setxslam

Congrats to #23 Dennis for WO-S on a heck of a ballgame: 39 points.

8:30 PM HJ vs. WO-S. Here's hoping the only SWAT team working tonight is the HJ Hawks.

HJ 86 Legacy 52 Colby sat out w/ sore foot. Coach called off the press and played some JV kids. I believe the Hawks will be playing WO-S tonight at 8:30 PM for our first bracket game (A1 vs. B4).

The LCM students were great. We Hawk Hecklers were impressed. It's the kind of back-and-forth that makes the game more entertaining and intense, and we don't see it enough. I saw and heard nothing out of line from them-- they seemed like great kids. They should be encouraged, not ejected!

Man, Tyler-Chapel Hill looks tough. I see why they're ranked #1 in 3A. Colby, I hope you have ice on that foot right now!

The Hawks would immediately start preparing for next season. Same as they did after they won state.

Agreed!

This is not the same Milburn team that HJ beat 90-30, is it? Have they made some roster additions?

Whoever instigated the fighting needs to reflect upon this: would you really want to maim or kill someone? How would you feel if you did so? OK, enough about the fighting.

Man, Denton Guyer is tall. And Normangee looks huge as well, a lot of big kids for a 1A school-- all football players. Colby Sundgren, get well soon!

Wow! Milburn has improved rapidly. Keep up the good work!

Lord, it would be a serious blow to lose Sundgren...

I hope the Hawk Hecklers will do all they can to promote peace in the parking lots. Let's administer butt-whoopin's on the court. The LC-M melees were stupid, potentially deadly, a waste of cops' and school officials' time, and so, so needless and pointless-- just sad displays of human (?) behavior. This is a second straight great tournament Coach Sutherland has put together. Let's be gracious hosts, and keep this good thing going!

The LCM players are all so long that, when they're back on D, they can really cut down the passing lanes, and they can harrass most shots. You really have to work hard to create space to get your shot off against them. Look at our 5 first quarter points-- that was partly out of jitters, but it was mostly LCM's D at work. LCM is a good team. Best of luck the rest of y'alls' season...

Good job, Coop. We don't say it enough: thank you for all you do for high school basketball around here!

Man, when Jarvis threw the ball out of bounds off that LCM player's knee right under that ref's nose, and that ref called it LCM ball, I thought Coaches Sutherland and Davis, and maybe some of our players, even, were gonna have strokes. That particular call gets my Cheating Ref Call of the Year nomination. It'll be hard to top, but the season is young, and I think that particular ref might just be capable of topping it. Hard to imagine, but we'll see...

Congratulations to the LCM players and fans (at least the ones inside the gym) for bringing a lot of passion to the game tonight. I didn't see or hear anyone on either side doing anything that warranted getting ejected, but I'm getting old, and my senses are slipping >... I don't know what foolishness was going on out in the parking lot, but shame on the responsible party(ies). The cops don't need to be bothered with such nonsense. I pray no one was badly hurt. I am very proud of the way our Hawks responded to the challenge that horrible first quarter and that incompetent officiating crew created.

This year's seniors lost two games when they were on HJ's 9th grade team. Both of those losses came when several kids were sick. One of those losses was at LC-M. So, Hawks and Hawk Hecklers, we owe Mr. Coach Lee this one. Payback: this time it's for real. But let's not be too cocky... Hawks by 24+. :-*

Hempstead had this 6'9" beast with mysterious crop circles in his hair who could heave our Hawks out of bounds with one hand-- and did, several times-- but the other Hawks would just fly over and block his shots. I got to the game at halftime (coming from watching the JV Hawks win the Kountze tournament, and 9th graders, ditto) and could not believe the score board. Apparently our shooting woes were gone in the first half, and we started the game off with a 26-0 run. Hempstead is #14 in 2A, and the kids were actually concerned, talking with 'em yesterday, about Hempstead's size and athleticism. They were also worried that the Hempstead beast might turn cold-blooded cannibal on us. Seems HJ is athletic enough, though. Trey threw his usual dunk party, and little sophomore Jacoby Turner threw a sick-nasty dunk down. For all the HJ haters out there, my best medical advice is to stop hating and join the party. HJ is gonna be good for a long time to come. The entire program is undefeated, and I'm hearing good things about some 8th and even 6th grade future Hawks. This coming week the Hawks will be tested. Coach has put together a strong tournament with Tyler Chapel Hill (#1 in 3A) and an absolutely huge Denton Guyer team coming into the Hawk Nest. Hecklers, let's party.

HJ "finally beat a good team" this afternoon. Krum put on one of the best deep three-point shooting displays I've ever seen. Most of their points came off deep threes. They were disciplined and well-coached, and hung around a little bit in the first half--even though HJ held them to only one two-point FG in the first half. HJ was just too deep and pulled away; the game was never really in doubt. Krum made the score closer at the end by shooting, and making, 30+-footers. HJ plays for the Huntington Tournament championship tomorrow at 4 PM.

I root for 2A Warren, 4A Ozen, and 5A WB over all other local teams, except, of course, for HJ. The reason I mentioned EC and Kountze above was it seems like my fellow Hawk Hecklers seem to pile on those two teams in these threads. The reason I root for Warren, Ozen, and WB is because they have SLAM veterans playing for them, really good, bright, classy kids, and seriously good basketball players.

Threads like this are nice for chest-thumping, and, heck, yes, there is no 2A school in the state that is better than this year's HJ squad. On any given night, though, Kountze or EC or several other 2A teams could beat us--especially if we miss uncontested layups and clang wide-open threes and don't make free throws, like what I saw us do last night. Our defense alone might be enough to carry us... maybe. We should be supporting Kountze and EC, when we're not playing them. It would be nice to see all our local teams, 1A through 5A, in Austin.

Yes, I am a Hawk Heckler. I love good basketball. What those nasty homer job refs do up there at LH is tarnish their team's accomplishments.

Wait, I need to rant some more about those homer job refs up at LH. Just to give you an idea how crooked they were: we would boo some horrible call, and they would stop watching--or acting like they were watching-- the game, turn around, stare at us fans like they were going to do something about us, then turned back to the game and immediately whistle another made-up call. It was so bad, the Hawks stopped trying to defend, or else every one of them would've fouled out. So Kountze, look forward to playing them again at some other venue... I don't think anyone has beaten LH in their own gym in the last five years.

LH has the worst homer refs. When HJ went up there two years ago, LH was shooting free throws galore for fouls the refs made up-- I mean, you got to touch someone to foul them, right? It was so obvious what those refs were doing, I'm still disgusted by it.