Carroll boys basketball looks to rebound from tough Whataburger tournament

The Carroll basketball team had a rough go of it in the Whataburger Tournament over the holiday break, but coach Eric McDade said the most important thing is that his team is ready for the rigors of District 7-6A competition to begin.

The Dragons opened up district competition with Coppell on Tuesday night after the press deadline and will square off with Richland on Friday.

“We expect the same thing we’ve seen in years past,” McDade said. “They are going to be ready to play. Coach [Richard] Bacon does a great job getting those guys prepared. They are really quick and really athletic and can really shoot it ... they have a lot of guys that chip in, and they have some guys that can really score with the ball.”

The Dragons went 0-3 in the Whataburger tournament over the holiday break, but faced some stiff competition along the way.

“That tournament is one of the best in the state and probably one of the top in the nation, with all of the teams that come in,” McDade said. “Our first game we got Little Rock Parkview, which won it last year. They were the number one team in Arkansas. I thought we played pretty well. They had one kid that got hot and hit five 3’s in the second quarter, so it was a tough game.

“The second game, we played a really good Arlington Martin team, and they had a kid that hit seven 3’s, and then we played a good Klein Forrest team that was number 12 in the state on Saturday, and lost to them in overtime. I thought we really played well. Our non-district schedule has been very tough.”

McDade said that he does believe his team is prepared for handling the pressures of district play.

“I do, but it is kind of a hit-and-miss thing, because the style of teams we have played are not the kind of teams we play in our district,” McDade said. “I think we have been pressed to the hilt, but I think that we have definitely improved in terms of handling pressure. I think that if you want to go anywhere, especially in this region, you have to be able to handle pressure. I feel like we have grown in that respect to our young guards and how they’ve matured.”

McDade said he had some strong efforts in the tournament that impressed him.

“Cooper Osburne is playing the best basketball we’ve seen him play in a while,” McDade said. “He is really playing like the team leader that we need him to be. There are things he is doing that are not even showing up in the box score. I also felt that Tyson Smiter came in and gave us some great energy off the bench, as well as Stephen Bloomstrom, who really played well in our last game.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Carroll boys basketball looks to rebound from tough Whataburger tournament."