I'm headed out to Austin in a minute for my annual trip to the Texas Boys High School Basketball tournament. A bunch of guys I know have been going for over 20 years and I'm going for my eighth. For my money it's the greatest show on earth because you know these kids from the small towns live and die for these games. We have a joke about the winners gettin the cheerleaders and the losers destine to be junkies. Of course we have a betting pool where every one (12 people) writes down their team and points before the horn. If two people pick the same difference or the difference is an equal amount from tow players the bet pushes to the championship of that division or finally to the 5A Championship game where we pick the games total points as the tie breaker. With any luck we will get All-American Lamarcus Aldridge versus All-American Daniel Gigson in the 4A final. I'm posting this because I know we all love basketball and this 15 game weekend is about as pure as it gets. If you ever get the chance you gotta go .
I wish I could see Jones play, but I think tickets are hard to get right? How much? Can you only get a tourney package rather than a single game unless you're a student at the school playing?
I'm not going to make it up there until Friday afternoon, but I can't wait -- I love seeing all the different styles of play, and the atmosphere is so fantastic. Last year, Brock was my favorite team -- they're a 3A school from ????? that ran the most beautiful Princeton-style passing offense. Pure as it gets!
The face value of the tournament passes are $50 & $75 the sesssion passes are $10. I assume I can scalp an upper section for around $100 or $150 lower. But remember that's 15 games. I'll post any noteworty events (like Chris Bosch wearing Kendrick Perkins out)
Gene -- Who was that PF from Dunbar who beat up on Perkins last year? He was awesome -- I heard he was an all-american this year, but I haven't gotten the chance to check it out. Thankfully we've got Tournament passes . . . too bad I won't be able to use them until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning?
Jeremis Smith? Didn't he get into some legal trouble? Supposed to be a great athlete, but I don't think he's an AA. So getting a single game ticket would be pretty hard?
My experience is getting tickets is not hard at all. There is a veritable mafia of scalpers that work the crowd hard buying and selling. Of course The marquee match-ups get more expensive for session passes. The TJ Ford games particularly, Fort Worth Dunbar and Port Arthur (formerly Lincoln) were huge crowds. My ride is late for the 8:30 1A game...but we never seem to make that one on time . The second 1 A game features a pair ot twins from Morton who have both signed a letter of intent to Texas Tech as Juniors , It is very very rare for small school kid to even get a division one scholorship much less as juniors.
I think the school nearby mine will be competed for the 5A title. Kind of hard to explain, but they are the "big city" while I live in a small town a few miles away. But anyways, they should be in the tournament. They are from Victoria and the school is called the Memorial Vipers. I think they already played, or are playing right now. I don't know the team all that well, but if you guys want good players to watch for, I think there is a #22 who is pretty good, IIRC, and a #11 who made the paper today. Probably should know a little more about them, but I never have watched them before or anything.
I went to the games in Austin when Klein Forest made it to state back in 2000. They beat Duncanville 59-29 in the first game and lost to Willowridge 59-52 in the championship game. I enjoyed my whole time down there.
Quick repoert before heading out. Daniel Gibson did scored 8 points in the first quarter but then spent the rest of the game fiddlefarting around the top of the key. He played good defense but didn't seem to be an Mc Donalds All american to me. Granted #23 from Lubbock Estacado was in his shirt the whole game but the Jones coach did nothing to free up his star player (like run baseline picks with their 330 pound back-uo center). Houston Jones won but it looks like Dallas Lincoln will smoke them in the 4A final. Chris Bosch was in attendance for his little brother's Dallas Lincoln game. I guess Toronto had a night off. A real good game with Austin LBJ ( 2 pont win after trailing the whole game). Little brother is certainly not Chris but a nice role player
I am from Victoria, they play at 3 today. And here is a little tid bit if info about one player, Cedric Benson's little brother plays for Memorial, I did't go to school their so I haven't followed them much, but its pretty cool that they are there.
I was on Dominic Benson's team at the UT basketball camp a few years ago. He was a great guy(No big head about being the little brother of a guy who, at the time, was considered THE man at UT), but I didn't think he was that good a basketball player. Pretty quick, some hops, but not a very good jumpshot.
Yeah..um...I thought yesterday was Friday. My school planned on a Fun Day today, so yesterday was the last "real day" which made it feel like Friday. I probably should know more about the team. You guys probably know more about the team than I do, and they are only a few miles away from me and also have newspaper articles everyday. I just concentrate more on my team (Bloomington) or a little on my friend's team. (St Joseph High School) Both of us are now in track already, so I don't think much about high school basketball. If anyone knows how they did/are doing, it would be nice to hear. Thanks.
I just got back from Austin -- DAMN, WHAT A DAY!!!! The 1A and 3A finals were dull, but 2A, 4A and 5A were AWESOME!!!!! OFF THE CHAIN!!! 2A - Shallowater vs. Argyle. Shallowater had the lead earlier, but find themselves down 3 with the clock winding down -- the PG (awesome player) drilled a three to send it to overtime. OT came down to a final possesion as well, and Shallowater was able to pull it out. GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT game! 4A - Houston Jones vs. Dallas Lincoln. IMO Lincoln has more talent, and is a "better" team, but Jones hung tough the whole game. Tied it up at 61, got the ball with 14 seconds left. Byron Eaton stole it from (I thought Kendrick Bobb had it, but my friend said it was Daniel Gibson), but missed the layup and the putbacks got missed. In the end, Jones got the ball under their basket with 2.5 seconds left, passed it into the paint (I thought to Jenkins, but again my friend said Gibson -- I think he needs glasses), the player got the shot sent back and just before the clock expired, Arthur Smith (who had missed 6 free throws, and been a non-factor for the most part) threw it up and it went in. Like Connecticut a few years ago when Jake Voskul missed it and Rip Hamilton threw it up and won the game. The place went NUTS!! 5A - Milby vs. Cedar Hill. Hill has a PG (Jason Hart) who was UNREAL. He's gonna be a PLAYER (going to Mizzou, as I heard). He and Juwan McLellan were back and forth all game. At the half, Milby was down by 8 or 10. The tale of the game to that point was rebounding -- the gap was 9 to 19 in favor of Cedar Hill. In the second half, McLellan took over, and other Milby players hit big shots as they started to play like the team that's ranked #4 in the nation. Hart started to slow down, being rotated out defensively, and being used sparingly on offense. Milby took the lead in the third quarter, and at the beginning of the fourth, it was tied up at 50. In the fourth, the game was up and down, neither team got more than a five point lead. Milby went up for good with around 2:20 to go, and held on to win it. All in all, every game I saw was decent, and these three were worth the price of admission. Anyone else have any thoughts? My recaps suck . . .
In the 2A game the star was senior point guard Eric Morris , the Coaches son. He hit an 'icewater' 3 at the buzzer and took control down the lane with 5 seconds left in the overtime. Never bet against a coahces son, they are highly motivated. The kid is signed to Texas Tech but in football as a wide receiver. All the Shallowater folks say he is the next Wes Welker (white 5'9" ?) Daniel Gibson looked much better in the championship game, but looked much more like a jump shooting guard than a point guard (sound familiar?) He actually looked best on defense finally moving over guard Byron Eaton in the 3rd quarter and shutting him down. Lincon had a player named Courvoisiea Jacobs , how cool is that? The 5A was a head to head match-up between division one signess Jawann McClellan vs. Jason Horton . It lived up to the bill with both players carrying their teams. The breaks at the end just went Milby's way . I gess that'w what it take s to close out an udefeated season. 3 days, 15 games, 3 overtimes, 2 buzzer beater victories, whew! I got my $70 worth.
