JimThorpe

Miller down. Looks like an ankle. Limping slightly.

Heavy rain at 4:00 and a 70% chance of rain at game time. Randell has excellent drainage so I'd play it even in a downpour, especially since they're looking at over a 50% chance for tomorrow night. But do you make the trip or just follow it on media, that's the question. I was there for the WOS game back in, was it 2018? I had a great time. Didn't even bother with an umbrella just rain gear. Still soaked to the skin but I brought a change of cloths. That was a happy night. Gringo's is conveniently located only a few blocks from the stadium by the way.

It looks like FF is an anomaly. It's a case of perfect confluence of conditions creating the ultimate unintended consequence. And apparently it's completely unique. Are there any other monster charter schools in the 4A ranks? I don't know of any. So, do you change the rules for the sake of one and only one school? The Faith Family Rule?

As of 4PM Abraham Munguia was able to move his feet but still had numbness in his legs. His MRI was clear. Okay now what? Is this the end of it.? He may be able to walk again so we can forget the whole thing? Final contact was initiated almost 2 yards off the field of play. Munguia was driven into the bench. I realize that what happened at the bench was largely happenstance but it should never have come to that. This is a Silsbee person typing and from my perspective this isn't over.

It's kind of a hot mess. If the Tigers are going to have "one of those games" they picked the right week for it. It's sandwiched between two games where there's little margin for error.

5A? Lets see. Here's the list of school districts that comprise the geographic area from which kids can come from together with the high school enrollment. Avalon ISD 403 Cedar Hill ISD 2276 Dallas ISD 40092 DeSoto ISD 3102 Duncanville ISD 4468 Ennis ISD 1718 Ferris ISD 1746 Grand Prairie ISD 8883 Italy ISD 195 Lancaster ISD 2193 Maypearl ISD 377 Midlothian ISD 3107 Milford ISD 74 Palmer ISD 349 Red Oak ISD 1960 Waxahachie ISD 3041 The combined enrollment of these is 73894 kids. Since any of this kids can choose to apply, for all intents and purposes this is the enrollment of Oak Cliff Faith Family High School. We'll be very very generous and say that the average enrollment of a 6A school is 4000. So, by straight ratio, that means the Faith Family should be considered a 111A school. If we're going to be fair about it that is.

McDermott is putting on a show.

BTW by all means. But my thinking is that if it was Carter then the crap would be legit and we'd have to take it. But that's simply not the case with FF. There's an asterisks behind all their state championships.

BTW is a much better matchup against FF than we are. FF beat BTW by 10 I’m the season opener for each. But that was then. I think that if the Eagles play as well against FF as they did today (and get the same refs they had today: sorry can’t help myself) they can win.

Last year walking to the parking lot in Lufkin I was thrilled for the Tigers but I had a feeling this would be the story in 2023. McDermott, Lewis and Walker would all be back for one thing. And it was Washington’s severe lack up depth that got us to San Antonio last year. That wasn’t the case this year. McDermott wasn’t so desperately missed every nanosecond he wasn’t in the game. Still the Tigers might have won. They had some problems but had a chance to break thru. They just didn’t get the bounces. The Eagles can’t play any better than they did today. Yet it was still competitive. It was great to see Bottley get recognition as all tourney. He played his heart out in both games and was very effective. That pass late in the game last night was something.

If you can beat Furr then you can beat Washington and by the same margin. You know Furr could have and probably should have won their 2nd meeting with BTW in regulation. BTW forced late mistakes that push it to OT. I predicted Furr would win. I miss judged how good HJ and Jacksonville are when playing their best. The game yesterday was much the same as the two previous Silsbee games with the exception that Furr got that late run. Otherwise we were looking at a 12 to 14 point win, just like the others. Furr was just a little bit better than other two, not a lot better. I’m just trying to get that one loss United had this year out of my mind.

We can limit him some but he’s going to get his points. The key for Silsbee will be to not throw possessions away.

And just like that it’s Wash by 6.

Washington does have a bench this year. They’ve brought in several. Even McDermott sat briefly.

Tell me again who it is we want to face?

One observation. I didn’t appreciate how good Hardin Jefferson is. They played us about as tough as Furr did. Jacksonville too for that matter. And lowly Liberty out scored us in one quarter. Conclusion? There’s good 4A basketball in East Texas.

26-24 Tigers at the half. I think the thing that stands out is Miller can’t get much to fall.

I wonder if we’ll see full court pressure and trapping? Furr does that some.

And right before half. Take those out and the Tigers win.

But it would be nice to have another shot at them. The Tigers gave them all they wanted last year coming to within 1 point in the second half and finally losing by 8. FF's last 11 points came from the free throw line.

Center will have it's moments and Washington will have to play but this is a 20 point game.

I've predicted the spreads within a point or two for the first three games. I figured all three Silsbee opponents would play their best game of the season against the Tigers and that's exactly what happened. If you watch the Jacksonville YouTube you'll hear their play by play guys say it right out loud, this game was the best Jacksonville played all year. And we saw for ourselves last night with HJ. It was touch and go against a team Silsbee beat by 21 earlier and who barely got past Chapel Hill. And Liberty? That had to be the best game they played all year, or maybe in several years. And I expect that Furr, like the others, is going to play their best game of the season against Silsbee. Furr will not have a letdown. They will play better than they did in either game against Washington. I feel this is so because they are a very consistent team. Early in the district season they beat Washington by 1 and late in the district season they lost to Washington by 1 in overtime. So far in the playoffs they've won by 37, 31 and 25. As the competition got a little better the spread dropped by exactly 6 points each time. The Tigers on the other hand, have been demonstrating some inconsistency. They play great one moment and sputter the next. Of course their sputtering is better than some teams best. It's like Tigers95 said, if the Tigers win it will be ugly. My heart doesn't like it but my head says Furr by 5. All that said the mathematics favors Washington to win the region. This is true simply because their semi opponent Center, though a good team, is second tier. For all intents and purposes Washington is already there. Silsbee and Furr have to go through each other to get there. Washington needs to avoid a letdown on Friday and play a great game on Saturday. Silsbee and Furr have to play 2 great games.

Washington had a good crowd in Lufkin last year. That might be an indicator.

BHS Main Gym 3450 Campus Dr. Bryan ….is what the ticket site says.

They may (and should) clear but the Friday ticket is for both games. So after the Tigers win a hard fought game we can get our nachos and Cokes and settle back in around the periphery to watch a good game and size up the competition. Silsbee people know the drill.