Upcoming season ... perplexing

The local basketball season is still practically brand new and I'm already frustrated. Perhaps frustrated isn't the correct word. I'm perplexed.
El Dorado's girls are going to be good this year. They've already had a historic win over Star City last week. The Lady Wildcats have depth and scoring and, potentially, a go-to player in sophomore Mekaylan Hicks.
"I can't tell you or the fans or the girls how proud I am of them for maintaining their composure and making the stops defensively and making the pressure shots we needed to make at the end. It was a lot of chances for us to fold when Star City started coming back but this shows us we have grown," said El Dorado coach Stephen Harshaw. "We are continuing to grow and I'm exceptionally proud and happy."
The thing that's a concern with El Dorado is youth. Harshaw actually benched Hicks for a quarter in the first half against Star City because of a youthful moment. The Lady Wildcats will lean heavily on sophomores, which can be both exciting and frightening at the same time.
In the same boat is Henry Harrell at Junction City. The Lady Dragons are my pick to win the conference championship this season. That is, if they can find some consistency. Early in the year, the team has struggled to put two good halves together, which is ... perplexing.
Make no mistake, when the Lady Dragons are clicking, they are fun to watch and an absolute nightmare to go up against. But, they're either red-hot or ice cold. They'd better find the luke-warm to warm setting or Harrell will be gray-headed by the time February rolls around, which will be a neat trick since he's bald.
Speaking of hot-and-cold, Parkers Chapel is a hot 3-point shooting night away from beating most folks. Unfortunately, the Lady Trojans look to be 3-pointers or bust this season. They miss Caleh Wall and are going to really miss her once the conference season commences unless someone steps inside to fill that void. Lauren Brumley's health is always a concern at PC along with the Madison twins, who seem to be taking turns at the injury table.
The Lady Trojans have to get healthy and stay that way. They have to shoot the 3-ball consistently. They have to find a way to score when a defense takes away their perimeter game.
That's quite a few "have-to" scenarios for PC. We'll see.
I haven't seen Strong, yet. The Lady Bulldogs, on paper, return the most of any of the county schools from a year ago with Charria Perry, Moesha Thrower and LaTina Davis, among others. Then again, perhaps they lost the most when Coach Johnny Jackson left for Camden Fairview.
The Lady Bulldogs are the most perplexing team, to me, because of new coach Jason Porter, who will implement his own style. It's still to be determined how Porter and the returning players mesh. A lopsided loss to Crossett wasn't a good sign.
I don't have much to say about Smackover and Norphlet.
I will predict, though, the Lady Bucks will give Mikey Moss his first senior girls victory this season.
Don't know anything about the Lady Leopards, including the head coach. No one has called me and, obviously, I haven't made much of an effort to get information.
What can I say? I'm getting old and bull-headed, which should make for a perplexing season.