SAN ANTONIO — Plano East completed a monumental feat Saturday night time by profitable the Class 6A boys basketball state championship and ending with an ideal 40-0 12 months file.
Only two different groups in Dallas space historical past have gone undefeated and received state championships. 5A Duncanville in 2007 and 4A Lincoln in 2002. Plano East was the primary workforce in 6A to do it, however when Duncanville received it was in 5A, the UIL’s largest division.
Lincoln and Duncanville each go down as two of the most effective highschool basketball groups of all time, and Plano East might be in the identical dialog after Saturday night time.
But Plano East’s feat could have been much more spectacular. There just isn’t a single participant on that roster who has contributed to the college.
“I undoubtedly assume this adjustments issues,” Plano East head coach Matt Wester stated. “We have loads of actually good basketball gamers who solely know methods to win. Everything they do nicely interprets to the subsequent degree.”
The 2006-07 Duncanville workforce was loaded with future Division I gamers. Dwalin Roberts (Texas Tech), Sean Williams (Texas and SMU), Roger Franklin (Oklahoma State and UNT), Kevin Butler (TCU and UT Arlington), and Brent Stanton (Texas A&M-Commerce) all Born from a workforce. They defeated one other nationally ranked program 60-46 within the state title sport at Humble-Kingwood and completed 39-0, rating No. 1 in a number of nationwide polls.
In their undefeated 12 months, Lincoln boasted maybe the most effective basketball participant ever to return out of Dallas. Two-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer Chris Bosh was the star of a workforce that completed 40-0 and have become a legendary nationwide champion. In the state title sport in opposition to Beaumont Ozen, Bosh had 21 factors, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks.
As it occurred, the Dallas basketball star was on the Alamodome simply hours earlier than the historic victory over Plano East, the place former Lincoln coach Ferrin Douglas led Lancaster to the Class 5A state title. I used to be trying.
But Bosh (Georgia Tech) wasn’t the one participant from that Lincoln workforce to play school ball. Point guard Brian Hopkins (SMU) and taking pictures guards Kevin Shipman (Baylor) and Jason Allen (Texas Southern) every performed on the subsequent degree.
Plano East had 11 seniors on its roster this season, however none had plans to play in school. The solely college-bound participant is prone to be junior middle DJ Hall, who at the moment holds a suggestion from Texas State University. In the sport in opposition to Round Rock Stony Point, he recorded 18 factors and 6 rebounds in a 53-41 victory.
“I hope this wakes up the coaches and permits me to play at this high degree, too,” Hall stated after the sport.
The lack of a collegiate participant is unprecedented for an undefeated state champion and strange for a state champion in any of the UIL’s three highest rankings. Plano East’s opponent, Stony Point, had four-star Josiah Moseley, who signed with Villanova, who had 18 factors and 10 rebounds. Two different Dallas-area groups competing Saturday additionally had Division I gamers. Lancaster’s Dillon Batty, a Temple commit, and Faith Family’s Dorian Onwuchekwa, who holds 15 Division I affords.
But regardless of the shortage of a well-known title, Plano East achieved a seemingly unattainable purpose, ending the season ranked among the many finest within the nation and as the most effective highschool basketball groups in Texas historical past. It left its mark on historical past.
“This workforce, our chemistry, we have been taking part in collectively since fourth grade,” Hall stated. “I do not assume we will do that except we play as a workforce.”
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