TexasHoops Weekly: Regional Tournament Rewind (Mar. 4)

And just like that, the state tournament brackets are set after a hectic and enthralling weekend of hoops from regional tournaments throughout the state. TexasHoops analyst Lyndon Cook digs back through his notes to recap the top storylines and personal highlights from last weekend to get you up to speed as we count down the days til San Antonio.

It’s a sentiment that I have blogged on here before and one that has been echoed by many media outlets in the past few days, but Jahmius Ramsey deserves that 5th star. This is his first playoff experience, on a team that had its struggles early trying to learn how to play together. I thought I was going out on a limb picking the hot hand (Duncanville) rather than the safe option in Denton Guyer, but Ramsey has been on a level that few can even think about reaching and has his team in the state tournament as a result.

While his regional semifinal performance in a win over Euless Trinity was business as usual, his strength and playmaking ability were on full display in the instant classic OT thriller with Guyer. Every single one of his 26 points was crucial, with teammate Micah Peavy grabbing 19 and sophomore Damon Nicholas Jr. making a name for himself with a very impressive regional tournament that included the pair of free throws that iced the title.

Texas Tech fans should be excited about his future in Lubbock, but for now the focus will be on North Shore who Duncanville will meet Friday night in a game with a little extra significance on it (North Shore defeated Duncanville in the 6A division 1 football state championship game on a last second Hail Mary this past December). State title games are often defined by the play of a team’s star player; and in Ramsey, Duncanville has the alpha dog in the hunt for a championship.

Sadaidreine Hall might not be the first name that jumps out at you when going down a Sulphur Springs roster that includes an Incarnate Word signee in Keaston Willis and one of the best remaining unsigned seniors in the state in Xavier Cork. But while Cork battled foul trouble and Willis faced a daunting frontcourt matchup with Lone Star’s Julian Larry and Marvin Mims in the regional final, Hall put the scoring load on his back with 21 points to carry Sulphur Springs to their first state appearance since 1925. Hall got to work in the mid post and played bully ball with smaller defenders, utilizing a series of quick spins and a nifty baby hook to score with his back to the basket.

Fellow junior Cameron Kahn also picked up some slack with 15 points and some tough interior play as the Wildcats outlasted Lone Star 58-51. Kahn has a bright future as a post with a little finesse to his game, and it will be interesting to see how SS fares in San Antonio, drawing No.2 San Antonio Wagner in the opening round.

Though Sulphur Springs collected the trophy and ticket to the Alamodome, the star performer of the weekend was arguably on the team they faced Saturday afternoon. 2020 point guard Julian Larry helped knock off state favorites Lancaster in the regional semis with 24 points, then matched his points total the next day against Sulphur Springs. Larry’s smooth distribution and ability to score off the dribble make him tough to live with defensively and the way he goes about probing and prodding before bursting to the rim is a hallmark of a mature player. The loss will sting, but Larry has a huge summer coming up for him and his recruitment.

Klein Forest beat two McDonald’s All Americans in back to back games on back to back days. That achievement alone is deserving of all kinds of praise and hype. But then add in the context that those two wins were for a berth in the state tournament and it gets that much more impressive. Rockwall turned it on after trailing big and had a look to tie late in the regional semifinal, while South Garland just couldn’t keep up with the balance of a super-confident KF team getting production from all 5 spots.

Calvin Solomon’s level of play has us scratching our heads as to why he’s unsigned at this point in the year. He played lights out both games against the two of the best teams DFW has to offer with a double-double against Rockwall and 24 points in the regional title game. Kharee McDaniel (a UCO signee) has also been on a tear recently and was a huge factor in their success.

This can also be seen as a redemption for KF Head Coach Cary Black when remembering back to the infamous “stall game” in 2017’s regional final, where an undefeated Klein Forest fell to a Marcus Garrett-led Dallas Skyline 33-29 with the air being taken out of the ball. Klein Forest will like their chances against unranked but talented Cibolo Steele in the state-semi on Friday night, and in all likelihood would have to defeat one more elite DFW team (Duncanville) to be crowned 6A champs. They’ve proven they can knock off teams reliant on star players with a well balanced playing style, and it’s going to be hard to pick against them on the back of the last two games.

I’d also like to take this time to offer a tip of the cap to Tyrese Maxey and Chris Harris Jr for the careers they’ve had at South Garland. I’m relatively new to this business, but I can wholeheartedly say they’ve been my favorite duo to cover over the past 3 years. Maxey’s elite all-around guardplay and Harris’s deadeye shooting from outside made South Garland and their various summer teams some of the highlights of my coverage. Maxey’s 46-ball in last year’s state semifinals is the most memorable state tournament performance I’ve seen, which is a lot considering I’ve been attending either as a fan, player or media member every year since I was in the 4th grade. Hats off to Tyrese and Chris for the last few years of elite balling, it’s gonna be hard for the next big time duo to replicate what they have done in their time at the HS level.

Jamal Shead has always been that dude in every game I’ve seen him that doesn’t care about rankings, reputations or any of the extra stuff. He’s there to compete, and if his opponents aren’t then they might as well take a seat on the bench. I still remember him picking Tyrese Maxey’s pocket in the open court and pulling up from 25 in last year’s GASO Tip Off before he had received any kind of national attention. Now he’s in the Rivals 150 trending upwards, and oh yeah, just led Manor to the state tournament in 5A region 3.

Shead’s play put down a high flying Fort Bend Hightower team in the semis, and his late steal sealed Manor’s passage to San Antonio in the final against local rivals Pflugerville Connally. It was a game with extra significance to Shead, who attended Connally his first two years of high school before moving to Manor for this school year. Shead’s recruitment has been heating up at a similar rate to his performances, with Michigan State in attendance for Manor’s regional quarter win over Cedar Park.

For a region dominated by Houston/Golden Triangle teams in the rankings and predictions to be decided by a regional final featuring two Austin-area groups is almost unheard of, but that’s the way it went down. Shead will have another chance to test his mettle against 2017 5A champs Mansfield Timberview on Thursday night, and any more virtuoso performances could have us talking top-5 in the 2020 class.