Next level: Curious connection between Dunbar and UK basketball

Via Twitter, Paul Laurence Dunbar boys’ basketball assistant Jonathan Moore reminded folks of an interesting coincidence following UK’s loss to North Carolina in the Elite Eight a couple of weeks ago.

“Since PLD opened its doors UK has never won a national title without a Bulldog on the roster. ... Too bad you didn’t want another one,” Moore tweeted. Dunbar alumnus Cameron Mills was on the Wildcats’ 1996 and 1998 teams while Tod Lanter was a walk-on for the 2012 national champions.

Taveion Hollingsworth, whom Moore referenced in the latter half of his tweet, signed with Western Kentucky University. Hollingsworth told the Herald-Leader in November that UK was following him but that it was waiting on other prospects to make their college choices before deciding to offer him a scholarship. “I just chose the school that wanted me the most,” the Mr. Basketball winner said then.

▪  Rechelle Turner was tabbed as the new women’s basketball coach at Murray State University on March 29. Turner, who played basketball and golfed for Murray State in the early 1990s, is the program’s 12th head coach.

Turner, a Calvert City native, was the girls’ coach at Murray High School for the past 21 seasons. She won 460 games with the Tigers, 20th most in state history.

“It’s not every day that the ideal candidate is just down the road,” Murray State President Bob Davies said in a news release. “I look forward to watching all she’ll accomplish while leading the Racers for many years to come.”

▪  Bryan Station senior David Demarcus will play basketball at Bridgton Academy, a prep school in Maine, next season. Former University of Kentucky center Lukasz Obrzut signed with the Wildcats after playing at Bridgton for the 2002-03 season, his first year of organized basketball in the United States.

▪  Paul Laurence Dunbar senior Autumn Herriford signed with Asbury University on March 27. Herriford averaged 14.4 points and 5.5 rebounds as a senior and joined the 1,000-point club during her final season. She became the fourth member of Asbury’s 2017 signing class from the commonwealth, joining Sarah King (McLean County) and twins Kara and Kelsey Erslan, who graduated from Barbourville in 2014 and are transferring from Eastern Kentucky University.

▪  Western Kentucky University senior Micah Jones finished the season as the leader in assist-to-turnover ratio in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. Jones, who played at Green County, averaged 3.73 assists for every turnover committed this season. She also set a new WKU record with 132 career starts and was part of a team that committed a program-low 371 turnovers.

▪  Manual senior Tonysha Curry committed to the University of Richmond last week. She nearly averaged a double-double (11.3 points and 9.8 rebounds) for the Crimsons.

This story was originally published April 6, 2017 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Next level: Curious connection between Dunbar and UK basketball."