The Owner's Box, Ep. 52.

Can the Foxboro Warriors win another state championship? The quest starts next week.

We got ambitious with the 52nd episode of The Owner's Box, and I'm glad we did.

Starting on Saturday of last week, I set out to record interviews with the five high school basketball coaches whose games I will be announcing this year for the local cable TV systems for which I work. Yesterday evening, it was "mission accomplished" for the task -- four coaches interviewed after scrimmages in their home gyms and one by telephone.

Somehow, it all came together in a 66-minute production (maybe 12 minutes longer than my usual goal), but when you consider that these were all original material and not canned, that's not bad.

I spoke to the following coaches: Mansfield High boys' coach Mike Vaughan and girls' coach Heather McPherson, Foxboro girls' coach Lisa Downs, and King Philip girls' coach Jeff Miszkiewicz and boys' coach Dave DeStefano. All of them got their teams into the MIAA tournament last year; Downs won the Division 2 state title and Vaughan was the D2 runner-up, so we have a very good cross-section of winning basketball from this part of the state.

We talked about expectations for this year, which vary. Downs and her Warriors have targets on their backs because the top eight players from that championship team return for another try at a title this year (although in Division 3 following an MIAA realignment). Vaughan lost one of his top returning players to a knee injury, and graduation losses have opened the door for new talent. Graduation losses have also impacted the Mansfield girls and both KP teams, but all three have reasons for optimism with talented athletes returning hopeful of stepping up their games.

It's worth the slightly-supersized listening time -- and with the season getting underway tonight and Tuesday, there's no better time for it. Alex Salachi (birthday boy on Dec. 9, as he will get to 70 before I do!) and I will kick off our season of telecasts with a doubleheader between the Mansfield boys and girls and Attleboro on Tuesday, a 5:30 start, live on Mansfield Cable Access. I'll be joining Kate Hill for the call of the Mansfield girls at Foxboro on Friday for Foxboro Cable Access, and our series of KP boys' and girls' games on North TV's Community Channel will start early in January.

Hoop is life, and you'll get plenty of it from me over the next three-plus months -- starting with this very informative podcast. Enjoy.