With his team’s first game less than a week away, first year coach Kyle Jones is excited to see his Harlan County Black Bears tip-off the season.
And, he has a lot of reasons to be excited.
Jones returns a solid nucleus of talent which includes Trent Noah, who many consider the best player in Kentucky’s class of 2024.
But Noah isn’t the only Black Bear that is turning heads. Sophomore Maddux Huff had an outstanding summer while Daniel Carmical and Jonah Swanner are ready to lead Harlan County as well along with a wealth of talent that is returning.
“I am really excited and blessed to have the opportunity to coach at Harlan County High School,” Jones said. “The transition at first was a little difficult, like anything when something is new or different, but having the opportunity to be around them and coach them this summer was beneficial for both myself, and the entire team.
“Our coaching staff and players are really excited to get the season started,” he added. “We have worked hard for the past several months in the weight room at getting stronger as a team. Several of our kids has put in a lot of extra time individually at improving things they needed to work on from last season and during summer play.”
Entering the 2022-23 campaign, many believe Harlan County has as good of a chance as anyone to dethrone 13th Region champion North Laurel.
“On paper, our team has a lot of potential, but I tell them potential does not win ball games every night,” Jones said. “After the disappointing loss to Bell County last year in the district, these kids realize you have to play with an edge every night and developing that edge starts in practice.
“We have to really focus on dialing in defensively this year,” he added. “We should be able to score the basketball with a lot of teams. The really good teams may have an off night shooting the basketball, but they are always locked in on the defensive end of the floor.”
Jones said he believes the region is loaded with talented teams.
“I feel like the region the past couple of years, is as good as I have seen it since the early to mid 90s,” he admitted. “There is a lot of talented teams as well as individually talented players. I think our team can definitely make a run, with improvement on both ends of the floor. North is going to be the favorite, and they should be with (Reed) Sheppard, (Ryan) Davidson, and (Brody) Brock coming back, but I feel like us, along with a few other teams, can make a run at them by the end of the year.
“Having players like Trent Noah, Maddox Huff who are both in my opinion towards the top of there classes in Kentucky,” he added. “Trent has really focused on his body in the off-season. He has leaned up, and is moving and jumping much better than last season. He is a special talent. You add both Carmical , who is one of the best 3-point shooters in the state, and Jonah Swanner, who is one of the best athletes in the mountain region, and we have a chance to be really good this year.”
