Kansas Pregame Basketball Rankings

Here's our best guess at the rankings after significant team and schedule research as well as consultation with coaches and media from across the state. A reminder, this is just for fun. Fortunately, sub-state and state tournaments will determine who the best team is in each classification in March and not rankings. 

*Games Thursday night have likely already impacted these rankings and we've added a few notes about those results, and a mention of Friday night's key games, below each corresponding classification.

Boys:

6A Boys
1. Wichita Heights
2. Shawnee Mission Northwest
3. Junction City
4. Blue Valley Northwest
5. Olathe North
6. Olathe West
7. Olathe South
8. Shawnee Mission East
9. Wichita Northwest
10. Blue Valley West

*Junction City is one of the best stories of Class 6A this season and Friday's rivalry match-up with a Manhattan team the Blue Jays lost to by a point just a month ago is a game to watch.

5A Boys
1. Maize South
2. Kapaun-Mt. Carmel
3. Highland Park
4. KC-Piper
5. De Soto
6. Shawnee Heights
7. St. Thomas Aquinas
8. Andover
9. Hutchinson
10. Goddard

*Hutchinson has a pivotal rematch with a Maize team they lost to by three points just a couple weeks back.

4A Boys
1. McPherson
2. Atchison
3. Circle
4. Hugoton
5. Abilene
6. Chanute
7. Fort Scott
8. Ottawa
9. Baldwin
10. Mulvane

*Ottawa, on a three game winning streak, has a tough matchup against a Bonner Springs team that features one of the state's top players in senior Kalen Streit.

3A Boys
1. Cheney
2. Beloit
3. Hesston
4. Goodland
5. Wichita Collegiate
6. Wellsville
7. Ellsworth
8. Sabetha
9. Girard
10. Nemaha Central

*After back-to-back quality wins over Ellsworth and Southeast of Saline, the Beloit Trojans are off Friday, but next Tuesday will travel to Salina to face a Sacred Heart team they beat in overtime on January 23rd. ...Wellsville hosts 14-2 West Franklin Friday giving the Falcons a chance to prove their strength of schedule has them prepared for a battle-tested Eagle squad that went 12 of 18 from beyond the three-point line in a dominant win over Burlington Tuesday night. ...Girard has a pivotal matchup with a Riverton team that fell in overtime to Colgan on Tuesday night, the Trojans beat the Rams 61-58 on January 9th.

2A Boys
1. Sterling
2. Lyndon
3. Moundridge
4. Ell-Saline
5. Sacred Heart
6. Bennington
7. Wichita-Classical
8. St. Mary’s Colgan
9. Medicine Lodge
10. Meade 

*Bennington went out Thursday night and likely mixed-up these rankings on the day of their release with a 62-60 win over Moundridge on the strength of a 39-point outburst from senior Eli Lawson. ...Medicine Lodge saw a nine game win streak end Tuesday night with a two-point loss to Wichita-Trinity Academy 59-57. 

1A-I Boys
1. South Gray
2. Olpe
3. South Central
4. Clifton-Clyde
5. La Crosse
6. Osborne
7. Centralia
8. Bishop Seabury Academy
9. Quinter
10. Central Plains

1A-II Boys
1. Elyria Christian
2. Northern Valley
3. Dighton
4. Axtell
5. Hanover
6. Lebo
7. Logan-Palco
8. Cunningham
9. Cheylin
10. Weskan 

GIRLS:

6A Girls
1. Shawnee Mission South
2. Olathe West
3. Olathe South
4. Blue Valley North
5. Blue Valley Northwest
6. Wichita Heights
7. Derby
8. Washburn Rural
9. Blue Valley
10. Shawnee Mission Northwest

*Derby got a quality win over Hutchinson behind double-digit scoring from Macayla Askew and Destiny Smith and improved to 12-2 on the season and extending their win streak to five games.

5A Girls
1. Andover
2. Topeka-Seaman
3. Emporia
4. Maize South
5. Bishop Carroll
6. St. Thomas Aquinas
7. De Soto
8. St. James Academy
9. Valley Center
10. Shawnee Heights

*St. James Academy kicks off a brutal stretch of games Friday at Aquinas, followed by games at Blue Valley North, at home against Miege, at St. Pius X, and closes out the season at home against Blue Valley Northwest.

4A Girls
1. Bishop Miege
2. Wellington
3. Fort Scott
4. McPherson
5. Wamego
6. Ottawa
7. Labette County
8. Circle
9. Clearwater
10. Eudora

3A Girls
1. Silver Lake
2. Topeka-Hayden
3. Halstead
4. Nemaha Central
5. Rossville
6. Hesston
7. Goodland
8. Anderson County
9. Haven
10. Osage City

*Haven got a quality 55-43 win over Hoisington Thursday night thanks to a 30-point outburst from Sienna DeFrain.

2A Girls
1. Hillsboro
2. Riverside
3. St. Mary’s Colgan
4. Wichita-Independent
5. Wichita County
6. Hoxie
7. Maur Hill 
8. Smith Center
9. Berean Academy
10. Moundridge

1A-I Girls
1. Little River
2. St. John
3. Centralia
4. South Gray
5. Frankfort
6. Clifton-Clyde
7. Olpe
8. Spearville
9. Norwich
10. Osborne

*Osborne fell to league rival St. John's-Beloit/Tipton Thursday night 49-45.

1A-II Girls
1. Hanover
2. Lebo
3. Sharon Springs-Wallace County
4. Bucklin
5. South Haven
6. Hutch-Central Christian 
7. St. John’s Beloit/Tipton
8. Elyria Christian
9. Attica
10. Wheatland/Grinnell

*St. John's Beloit/Tipton beat 10th ranked 1A-DI Osborne Thursday night 49-45.