Texas players love it at McDonald's All-Star Game

Four Texas high school players participated in the McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Game, one of the final stops before they begin their much anticipated college careers.

Dallas Lincoln star LeBryan Nash played on a West team that lost to the East, 111-96, at the United Center in Chicago. Nash played limited minutes and had two points in the game. A starter all four years for the Tigers, Nash has an excellent opportunity to continue that streak when he suits up next year for Oklahoma State University.

Meanwhile, three Texas girls players suited up for the West in a 78-66 loss to the East. Amber Orrange, who starred at Houston Westbury Christian and will play for national semifinalist Stanford next year, had seven points and four assists in the game. Cassie Peoples, a Houston Cypress Fairbanks standout who will play for the University of Texas, had five points while Georgetown great Krystal Forthan, on her way to LSU, had four points to go along with four rebounds.

TONY MAULDIN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
Veteran high school basketball coach Tony Mauldin announced his retirement shortly after his Lakeview Centennial (Garland) team dropped the Class 5A state final, the school's second consecutive appearance in the title game. Mauldin had actually made the decision prior to the season opener, deciding that 37 years on the sideline was enough. Mauldin finished an impressive 818-447, including 173-89 at Lakeview.

He received several accolades in his final year, including being named the 2010 National Basketball Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Coaches Association. Mauldin won three state championships while coaching Class 2A Morton in the mid-1980s. His resume also includes a stint coaching overseas and serving as sports director for a technical college in Kenya during the late 1990s.

JEREMY McFERRIN TABBED FOR LUBBOCK TRINITY CHRISTIAN POSITION
One of the more successful private school teams over the years has been the program at Trinity Christian (Lubbock) under coach Todd Duncan. The most recent team advanced to the Texas Association of Parochial and Private Schools (TAPPS) Class 4A state semifinals, the school's eighth trip under Duncan. The run also includes 11 district championships and a state title in 1999.

Thanks to that success, Duncan recently was named the head coach at Lubbock Christian University, which opened up the head high school position for TCHS assistant Jeremy McFerrin. The team should again be stout with eight varsity letter winners back in the fold. McFerrin served as an assistant for the Lions the last three seasons and another two years as the team's volunteer coach while at Texas Tech.

SUCCESSFUL ARGYLE COACH MOVES TO EASTLAND
Steve Schmidt has been named the new girls basketball coach and girls athletic director at Class 2A Eastland after serving the previous eight years as head coach at Argyle High School, where he was also the girls athletic coordinator and led the Lady Eagles to a 21-11 record before losing a tough 68-64 area round contest to eventual state runner-up Lucas Lovejoy.

Schmidt is no stranger to the west Texas area (Eastland is about 55 miles east of Abilene) after starting his coaching career as an assistant at Tulia before taking over head coaching positions at Clarendon and Pampa.

TOP JUNIORS ABOUND
Many of the big names who will be upcoming seniors in the Class of 2012 are already widely known. You have 7-footer Isaiah Austin from Arlington Grace Prep who has committed to Baylor, along with some other big names in Fort Bend Bush star Cameron Ridley, Bryan's J-Mychal Reese, Houston Strake Jesuit's Rasheed Sulaimon, Flower Mound Marcus' Marcus Smart and Houston Westbury Christian's L.J. Rose, among others.

But the Class of 2013 is already shaping up as a dandy one as well and will feature players who are already heavily recruited.

Heading the list is likely 6-8 Julius Randle of Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy. This class may be most noteworthy for a couple of teams who appear to have a surplus of talent, namely Fort Bend Travis (Richmond) and Berkner (Richardson).

Travis boasts 6-5 Andrew Harrison and 6-5 Aaron Harrison (yep, twins) while Berkner had an outstanding season behind a trio of talented sophomores in Jordan Mickey, Kendal Harris and Soma Edo.

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