1 senior, who are among the Eagles’ numerous two-sport players coming into practice late after football season. Because of that, Coach Ted Hall expects it to take a little while for the team to come together.
“The Eagles have a good mix of veterans and newcomers,” Hall said. “After being so young the last two years LCA will have more size and overall team speed. There are multiple guys that can stretch the defense with shot making ability so versatility will be a key component for the team.”
6. Madison Southern (19-14)
The Eagles lost just one senior to graduation and their top returnees include leading scorer Jay Rose (21.1 points) along with brothers Zach Hudson (16.2) and Braden Hudson (13.4).
Those three have been a huge part of the Eagles’ success during their careers, including the last three seasons in which they have had a different head coach each year.
Steve Wright, one of Kentucky high school basketball’s winningest coaches, takes over this season. He led South Laurel to a Boys’ Sweet 16 state championship in 2005 and has an overall record of 731-281. His other stops have included Walton-Verona, Southwestern and Montgomery County.
7. Sayre (19-12)
The Spartans bring back 6-7 senior Ian Reesor (14.6 points), their leading scorer, along with 6-2 junior Brock Coffman (11.3 points), who has developed into one of the state’s best playmakers on the football field in addition to being a baseball standout.
From there, Coach Rob Goodman will be looking for bigger contributions from Noah Gallagher, a 6-2 senior; Jaxson Howard, a 6-6 junior; and Luke Pennington, a 5-11 junior and the football team’s quarterback.
“We have a lot of talented players and if they learn to play together and for each other, we could be pretty good,” Goodman said.
8. Madison Central (19-15)
Coach Allen Feldhaus Jr. faces a complete makeover of the Indians after losing 97% of their scoring to graduation. Among the players who will see their roles increase dramatically are 6-6 senior center Tye Thomas, senior guard Eli Steel and junior guards Cody Morrison and Landon Ray.
“We will be very inexperienced and very young,” Feldhaus said. “Hopefully we will improve as the season progresses.”
9. Tates Creek (11-18)
Four starters return for the Commodores — seniors Rae Owsley (7.8 points) a 6-5 forward; Braylon Hinton (7.6), a 6-3 forward; Jamaul Ratchford (2.9), a 5-9 guard; and junior Dawson Garth (7.3), a 5-11 guard. Gone is last season’s leading scorer, Eric Hackett, who accounted for 17.5 points per game.
Coach Jarrod Gay likes this group’s chemistry.
“We are learning how to compete every possession to give our team a chance in the hardest district and region in the state,” he said.
10. Henry Clay (16-15)
Henry Clay returns one starter from a year ago, Kayson Brown (7.0 points), a 6-0 junior, but Coach Daniel Brown believes his team has “tremendous upside moving forward. Expectations are always the same when you wear the Blue Devil uniform.”
ROUNDING OUT
Other teams in order of votes: Western Hills, Scott County, Franklin County, Lafayette, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Model, Berea, Frankfort.
METHODOLOGY
The 11th Region’s 18 coaches were asked to rank the 10 best teams in the 11th Region. The list reflects the rating of the 16 coaches who responded to the “top 10 team” question in the survey.
2023-24 SEASON PREVIEW
This is the sixth of eight stories the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com is publishing in the coming days previewing the 2023-24 high school boys and girls basketball seasons, which are scheduled to tip off Nov. 27.
The online version of this story includes links to each team’s full schedule and roster.
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Who are Kentucky’s top 25 girls high school basketball teams for 2023-24?
Who are Kentucky’s top 25 girls high school basketball players for 2023-24?
