With Newport High alum Taylen Kinney announcing his intention to turn his back on Kentucky and Louisville and head off to play basketball at Kansas – as we suggested would happen 10 days ago here – and doing so at his old high school Sunday, Northern Kentuckians got a close-up view of the new world of college – and high school – sports. And a bit of the way things were.
It’s a business now. In the old days, before high school players could sign pro contracts and college players could cash in on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals reaching into the millions of dollars for the top players at the top programs, it’s much more likely that the celebrations at Newport High might be for a team heading toward a second straight state title behind blue-chip guard Kinney.
And doing so alongside his two former teammates – James Turner and Griffin Starks – who have now both followed Kinney to national basketball development programs this year with the 6-foot-7 Turner heading to the AZ Compass Prep School in Arizona and the 6-8 Starks to Southeastern Prep in Florida.
Instead, Kinney is going into his second year at Atlanta’s Overtime Elite program, where the minimum pro contract is $100,000 plus a signing bonus and can be worth — with stock and merchandise branding options and trading cards — as much as $1 million. And can allow a young man to buy his mother a new car, which Kinney has done.
As far as basketball, the 6-foot 2 Kinney, who has an adidas shoe deal and now a canned water brand and an Internet meme name as “Mr. 6 7” from a repeated lyric in the song “Doot Doot 6 7” by Skrilla, has only improved his national standing in basketball. He’s ranked the No. 1 point guard in the 2026 class (and 13th player overall). Last season, Kinney averaged 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for Overtime Elite’s Wildcat Select team.
“I just felt like it’s a great fit for me,” Kinney said in a ceremony broadcast live on CBS HQ and the CBS College Basketball Youtube channel where he picked the Jayhawks over home-state UK and Louisville as well as Arkansas, Oregon and Indiana.
“They won the Big 12 Championship 14 years in a row, two National Championships, and have over 30 pros,” Kinney said. “(Coach Bill Self) is a winner. He knows how to get guys to the League. He is going to do special things with DP [Darryn Peterson], and then I am going to come in next and do something special.”
Kinney is expected to succeed Peterson, the No. 1 player in 2025 class and a projected top three NBA draft pick. “Come in and be that guy from day one, be a leader, put the ball in my hands, and I just take control,” Kinney said was the way Kansas recruited him. That may have been the difference, as UK seems to have been more committed to another guard, Deron Rippey Jr., in this class.
Here is how the Kansas 247 PHOG site describes Kinney: “A dynamic passer, ball-handler, playmaker, and scorer. He is crafty with a great feel for the game, is a high-level shot-maker, and someone who can create shots for others around him. He’ll be an instant impact addition for Kansas.”
Here is Kinney’s description: “I’m a good all-around point guard and a winner.” But if you Google him, he comes up as an “Internet Personality” in this new world of social media where Kinney has found a niche – and more than 383,000 followers on Instagram.
And while Kinney’s home state may not benefit from him as a player, Kentucky college basketball fans now have a recruiting story that has had them buzzing for the past two weeks. Kinney’s home was the scene of a much whispered about encounter between UK coach Mark Pope and Louisville coach Pat Kelsey on Sept. 3, the first day for fall basketball in-home recruiting visits.
As the story has gone, both Kentucky coaches were set for an in-home visit with Pope running late and Kelsey deciding since he was there already, he’d go first. And then on his way out, with Pope having arrived, there were words between the two coaches.
By last week, Kelsey allowed himself to joke about it as he talked to a luncheon crowd for the St. X-Trinity game in Louisville when he said he had a dream that he was in a big UFC steel-cage match against Pope.
But then he added, as reported in the Courier-Journal: “You see stuff on social media and things like that . . . heck, man, that dude’s a competitor. I’m a competitor. He’s the head coach at one of the best programs in the country. So am I. We compete on the court. We compete in recruiting. We go at it. But you know what? There’s honor among thieves. We really respect each other. I think Mark Pope is one of the finest human beings in coaching. World-class father, world-class husband, and I still want to tear his face off when we play in November.”
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.