If Jack Schreiner yells much more, he’s going to lose his voice again.

It’s not Schreiner’s coaching style to be a screamer. He’ll cajole his players and do a little prodding, but he rarely loses his voice from hollering.

He did after last week’s scrimmage, and he could be on the same track if the Free State High boys’ basketball team can’t run its zone offense. At Wednesday’s practice, the Firebirds committed a turnover on seven straight possessions — unable to even shoot against the junior varsity defense.

Another turnover. Schreiner shakes his head.

“Coach, what is that, eight now?” the FSHS head coach asks assistant Chuck Law.

It’s easy to understand Schreiner’s incredulity. The Firebirds are blessed with loads of talent, from a huge backcourt of Dain Dillingham (6-1) and Cole Douglas (6-2) to an oversized frontcourt of forwards Cameron Karlin (6-6), Bijai Jones (6-5) and All-Sunflower League center Keith Wooden (6-9).

When FSHS opens at 7 tonight on the road at Topeka Washburn Rural, expectations will loom large. A 10-11 season won’t cut it this year.

Not with this group.

City boys basketball players, from left, Seabury Academy's Aaron Landis, Lawrence High's Bryan Cargill and Free State High's Keith Wooden.

And especially since Wooden signed a letter of intent with Arizona State University.

This team knows it has expectations to fill like never before.

“They were big last year,” Schreiner said. “Well, maybe not (as big), because we didn’t know how good Dain was going to be.”

The book on the Firebirds is typical of talented high school teams. Lots of offense that loves the razzle-dazzle, defense and bench are suspect. When they started practice, Schreiner told his bunch he didn’t even need to watch them play offense ” if they couldn’t play defense, they would get smoked.

Now, he feels less on edge.

“We’re getting better, we really are,” Schreiner said. “After Friday’s practice, I wasn’t real sure we’d beat anybody.”

After that hoarse-voice practice, it was Dillingham, who amazed last year as a precocious sophomore, who came to Schreiner and asked what he needed to do to make FSHS better. Wooden followed afterward, and things have improved since.

Dillingham, a natural off-guard, will run the point, utilizing his ball-handling and smarts to dictate Free State’s offense. Douglas, large, but surprisingly nimble, is an adept shooter, while Jones is perhaps the team’s best athlete.

Then there’s Wooden.

Naysayers have long called him soft inside — more comfortable floating outside the lane, looking for a jump shot. After a summer of AAU and camps, Wooden does appear more comfortable inside, though he’ll still pull the trigger anywhere inside the three-point line.

But his biggest asset is vision. He could lead FSHS is assists by season’s end.

“It would not surprise me at all,” Schreiner said. “If he draws as much attention as we think he’s going to, and as unselfish as he is, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

Schreiner is also more comfortable with his bench. Senior Collin Schmidt, juniors Adam Bellinder and Will Malcolm and sophomore Brady Morningstar — a skinny sophomore, the team’s best shooter who could start by year’s end — give the Firebirds some depth to push the ball or press on defense.

Lawrence High

What do you do when you lose four starters from an 18-5 team that qualified for the school’s first state tournament in seven years?

You focus on defense.

The Lions, who shared the Sunflower League title last season with Olathe South, have size, good athletes and an intimidating presence in the middle in 7-0 senior Brad Collier.

So LHS coach Chris Davis, 33-12 entering his third season, wants his team to acclimate — starting with Saturday night’s home game against Topeka High — and become a dangerous team by late February.

“That’s the number-one thing,” he said. “The first half of the season is to get experience.”

Senior Brandon McAnderson (6-1) is the returning starter, but senior Bryan Cargill (6-1), also saw extensive playing time last year. That’s about it. Senior Derrick Newman (6-4) is an agile 270 pounds, and with seniors Chris Fulton (6-2) and Brian Seymour (6-3) coming off the bench, the Lions can out-muscle just about anybody.

“We’ve got a hard edge to us,” Davis said. “Take Newman and Collier and Fulton and Seymour inside, and those are tough, hard-nosed kids that play great defense. Few teams are going to want to mess with that.”

That leaves junior Taylor Parker (5-7) to run the show. He’s still shaking off the effects of a broken hand suffered during football season, but you’d never tell by his ball-handling skills. Deft on the fast break or running a half-court offense, Parker’s going to be the glue for the Lions. Don’t be surprised if he plays every minute.

“Since he was in seventh grade, he religiously worked on his ball-handling skills,” Davis said. “He’s really talented controlling the ball and knowing where it’s supposed to go.”

If the Lions can just put the ball in the hole, they could end up surprising teams by the end of the season.

Seabury Academy

For six years now, Seahawks coach Marcus Heckman has been working with this year’s seniors, Kris Finger, Sean Hill and Aaron Landis.

That’s right, six years.

Heckman came to Seabury as the junior high boys coach, then became the varsity coach when those three went to high school. Now, in the Seahawks first season as a Kansas State High School Activities Assn. school, that could be the biggest advantage Seabury has this year.

“We’ve been doing the same thing for six years,” Heckman said. “It’s a quirk that just allowed me to go through the system with the kids.”

Finger (5-10) and Landis (6-3) are also the only upperclassmen starters. Sophomore Steven King (6-1) and freshmen Adam Davis (6-0) and Grayson Dillon (6-1) make up a group that begins its season at 6:30 p.m. today at Williamsburg.

The Seahawks were 9-8 last year, but this season’s schedule provides a tougher task for the small Class 1A school, including games at McLouth, Lebo and a home game against Waverly.

“The games we’re excited about are the public-schools games,” Heckman said. “It’s hard for me to say if we were successful in the Christian league, because it’s apples and oranges. It’s not the same league, and I don’t mean that as a negative.”

The Seahawks should be OK with their size alone. Eight of their 11 players stand 6-feet or taller — and they’re not stiffs.

“It’s not bad height for a small school,” Heckman said. “And one of the things that’s really unique is that they can move.”