January 31, 2011 - The 13 annual Cy-fair Athletics Invitational Tournament for Boys and Girls teams will be held April.8-10 at the Cy-fair gyms. This event is for grades 4th to High School. There were over 100 teams that participated in last years event.
How times have changed. During my high school and collegiate career, I never lifted any sort of weights. The theory back then that weights could interfere with your basketball form and touch.
The Top 10 Girls Basketball Rankings for Max Preps; regardless of classification in Texas are:
1.Canyon 22-0
2.Irving MacArthur 25-2
3.Westbury Christian 31-1
4.Cypress Falls 30-1
5.Georgetown 25-3
6.North Crowley 26-3
7.DeSoto 25-5
8.North Shore 19-2
9.Duncanville 25-6
10.Plano West 21-6
Wilt Chamberlain the 7'1" giant of a man who played in the 1950's and 60's NBA was responsible for several rule changes, including widening the lane, as well as changes to rules regarding inbounding the ball and shooting free throws. Even though Chamberlain has the record for most free throw attempts in NBA history, he has the third lowest percentage of all time.
Current coaches from Texas: Leta Andrews from Granbury,Joe Lombard from Canyon and Sue Cannon of Euless Trinity have an overall record of 3,348 wins and 683 losses. This puts each of them in the National Top 10 in games won in the history of High School Girls Basketball.
Elena Delle Doone scored 28 points in her first game back in over a month in Delaware's 81-68 loss to Hofstra. Delle Donne has been leading the nation in scoring at 26/pts a game before missing the last month while recovering from an illness that left her fatigue.
DePaul who defeated # 3 Stanford by 20 points in December gets their shot at Connecticut this Saturday in a key Big East contest. DePaul rated # 9 is tied with U-Conn for the Conference lead.
Brittney Griner from Baylor is averaging 21.9 points per game, but more impressively 4.9 blocks per game.
On February 2nd is the 1st day a high school football player can sign a National Letter of Intent.
January 24, 2011 - The Top 5 teams in College Division 1 Basketball will clash Sunday January 30, when #1 the Baylor Bears clash against the #5 Texas A&M Aggies in College Station,Texas. The game is at noon and will be telvised by Fox Sports Network.
It would be great if the top teams on the summer circuit in Texas could play for a Texas Cup. It could be played in August and would consist of high school players only. The teams could be picked by a committee with 16 top teams participating.
On Friday January.28,Argyle Liberty Chrisitian will travel to Bishop Lynch in an important Tapps 1-5A District contest. Bishop Lynch is the defending 5A State Champions.
The top ranked teams in this weeks Dallas Morning News High School section in the Metroplex are: 5A-DeSoto, 4A-Frisco Wakeland, 3A-Kennedale and Private Schools-Argyle Liberty Christian.
Alexis Jones from Irving MacArthur and the top player in PBR National 2012 class has elected to play for her Dad, David Jones this summer for the Texas Express Elite.
You may register your team for the 12th annual Heart of Texas Showcase on the PBR website. We are anticipating a full schedule of teams, so it would be wise to register your team ASAP.
Did you know that the single season record for most points in a single season in High School Basketball in Texas was accomplished during the 2005 season by Adrian McGowen of Goodrich. She totaled 1,774 points which folks is an average of 53.8 points per game in 33 contests.
Congratulations to Basketball International Congress (BCI) for their 40 year commintment to girls basketball in the U.S.A. There National Headquarters is now located in Oklahoma City,OK.
Just Wondering! Why does some basketball teams choose to foul their opponent in the final seconds of the game, when it is absolutely sure that they are not going to win the game.
January 17, 2011 - Texas`A&M Head Coach Gary Blair has received a three-year contract extension to remain with the Aggies through the 2014-15 season. Overall,Blair is 577-238 in his 26 year coaching career that includes stops at Stephen F.Austin (1985-93) and Arkansas (1993-03)
Kim Mulkey,the Head Womens Basketball Coach at Baylor University since 2000-01 won a NCAA National Championship with the Lady Bears in 2005.Also,she was an All-American point guard at Louisiana Tech,winning two National Championships asa player in 1981 and 1982.
