Another competitive season is ahead on the basketball court, and before the season starts, the coaches/media have voted on which teams they believe are the early season contenders.

The early season favorite in Class 4A is Kelly Walsh, with Gillette not far behind them. Once again these 2 teams are not on each other's schedules, but should face some good non-conference competition early in the season. Defending champ Cheyenne Central and last season's runner-up Cheyenne South rank #3 and #4. Both teams will spend December playing out of state competition. The Bison don't play on opening weekend.  Sheridan claims the #5 spot to start the season. The Broncs might cross paths with top ranked KW on opening weekend in Riverton.

The 3A season will start the way last season ended. Worland claimed its first title in 95 years and they start their title defense, against the team they beat in the championship game. Douglas starts the season ranked #1, while the Warriors are #3. Based on the votes, many of the voters believe Riverton will make an impact in their first year of 3A, hence the Wolverines are #2, but will open the season vs. 4A competition. Rawlins and Cody had good finishes last season. Both will try to get the new season off to a good start vs. each other on opening weekend. 11 of the 16 3A received votes in the pre-season poll.

Pine Bluffs swarms all over the 2A rankings. The defending champ Hornets are the unanimous #1 ranked team to start the new season. Tough tests await them, as they will be in Burns, along with #2 Wind River and #4 Wyoming Indian. #3 Big Horn will see the other 3 mentioned teams before they start conference play. Before that, they will start out in Glenrock, with a game vs. #5 Greybull, who is looking to build off of last year's 3rd place finish.

1A voting was a bit low in voting numbers, but enough to establish a top 5. For the 5th year in a row, the Burlington Huskies start the season at #1. The Huskies are the 3-time defending champs, and until some 1A can beat them, they will stay that way. Behind Burlington is Kaycee at #2, followed by Farson-Eden, Dubois, and Little Snake River. As mentioned, voting was low and the rankings were close.

Disclaimer: The rankings have no official say on post-season positioning, and are only to be used as a measuring stick on the regular season. Please don't read too much into the rankings.

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