We’ve got the best high school basketball game in the nation, this week, right here
You just have to hang onto your britches until Friday to see the biggest boys high school basketball game in the entire U. S. of A. so far this year, and right here in North Texas.
And that’s no exaggeration.
Denton Guyer is ranked not only tops in Texas in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll, but also as the very best Class 6A team in the whole flippin’ country in the MaxPreps poll. And their Friday night foe is none other than Allen.
Allen’s no slouch, either. TABC has them at 11th in Texas. MaxPreps has them at 11 in America.
The Wildcats are headed up by Georgetown commit Grayson Carter, their sharp-shooting, 6-foot-10 team captain, but they have plenty of knives in the utensil drawer.
De’Vion Harmon has made it official with Oklahoma, and Jalen Wilson has more than a dozen offers, with the likes of Marquette, Baylor, Kansas, Arizona State and LSU routinely showing interest.
The Eagles flank out around Naval Academy signee Jaylen Walker and also count Jaylon Scott and Isaiah Stevens (offered by University of Albany) among their ragtag band of happy warriors.
Listen for the first rumbles of thunder out of Denton at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
▪ If you hate driving I-35 as much as the next sane person does, there’s a US-287 option for you on Friday as well.
Going down to Class 5A, we’ve got TABC No. 3 Mansfield Timberview taking on yet another of their beastly district rivals, No. 13 Midlothian.
MaxPreps has the Wolves ranked 42nd in the nation, while the Panthers crawl into this match ranked “just” 153. And while Mansfield Lake Ridge recently hiked its leg on Timberview, everybody thinks they’ll be OK.
The alpha Wolf has got to be Isaac Likekele, who I want to call Ike, so that he’d be Ike Likekele, and who has committed to Fresno State. But the Panthers have a massive (literally, dude’s 6-6) weapon in Kaden Archie, a future Horned Frog.
The fur flies at 8 p.m. Friday in Midlothian.
More games to consider
▪ TABC No. 14 Birdville, with University of Houston commit Colby Feris in tow, takes on old foe Richland at 8 p.m. Friday. The Rebels aren’t highly ranked, but they’re not to be tossed aside in cavalier fashion, either — especially with their Hawk hate on.
▪ The Arlington Bowie girls, ranked 13th in the TABC, face old rival Arlington Martin at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Vols feature UNT commit Jasmyne Robinson, and while Martin might not have a ranking so high you’d get a nosebleed (140th in Texas by MaxPreps), they’ve only lost once in district. To Bowie.
▪ The Aledo girls, recently stung 79-47 by district-leading Saginaw Boswell, will have to hold off a feisty and playoff-minded Haslet Eaton at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 4:12 PM with the headline "We’ve got the best high school basketball game in the nation, this week, right here."