TexPreps Basketball in the News

Talking Hoops With Hillcrest by R.V. Baugus

A contingent of Dallas Hillcrest coaches and players made an appearance at the SMU Barnes & Noble store in Dallas on October 1 to talk a little basketball with Tex Preps Basketball magazine publisher and editor R.V. Baugus.

Coach Von Harris returns a team that finished 18-13/8-4 in District 12-4A and advanced to the bi-district playoff round against Dallas South Oak Cliff. The wonder is that Harris or any Panther fans have any finger nails left to chew on this year after the 2010-11 team participated in nine overtime and another four double overtime affairs. If anything, the coaching staff believes those tense games should bode well for a team that is heavy on senior leadership going into this year.

“With the experience we have now and with those games that close I believe the guys will be able to overcome any obstacles,” said Harris. “We’ve never really been blessed with a great deal of talent in the past, but this year’s team probably has more talent than any other team I have coached at Hillcrest.”

Consider that Harris has guided the team for 16 years and that last statement carries significant weight, but not so much that some of the key players are not ready for.

“I plan to come in and take a lead in helping us get to a district championship this year,” said Tim Singleton, an upcoming junior with major upside. “We plan on playing hard and treating every game as if it’s our last. We have a lot of talent on the team and we’ve been working real hard during the off-season. I know that we are going to be real entertaining.”

Hillcrest will look to seniors Julius Foster and TreVaughn Cooper, among others, to supply steady veteran leadership. Cooper has run the point position for four years and has seen about everything possible after playing more than 120 varsity contests.

“I have to be vocal (running the position) because everybody expects you to know what to do,” he says. “Off the court I can help guys with plays. We have to take the games one at a time but hopefully we will be at the top at the end of the day.”

Despite a wealth of senior leadership, Hillcrest will also be acclimating some new players to varsity level competition, something that Foster says is important.

“We do have a lot of seniors,” he says, “but we still need to work on chemistry because we’ll have new players (up from junior varsity). I know that I have to be more of a leader and more vocal.”

As he surveys his upcoming varsity, Harris says that his greatest expectation is for all the players to accept their roles.

“Because of the team and the talent they have, they could be greedy, could get jealous, could get selfish and that could create some animosity within the team,” says the veteran coach. “But if everybody accepts their roles and knows what they can do and do what they can do, then everything takes care of itself.”

Harris easily talks about the ensuing season, but he lights up even more when discussing the big picture when it comes to the players he has coached during his tenure and the ones he will be coaching in the future.

“I get emotional watching the transition from boy to man,” he says. “It’s important to me knowing that when they walk out of Hillcrest they will be prepared and that they have been prepared for the future. I don’t have to worry about them at night. I don’t have to worry about them at the next level of life.

“I think I have maybe 636 telephone numbers in my phone, and most of those are kids who have played. I try to make calls on a daily basis. I want to find out what their next step is, how I can help them.”

Harris cites the support of parents and the school administration as other positives for the program.

“At Hillcrest our largest assets are the parents,” he says as he looks out over a gathering that sure enough includes parents who have made the trip over for the event. “We’ve always had great parents.

“We also have great administrative support. This year there hasn’t been anything I’ve asked for that I haven’t got. I don’t ask for much, but when I have the administration has tried to make it possible to make it happen.”

Now Hillcrest is a team ready to make things happen in 2011-12.

TexPreps Basketball Publisher/Editor R.V. Baugus was at the Barnes and Noble store in Plano on Sunday, September 25, for a magazine signing appearance that included players and coaches from Plano, Plano East and Plano West high schools.

Tex Preps Magazine Signing

Irving MacArthur’s Alexis Jones signs copies of Tex Preps Basketball magazine at the Irving Mall Barnes & Noble.

MacArthur Coach Suzie Oelschlegel and Tex Preps Basketball magazine publisher and editor R.V. Baugus joined top senior Alexis Jones for the magazine signing.

Alexis Jones and her father, David Jones.

Ray Vick was one of the lucky ones to get an autographed magazine from Alexis Jones.

Photos by Wes Seldon.

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