High school basketball starts this week in the state of Kansas. The Kansas Basketball Coaches Association has released its 2022-23 preseason rankings ahead of the action starting this Friday.

After just falling short of the state tournament last season, the Nemaha Central girls come into the new season ranked number five in the state in Class 3A while Sabetha begins the season ranked #4.

In Class 2A, Jackson Heights ranks fourth in the state after going 17-0 in league play and winning the NEKL title. The Valley Heights Mustangs made it to their third consecutive state tournament last year and start the 2022-23 season ranked sixth.

The Centralia Panthers are under new management with head coach Dusty Thompson taking over the team. Last season, they fell just short of a perfect season and look to move past that and start the 2022-23 season off right as the second-ranked team in Class 1A-Division 1. Clifton-Clyde comes into the new year with the number six ranking after making the state tournament a season ago. Last year they clinched their seventh consecutive winning season.

In Class 1A-Division 2, Hanover has established themselves as a powerhouse in high school girls’ sports and their basketball team is no exception. Going into the new season, they are pre-ranked first in the state.

The Sabetha Blujays boys’ basketball team was just one win away from making the state tourney a year ago. This year, they hope to make the big stage and will start the season ranked number four in Class 3A. Expectations are high for Nemaha Central as well as the Thunder have members of their state championship football team coming out for hoops as well. They enter the season ranked number eight in the state.

In Class 1A-Division 1, the Centralia Panthers are ranked number four in the state despite finishing just one game over .500. This is likely due to their red-hot finish to the season when they won the TVL Tournament title. Troy comes off their first state tournament appearance since 1998 and will try to follow that up with another great season. They are pre-ranked number six in the KBCA Preseason rankings. Clifton-Clyde showed it had potential at the beginning of last season. They will hope to put together a really good full season as they come into the year ranked number ten in the state.

The Hanover boys team comes into the season pre-ranked number three in the Class 1A-Division 2 rankings after losing in the state championship by a buzzer beater to Greely County.