Plano or Richardson Berkner have a chance for state basketball history at the 5A tournament in Austin. They meet 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. One will reach the state final and have a chance to become the first 5A school on the north side of LBJ Freeway (I-635) to win a championship. Plano East has come the closest with a 2nd-place finish in 1994.

The problem: Defending state champ Kingwood and heady, clutch-shooting Arizona-bound, 5-9 G Nic Wise.

Kingwood should beat SA Warren in the semifinals. Kingwood upset Desoto 54-52 in last year's final.

Dallas has a great basketball history with Kimball, Lincoln and South Oak Cliff dominating for 30 years. But they're all inside the Loop as are Hillcrest ('87) and Thomas Jefferson ('62) which have the northern most titles. There are plenty of outside the Loop titles from the south with Duncanville, Desoto and Waxahachie in recent years.

Plano and Berkner breakdown:

Berkner is impressive athletically _ as you'd think with 4 starters who also played football. They have good size but not great for 5A ball. They play tough aggressive defense and can hit some outside jumpers too. They can be sloppy  ball-handling and too aggressively force bad passes. Plano is the John Wooden-style entrant at the tourney. The Wildcats play sound defense, they'll fill-the-lanes to run fastbreaks, don't overly rely on 3-pointer as is the style now, consistently block out on rebounds and have some talent with 6-7 forward Joseph Fulce (Texas A&M signee.) they have to survive from poor-shooting spells.

I used to believe that salary caps would be good for sports. I always use baseball as an example of a sport that is in dire need of a cap.

Football and Basketball both have caps. I believe that baseball needs a cap much more that either football or basketball because there is such a major difference in the “haves” and “have nots” in baseball. The Yankees can afford to make huge mistakes with their payroll. Tampa Bay and Minnesota have absolutely no wiggle room.

The fact is that the gaps are so gigantic in baseball that nothing except for phenomenal management can even come close to bridging the gap. In basketball the salary cap does help even the playing field but smart management is still the key to winning. Look at the Pistons, it’s not like they are outspending anyone else. Spending is not the key to winning. Thinking is.

There seems to be amongst a lot of media and fans a fear of an uncapped NFL. It’s more of a phobia than a fear. There is not really a reason to fear an uncapped NFL.

This is NOT baseball. The NFL generates so much income for teams that you will not have a situation where one team can only afford a $30 million payroll while another team is spending $200+.

It just won’t happen in the NFL. Because of television teams in the NFL all make money. You simply will not have a “haves” vs “have nots” situation. You may have a “have a lots” vs “have a little bit less” situation.

But who says spending = winning. Look at the Yankees, they definitely outspend the rest of the league. But, how many World Championships have they bought? Look at the Pistons, do they win because they are highly paid or is it because they are wonderfully assembled?

The Dallas Cowboys and The Ticket are now in bed together. Is it a union certain to produce a bastardization of football coverage?
      An assortment of thoughts on the deal that marries a pair of 800-pound gorillas:
     

Jeff Cordell, who coached Gainesville to a 36-5 record and one Class 3A state championship, is expected to be named tonight as the new head football coach and athletic director of the Greenville Lions according to The Herald Banner and theoldcoach.com.

The Lions, who’ve gone 1-9 in district play the last two seasons, will be moving into District 10-4A with defending state champion Highland Park, Terrell, Richardson Pearce, Forney, West Mesquite, Mesquite Poteet and the new Rockwall-Heath, which played a junior varsity schedule this past season.

The GISD reassigned Jimmie Brooks, the former head coach and athletic director, was reassigned to classroom duties within the school district. Brooks went 4-16 in two seasons as head football coach, including a 1-9 mark in 2004 and then 3-7 in 2005.

Former Lion quarterback Phil Blue was also among the leading candidates for the job but reportedly pulled out of the running. He’s currently the head coach and athletic director at Class 5A Georgetown. Blue has been a head football coach at nearby Celeste and Quinlan Ford, as well as at Mineral Wells and at Texas Christian Academy, where he won a state championship.

Lindale names Meador

Mike Meador has been promoted to become the head football coach at Lindale replacing Greg Owens, who left for the HC/AD position in his hometown of Sulphur Springs. Meador was the quarterbacks coach at Lindale. Ben Shipley remains as the athletic director in Lindale.

Cordell coached Gainesville to a 15-0 record in 2003, including a 35-24 victory over Burnet in the state title game.