Basketball coaches spend days with their teams and, perhaps excluding a super-involved parent, always have a better idea where their teams stand early in the season.

I was thinking about how the boys and girls teams at East Wake and Knightdale might fare in the Greater Neuse River Conference this season and based my guesses on how they stacked up against nonconference teams in the opening weeks of the season.

I wasn’t really sure how well I can translate that into league success. They may have played the Enloes or Wakefields early on, but even the Eagles and Wolverines were in experimental mode then.

That’s why I always like to wait until one week of conference play takes place to make a lineup of possible league championship contenders. As of Week One, I’m starting my watch list with the East Wake girls, Knightdale’s boys, and Southeast Raleigh’s girls. And I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say Garner’s boys will be at or very close to the top of the conference list come February.

As of Tuesday, the East Wake girls’ only two losses of the season were to Durham schools Hillside and Riverside – and Warrior coach Toni Vick said Hillside might be the best team her girls face all season long.

Juniors Tianna Knuckles and Shakerrya Morrison seem to keep validating my opinion that with a little extra help from their teammates, they can win big games. With a substantial effort from their teammates, they can win the huge games.

Southeast’s girls, never a sleeper, also started the season 5-2. Their losses came by a combined 15 points to Sanderson and Enloe.

As of Tuesday, Knightdale’s overall record was 4-5, but their conference record of 2-0 is the reason I’m keeping an eye on the Knights. Their win against 1-6, 0-2 East Wake was one I would dismiss, but wasn’t as impressive to me as Tuesday’s win against Smithfield-Selma.

Knightdale coach Battle Watkins wasn’t the first person I’ve heard say the Spartans have truly improved duringthe past couple years. For the Knights to play the Spartans neck-and-neck for three quarters before erupting for a 22-7 fourth quarter for the win was enough to convince me Knightdale plans on being a force this season – win or lose.

And the Garner boys are scary good and it doesn’t surprise me one bit coach Eddie Gray has another team making noise in the area.

The Trojans advanced to 6-0, 2-0 in the league through Tuesday, managing 103 points twice in the six games, including a 103-45 win against East Wake.

The closest anyone came to the Trojans in that time frame was Middle Creek, who Garner dismissed 68-58. The next closest team was Athens Drive, who came up 21 points shy of Garner in the season opener.

I’m looking forward to where the teams stand after the first round of conference games.