By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
With pre-season practice for high school basketball getting underway in the next few days, local coaches voted for the top 10 teams and top 10 players in Northern Kentucky boys’ basketball going into the 2016-17 season.
Covington Catholic received 16 of 22 first-place votes to take the No. 1 spot in the team rankings. The Colonels have four of the top five scorers returning from last year’s 9th Region runner-up team that finished with a 28-7 record.
Cooper got the other six first-place votes to place second in the poll. The Jaguars have four starters returning from a 24-5 team that made it to the regional tournament.
Defending 9th Region champion Newport Central Catholic was voted No. 3, followed by Dixie Heights, Campbell County, Conner, Simon Kenton, Holmes, Scott and Holy Cross.
Three of the teams voted to the top 10 will have first-year head coaches in charge of the program this season. The newcomers are Ken Collopy at NewCath, Matt Otte at Conner and Steve Frommeyer at Scott.
Cooper senior guard Sean McNeil was voted the top player in Northern Kentucky by the coaches. Last season, he averaged 16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 88.2 percent (77 of 85) from the free throw line. He recently accepted a scholarship offer from Bellarmine University in Louisville.
Scott senior guard Jake Ohmer, the area’s leading scorer with a 26.2 average last season, was the second leading vote-getter. The next four positions went to guards Cole VonHandorf and CJ Fredrick of CovCath, Adam Kunkel of Cooper and Brennan Hall of NewCath.
The final four players on the list were Conner senior forward Spencer Hemmerich, Campbell County senior forward Cole Hegyi, Dixie Heights senior guard Hunter Meyer and Dixie Heights senior center Reed Bradfield.
Teams and players have six weeks to get ready for the 2016-17 high school basketball season that begins the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3.
Simon Kenton basketball player among top college prospects
Northern Kentucky girls’ high school basketball coaches have not released a pre-season poll of the top players in the area, but Simon Kenton junior guard Ally Niece would likely top the list.
Niece was voted Division I Player of the Year by local coaches the last two seasons and she’s considered one of the top college prospects in the state. She has already received scholarship offers from Xavier, Princeton, Northern Kentucky and Morehead State with several other Division I teams showing an interest.
“All this did not just happen overnight for her,” said SK coach Jeff Stowers said. “She really puts in the time on her game and also maintaining her body for maximum performance.”
The coach said Niece has indicated to others that she would like to make a college commitment before the season starts. That gives her seven weeks to make up her mind before Simon Kenton’s first game against Ryle on Dec. 1.
Niece has scored more than 2,000 points in her high school career that began as an eighth-grader on the Scott High School varsity team. She transferred to Simon Kenton as a freshmen and has scored 1,134 points playing point guard for the Pioneers over the last two seasons.
Last year, Niece averaged a team-high 20.9 points and shot 48.6 percent (201 of 414) from the field for the Pioneers, who made it to the 8th Region final and posted a 24-6 record.
Niece, who was voted first-team all-state last season in a statewide coaches poll, will get a lot of exposure this coming season. Simon Kenton has accepted invitations to play in tournaments all around the state.
“We received invites because of the success of our program, and having Ally didn’t hurt,” coach Stowers said.
All “A” Classic searching for sponsor for small-school playoffs
The Kentucky All “A” Classic is looking for corporate sponsors to support the annual playoffs for small-school teams in basketball and five other sports.
“We’re going to go another year with the way we are,” said Stan Steidel, director and co-founder of the classic. “We may have to trim a little bit here and there, but overall we don’t plan to make any major changes right now.”
Touchstone Energy withdrew as sponsor of the All “A” Classic after the 2014-15 school year and Steidel has been courting a new sponsor ever since.
“We’re still talking to some people, but we’re not ready to close the deal or anything like that at this moment,” he said. “We’ve had presentations that we’ve made and we’re waiting on responses.”
The All “A” Classic began in 1990 as a boys’ basketball tournament for small-school teams in Northern Kentucky. It expanded into statewide playoffs for both boys’ and girls’ basketball teams and eventually included five other sports – baseball, golf, soccer, softball and volleyball.
The classic has been able to meet expenses without a sponsor since volunteers do most of the work. But not having financial support will eventually become a problem, according to Steidel.
“We’re still working on it and still have our hopes up,” he said. “We’re not ready to give up yet, let’s put it that way.”