Twelve different basketball teams from 11 different schools will face off in the 11th season of the King’s Fork Summer League, which gets under way on Thursday at King’s Fork High School.

Like in the past, Bulldogs coach Josh Worrell said he intends this league to be a good situation for coaches to “see what their players are made of.”

He has not tried to change much about the league, but said, “We’ve got some different teams in.”

Churchland, Kecoughtan and Salem high schools are participating this year, and Lakeland High School is coming back after a one-year absence.

Returning from last year are Deep Creek, Heritage, Nansemond River, Oscar Smith and Smithfield high schools, as well as both the Virginia High School League Group 4A state champion and runner-up, I.C. Norcom High School and King’s Fork, respectively.

The total number of teams competing will go from 11 last year to 12 this year as Heritage will field an “A” and a “B” team.

“They wanted to put two teams in,” Worrell said, noting Heritage has a lot of talented players they want to see get experience. “We’ve done that a couple times.”

Each Suffolk school will be in separate, new conferences starting in the 2015-16 season, and each school will get a taste this summer of some of the competition it will face.

The Bulldogs will get a preview of what Deep Creek and Churchland have, the Cavaliers will get an advance look at Norcom and the Warriors will get a sense of Kecoughtan’s strength.

Nansemond River coach Ed Young said he is excited for this summer.

“It’s my favorite season where I can relax a little bit but at the same time use the league to evaluate guys who you have to move up,” he said.

Young noted the Warriors are coming off their first losing season in school history, and “that’s left a bad taste in everybody’s mouths.”

But Nansemond River is entering such a challenging conference at the Group 5A level that Young said his team might be better than it was last season without its record showing it. Obviously, evaluations this summer will be more important than ever.

Lakeland coach Clint Wright plans to use the summer league for maintenance.

“Most importantly, we want to continue to be relevant,” he said, noting he and his team feel like it is returning a fair amount of talent. “We just want to maintain our course.”

While he does not want his players peaking during the summer, well before the winter season, Wright said he does want “to see them get better each and every game.”

Several of his stars are returning, but he is also looking to add a few sophomores to the varsity roster, and “this will be a great opportunity to see where we could potentially try them out at,” he said.

The week of June 28 will not feature any games, but otherwise, the summer league regular season will run from June 11 to July 9, with games taking place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

League playoffs will begin on July 14, with eight games played, and will conclude on July 16, with the semifinals and championship.

The admission fee for spectators of all ages will be $3 for a whole night.

Following is the schedule for the 2015 King’s Fork Summer Basketball League:

June 11

Court 1

6 p.m. Norcom vs. Oscar Smith

7 p.m. Smithfield vs. Churchland

8 p.m. Oscar Smith vs. Heritage A

9 p.m. KFHS vs. Smithfield

Court 2

6 p.m. Heritage A vs. LHS

7 p.m. Heritage B vs. Kecoughtan

8 p.m. Salem vs. Norcom

9 p.m. Churchland vs. Kecoughtan

June 16

Court 1

6 p.m. KFHS vs. NRHS

7 p.m. LHS vs. Norcom

8 p.m. KFHS vs. Churchland

9 p.m. Deep Creek vs. Kecoughtan

Court 2

6 p.m. Deep Creek vs. Churchland

7 p.m. Kecoughtan vs. Oscar Smith

8 p.m. Salem vs. NRHS

9 p.m. Salem vs. LHS

June 18

Court 1

6 p.m. Oscar Smith vs. LHS

7 p.m. Churchland vs. NRHS

8 p.m. Kecoughtan vs. Heritage A

9 p.m. Deep Creek vs. Norcom

Court 2

6 p.m. Heritage B vs. Smithfield

7 p.m. Deep Creek vs. Heritage B

8 p.m. Oscar Smith vs. Salem

9 p.m. KFHS vs. Salem

June 23

Court 1                                                           

6 p.m. Heritage B vs. Churchland

7 p.m. Deep Creek vs. Oscar Smith

8 p.m. Churchland vs. Heritage A

9 p.m. KFHS vs. Heritage A

Court 2

6 p.m. Smithfield vs. NRHS

7 p.m. Kecoughtan vs. LHS

8 p.m. NRHS vs. Deep Creek

9 p.m. Heritage B vs. Norcom

June 25

Court 1                                                           

6 p.m. Deep Creek vs. LHS

7 p.m. Kecoughtan vs. KFHS

8 p.m. Norcom vs. Churchland

Court 2

6 p.m. Smithfield vs. Salem

7 p.m. Oscar Smith vs. NRHS

8 p.m. LHS vs. Smithfield

July 7

Court 1

6 p.m. Salem vs. Heritage A

7 p.m. Oscar Smith vs. Heritage B

8 p.m. KFHS vs. LHS

9 p.m. NRHS vs. Heritage B

Court 2

6 p.m. Kecoughtan vs. Smithfield

7 p.m. Norcom vs. NRHS

8 p.m. Deep Creek vs. Salem

9 p.m. Norcom vs. Heritage A

July 9

Court 1

6 p.m. KFHS vs. Heritage B

7 p.m. Churchland vs. LHS

8 p.m. KFHS vs. Norcom

9 p.m. Heritage A vs. Deep Creek

Court 2

6 p.m. Heritage A vs. Smithfield

7 p.m. Kecoughtan vs. NRHS

8 p.m. Heritage B vs. Salem

9 p.m. Oscar Smith vs. Smithfield