Northern Kentucky’s all-time leading boys’ basketball scorer Jacob Meyer of Holy Cross, the nation’s leading high school scorer the last two years, may not be able to play in this weekend’s Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Games in Owensboro Friday and Indianapolis Saturday. After not playing in last Saturday’s game against Kentucky’s Juniors team, Meyer said “I had to report to college (Coastal Carolina) last weekend so I couldn’t make that. I’m trying to work it out for this weekend but I’m not 100 percent sure because we have team workouts . . . I would love to represent Kentucky this weekend but not sure yet, not sure if I can make it back.”
With the defection already from CovCath’s Evan Ipsaro (Miami of Ohio) and Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball, Reed Sheppard (Kentucky), that really takes a bite out of what many thought would be the strongest backcourt in Kentucky history for this series. Ipsaro starts school Sunday at Miami and Sheppard has been getting ready for Kentucky’s summer trip to Canada which has had the Wildcats working out twice a day in Lexington. He’s also scheduled to start summer school. So that helps explain why there were just eight players for Kentucky in their 144-100 win over the Junior All-Stars Saturday.
• ABA SELM TALKING WILLIE RODRIGUEZ: The focus is on Simon Kenton’s Aba Selm, the second football commitment (of three) for the Class of 2024 to the UK Wildcats. And why not? The officially 6-foot-4 (although maybe closer to 6-5 now), 295-pound senior-to-be two-way lineman and soon-to-be four-year starter was the subject of an extensive profile in the Louisville Courier-Journal last weekend. But the Pioneer star had committed to UK way back on Feb. 2.
Of UK’s three current commits, Selm is ranked behind only 6-5 quarterback Cutter Boley of Lexington Christian and is the No. 2 prospect overall in Kentucky as a three-star prospect ranked by 247 Sports as the nation’s No. 33 offensive line prospect in the 2024 Class and the No. 572 prospect overall.
“I just think UK fans are gonna’ really like this kid,” the Courier-Journal quoted Simon Kenton Coach Roy Lucas. “I think Kentucky fans will be very excited for him, being an in-state player, and just the kind of kid he is. I think he’s gonna’ be somebody they’ll really root for.”
But it was interesting how much Selm talked like a Wildcat recruiter in saying how much he wants fellow Northern Kentuckian, Covington Catholic tight end Willie Rodriguez, to join him in Lexington.
But first, listen to how Lucas complimented Selm: “He really doesn’t struggle, especially for a lineman, from the conditioning standpoint. He doesn’t struggle because he’s so athletic and he’s in such good shape. I think once he gets around the college coaches and gets that daily coaching in that aspect, he’s just going to continue to improve.”
As for Rodriguez, the fast-rising 6-4, 240-pound tight end/linebacker/wrestler who has attracted the attention of 37 schools thus far, it should be an interesting few months with UK, Appalachian State, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Louisville, Purdue, South Florida, South Carolina, Texas Tech, Illinois, Liberty, Ole Miss, Coastal Carolina, Army, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Central Florida, Duke, Minnesota, Syracuse, UAB and Marshall all having offered scholarships to Rodriguez who has had official visits to Purdue and UK in June.
Rodriguez, like Selm, is ranked as a three-star by 247 sports as Kentucky’s No 6 overall prospect and the nation’s No. 38 tight end.
In April, Willie also made a visit to Notre Dame with a family photo of Willie in a Notre Dame uniform, No. 10, that was re-tweeted by now Notre Dame quarterbacks coach, Gino Guidugli, the former Highlands and UC star and assistant coach who is now in South Bend.
• TOUGH AIR FOR FOOTBALL VIEWING? Going to be an interesting challenge for the East-West All-Star Football Game Thursday night at Dixie Heights with the smoke from the Canadian wildfires still hanging in the air in Northern Kentucky. Went through this once covering a USC game at the LA Coliseum during the Southern California fires and it does become a factor for people with health conditions – mostly spectators – who might be better off staying inside until the smoke blows over.
For the players in good health, as much as they exert themselves, it doesn’t seem to be as much a concern, according to health experts. The hope here is that with two all-star games next week – baseball on Monday at 5 and 7:30 for the juniors’ and seniors’ games, and softball on Tuesday, for games at 5 and 7, the wildfire smoke will have blown away over the weekend.
• DRAUD MOVES ON FROM HOOPS: Scotty Draud, who held the Northern Kentucky boys’ high school basketball scoring record until this year when Jacob Meyer eclipsed it, has retired from basketball, according to Thomas More Coach Justin Ray. A sophomore who transferred from Kentucky Wesleyan, Draud averaged 1.7 points in 8.4 minutes a game in his 20 games for the Saints this past season.