Kristy Curry,the Head Womens Basketball Coach at Texas`Tech since 2006-07 is the first coach to inherit a National Championship-winning team in 1999 while she was Head Coach at Purdue University.
Irving MacArthur High School is the leader in team offense scoring in the DFW Metroplex with an average of 70.2 points per game.
Did you know that Olympian and WNBA All Star Tamika Catchings won a 5A State championship with Duncanville in 1996-97 with a record of 40-0.Catchings followed that up by becoming an All-American at Tennessee in 1997-98. That team ended up winning the NCAA National Championship with a 39-0 record.That folks,is 79-0 between her high school and Freshman year at Tennessee.
The UIL Girls Basketball State Tournament will be held from March.3-5 at the Frank Erwin Center on the campus of the University Of Texas in Austin,Texas
One can get a free profile on Premier Basketball Report website at anytime during the year.
The following teams are ranked # 1 By TABC for the week of January.17.
5A-Cypress Falls 27-1
4A-Canyon 24-0
3A-Kennedale 16-7
2A-Godley 23-2
1A Div.1 Goldthwaite 19-2
1A Div.2 Saltillo 22-0
Large Private School-Houston Westbury Christian 26-1
Small Private School-Sherman Texoma Christian
The Top 10 teams in Texas,regardlesss of classification.
1.Canyon 20-0 6.Georgetown 22-3
2.MacArthur 22-2 7.DeSoto 21-5
3.Westbury Christian 26-1 8.North Shore 17-2
4.Cypress Falls 26-1 9.Duncanville 21-5
5.North Crowley 21-3 10.FB Hightower 24-3
January 10, 2011 - Congratulations to DeSoto HS,Fort Bend Hightower HS and Canyon HS on winning the Dallas Coca Cola,Duncanville Sandra Meadows and Mansfield Rotary tournaments respectialy during the Christmas Holidays in the Metroplex.
Baylor, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas of the Big XII Conference are all ranked in the recent Top 25 in the AP and ESPN polls.
Congratulations also goes out to sisters Nneka and Chiney Okwumike from Cypress High School and Cy-Fair Nike Elite who were instrumental in leading Stanford in stopping Connecticut's 91 game winning streak.
ESPN.com Preseason All Americans Brittney Griner of Baylor and Maya Moore of Connecticut were unanimous selections to the 1st team.
Phoenix Mercury and the Seattle Storm opens the 2011 WNBA season on June.4.The game will be televised by ABC.
Senior Jenzel Nash of Houston Worthing is currently the 2nd leading scorer in the nation averaging 35.5 pts/game. She has a 60% field goal acurracy which I find as outstanding for the number of shots she shoots per game.
Question of the day? Why do some high school coaches go into a stall or a four corner offense when it is obvious they are going to win the game by a large margin with only a few minutes left on the clock.
Did you know? The NCAA adopted the 19 feet,9 inch three point line nationally in 1986.For us old timers, one has to wonder what "Pistol" Pete Maravich from LSU who played from 1966-70 would had averaged if they had that rule back then. Pistol Pete Maravich averaged 44.2 pts/game in his four years and over 50% of his shots were from 25 feet and out.
Check out the Girls Basketball section in the Dallas Morning News who has the updated high school stats for each classification
It is the time of year for summer select teams tryouts for the coming season. You may go to Texas Hoops to see which teams have tryouts.
December 13, 2010 - Premier Basketball Report 2011 rankings had 49 out of the Top 50 players signed National Letters of Intent and 70 out of their Top 100.
Sue Cannon, the head girls basketball coach at Trinity High School in Euless,Texas,is only 30 wins short of 1000 career victories. She should reach this milestone in the 2011-2012 season.
Brooke McCarty of Clear Springs High School and Brianna Turner from Westbury Christian Academy are freshman standouts who are in the Top 40 in scoring in the state of Texas.
