By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
For the first time in a long time, Newport was voted the No. 1 boys basketball team in a preseason poll of Northern Kentucky coaches who are fully aware of the talented players the Wildcats have on their roster.
Last March, Newport won its first 9th Region championship since 2010 and posted a 27-8 record with four underclassmen in the starting lineup. One of the returning players is sophomore point guard Taylen Kinney, who is among the state’s top college prospects in the class of 2026.
Kinney, who averaged 13.9 points, 4.6 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals during his freshman season, has received scholarship offers from several Division I programs, including Purdue, Ohio State, Xavier, Cincinnati, Louisville, Texas A&M, Illinois and Notre Dame.
“He works hard and just needs to keep doing what he’s doing,” coach Snapp said of Kinney’s performance last season. “He knows there’s always room for improvement. He doesn’t just want to be good, he wants to be great. He always says that.”
The other returning guard for the Wildcats is senior Jabari Covington, who averaged 12 points and 4.7 rebounds last season. In the final seconds of the region final, he made a fade away jumper that gave his team a 44-42 win over Cooper.
Newport added another veteran guard to the roster last spring. DeShaun Jackson is a senior transfer who averaged 8.2 points and 8.3 assists for Cincinnati Taft last season.
“He’s a pass-first guy who plays super hard with high energy,” coach Snapp said of Jackson during the team’s summer camps.
The Wildcats will also have good size up front with 6-foot-8 sophomore James Turner and 6-foot-4 juniors DaShaun Anderson and Noah Silverton returning. Turner, who averaged 8.5 points, 2.6 blocks and a team-high 6.5 rebounds, is also drawing interest from Division I college recruiters.
Snapp said depth is a question mark for his team. He’s interested in seeing how much forwards Kegan Farrell and Griffin Starks and guard Amontae Lowe will contribute this season.
Here’s a look at the other Northern Kentucky boys basketball teams ranked in the top 10 in a preseason poll of local coaches:
2. Covington Catholic Colonels
The Colonels will have a revamped lineup following the graduation of three senior starters and the addition of two experienced transfer students in 6-foot-9 senior center Caden Miller and sophomore guard Joe Harney.
The newcomers will join senior guard Brady Hussey, a three-year starter who averaged 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds last season, and sophomore guard Athens McGillis, who played in 31 games as a freshman.
Last season, Harney was a starting guard for Beechwood and Miller was listed among the top boys high school players in Arkansas. He will give the Colonels a stronger presence in the post than they had on last season’s 27-5 team that lost in the 9th Region semifinals.
“His ability to run the break and finish around the rim will provide versatility to our offense and his ability to affect shots on defense will lead to offensive opportunities,” coach Scott Ruthsatz said of Miller, who is drawing the attention of college recruiters.
3. Cooper Jaguars
The Cooper basketball team was a model of perseverance last season. Despite injuries to two of its best players, the Jaguars made it to the 9th Region championship game where they lost on a last-second shot to finish with a 18-13 record.
One of the injured players graduated, but 6-foot-6 senior forward Shaun Pouncy will be back in the lineup after recovering from knee surgery. Due to transfer rules, Pouncy sat out the regular season and then posted a double-double in two district playoff games before going down in the first round of the region tournament.
Sophomore point guard Yamil Rondon stepped up and led the Jaguars to the region final with three-game totals of 55 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds. He finished the season with a team-high 13.5 scoring average. The team’s other returning junior guard is Andy Johnson.
Coach Tim Sullivan is still waiting on football players to join the team in practice. Once they do, he said the Jaguars will be hard to beat “with its ability to play different styles and at different speeds.”
4. Lloyd Juggernauts
One of the top college prospects in Kentucky is Lloyd’s 6-foot-8 junior forward EJ Walker, who has offers from several Division I programs and visited Purdue, Missouri, Butler, Ohio State and Wisconsin over the last few months.
Last season, Walker averaged 14.1 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 56.8 percent (150 of 264) from the field for the Juggernauts, who made it to the 9th Region semifinals and finished with a 19-10 record.
Besides his son, Lloyd coach Michael Walker has junior guards Elijah Collins and Isaiah Sebastian returning. Collins made a team-high 50 3-point goals last season and Sebastian was a double-figure scorer in seven of the last 12 games.
Anthony Blaackar is a sophomore who averaged 5.6 points per game last season and the team added some height when 6-foot-4 junior forward Carter Bresser transferred from Simon Kenton.
