Whataburger Wrap Up: 5 Takeaways

The final weekend of pre-district tournaments has come to a close, with teams gearing up for district play in the early parts of 2018. With TexasHoops staff in attendance at the Whataburger Tournaments all weekend, analyst Lyndon Cook
recaps the weekend's talking points at both the big and small school brackets in which he attended.

Note: More coming from analyst Blue Zertuche on the Whataburger.

5A's most brutal district got some possible clarity during Saturday's tournament finale between rivals Mansfield Timberview and Waxahachie. The two teams are very familiar with one another, as Hachie took both district games last year before falling to Timberview in the regional finals, and have been neck and neck as No.1 and No.2 in class 5A all season long, but Timberview will hope that this game serves as a sign of things to come. An immense 22-point game for Fresno State commit and Tournament MVP Isaac Likekele carried Timberview to the title. Likekele's blue collar mentality on the court mixes well with the skilled duo of CJ Smith and Rice-signee Chris Mullins. The defending state champion Wolves will assume the No.1 spot in the rankings for now, but will still have to be wary of two games against Waxahachie in district, as well as two against dark horse Midlothian and the always dangerous Kaden Archie. Timberview may have taken round 1 convincingly, but this fight is far from over.

Denton Guyer's undefeated start to the season came to an end at the hands of Waxahachie in the Whataburger semifinals as Montre Gipson converted a late layup to end the Wildcats' unbeaten run at 21 wins in a row. The loss did shake up the 6A world a little bit, as now both Guyer and defending champs Cy Falls now own a loss to 5A Waxahachie. While this weekend saw the Wildcats take their first loss, it also served as a stage for 2020 Jakobe Coles' continued rise onto the recruiting scene. Coles is one of the most skilled bigs in the state as a sophomore, and will only grow better as he matures. His range of passing coupled with a vey balanced offensive game makes him Guyer's X-factor in big games. Oklahoma-bound De'Vion Harmon lit it up over the weekend finishing on the drive, just as 2019 Jalen Wilson kept his stock trending upwards. While the loss will sting for awhile, it could end up being just what Guyer needs to galvanize the team as they march towards a state championship.

Two more teams to keep an eye on in class 6A would be Spring Dekaney and South Garland, with both teams finishing the weekend with 3-1 records. Only a loss to Arkansas' Little Rock Parkview kept Dekaney from a semifinal matchup with Mansfield Timberview, though they went on to win their next two games to end the tournament in 5th place. This is a very long and athletic bunch who love to get out in transition and make other teams uncomfortable. Led by the Peavy brothers, DJ and Micah, Dekaney has a tendency to get points in bunches and are capable of going on runs that put the game out of reach early on, as they did in their first round matchup with Arlington Bowie. Another team to impress despite adversity was South Garland. After a loss to Desoto on Thursday put South Garland into the consolation bracket, the team responded by reeling off 3 straight wins to claim the consolation championship. You will be hard pressed to find a backcourt that can score the ball with more efficiency and ease than the 2019 duo of Tyrese Maxey and Chris Harris. Both guards can go for 30-plus on any given night, with Harris going for 31 in their consolation championship win over SGP. While the obvious favorites like Guyer and Cy Falls (deservedly so) get the attention in 6A, don't be surprised if one or both of these teams makes some serious noise into March.

Center had been a mystery to TexasHoops staff before this weekend, but mystery they are no more. The East Texas squad had flown under the radar in 4A all year, but announced themselves as a state championship contender in a big way as they took home the hardware from the small school Whataburger tournament. Jaterious Evans, an SFA football commit, leads this team by example and was scorching the nets from deep all weekend long. His big weekend, paired with inspired showings from 6-foot-5 interior men Reggie Daniels and Kaleb Parks laid out the Roughriders' title credentials for all to see. Wins over state ranked Central Heights, Ponder, and two-time defending Whataburger champs Abilene Wylie proved that Center will be a force to be reckoned with if they reach San Antonio.

4A Region 1 is going to be fun come playoff time. Tournament runners-up Abilene Wylie looked impressive once again, and although they fell short in their quest for a three-peat, key player Dylan Isenhower showed why he's been getting D1 buzz in his senior season. Isenhower can score with the best in his class, but his vision and distribution skills set him apart and give Wylie an added threat to an already prolific offense. A semifinal win over last year's regional runners-up Seminole should give the Bulldogs some healthy confidence going into district. And speaking of Seminole, the Indians might have the biggest team in the state, regardless of class. At times it seems like nobody on the roster is under 6-foot-4. They roll bigs off the bench in waves and pound it inside to grind teams away. Senior forward Carter Laramore and Texas football commit Reese Moore will make life extremely tough on opposing posts. Throw in Burkburnett (who led 34-11 in the second quarter with their notorious full-court press before a huge comeback from Seminole flipped the script) and Wichita Falls Hirschi, not even mentioning last year's regional champs Midlothian Heritage, and the region shapes up to be one of the pound-for-pound best in the state.