Did you know that Rhonda Rompola has coached the SMU Women's Basketball program since 1991. This is her 20th year at the Hilltop.
University of Connecticut Womens Basketball Team is one win short of UCLA Men's Basketball Team 88 game winning streak. They will have to get by a tough Ohio State team on Dec.19 to reach that milestone.
Before Kathy Self-Morgan coached Duncanville High School to a State Championship in 2003, she won 3 Titles at Austin Westlake High School in the 1990's.
Sherri Coale was the head coach at local Norman High School before accepting the head coaching job at the University of Oklahoma in 1996.
Yours truly was a roommate of Bill Brock who is currently the Associate Head Coach at Baylor University, We were teammates from 1972-1974 at Grayson County College.
I have always wondered what is the criteria for student athletes in high school to transfer to another school for academic reasons. I can honestly say that the UIL is vague about this rule. I once witnessed a young lady that played on four different high school teams in her 4 year career.
Jerry's tidbits will return on Jan.10, 2011 following the Christmas holidays. Be sure to attend a holiday tournament from Dec.27-31 for great basketball games. MERRY CHRISTMAS
December 6, 2010 - Have you ever wondered where some NBA teams got their nicknames? The Utah Jazz originated in New Orleans. The Los Angeles Lakers at their beginning was the Minneapolis Lakers. The Philadelphia 76ers were the Syracuse 76ers.By the way, "What is a Knickerbocker?"
Sydney Carter a guard for The Texas A&M Aggies and Samantha Mahnesmith a guard for the SMU Mustangs played their entire AAU career for Texas Express from the ages of 10 to 16 years old. Very rare in todays youth Basketball.
Did you know that their has been only 6 teams in Womens NCAA Basketball history to go undefeated in a single season. Four of them have come from one program. The University of Connecticut won every game in 1994-95,2001-2002,2008-2009 and recently 2009-2010 seasons. The two others were the University of Texas @ Austin in 1985-86 and the Tennessee Vols from 1997-98.
Meagan Simmons,a freshman guard on the Tennessee Volunteers team, set a single game school record with 8 three point shots made in a contest against Lamar University on Dec.1,2010. She is a graduate from Cibola Steele, a suberb of San Antonio,Texas.
Nancy Lieberman nicknamed "Lady Magic" in her playing days at Old Dominion is now the Head Coach of the NBA Development League Texas Legends.She is the first female to serve as Head Coach in the D-League.
Jody Conradt,the retired Womens Head Basketball Coach at the University of Texas @ Austin, averaged 40.0 points per game as a high school player at Goldthwaite High School.
Gary Blair,the Head Basketball Coach at Texas A&M, started his coaching career at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas,Texas. He won 3 State Championships and finished as the runner-up by only two points in his 4 years at the school.
November 29, 2010 - Did you know that the USA TODAY ranks the Sandra Meadow Memorial Arena as one of the Top 5 places in the nation to watch a high school basketball game.
Sandra Meadow of Duncanville HS past won an amazing 134 consecutive wins from December 20,1987 until March 1,1991, setting a state record and tying for the second best nationally.
Alexa Hardick a guard for Bishop Lynch HS from 2007-2010 has the single season 3 point shots made. She converted 171 in the 2010 season. Alexa is now a shooting guard for the University of San Francisco.
Joe Lombard of Canyon HS has an astounding record of 1062 wins and 98 losses for his career. That is an average of 33 wins and 3 losses per season. Wow!
The recent TABC Rankings are out and the #1 teams in each classification are: 5A Cy-Falls, 4A Frisco Wakeland, 3A Liberty Eylau, 2A Brock, 1A Div.I Goldwaite, 1A Div.II Neches, Large Private Schools Westbury Christian and Small Private Schools Sherman Texoma Christian.
The University of Connecticut has top the Associated Press Top 25 Women Poll for the 47th straight week.
The Top 2 teams in the recent Power Rankings in the NBA are San Antonio and Dallas from the state of Texas.
