Great article by Sam Khan (Yates, past teams etc....)

[HoopInsider_Cooper]

Lions roar into state history
By SAM KHAN JR. Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Let the debate begin.

As the Yates Lions continue their assault on the state and national record books and the Class 4A state playoffs, the question has arisen: Where is the Lions' place in Houston high school basketball history?

First, they must complete their season-long journey toward a second consecutive state championship. That task will resume when the Lions (32-0) meet The Colony (30-8) in the 4A semifinals on Thursday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. Should they win, the Lions would meet Lancaster or Austin Lake Travis in Saturday's state final.

Their résumé is impressive. The Lions have won 56 consecutive games dating to last season. They have scored 100 or more points in 14 consecutive games, which ties the national record held by the Hobbs, N.M., squad of 1969-70, and they've hit triple digits 25 times this year. They're producing 117.2 points per game, and if they maintain that clip, they'll finish with the national record for single-season scoring average, too. They also hold the state record for points in a game (170).

Before you can throw Yates into the conversation of all-time Houston greats, you must examine how they stack up against the area's best teams since 2000, specifically the 2001 Willowridge Eagles and the 2004 Milby Buffaloes, both of whom went undefeated en route to state championships.

One person who has a unique perspective is Yates assistant coach Jawann McClellan, who starred on the 39-0 Milby championship team in 2004 before playing at Arizona.

“The (Yates) players talk trash sometimes and say that they would beat us,” McClellan said with a laugh. “I honestly think (Milby's) first five are better, but I think this Yates team is deeper. We liked to get up and down the floor as well, but (Yates) does more trapping than we did. I really can't call it.”

McClellan's coach at Milby, Jim Duffer, thinks both his Milby team and the Willowridge teams of 2000 and 2001, led by T.J. Ford and Daniel Ewing, would have a hard time keeping up with the Lions' frenetic pace for four quarters.

“I think a team like Willowridge would have given this (Yates) team trouble because of their inside presence and superior guard play, but I don't know that over a 32-minute game that trouble would be enough to beat this team,” Duffer said. “Similar to that, we were really good with our guard play, and we were good at controlling tempo, which is what you have to do against Yates, but I don't know if we were good enough to beat them over a 32-minute period.”

Bush coach Ronnie Courtney, who coached Willowridge to consecutive championships in 2000 and 2001, has a differing opinion.

“We wouldn't have a problem with them,” Courtney said. “Because the X-factor is T.J. Ford. The way they play? T.J. thrived on stuff like that.”

However, Courtney believes the Lions stack up well all-time.

“I think they can hold their own against anybody,” he said. “Their style is one that is hard to duplicate because of the way they play and the number of players they play. It reminds me a little of the old Wheatley teams when they had Eddie Owens. You could play 15 or 16 guys and never know that they made a substitution. (Yates coach Greg) Wise is subbing, and you don't even know he's subbing.”

Some have said these Lions could match up well with the 1985 Madison squad. The 40-0 Marlins, coached by Paul Benton, had no player over 6-5, making them similar to Yates. At 6-9, senior center Alex Davis is the tallest Lions starter, but none of the other four — Darius Gardner (5-10), Brandon Peters (6-2), Elton Roy (6-2) or Joseph Young (6-2) — stands taller than 6-2. Other than Davis, the only player who gets consistent court time and is taller than 6-4 is sophomore forward Clyde Santee (6-6).

“It'd be a good game,” said Sean Gay, the leading scorer on the 1985 Marlins. “I think we'd beat them because we had four guards — if not five — that could handle the pressure and dribble the ball. Most teams today only have one — or if they're lucky, maybe two — good ball-handlers.

“Any time you're talking about different teams in different eras, you have to compare their strengths and weaknesses. We were a running team, so pressing didn't really bother us. We had guys that played the whole game, and as far as the rotation goes, we were eight or nine deep. If you can handle the press, you can beat Yates.”

When the greatest teams in Houston history are discussed, the conversation almost always turns the clock back to the early 1970s and the storied Wheatley and Kashmere teams of that era.

The 1973 Wheatley team, which former coach Jackie Carr considers his best ever, has some of the most impressive credentials of them all. Led by the likes of Eddie Owens, Willie Davis and Michael Long, the '72-73 Wildcats hold the national record for most 100-point games in a season (31) and the state record for most points in a season (4,567), which is second all-time nationally. They went 43-1, and Carr said 17 of the 18 players on the team went on to play college basketball.

The 1968 Wildcats (36-0) coached by Collin Briggs and the 1970 Wildcats (39-0) are also among Wheatley's best.

The 1975 Kashmere squad finished 46-0 and was declared national champion by the National Sports News Service. The Karl Godine-led Rams won back-to-back state championships and 78 consecutive games.

Carr believes the current Yates team doesn't measure up to any of those for one main reason: lack of size.

“We had athletes that could do everything,” Carr said. “They were big, strong, fast, quick and tall — everything that you needed in order to play good basketball. This Yates team doesn't have the kind of size we did, but they have enough for the competition they face.

“They don't have many 6-6 or 6-7 guys. They wouldn't have been able to grab rebounds with some of the great teams I had and the great teams that Kashmere had.”

Carr also said the Lions don't face the type of competition teams in his era did.

“Their competition is very weak,” Carr said. “Back when I had good teams, the teams we competed with had 2,000-3,000 students apiece. Now nobody has that many people.

“All that said, Yates has a good team and a good coach. I would say that I think they're going to win state because nobody else presses. Coach Wise is a smart guy.”

Yates' full-court pressure defense, which it can play for the entire 32 minutes, has been the driving force behind the Lions' incredible two-year run. Though many teams use variations of full-court pressure, few do it for an entire game because most lack the depth. The Lions' philosophy is much like that of Carr, a devout believer in the press.

“Some coaches are scared their star is going to foul out or are worried about committing a lot of turnovers,” Carr said. “I don't worry about none of that. All I worry about is getting 100 points and a win. And I'll get a win if I get to 100 points.”