INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - The Independence Men’s Basketball team continues their upward trend in Coach Jai Steadman’s tenure, as they have been selected to finish 7th in the KJCCC preseason poll. 

The results come as part of a league-wide vote amongst all of the head coaches to determine the predicted order of finish in the league.

Independence is coming off a 12 win season, which was an 11 game improvement from the year prior. They went into the KJCCC tournament as the 10th-seed, and unfortunately made a first round exit. After an offseason that saw the Pirates compete in the Iowa Summer Series and multiple preseason jamborees, the Pirates are excited for an opportunity to rise into the top tier of the Jayhawk conference.

Coming in atop the poll is Coffeyville with 162 votes and six first place votes. Coming in just behind the Red Ravens, tied with 142 votes is reigning conference champion and reigning conference runner up, Cowley and Barton. Coming in at fourth with 123 votes is Hutchinson. 

The next tier begins with Butler who received 95 votes followed by Dodge City with 92 votes in sixth. The Pirates came in at 7th with 87 votes just beating out Garden City who came in at eighth with 85 votes. Cloud County comes in ninth with 82 votes followed by Pratt with 70. 

Rounding out the poll is Colby with 38 votes, Seward County with 36, and finally Fort Hays Tech with 29 votes. 

The Pirates will kick off their 2025-2026 season, Halloween night as they host Labette, along with one other home non-conference matchup against national runner up from a year ago Connors State on November 12th. The Pirates will kick off KJCCC play as they travel to Colby on November 19th, and Coffeyville on November 22nd, followed by their conference home opener on November 25th against Hutchinson. 

The full schedule for the Independence Men’s Basketball team can be found here:

https://www.indypirates.com/sports/mbkb/2025-26/schedule