Ron Amboree,the coach of Cy-Fair Nike Elite the last several seasons, is now the Assistant Coach at Prairie View A&M.
TCU has accepted an invitation to join the Big East Confernce in all sports effective July 1, 2012.
Confusion is running rapid in the NCAA regarding the name and number of teams in a Power Conference. The Big XII will soon have 10 teams, the Big 10 will soon have 12 teams. The Pac 10 will have 11 teams. Also just sounds strange that TCU will be playing in the Big East. Money, Money, Money.
The Frisco Fieldhouse USA in Frisco,Texas has 12 floors to host a tournament in their complex. Great place for a National Tounament! The college coaches that have attended a NCAA sanction tournament at the Frisco Fieldhouse USA has said it is the greatest complex in the country today to watch and evaluate players.
November 22, 2010 - Congratulation to Westside Elite President Ray Mickens for being inducted into the Texas A&M Sports Hall of Fame this fall. Coach Mickens was a star defensive back for the Aggie football team in the 1990's.
Did you know that Digger Phelps of ESPN was the head coach at Notre Dame that stopped UCLA's Men's basketball teams 88 game winning streak in 1973.
Dick Vitale, the voice of ESPN basketball was once the head coach of the NBA Detroit Pistons.
Ron Gathright, the owner and President of Team Texas has experience coaching Women's Basketball in the college ranks.
Way back when in 1995 when I began coaching select basketball, there were no cell phones, no internet, no e-mailing or no facebook. The newly invented fax machine was the new way to communicate.
There was a time when college coaches would stand in line after a game during the evaluation period to talk to an AAU coach about a potential college prospect. Of course now that is not legal by NCAA rules.
University of Memphis Head Men's Basketball coach, Josh Pastner got his start in competitive coaching at the age of 19 years old when he coached girls basketball for the AAU Houston
Hoops.
Leta Andrews, the Head Coach of girls basketball at Granbury High School, has over 1300 wins in 48 years of coaching. Well folks, that is an average of 27 wins per season.
Tamika Catchings of WNBA and Olympic basketball fame won an AAU National Championship in 1996 at the 16&U AAU Nationals. Her coaches were current high school coaches, Andy Zilman
of Bishop Lynch and Diana Sager of Colleyville Heritage.
Remember, all high school players can get a free player profile on Premier Basketball Report's website.
Stacy Stephens of University of Texas fame is currently 2nd in all time high school rebounds in a career in the USA. She starred at Winnsboro High School from 1997-2000.
The best pure shooter that I have ever coached in any gender was Alicia Sare who played on the 1998 16&U Texas`Express National Championship team. She would wow the spectators
with her range and consistency. She played her college ball at the University of Texas from 1999-2002.
At one time not too long ago, there was no 3 point line, there was jump balls at ALL tie ups and there was no 2 point free throw after a teams 10th foul. It was one a one and one bonus on the
teams 7th foul. This caused many a college and high school game to last over 2 hours.
Wonder why the great Wilt Chamberlin averaged over 50 points per game in one NBA season? There was no such thing as a 3 second call in the lane. Wilt the Stilt at 7'1" was usually seven
inches taller than his opponent.
Thought of the Day - A great player in high school and select ball will always have the scouts come to them, not travel and spend thousands of dollars to go to the scouts. If they are great, They will come.
I hope that every basketball player, parent or fan have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving Day. We all should sit back and take in what thanks we owe to God for all that he has given us, our health, our family our friends and of course girl's basketball. God is great.
November 15, 2010 - Nicole Kornet of Argyle Liberty Christian HS scored 35 points in the semifinals of the Colleyville HS tournament. She also scored 30 points in the Championship game verses Mansfield Timberview.
The state tournament in Texas for girls basketball is held in Austin every year. The tourney use to be played at old Gregory Gym, but moved into its current location, the Erwin Center in 1987.
Frisco Wakeland won the 1st annual Frisco ISD tournament Championship by defeating Flower Mound HS.
PBR has 47 out of the Top 50 players who have committed to a college or University from Texas as of Monday.
