The Cooldown - Week 27

DFW - Week 27

And then there were four. The women will be traveling south to San Antonio for the Final Four this weekend while the men will play out rounds three and four this week. Duncanville and McKinney will represent DFW at the UIL State Championships this weekend and the men will decide who makes it to state on Saturday afternoon.

Duncanville and McKinney Advance

Duncanville will take on Converse Judson in the State Semifinal on Friday night at 8:30. McKinney will face Cy Creek in the game before that. Yes, we could potentially get an all DFW championship game. Duncanville defeated Arlington Martin with relative ease on Friday night after surviving a scare from DeSoto last Tuesday. Cedar Hill played Duncanville to the wire, but Duncanville prevailed 56-54 to advance to the Final Four.

McKinney stunned Plano 32-28 to advance to the Final Four. The Lions aren’t state ranked like the other three teams to advance to the Final Four. McKinney lost to Plano twice in district play. McKinney beat Hendrickson on Friday and Tyler Lee last Tuesday to set up the matchup with Plano. The Lions finished third in their own district, but their Cinderella run will continue on to San Antonio.

Men’s First Round Recap

Several state ranked teams in 6A were not able to survive the bi-district round a week ago. No. 23 L.D. Bell fell to Arlington Bowie 85-69. No. 21 Prosper lost to Sachse 77-76. The other ranked teams to lose lost to higher ranked teams. No. 16 South Grand Prairie put up a good fight against No. 1 Duncanville before falling 68-56. No. 15 DeSoto couldn’t upset No. 6 Richardson, losing 63-51. There were two massive upsets in 5A as well. Arlington Seguin upset No. 4 O.D. Wyatt 52-51 and Woodrow Wilson upset No. 9 South Oak Cliff 73-58.

Men’s Second Round Recap

Some top ranked teams flexed their collective muscles in the first two rounds. Duncanville beat a ranked South Grand Prairie squad and followed the win up with a convincing 86-73 win over Lewisville. No. 9 Grand Prairie impressed as well and will face No. 1 Duncanville in the third round. Richardson had to beat two ranked teams to set up a matchup with No. 11 Waxahachie in the third round. Just like in the bi-district round, several ranked teams fell in the area round.

Richardson defeated No. 24 Coppell 62-50 after the Cowboys hung around for much of the first three quarters. Richardson took down No. 18 Denton Guyer 75-66. Down in Houston, No. 2 Dickinson defeated No. 12 North Shore 59-45. The two big upsets in the area round included two top-five ranked teams. No. 4 Austin Westlake lost to San Antonio Warren 61-59 in double overtime and No. 5 Allen lost to Waco Midway 54-50. Wylie and Mesquite Horn remain as the only DFW teams in Region II.

There weren’t many surprises for 5A DFW teams in the area round. No. 13 Midlothian fell to No. 24 Mt. Pleasant 54-41. No. 10 Sulphur Springs defeated No. 12 Red Oak. In Houston, No. 2 Fort Bend Hightower beat No. 7 Port Arthur Memorial with ease. No. 6 Newman Smith will be tested by No. 8 Kimball in the third round while No. 1 Lancaster will face No. 10 Sulphur Springs.

Playoffs Look Ahead

As I did last week, I am picking one team, one player and one storyline to watch this week. My team last week was Richardson and the Eagles proved why they are one of the top teams in the state. Richardson might have one of the toughest playoff roads in the state. The Eagles already have two wins over ranked teams and will face another in Waxahachie this week. If Richardson can pick up two more wins this week, No. 1 Duncanville potentially looms large and stands between Richardson and an appearance in the Final Four. Keyonte George was my player to watch and he put up good numbers in a win over Byron Nelson and a loss against Duncanville. Newman Smith’s undefeated season is still going, although the Trojans have a stout test against Kimball coming up.

One Team: Waxahachie

Waxahachie has had a great season and has the talent to make a run to the Final Four. Richardson is up next for the Indians and will be a tough game to win. If Waxahachie makes it past Richardson, either No. 9 Grand Prairie or No. 1 Duncanville will likely advance to face Waxahachie on Saturday with a trip to San Antonio on the line.

One Player: Micah Peavy

The Final Four will be a tough task for Peavy and Duncanville to navigate, should the Panthers make it back to San Antonio. The stretch of teams Duncanville is about to face isn’t a cake walk either. No. 9 Grand Prairie is up first in the regional quarterfinals. GP is led by a dynamic scorer in Jaylin Posey. Peavy will need to reach deep into his bag of tricks to help Duncanville win this game. The Panthers would then face either Frenship or Arlington Bowie in the next round before having to beat either Richardson or Waxahachie to go back to San Antonio.

One Storyline: 5A Region II

Who makes it out of 5A Region II? Newman Smith and Kimball play each other on Tuesday night. A top 10 team will be eliminated from the region in that game. Another top 10 team will be eliminated when Lancaster takes on Sulphur Springs. Mt. Pleasant takes on Kaufman and should play the winner of Newman Smith and Kimball. There are five ranked teams currently left in 5A Region II and four of them are ranked in the top 10. The region final will likely be between Lancaster and the winner of Newman Smith and Kimball. I will be keeping a close eye on 5A Region II this week.