JimThorpe

Normally I'd be for our district but not this time. Silsbee would have a much better chance against Midlothian. HJ has handled Silsbee easily twice this year and would be the prohibitive favorite on Saturday. It's just got to be true that you have a better chance of upsetting the team that just upset the overall favorite than upsetting the favorite. But my prediction is an 20 point win for HJ at 65-45, because they are just that good. They've been stomping everybody since December. There's that inexplicable 13 point margin one time against Lumberton that's the only ding.

Silsbee by 5. Several lead changes. 65-60 Nail biter.

After an opening run nothing seemed to be going quite right for the Lady Tigers. Miscues and almosts. Lots of turnovers. But every time Sweeny would draw near Silsbee would pull back ahead. They never relinquished the lead and pulled away at the end. It's been a long time coming. Congratulations Lady Tigers!

Friday? That's terrible! There's a better than even chance that girls will be in Huntsville that night. Why can't it be Thursday? We can play at their gym if they like. I know that we were just the runner up and Sweeny won their district. But Sweeny isn't even ranked in the top 25. Silsbee is No. 11 and has to be the favorite. Fairfield is ranked and the Regional Semi will be a very good game. That will be a difficult choice. Well, tough decisions are the prerogative of true fanship.

70 — 31 at the half.

I can tell you this much, 3 of the 4 at state will be capable of wining it. Region 4? Not so much. If Silsbee is one them then objectively they would have to be considered the favorite based on their ranking in the coaches pole and experience in the post season. No boys team has played as many Playoff games in the last 3 years.

It is a playoff game. Huntington played a decent game last year. Anyway, I hope it’s not like clubbing baby seals.

Don’t count Argyle out I’m Reg 1. A rematch would be sweet.

Better than the 77 pt margin in the first meeting. Some of that is Devon sitting out and some of it is Lumberton having experienced the speed and quickness once. A good warm up for Lumberton, like swinging a 20 pound donut in the on deck circle. Shepard will seem to be in slow motion by comparison.

I've said it before, playing the Tigers will be like swinging a bat with a 20 pound donut in the on deck circle. No runner up team in Region 3 is anything like Silsbee so the first round should be all downhill for the Raiders.

Don't know why I thought of this, but the amazing run has been a little rough on the other teams in district 22-4A. We've pretty much just stampeded through district competition lately. Anyway, best of luck to HJ, Lumberton and WOS. Looking for first round wins for everybody.

30-2? Ouch. We had a big lead in the first and put in the subs with about 4 min left and they came roaring back. To me they looked better.

A little tribute to the Longhorns. Hamshire Fannett is playing a good deal better now than at the start of district play. First time out we beat them by 93 with a running clock in the 4th. Last week the spread was 67 with the Longhorns scoring 57. And they were 57 honest points. They only trailed by 10 at the end of the first quarter. HF was scoring often enough that there wasn't really a need to run the clock. HJ beat them by 64 first time out and here the spread was 43. There are subs in the closing minutes of course, but still, it's improvement. Winning state championships like HJ and Silsbee have done is heady stuff. But the really real thing is to be better than your previous best. I think that Longhorns have achieved that.

What about the future? How far can United go? Nobody in 3 is ranked higher than North Shore going into this game. San Antonio? In the first year of existence? Surely it will be either United or North Shore. Memorial has climbed to No. 7. They are the highest ranked team in Region 3 with Barbers Hill right behind. Silsbee of course is the highest ranked team in Region 3 and I think the favorite to go to San Antonio. Three area schools at the State Tournament? That would be remarkable. I hope it happens. FYI. I'm stretching it a bit and claiming North Shore and Barbers Hill each as an "area school" but I refuse to call Yates that. How's that for selective logic!

Huge win. At this point in the season WOS is better than their record. To go in there and pull out an OT win is a pretty big thing. And getting to play the runner up rather than the district winner is even huger. Is that a word? Finishing district at 8-4, not bad at all. And I'm expecting a much more competitive game on Tuesday than that ugly thing at our gym. Watch the passing. Anything, a 10 second violation, getting tied up, anything at all is better than a questionable pass that results in a quick layup the other way.

I'm not sure about it but here's something anecdotal. In my opinion the most exciting game the Silsbee Tigers have played in the last four years was the 46-45 win over Argyle in the 2017 semifinal. No. 1 ranked Silsbee was averaging 105 points per game in a 15 game win streak coming in. But the No. 10 ranked Eagles weren't intimidated in the least and Argyle set the tempo early and kept it to their liking the whole game. It was tight all the way with 18 lead changes. Argyle led 12 - 9 at the end of one. Silsbee had a better 2nd qtr. and led 27-23 at the half. Argyle took the lead back 33 - 31 at the end of 3. Yea, you read right, the Tigers scored all of 4 POINTS in the third quarter. The Eagles weren't slow just very deliberate and virtually immune to Silsbee's patented pressure defense. It was obviously a huge win for the Tigers and perhaps the most emotional. Taken completely out of their comfort zone, trailing going into the 4th quarter, they found a way. Trajan Harris's 2 clutch free throws to tie and take the lead with seconds left are the highlight for Silsbee. The Tiger's lowest scoring game in years is also one of their most important wins.

