By LARRY VAUGHT
To be able to beat Ohio in the annual Battle at the Border, game director Randy Ward knows what kind of roster Kentucky needs.
“To beat Ohio you have got to get the best kids in Kentucky. We only missed on one boy, Trent Noah of Harlan County, because he wanted to go to his prom and I get that. But we have some great players and this year we have size. For a change, we are bigger than Ohio in the boys game,” Ward, a former coach, said.
The BSN Sports Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Game will be April 20 at Thomas More College in northern Kentucky. The girls will play at 5 p.m. and the boys game will follow at 7 — or 20 minutes after the girls game ends.
Ward locked in Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer, Lyon County guard Travis Perry, long before he was named Mr. Basketball or Lyon won its first state championship. The team’s head coach is also Lyon coach Ryan Perry, Travis’ father.
“I saw them at Martin County at a preseason shootout,” Ward said. “Travis was already the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky and I was trying to find out if he would want to play in our game. I talked to his dad and told him we also needed a coach. His dad said Travis would like to play and he would consider coaching and eventually he also said yes.”
Travis Perry, a Kentucky signee, is the marquee name on the roster but his teammate, 6-6 forward Brady Shoulders, is also playing. He will play college basketball at Mercer.
“I think some higher Division I schools are missing out on him. He was the most aggressive rebounder at the state tournament,” Wards said. “He hits the boards, takes the ball to the basket and has a good stroke from 3. I was surprised Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky did not jump all over him. He can guard bigger players and is very, very physical.”
One player who might surprise fans who attend the game is 6-4 guard Emmanuel Dut of Danville Christian Academy. Ward said he reminds him in some ways of Adou Thiero, who has played the last two years at Kentucky.
“He is a great, great athlete. We heard about him, checked on him and really liked what we saw. He runs, jumps, plays defense. He’s just a great athlete who can change a game in a lot of ways.”
Players on the roster who played in the state tournament are Kade Unseld of Warren Central, Christian Doerr of Evangel Christian and Jeremiah Godfrey of Great Crossing. Others on the roster are Daniel Allen of Larue County, Derrell Bateman of Christian County, Tyler Doyle of Lexington Christian, Ayden Evans of Elizabethtown, Jamison Glass of Todd County Central, Max Green of Oldham County, Quel’Ron House of Seneca, Damone King of Desales and Mason Ritter of Bowling Green.
Ohio’s roster is headlined by Mr. Basketball Colin White, an Ohio State signee. He helped Ottawa-Glandorf reach the state semifinals for years and was a starter each season.
He scored over 2,000 points and averaged 24.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.6 steals a game last season when Ottawa-Glandorf went 24-4 record. He is his team’s all-time leading scorer and his team went 95-15 in his four seasons.
“He is really a player that I think fans will enjoy seeing,” Ward said.
The Kentucky girls’ roster is led by Miss Basketball Trinity Rowe of Pikeville. The Southern Mississippi signee scored 2,463 points at Pikeville and had over 1,000 assists — something only four other girls had ever done in Kentucky. She averaged 17.1 points, 7.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.75 steals per game last season and shot 49.9 percent overall from the field and 89.4 percent at the foul line to help Pikeville again win the regional title.
Another familiar name on the roster is McCracken County’s Claire Johnson, a Samford signee.
“She showed again what she could do in the state tourney and I am also surprised some bigger schools did not offer her,” Ward said.
Central Michigan signee Ayanna Darrington, a 6-2 forward, is a “quick, physical player who will be an even better college player than high school player,” according to Ward.
Guard Des Bradley of Hart County is a prolific scorer that Ward says is needed against Ohio.
“The girls’ games are usually really high scoring and she is quick, quick, quick,” the game director said. “In the last 10 minutes of our game, you need a girl who can put the ball in the hole like she can.”
The Kentucky roster also includes 6-5 Ramiya White of Butler, a Kentucky signee, and teammate Mariah Knight, a 6-1 forward. They led Butler to the state title game.
Others on the Kentucky roster are Sarah Baker of Ryle, Hayden Barrier of Montgomery County, Jeannae Bolin of Pleasure Ridge Park, Quinn Eubank of Ryle, Liz Freihofer of Cooper, Anna Hamilton of Cooper, Destiny Jones of Louisville Central, Jasmine Jordan of Boyd County, Sydney Martin of Pulaski County and Abby Varney of Barren County.
Kylee Bruce and Bree Allen of Fairland High School are both 6-0 forwards on the Ohio roster that have impressed Ward. They helped their team reach the state semifinals.
“We think we are going to have two great games,” Ward said. “The Slam-Jam Festival on Friday night is free and the players will be accessible to fans. Before the games start on Saturday night we have a picture session with the kids before they warm up and after the game we always encourage kids to stay and meet with fans.
“Our players always enjoy interacting with the fans and that just helps make the game even more special for everyone.”
More information on the game/tickets is available at https://www.oh-kyallstargame.
“The game has been on local TV in northern Kentucky for the last 10 years and people ask why it has not been on TV in Ohio or maybe in eastern Kentucky or western Kentucky,” Ward said. “Friday night’s event is live streamed. So will the games on Saturday. And if you come to the game, we even give you a program for free.”
Cameron Mills works for the UK Radio Network and was on Kentucky’s 1996 and 1998 national championship teams. However, he admitted he had “no inkling” that former UK teammate Mark Pope was going to be named UK’s new head basketball coach last week.
“I do have evidence that I did say to a friend several days before Mark was hired that I didn’t think it would happen and didn’t think Mark was on top of Mitch Barnhart’s radar because he did not go deep enough in the (NCAA) tournament,” Mills said. “But I told my friend Mark would be a perfect hire.
