With football and volleyball seasons entering their final stages, the school’s basketball teams are gearing up for the new season with both getting preseason recognition.

The girls and boys basketball teams enter the season ranked 5th and 6th among 5A schools respectively in the annual Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ preseason poll.

Going 31-4 (16-0) overall and a 3rd straight sweep of district teams, the girls had a dominant first season under new head coach, Ross Reedy, finishing 23rd in the state. However, the girls fell to McKinney North 33-29 in the regional quarterfinals.

Reedy said the team doesn’t take much stock in the preseason standings.

“I know it’s sandbagging a little bit,” Reedy said. “But you can’t look too much into these rankings because a lot of it is based off of the previous year. We had a lot of seniors and a lot of people in key positions that are gone. It’s not that we don’t have the talent to back it up. We probably have more talent. But as far as developing chemistry, having leaders, and having a work ethic day in and day out, those are the types of things that determines success.”

The boys team had a record breaking season, reaching a 25-4 (14-2) record, the best in school history under 5th year head coach Marcus Eckert. Finishing 12th in the state and in the top 100 nationally, the boys team also made it to the regional quarterfinals, losing to McKinney in overtime, 55-53.

“Our expectations never change, regardless of rankings,” Eckert said. “Our expectations are to play hard as we can play and to play together. The kids have really bought into that, as far as being an inspiration by the way that they play and not doing it for themselves but to do it for each other, and that’s the overall goal. If we can do that, then the rankings will take care of themselves.”