Dallas ISD Classic

[Cooley]

Rob Harman

TexasHoops.com Staff

Seagoville is unbeaten and is TexasHoops.com's top-ranked Class 4A team. Although coach Robert Allen expects his team to do well at the 66th annual Dallas ISD/Coca-Cola Invitational Dec. 28-30, he isn't polishing a place in the school's trophy case for the championship hardware just yet.

Seagoville (11-0) isn't the only highly-ranked or undefeated team in the 32-team bracket. South Oak Cliff (10-3), ranked No. 1 in Class 4A by TABC and No. 2 by TexasHoops.com, also is back, as is defending champion DeSoto (11-0), ranked No. 3 in Class 5A by TexasHoops.com and No. 2 by TABC, and Lincoln (10-0), No. 6 in Class 4A by TexasHoops.com and No. 5 by TABC.

"I think this probably is going to be one of the best Coca-Cola tournaments, with the undefeated teams coming in and some of the other teams having only lost a game or two," Allen said. "It's going to be real, real, real tough to win it this year."

The 32-team boys' tournament begins at 9 a.m. Dec. 28 at Sprague, Loos, Davis and Forester field houses. Davis Field House will host the trophy games on Dec. 30, with the boys championship at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the girls' championship at 6 p.m. The boys' third-place game will be held at 4:30 p.m., with the consolation game at 1:30 p.m.

Last year, DeSoto edged Carter, 69-66, in the title game, with South Oak Cliff defeating Seagoville, 61-55, for third place.

"We look forward to the Coca-Cola tournament 'cause it's almost like a Final Four for the state tournament," Allen said. "If you look at what happened last year – someone call it to my attention recently – everybody who was in the [Coca-Cola] final four made it to Austin, with the exception of us and we lost to South Oak Cliff, which eventually won state. Everything is pointing towards the same ol' teams being there."

Carter, Kimball, Pinkston, Richardson Berkner and Woodrow Wilson join Seagoville, SOC, DeSoto and Lincoln as Dallas-area teams which should make noise this time around. Out-of-area teams include Houston Clear Brook and Clear Lake Christian, Alabama's Benjamin Russell, Maryland's Good Counsel, Cleveland Heritage Christian and Huntsville Heritage Christian.

Many top-ranked, highly-recruited players will be in the field, including four of the Top 10 players in TexasHoops.com's 2006 Top 100 Boys rankings: Darrell Arthur of SOC, Donald Sloan and Derrick Roland of Seagoville and Jermaine Beal of DeSoto. Arthur, Beal and Deveric Taylor of DeSoto each made the Coca-Cola all-tournament team December.

Seagoville is coming off a 66-65 victory over Arlington Bowie in the championship game of the Arlington Classic Dec. 10. Sloan was selected the tournament MVP. And while Seagoville has never won the Coca-Cola event in seven years under Coach Allen, this could be the year.

"We've come close before [and] we have a good chance this time," Allen said." We have a lot of seniors. Three of them have started on varsity ever since they were freshmen, so they have a lot of experience under their belt. And with a good group backing them up, we have some depth that we didn't have in the past."

On Dec. 3, Lincoln and DeSoto won a tournament in San Antonio and Houston, respectively while SOC played second in the Holiday Hoops NIT in Fayetteville, Ark, on Dec. 10.

***

First-round pairings in the 2005 Dallas ISD/Coca Cola Invitational boys bracket:

Wednesday, Dec. 28

At Sprague Field House – Kimball vs. Clear Lake Christian, 9 a.m.; Huntsville Heritage vs. Clear Brook, 10:30 a.m.; Roosevelt vs. Good Counsel (Md.), noon; Adamson vs. DeSoto, 1:30 p.m.

At Loos Field House – Pinkston vs. Richardson Berkner, 9 a.m.; W.T. White vs. Irving MacArthur, 10:30 a.m.; Jefferson vs. Alabama Russell, noon; Hillcrest vs. Mansfield Timberview, 1:30 p.m.

At Davis Field House – Madison vs. Carter, 9 a.m.; Molina vs. Lancaster, 10:30 a.m.; Bryan Adams vs. Cleveland Heritage, noon; South Oak Cliff vs. Sunset, 1:30 p.m.

At Forester Field House – Lincoln vs. North Dallas, 9 a.m.; Skyline vs. Woodrow Wilson, 10:30 a.m.; Seagoville vs. Spruce, noon; Samuell vs. Smith, 1:30 p.m.

***

TexasHoops.com's 2006 Top 100 Seniors who will be competing at the DISD Coca-Cola Invitational:

2. Darrell Arthur, South Oak Cliff, 6-9 F/C

5. Donald Sloan, Seagoville, 6-2 G (Texas A&M)

6. Jermaine Beal, DeSoto, 6-3 G (Vanderbilt)

10. Derrick Roland, Seagoville, 6-4 G (Texas A&M)

21. George Odufuwa, Kimball, 6-8 F (Arizona State)

39. Ronnie Morgan, South Oak Cliff, 6-5 F

45. Michael Crabtree, Carter, 6-3 G

61. Deveric Taylor, DeSoto, 6-0 G

71. Melvin Goins, South Oak Cliff, 5-9 G

84. Ugo Chinasa, Richardson Berkner, 6-7 C/F

88. Wandji Aboudukar, Cleveland Heritage Christian, 6-7 C

97. Robert Williams, Kimball, 6-5 G/F

98. Kendrake Johnigan, South Oak Cliff, 6-1 G

100. Desmeon Jones, Pinkston, 6-4 G

TexasHoops.com's 2007 Top 75 Boys Seniors who will be competing at DISD Coca-Cola Invitational:

6. Brockeith Pane, Carter, 6-2 G

45. Michael Berry, Seagoville, 6-2 G

50. Justin Johnson, Richardson Berker, 6-2 G

51. Brion Stafford, Cleveland Heritage Christian, 6-8 F/C

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Is this deja vu? Ronnie Morgan of South Oak Cliff...

[Cooley]

Sure is! Listed UNT as a favorite early but JJ went in another direction. Younger soph brother is 6-10, 270.

Ronnie Jr is having a great season.