“I am not denying that Danny Hurley (of Connecticut) or Scott Drew (of Baylor) would have been great. But I am telling you Mark Pope is the perfect hire. He beat Kansas and Baylor last season.”
Pope is 0-2 in NCAA Tournament play but former coach John Calipari was 1-3 in his last three NCAA Tournaments. Mills noted Drew also had early exits from the NCAA Tournament play.
“Mark Pope is a Kentucky boy (player) and program lover,” Mills said. “He is the only former player who could ever be offered the job or take the job. He will absolutely kill it here. Mitch went after the big names and should have. I was shocked when I found out Mark’s name was out there but I am telling you he is perfect for this job.”
Over 21,000 Kentucky fans who filled Rupp Arena for his introductory press conference would seem to agree and Pope said all the right things starting with the jersey he held up.
“Hey, this jersey comes from a hallowed place in my home because it is a jersey I got to wear with my teammates and all of Kentucky in the national championship games in the Meadowlands of New York,” Pope said. “And that’s not just a jersey that will go in the closet. It is a jersey that has blood, sweat, and tears and love and it is all of us together.”
Vince Marrow still remembers the doubts many had when he arrived at Kentucky with new coach Mark Stoops about whether Kentucky could have a consistent winning program. He also quickly realized that the roster Stoops inherited when he got to UK was not talented enough to win.
“You were going to keep us down a little bit but I knew you better enjoy then before we climbed up,” the UK associate coach/recruiting coordinator said. “I can go on and on about teams beating us, but when we started beating those guys it made me feel really good.
“Guys who helped us rebuild this program know that they can always come back here because this is their home.”
Keeping that “home” feeling and maintaining a roster has gotten more difficult in recent years with the transfer portal and NIL.
“We have done a good job keeping the key guys we want here. But even guys that have left, I still love those guys and always hope they do well,” Marrow said. “But they all also know they can always come back and that’s just the way we are here at Kentucky.”
Marrow knows today’s college football is like the NFL with coaches having to be vigilant and always looking ahead.
“I am not saying this happened and I promise it did not happen like this. But we were playing Georgia and looking at all those dudes and this other quarterback (Brock Vandagriff) comes in and he’s poised and making plays,” Marrow said. “I said to one of our coaches, ‘We would love to have this dude on our team.’”
Turns out Vandagriff decided to transfer and is now at Kentucky where he is expected to be the starting quarterback next season.
“It’s just the way it is now when you have a quarterback or running back who is number two or three and feels he is really good that he is going to go into the portal and once they do they are just like NFL free agents and you have free access to pursue. So you have to always be aware of those possibilities,” Marrow said.
“I think we have a young, talented roster and we had a lot of other people poke our guys because they were so good but I think Mark (Stoops) did a really good job maintaining our roster for this season.”
WLEX-TV sports director and BBN Tonight host Keith Farmer has been “super impressed” from what he has seen and heard about new UK football offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.
“His resting heart rate has to be so low and that is how I imagine him being on game day but he brings a toughness with him. He is a very smart guy and I see him getting his points across in a great way,” Farmer said.
“Everything I have seen from where he has been he has success and I expect nothing but that here. He certainly has got weapons on offense.”
He does and UK players seem confident in what he’s done after former offensive coordinator Liam Coen left for the NFL again a few months ago.
“There could have been guys jump in the (transfer) portal and say they were not doing this again with another offensive coordinator,” Farmer said. “Barion Brown, Dane Key are just juniors and are on their third offensive coordinator. But they are sticking with it and showing their loyalty and love of Kentucky football.
“The first chance they had to meet Bush they were all impressed as well by him and seemed very comfortable with him as the offensive coordinator.”
Farmer thinks juniors like Brown, Key and defensive lineman Deone Walker could “drive” the Cats next season.
“You have to think there are juniors on this team who think they have a chance to go pro maybe after this year, so this is kind of like a contract year for them,” he said. “They will want to show the NFL scouts what they can do and that extra drive from very talented players could really pay off for this team.”
True freshman Ty Bryant was one of the major surprises for the Kentucky defense in 2023 when he played almost 300 snaps in 13 games. The Frederick Douglass High School product made three starts, something that does not often happen for a true freshman in the Southeastern Conference.
Bryant was one of UK’s best defenders in a four-game SEC stretch but was not used nearly as much in the final games against South Carolina, Louisville and Clemson when other players got healthy and returned to the field. However, defensive coordinator Brad White said there was one other factor in his reduced playing time.
“Now it just becomes consistency. It’s stacking years. He had a couple of good games. I thought — and he would probably readily admit — that sort of down the stretch when you play a full SEC season and you’re a true freshman and you played as many snaps it kind of probably the monkey jumped on his back,” White.
“And he slowed down a little bit the last couple of games. Now it’s about getting to that point physically and mentally that you can handle the full length and the full load.”
Zion Childress and Jordan Lovett are expected to be the starters at safety but Bryant will be one of the top reserves and likely play even more snaps this season.
Quote of the Week: “Kentucky is the bluest of blue. There’s only a few schools like that, and I hate to tell you … Arkansas is one of them,” John Calipari at his introductory press conference as Arkansas’ new coach.
Quote of the Week 2: “He has done an amazing job just from the energy he brings. If the energy is not right and you are around him, he will get it right quickly,” UK offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan on offensive line coach Eric Wolford.
Quote of the Week 3: “I love his personality. He seems so even keeled on and off the court. He knows it will be difficult in the SEC and there are some teams that are very good but it’s obvious he knows how to win and put a very competitive roster together in a short time,” BBN Tonight host Keith Farmer on new UK women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks.