Jayhawks picked second on both sides of TRL

PITTSBURG -- Three Rivers League basketball coaches greeted Jayhawk-Linn upon its return by picking the Jayhawks to finish second in both boys' and girls' play in the pre-season poll released by KSEK-FM here Monday.

Crest's boys were picked to finish on top on the boys' side while Oswego was the choice to end St. Paul's three-season reign on the girls' side.

Uniontown was chosen fourth in the girls' poll with Pleasanton fifth. UHS was tabbed sixth on the boys' side while Pleasanton was picked ninth.

Jayhawk-Linn's return after four seasons in the Pioneer League makes the TRL a 10-school league. The boys, fifth in the Pioneer League last season and 10-11 overall, received a first-place vote in the tabulation. Jayhawk girls (14-12), who finished fourth at the Class 2A State Tournament, received the most first-place votes on the girls' side (five).

Neither Jayhawk coach was present at the conference nor was Pleasanton boys' head coach Chris Thomas.

Pleasanton girls' head coach Ethan Sabine noted that he has three returning starters but that of the 19 he expected to report to practice on Monday, 17 of them are freshmen or sophomores. The Blu-Jays finished third in the league last season and were 11-11 overall.

Uniontown head coach Ken Holt expected to have 29 girls report, eight of whom are returning letterwinners. He has five seniors and seven juniors.

"For the first time in a long time, we'll have a veteran ball club," said Holt, whose Eagles finished fourth in the TRL and 10-11 overall last season.

St. Paul head coach Doug Tuck, whose Indians have won the last three league titles, says he does not have any seniors this season, calling it a "new era" for St. Paul basketball. Oswego head coach Neal Cruse has four returning starters, one of whom is a senior. His Indians received the three first-place votes the Jayhawks didn't (Two coaches did not return ballots).

Uniontown head boys' coach Nathan Hinrichs has nine of his top 10 players returning from last year's 5-16 team, which finished eighth in the then nine-team league.

"We have a lot of high-quality kids," Hinrichs said. "I think this will be a balanced league. Even the teams picked at the bottom have good coaching."

Crest is expected to return to the top of the TRL -- the Lancers had won the previous three titles before Oswego broke the streak last year. However, head coach Brent Smith was not available to talk about his team.

The Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League (CNC) poll was also released with Colgan expected to win the boys' title and Girard and Frontenac tying for the top spot in the girls' tabulation.