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<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With his team\u2019s first game a little over five weeks away, first year coach Kyle Jones is excited to see his Harlan County Black Bears tip-off the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, he has a lot of reasons to be excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jones returns a solid nucleus of talent which includes Trent Noah, who many consider the best player in Kentucky\u2019s class of 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Noah isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am really excited and blessed to have the opportunity to coach at Harlan County High School,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur coaching staff and players are really excited to get the season started,\u201d he added. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Entering the 2022-23 campaign, many believe Harlan County has as good of a chance as anyone to dethrone 13th Region champion North Laurel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn paper, our team has a lot of potential, but I tell them potential does not win ball games every night,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAfter 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to really focus on dialing in defensively this year,\u201d he added. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jones said he believes the region is loaded with talented teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel like the region the past couple of years, is as good as I have seen it since the early to mid 90s,\u201d he admitted. \u201cThere 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n