Is Madisonville-North Hopkins’ 14-year string of 7th District championships in danger?
History would say that the Maroons don’t rebuild, they reload.
But it would be difficult to find another program that suffered the losses Madisonville has sustained since last season.
“We graduated nine and had one starter that has moved,” said Caleb Nelson, who takes over the head coaching duties from Jon Newton, who stepped down following last season. (Newton is now the baseball head coach at Webster County.)
DeAaron Watkins, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 11.4 points and 7.7 rebounds a game last season as a freshman at Madisonville. But Watkins, who has scholarship offers from East Carolina and Jacksonville State, transferred to Daviess County in the offseason.
That leaves sophomore Lemontae Ratcliff as the team’s leading returning scorer after getting 4.0 points a game last season.
Junior Landen Smith netted 2.8 points in limited action while senior Maverick Peyton scored 2.2 points a night.
But Nelson, a former Maroon player who was previously an interim head coach at Christian County, thinks the team will remain competitive.
“We have a talented, yet inexperienced team with a bench that could go 10-12 deep.”
Madisonville should get a boost with the addition of 6-5 junior Kanyon Johnson, who was the Class 5A District 1 Player of the Year this fall as quarterback of the Maroon football team.
Johnson scored 13.1 points a game last basketball season at Muhlenberg County before transferring to the Hopkins County school.
But the Maroons’ district championship streak could get a stern challenge, with Hopkins County Central, Dawson Springs and Caldwell County all expected to be improved this season.
“Our district will likely be a competitive one this year,” said Nelson. “Several teams are returning starters and looking to contend for a district title.
“Lyon County is the top team in the state and our region. However, there are several teams that are going to be tough this season including Christian County, Henderson, Hopkinsville, UHA, Webster and Trigg County.
“Our region consists of several teams that are well coached and will be tough to beat by the end of the year. We are looking forward to the opportunity that we have to be in the mix of district and region at the end of the year.”
Madisonville-North Hopkins will open the 2023-24 season in the Marshall County Hoopfest on Saturday, Dec. 2, facing the host Marshals.
The first home date is Tuesday, Dec. 5, against Christian County.
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