TexasHoops' Regional Tournament Wrap Up

Well, this weekend was really something. We had upsets, blowouts, nail-biters and even an altercation or two as the tickets to the Alamodome were divided up amongst the 4 regions of Texas High School Basketball.

And this year's state tournament already is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. Defending champs Duncanville will get a stern challenge from No.2 Dickinson, No.1 Lancaster will have to get past the electric Bryce Griggs and the rest of No.2 Fort Bend Hightower just in order to play for a chip against SA Wagner or Mansfield Timberview, who played for the 5A title just last year. 4A has no shortage of storylines either, with Houston Yates and Oak Cliff Faith Family set to rematch last year's epic state semifinal game on Friday. 3A sees a Dallas Madison/San Antonio Cole pt. 2 looming, while 2A and 1A will both feature 3 of the same 4 teams it did last year.

The matchups have been set and we have state tournament preview content on the way, but first we must recap the regional rounds to discuss who the real winners of the weekend were.

Mike Miles didn't have his most productive weekend during the regional tournament. He had more than respectable games of 19 and 26 points at the Culwell Center, but it wasn't his scoring that got Lancaster back to state for the first time since 2016. It wasn't the flashy passes or the pull up jumpers. It was the passion and drive with which he leads the Tigers on both ends. They have no questions about who their leader is on the court. Miles is the eye of their hurricane; while the chaos of their play style and speed on the fastbreak rages around him, he maintains that calm and cool killer mentality needed to be the floor general on a team like Lancaster. While some will focus on the altercation that occurred at the end of the regional final against Kimball as the main talking point of the game, it was the influential play of Miles that stood out from a basketball perspective all weekend.

Where Lancaster fell in the regional semifinal round to Frisco Lone Star last year, it seems like Miles more than anyone picked up on the lessons from 12 months ago. His game is more controlled, more precise, and his team has reaped the rewards this year. There is a reason that Lancaster's only (official) loss of the year came at the hands of Prolific Prep back in November, and a lot of it has to do with the maturity of Miles. That's no disrespect at all to Wade Taylor, Marco Foster, Markeis Sykes or any of the other contributors for the Tigers. Taylor just scored 31 in Saturday's regional final and Foster has played himself into plenty of recruiting circles this season. This is a very good team, one that will be favored to win a state title 5 days from now. But it's the guiding hand of Mike Miles that has led them this far, and will have to lead them to two more wins if they are to finish an all-time successful season in Lancaster.

There's an old coaches saying that goes something like, "I'm not in the business of playing pretty ball, I'm in the business of getting wins by any means necessary."

That quote can pretty much sum up the Duncanville Panthers run on their return to the state tournament. Duncanville doesn't wow you with some grand offensive scheme or some elaborate press. What they do, however, is grind down team after team with their relentless attitude on both ends. They scrap and claw and scratch and fight for every loose ball, find scoring opportunities from slim pickings, and get the absolute best out of their role players. The first quarter of their regional final wasn't dominated by Texas Tech signee Micah Peavy, instead it was point guard JaBryant Hill finding his range and Robert Banks making tough plays on the inside that built their lead over Permian. Juan Reyna was a game changer from behind the arc when he got rolling, Damon Nicholas impacted the game in almost every measurable way, and CJ Ford came off the bench to make key contributions.

There's plenty of ways this team can beat you, and the hallmark of the David Peavy era so far seems to be that one way or another they're going to figure out which option works. Permian posed a very straining test of Duncanville's mettle with Nakaveion White and Shy Stephens Deary at the top of their games. The difference in this one boiled down to the depth and defensive prowess of Duncanville. The guys they send in the game make it seem like their job isn't to just get shots up, or run the offense or post up. They come in the game on a mission to win, and that's the reason they have the chance to defend their crown this weekend.

It was a busy weekend of basketball for me personally. I caught 3 semifinal games on Friday, and watched both the 6A region 1 and 1A region 3 finals on Saturday. Below I've collected my notes from over the weekend over games I watched and a few thoughts going into the state tournament.

-Unsigned senior Jamarion Brown has nothing to hang his head about for how his high school career came to a close. Brown was Mr. Everything for Mount Pleasant in their semifinal with Kimball as they nearly stole a win at the end. His length and ability to anticipate passes helped MP ratchet up the pressure as they turned a double digit deficit into a two point game in the closing stages, and his slippery footwork on the drive was a welcome addition to his team's offense. If MP's game tying attempt had fallen and sent the game to OT, who knows what else I'd have to add to this note.

-Arterio Morris acquitted himself well for his first appearance on the big stage, and will use the two games at the 5A Region 2 tournament as a learning experience to build on. While he seemed to be dealing with nerves from his first time under those bright lights in the playoffs, his natural skillset took over as he helped Kimball build a double digit lead in their semifinal with Mount Pleasant. When things got shaky late on, Morris was somewhat affected but still kept pushing to help deliver the Knights a 63-60 win. Morris has improved his attitude on and off the court and has embraced the humility and grind it takes to be an elite player at this level. His sophomore campaign didn't end the way the way he wanted it to, but signs are pointing towards him being back next year with another year of development and experience under his belt.

-We have 3 of last year's state championship games being played as rematches happening in the state semis on Thursday, which is a truly wild coincidence. It's not very often you see both teams make it back to state the year after they played for a title, and even rarer that they meet in the first game, but this year we will have Slidell vs. Jayton in 1A (Slidell won 49-36), Gruver vs. Shelbyville in 2A (Shelbyville won 67-48), and in 5A we'll get a highly anticipated rematch between Mansfield Timberview and San Antonio Wagner (Timberview won 77-64).

-That doesn't even mention the other rematches we could see. Last year's most anticipated 4A matchup between Houston Yates and Faith Family will again be played out Friday afternoon, with Yates having done some serious reloading since their season ended last year. Faith Family's fantastic freshmen, Jordan Walsh and Trae Clayton, are now super sophomores, and will have a title to defend against Yates' relentless offense.

-Another game with implications stemming from last year's tournament would be most people's predicted 3A title game, with No.3 San Antonio Cole favored to see No.1 Dallas Madison in the title game should they both overcome Peaster and Coldspring-Oakhurst respectively. Cole/Madison was played as a semifinal last year, only remembered for its lack of offensive coherence and Vincent Iwuchukwu's near triple-double as a freshman.

-Be on the lookout over the next two days for more State Tournament Preview content, as well as following @TexasHoopsGASO for live updates, video and coverage throughout the state tournament. We'll also have daily game recaps here on the website, so stay tuned!