Tigers increased lead in the 3rd by 15 without Devon and mostly without Adams and Martin.

Lot of shots rimming out. Playing good defense. Bears are putting up a good fight.

If WOS wins it will likely be a tie for third. Then a playoff?

Passing may be the most important single element for the Tigers going into the playoffs. The 3's may not be falling and the matchups may be bad but there's two things you can always do, hustle and make good passes. When the Silsbee passing game is clicking it's a thing of beauty. For Tigers fans tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters are a waste of money. I think the Hawks should experiment with a more deliberate game. i think they have the personnel to do that. I think it would give them a better chance against the fast teams in this region. There were a lot of times when HJ was forcing the action to much. They should have pulled the ball out and reset. There's no shot clock and there's no shame in a 2 minute possession. You're not there to please the opponents fans, you're there to win, by any legal means.

HJ by 1? Next you're going to tell us that we've landed on the moon.

Thanks! I was a little nervous that folks might think I was implying that the Hawks heads were going to fall off.

I wonder what McCain's status is. Love to see him play but we don't want to take any chances. As important as this game is, the games in March are much more so. We can make it to March without him. But making it out of Region is very iffy. I mean it's no sure thing with him but without him? Iffy. And that topic leads into another topic. Eligibility. Report card time comes right as the playoffs begin and that whole thing is fraught with peril. You can mark it down as a certainty like the firmness of the Earth that Yates won't have any issues, if you know what I mean. But it ain't like that in our district. Not for basketball anyway. So if you're close to a kid, by all means encourage him. If he's playing now then he was passing at progress report time and if he was passing then, just a week or so ago, then there's no reason he can't keep it up. Speaking of Yates in the context of this game. It would be nice for the Region 3 Final to be an all 22 4A affair. But now we're talking really really iffy. You can find lots of clips of Yates on that Hudl site. Course it's all highlights so you don't see their mistakes. But it's a typical Yates team. Solid up and down the line. I don't think they have the same power inside as last year but it looks like they are even better outside. They are just as good as the Dallas area teams. One thing we have going for us is that none of the other teams in 23 4A are nearly as good as Hardin Jefferson. I think Lumberton and WOS can give second place Wheatley a good game. 22 4A isn't the strongest district by a long shot but it's stronger than 23 4A. So Yates hasn't played a really serious contender for a while. So, the big question, is there any possibility at all that the Hawks might bake it to the regional tournament. Hope springs eternal, like the famous exchange from "Dumb and Dumber".... 'What are my chances?" "Not good." "You mean, not good like 1 in a 100?" "I'd say, more like one out of a million." "So you're telling me there's a chance."

Mr. Adams was a monster tonight. Inside, outside, defense, the complete package. There's no question that baring injuries the Tigers will be ready for the postseason. Which means of course, being ready for Yates. As Forest Gump said, "Aaaginn." And they will need to be ready. Judging from the clips Yates is perhaps even better than last year. Unless the Hawks can pull off an upset against Yates? Those two will probably meet in the 3rd round. It's possible? No? Tuesday's game will be an indicator anyway. The bench had a few rough minutes in the first quarter by by the end of the game they were doing well. Next year will be very interesting. We're going to be almost tiny unless some kids have some serious growth spurts. Competing against elite 5A and 6A teams with centers and true power forwards in the preseason is going to be tough. Even with Adams and McCain the Tigers are often outmanned at the bigger venues. It' a big question mark. HF had its moments tonight as well. They played much better than they did in Silsbee. The Tiger starters were having a good night too. The Longhorns scored 18 points in the first quarter, most of it came against the Tiger bench of course. But they did have their fans on their feet. So the 57 pts was no joke. As I said most of it came against the bench but they did hit a couple of 3's and finished a few times against the starters. Questionable passing was, as usual, their downfall. But when they had a shot they took it, which they weren't doing in Silsbee. Their freshman team looked pretty good. They beat the short handed Tiger freshmen by about 10. They didn't run the clock, the Longhorns were scoring often enough that it wasn't necessary.

I didn’t think you were crazy after it became apparent McCain wasn’t going to play. Still there was a moment in the 3rd when looked like it was slipping away from the Hawks. To their credit they refused to go quietly. Assuming everyone is playing I see a 20 point game, 85-65. That’s not a blowout, that’s just pulling away and hanging on.