They nearly stopped Madisonville from repeating as 2nd Region champions in March, falling by three points in the regional semifinals. In fact, they were the only team to play the Maroons to within ten points over the final two months of the season. With Madisonville suffering significant graduation losses, many believe that the mantle of “preseason 2nd Region favorite” falls squarely on the head of 1st year coach Toby Miles and the Christian County Colonels.
The Colonels, who won the 8th District title, got things going late in the season after dealing with a brutal schedule and a long laundry list of injuries over the course of the season.
While the talent list is long for 2021, there are some big shoes that the Colonels will have to fill if they hope to make a run at Rupp come March.
The first set of shoes to fill is on the bench. Former head coach Kerry Stovall is now the district athletic director for the Christian County Public Schools. Toby Miles takes over the helm of the Colonels program, after a year as an assistant coach at Trigg County. Miles has previously been the head coach at Hopkins Central and had a coaching stint in Tennessee.
Stephen Bussell, Mikeon Mathis, and Kobe Dillard-Watkins have graduated, taking 37.2 points per game with them. However, with the injuries last season, several younger Colonels saw playing time and should be ready to see their roles increase in 2021.
The big question for Christian County could be the status of big man Olajuwon White, who has not been a part of the program so far this school year, after averaging 10 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest last year.
One of the players expected to play a big role for the Colonels this year is Qua Chambers. Due to injury, Chambers saw action in only 19 games last season, averaging 8.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Herb Forte played in 21 games for Christian County, finishing the year with an average of 2 points and 2.7 rebounds.
Jalil Farrow saw action in 32 games last season and you can expect his contributions to increase significantly for the Colonels this year. Bubba Leavell averaged 6.2 points per game last year and should be one of the top scorers this season for Christian County.
Other players expected to have a chance to shine this season will be Kevarius Vaughn, Kevontrez Vaughn, and Darrin Bussell.
With the arrival of Coach Miles, comes his son Jordan Miles, who led Trigg County in scoring last season as an 8th grader with 12.3 points per game. Miles should add some depth and scoring in the backcourt.
The Colonels appear to be solid defensively, and will like to get up and down the court. The key for the season could be finding a way to get the ball consistently to find the basket, and to keep opponents off the glass. If those two things work out, Christian County could have a good chance to cut down the nets in Madisonville at season’s end.
The 8th District figures to be a slugfest. Both UHA and Hoptown have plenty of talent, which means one very good team will not even make it to the 2021 regional tournament.
Outside of the district schedule, the Colonels are set to face South Warren, Paducah Tilghman, McCracken County, Owensboro Catholic, Madisonville, Bowling Green, Henderson County, and Greenwood, in yet another difficult schedule, especially when factoring in the possibility of cancellations, postponements, additions, and stoppages due to COVID protocols.
Christian County finished the 2019-2020 season with a record of 15-17.
The Colonels are set to open the season January 8, at home against South Warren.
YourSportsEdge.Com recently spoke with Coach Toby Miles about the upcoming basketball season.
