Patience.

The Herald's boys and girls basketball league preview is on its way. Subscribers and single-copy buyers will have it in their hands by the end of the week.

In the meantime, I've been enjoying my time catching up to a lot of the area coaches and chatting basketball with them. We really do have some terrific coaches around the Tri-Cities. Unfortunately, that sometimes gets taken for granted.

But I, for one, am grateful to watch great basketball night in and night out. Last season was an unforgettable one, most notably for the Kamiakin boys and girls teams, who each placed at the 3A state tournament.

But the Braves boys team will certainly have its share of competition this season. I was looking at the scoring list from last year, and it looks like four of the top five scorers in the CBBN 3A from last season are back. Overall, 10 players return who averaged at least 10 points a game. And that's just in the CBBN 3A.

You thought the Kamiakin-Kennewick football game was exciting? The Braves-Lions basketball matchup could be just as rewarding. Both teams are playing at a very high level right now, and the season is still early. Who knows how good they can be at the end?

Southridge is coming off its first state appearance since 2007 and will be a much deeper team this season. Hanford returns one of the strongest guard tandems in the league in Jalen DeVine and Bear Braich. Sunnyside started out 3-0 and nearly took down top-ranked Davis on Saturday before running out of gas in the end. West Valley returns four starters off a team that was improving at the end of last season.

Expect great things from some great teams. See you out there!