Marcus Smart and Flower Mound Marcus look ready to repeat in Texas basketball

Texas boys UIL Class 5A state basketball champion Marcus (Flower Mound) should be an early favorite for a repeat thanks to a returning nucleus of star talent.

But the main reason the Marauders stand as a prohibitive favorite is due to the return of Marcus Smart, a senior-to-be who led the team to this year's championship win over Garland Lakeview. Smart and fellow incoming seniors Phil Forte and A.J. Luckey should form one of the best upcoming trios in the state.

Tex Preps Basketball senior writer Mark McKee was on hand to witness Marcus' run to the gold medal in Austin and came away impressed with the overall talents of Smart.

"I've been coming to the tournament for decades and can say after watching him that Marcus probably has the most complete game of anyone I've seen down here," said McKee. "The key is his complete game. He may score 16 points and not blow you away with that, but then you look at the rest of his game and it is tough to find anyone else this advanced at this stage of the game."

McKee said that Smart is a strong ballhandler who is proficient with going inside as well as relying on his outside shot. He is also a strong rebounder and works equally hard on the defensive end of the floor.

"This is a team that just knows how to play basketball," said McKee. "They can beat you in a low scoring game, or if you want to go up and down the court, they can do that as well."

Another championship team that drew praise from McKee was Class 3A West Oso (Corpus Christi). The Bears won their first state championship in nine Austin appearances by knocking off a favored Burkburnett team. Afterwards all the talk was about how West Oso became the first school from Corpus Christi to win a state championship in 60 years. McKee preferred to discuss the energy and effort from the Bears.

"You have to know, this is a team that plays only six guys," he said. "Burkburnett was much deeper and had already knocked off Lubbock Estacado, a team everyone thought would win it all. Despite Burkburnett trying to use their depth and run, West Oso not only kept pace but was at their best in a running game. They just never seem to tire."

If an incoming senior like Smart is set to lead his team to a possible second consecutive state championship, the same thing holds true on the girls side of the ledger where senior-to-be Alexis Jones will be the catalyst for MacArthur (Irving) to gain a repeat of a Class 5A title.

Jones played her first two years for the Lady Cardinals in the shadow of Odyssey Sims, a dynamic player who now excels for the Baylor basketball team. This past year was the first for Jones and MacArthur without Sims, and all the team did was win it all. Now the question becomes, can MacArthur repeat?

ROMA JUNIOR DIES AT AAU TOURNAMENT
One of the saddest notes to come out of the postseason involved the death of 16-year-old Robert Garza, a junior at Roma High School who died after collapsing during a timeout at a tournament in Austin.

Garza's South Texas team, the Hoopsters, was playing in the tournament when Garza collapsed without any warning during the timeout.

"He got a glass of water, high-fived Pablo Adame (a teammate) and then it just happened. He collapsed," Hoopster coach Arnold Martinez the McAllen Monitor.

Paramedics administered CPR, but Garza was pronounced dead at Brackenridge Hospital just more than an hour later. Garza's high school coach, Abelardo Escobar, told the newspaper that, "Robert was a great, great human being. He took care of his body. He ate all the right things. I don't know how else to explain it."

GOODBYE TO A. MACEO SMITH
A. Maceo Smith (Dallas) made its first state tournament appearance when the Falcons reached the semifinals in Class 3A. Despite not winning it all, the Falcons made their community proud and basically offered up one last hurrah for the team and the school. Smith will emerge next year as a technology magnet school and its current students will funnel off to Wilmer-Hutchins, Dallas Roosevelt and Dallas South Oak Cliff.

Coach John Burley was the recipient of well wishes from students and faculty leading all the way up to the team's departure to Austin, and was proud for what his team had accomplished. Burley acknowledged this was his most special team for making it to Austin when even in his own district many thought that Dallas Madison would be the team to emerge.

R.V. Baugus is publisher of Tex Preps Basketball magazine.