Does anyone remember the West Texas Flyers? Maybe the best AAU team ever. They won two AAU National Runner-Up titles and three AAU National Championships from when they were 12U to 16U. They were coached by Texas Tech star Natalie Richey's dad, Tim. Also on that team was Texas Tech star JoLee Ayers and Casey Jackson, Stanford star T'Nae Theil and Purdue star Erika Valek.
Jalie Mitchell who played high school basketball for Duncanville and select basketball for Texas Express and Team Texas in the 1990's is the all time leading scorer in North Texas University history and is in the schools Sports Hall of Fame
I am still wondering why an USA All Star team was named the Top Team in the country for summer league teams by a certain publication. Tennesse Flight deserved that ranking. The USA All Star team should always be the top team if you are going to include them in the ranking. Hello, slap in the face to the Flight.
Texas Tech assistent coach Sherika Wright was once a high school All-American basketball player at Copperas Cove HS. She went on to star at Purdue University for 4 years.
Cy-Fair Nike Elite owner Al Coleman is resting comfortably after surgury on his appendix and colon last month.
Why is their not a WNBA team in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex?
In 1998 Texas Express 16U Select team scored over 100 points twice in the same AAU National Tournament. Stacy Stepehns, the Texas All-American, was the MVP of the tournament. She had 26 points and 25 rebounds in the Championship Game. This was a long time ago when a real National Champion was won out on the court.
Kudos to a guy I only know as Greenstone who have attended Duncanville girls basketball games since the 1950's.
The University of Arkansas at one time was a member of the old Southwest Conference. They along with Texas,Texas A&M,Baylor,Texas Tech,Rice,TCU and SMU were teams in the league.
Good luck to all the high school and college programs in the USA that the girls and women will be free of injury and good Sportsmanship will be with all the teams,coaches and parents.
November 8, 2010 - Consolidated A&M freshman guard, Blair Schaefer scored 18 points, 9 of 11 from the free throw line and had 2 assist in her Freshman debut. Huntsville, lead by the PBR #7 player in the Sate of Texas, Roneisha Major, won the game 64-61. Roneisha scored 17 points in the victory. Blair is the daughter of Vic Schaefer, Assistant coach for the Texas A&M women's basketball team.
Westbury Christian opened the 2010-11 season with a 102-23 win over Houston Lamar High School. Brianna Turner had 29 points, 3 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 block shots in her high school debut. Amber Orrange, Stanford signee, had 18 points, 8 assist, 3 rebounds and 4 steals. Fallon Ellis, Iowa State signee, also added 15 points.
Marty McClendon, the Head Coach of Team Texas 17's has coached for 31 years in select ball and has over 1040 victories.
Texas Connection- The University of Kansas has 3 players on their roster from the State of Texas. They have 3 players who has given an oral commitment in 2010. Who says Texas kids will not go out of State to play. They will now because there just are not enough colleges in Texas to handle all the great players.
Heart of Texas Showcase was started in 2000 at Southlake High School with 16 teams and 5 scouts in attendence. This years tournament had 155 teams and 120 college scouts. The Heart of Texas tournament name originated from the old Baylor Basketball complex which was called the Heart of Texas Colusiem.
Samantha Morrow,the head coach of UTA, won four 5A state championships from 1998-2001. Erin Grant who is Morrow's assistant at UTA was the starting point guard.
Did you know that Oklahoma's starting shooting guard Whitney Hand beat Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks in a 3 point shooting contest when Hand was a high school senior at Argyle Liberty Christian.
When I played high school basketball years ago, our girls basketball team played 6 on 6. Each team had 3 girls play half court offense and 3 girls play half court defense.
What??? Peyton Adamson a guard at the University of Kansas at Missouri hit 66 three point shots in a row the other day in practice. That has to be some kind of record. I saw Beth Hampton, sister of Lisa Hampton currently at Nolan High School, hit 100 free throws in a row but 66 three poniters in a row. That is unheard of at any level.