5. Highlands Bluebirds
Despite losing two of the top three scorers on last season’s team to graduation, coach Kevin Listerman said the Bluebirds have the potential to continue an impressive five-year run when they won 20 games or more and made it to the 9th Region tournament.
“I like the hunger and grit of this group,” Listerman said. “I am sure we will have a learning curve as we have a lot of new guys in the rotation, but I feel we will be right in the mix of things come tournament time.”
Two players with double-figure scoring averages — Nathan Vinson (16.5) and Brayden Moeves (11.6) — are among the team’s returning starters. Hank Shick, who sat out much of last season with injuries, is another capable scoring and rebounder.
Sophomore guard Vinny Listerman, the coach’s son, will be counted to score and orchestrate the offense.
6. Simon Kenton Pioneers
Senior shooting guard Travis Krohman and junior point guard Jay Bilton give the Pioneers a solid backcourt combination, but they’re the only starters returning from last year’s 22-11 team that made it to the 8th Region semifinals.
Krohman, a Thomas More University recruit, averaged a team-high 15.7 points, shooting 42.5 percent (94 of 221) from 3-point range and 78.6 percent (55 of 70) at the free throw line. Bilton contributed 8.5 points per game and was a defensive standout.
The leading candidates for other starting positions appear to be junior forward Brayden Polly and senior guard Miles Brown, who both saw action in every game last season.
“We have one of the top schedules in the state,” said coach Trent Steiner. “Our goal is to play the best competition to prepare for the end of the year. We will lean heavily on Travis Krohman and Jay Bilton due to the varsity experience they have for us.”
7. Campbell County Camels
After spending nine seasons as an assistant, Brent Sowder takes over as head coach of a Campbell County team that has been a perennial contender in the 10th Region tournament since 2014.
The top three scorers on last season’s 22-12 team graduated. The returnees include senior forwards Conner Weinal and junior point guard Garyn Jackson, who both averaged six points per game and had the team’s highest field goals percentages.
Coach Sowder expects seniors Nate Smith and Brock Sorgenfrei to play bigger roles this season. He said Smith, the football team’s starting quarterback, is a versatile athlete capable of playing any position.
“Losing the scoring power that we did, it will take some time to gel but we have a bunch of great kids who have a high ceiling,” said Sowder, who will also be relying on players coming up from his 21-8 junior varsity team.
8. Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds
NewCath coach Jake Luhn has an aggressive game plan that should help the Thoroughbreds do better than last season when they lost eight of heir last nine games and finished with an 11-19 record.
“We worked tirelessly to develop the necessary weapons to win the 3-point, free throw and turnover battles,” Luhn said. “This happens by constantly putting pressure on the defense with our up-tempo offensive attack coupled with forcing turnovers and taking teams out of their comfort zone defensively.”
The team’s top returning scorers are junior point guard Ian Mann (14.2) and senior forward Caleb Eaglin (13.4), who missed most of last season after breaking both of his wrists. The other varsity veterans include senior JJ Luhn, the coach’s son who averaged 5.6 points per game, along with juniors Louie Collopy and Vinny Petroze.
9. Scott Eagles
Steve Fromeyer enters his eighth season as Scott’s head basketball coach with a 107-107 record and expects to add more wins than losses with a team that has a lot of varsity experience.
“This is a team we’ve been preparing for the last three seasons,” Fromeyer said. “An enormously talented and deep senior class that returns five players who started a significant number of games last season.”
The senior veterans back from last season’s 14-19 campaign include point guard Jon Evans, off guards Dylan Giffen and Xarek Sarakatsannis, forward Conner Griffen and center Carter Eten.
Giffen led the team in scoring last season with a 14.4 average and the other two guards totaled 16.2 points per game. Griffen and Eten both shot better than 65 percent from the field and had combined averages of 14.6 points and 9.1 rebounds.
10. Ryle Raiders
The Raiders have all five starters back from a 10-18 team that won only two games during the final month of last season. Their varsity experience coupled with an intense offseason training program are the reasons coach Nick Dorning expects things to turn out better this year.
“Our guys will be stronger, better conditioned, more skilled, and more confident,” Dorning said. “How that will translate remains to be seen. Our schedule will be quite challenging this season, as we play in an excellent district and region.”
Ryle’s top returning scorers are senior guards Logan Verax (12.0) and junior Landon Lorms (11.6). Both of them are football players who did not start practicing until the playoffs were completed. The other returning starters are point guard Anthony Coppola and forwards Evan Smith and Grady Reynolds.