JimThorpe

If Jason Bourne to show up I'm really going to get suspicious.

They should have all been vaccinated as soon as it was available. What's up with our priorities around here? This is BASKETBALL for crying out loud! But seriously it's such a tiny handful vs. the general population. The doses would hardly be missed. And because of the close contact in team sports couldn't we call them "at risk".

B. B. Davis? French High 76. Had a pretty good college career right here at Lamar. Outplayed Carl Malone on one memorable evening in the Bmt Civic Center.

Interesting. That's my thinking. Yates is good, and I"m not just talking about the bigs, it's the whole starting lineup and down the bench. And yet, the China Springs' second half success and the fact that Johnson for Wax Life was fairly effective have sort of given me pause. It's not going to be a cakewalk. I still think they will win, I hope they do anyway. For the honor of Region 3? It's silly but there it is, that prejudice against the Metroplex. And there's "the team that beat the team that beat us" thing. I still claim that French High was the second best 4A football team in Texas in 1975, better than Permian. I love to watch the 4A kids play. Sort of the sweet spot in high school sports.

I remember the last time Silsbee played Argyle. The only colors I saw were maroon and white vs. red and black and I was so proud of the maroon and white that I was busting buttons. But it was a close thing. Taken completely out of their game by a physically stronger team, and shooting way off, somehow the Tigers managed to find a way. I don't think I was ever prouder of the Tigers. But I also appreciated the quality of the opponent and I have to admit that it came come down to a shoot that was about half and inch wide.

Don’t forget that little Liberty Hill, unranked and unheralded, gave Faith all they wanted in the final. Faith trailed at the half and won 53-51on a last second jam by one of Faith’s super freshmen. Those were the two best 4A teams at that moment in the season and they put on a great show. It was the premier game of the whole tourney last year.

The pipeline!

Argyle has good height as well. Can you see our munchkins running around under their feet? When was the last time the Tigers won an opening tip? All four of these teams have better height than the last Silsbee team that won state.

It would be fun to see Yates and FF in a semi-rematch or in the finals for that matter.

Argyle is ahead 28 to 10 at the half.

I'll never forgotten what he did in the Region 3 Final a couple of years ago against Yates. He played his heart out and his contribution to the victory was decisive, he was the difference. Near the end, when he'd given everything he had to give and more, in total exhaustion he got wobbly and just folded up collapsing to the floor. I've never seen such effort and total commitment, right up to the point of endangering himself. That's something very, very special that doesn't come around often.

A little bit of a moral victory for Wax and their star Johnson. He's still in and both of the Yates bigs are out. 30 points in this game. Good player.

What would they have done to the Tigers? I shudder to think. We matchup worse than HJ or Wax. Frankly, I would have hated to see Bush and Martin go out on a 60 point shellacking against a recruited mega team. I suppose things worked out they way they needed to.

But they are calling it pretty close.

Wax has had their moments but Yates is too determined not to have another bad half like last night. In the second half last night Yates scored 33 and China Springs scored 31. I figured there would be heck to pay for the team they played today.

Not too terrible. Lot's of points though. Wax needs to slow things down.

Wax is a better team than China Springs. Watch what happens tomorrow. Wax had enough height to handle us. But they will be totally overwhelmed.

You’ve got to have some size. That’s all there is to it.

No 10? Johnson? He has 12 and no fouls I think.

They weren’t stalling exactly. They were determined not to have a bunch of shots blocked.

A very creditable showing by CS Weren’t they a third place team? Their point guard was amazing. The dynamic was completely different because CS had some height. In San Antonio that trapping stuff is going to be little more than a nuisance. Good full court man defense will serve Yates better. They do look unstoppable.

Based on my handicap methodology it's virtually impossible for Yates to beat China Springs. Here's how it works. China Springs ISD has 2748 kids enrolled. We'll say half are boys so that's a pool of 1374 boys. Houston ISD has 214,175 kids enrolled. We'll say half are boys so that's a pool of 107,087 boys. Yates is a magnet so that's their pool. 107087 / 1374 = 77.9 and that's the handicap. We multiply China Springs final score by 77.9. Let's say the final score on the board is 117 to 69. We apply the handicap and China Springs wins 5379 to 117 and advances to the Regional final in a shocking blowout. Of course what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Assuming our Tigers advance Friday they will face a 1.07 handicap factor in the final because Silsbee ISD is a little bigger China Springs. If the final score on the board is Silsbee 81, China Springs 76 then China Springs will advance to State when the handicap is applied winning 81.32 to 81. Fair's fair after all. Great season Tigers, you came oh so close. And Yates, you've got a lot of work to do guys if you every want to get anywhere. I just don't know where those thousands of points are going to come from in 32 minutes of play. Frankly I'm astounded you made it this far. Might be better to rethink this deal and go with a reasonable zoning plan.

One item of good news is that Life doesn't have much of a height advantage among the starters. Just the Johnson kid who's listed at 6-3. We'll lose the opening tip as usual but I don't see them dominating inside. Johnson did well against Connally and looks like the kind that doesn't easily get in foul trouble either, doesn't make many mistakes. In fact the whole team looks like a group that doesn't make too many mistakes.

One will eliminate the other because they are in the same region. The toughest games Yates faces are against that winner or Argyle. Faith and Argyle played to a tie and Faith won by 2 in overtime. So any of those 3 are indeed capable of giving Yates a good game. Now that Liberty Hill has been upset I don't know about Region 4. But I still think that Lions are that much better. Wise knows he can't roll up those state tourney teams as easily has he's handled Region 3 and he'll have his guys ready for a 4 quarter war. They'll be forced into a more conventional game but they can handle it. I'm pretty confident that the Region 3 teams that are getting steamrolled will at least have the satisfaction of knowing they lost to the eventual state champs.

Objectively I have to rate Wax as the slight favorite. Silsbee hasn't played any ranked competition in a couple of months and the Tigers couldn't win their own district outright. In the playoffs the Tigers have faced weak competition, two third place teams and one fourth place team. Wax beat Alvarado in their last meeting and beat Connolly. Those are both second tier but they are ranked. On the down side was the 1 point win over Palestine which is a lot like our 1 point win over Washington. The Tigers do deserve to be here but of all 4 teams at Region Silsbee has had the easiest road and though the Tigers have the best single player they look the least impressive. If I had to bet the farm I call it Wax by 5.