Boys basketball is upon us, as the team took the court Monday, November 24 in a non-district game against the Dallas Pinkston Vikings.  Following Monday’s 89-71 loss, the Jags look to rebound into district. For a full story on Monday’s loss, click here.

The first team up in the district preview is the Flower Mound Jags. Led by senior guards Jake Feikart and Connor Green in the backcourt as well as junior Isaiah Brown. The name of the game this season is shooting three’s, and the main goal is to “do anything to get to playoffs,” Green said.

Next up is the cross town rival Marcus. With impact players like senior guard Michael Mayhew, senior guard Brandon Smithey, and junior guard Ty Stickley the Marauders look to get back to playoffs and repeat their recent success in the state playoffs.

“It will be close no matter what,” Green said.

Lewisville is highly ranked in the state of Texas yet again. The Jags split the season series last year with a big upset win at Lewisville’s new arena. Behind senior forward Anthony Davis, senior guard Marquis Williams, and senior forward Caleb Loggins, the Farmers look to hold their #8 rank in the state.

The Hebron Hawks will try to repeat last seasons success as they took two from the Jags and went to the playoffs. Led by senior forward, Tyler Williams, the Hawks squeaked out an overtime win last year at Flower Mound and followed it up with a win at Hebron.

“Hebron is really good competition for our team,” Green said.

Next up is the state semi-finalists and new to our district, Allen Eagles. Their senior guards Olin Carter and Nick Rutherford will obviously try to repeat their recent success and get back to Austin for the State tournament. The Jags will look to avenge past losses to the Eagles and take them down.

The McKinney Boyd Broncos also are one of the several new teams to the district, but the Jags played them this preseason and handled them with a solid team performance with a huge win. Flower Mound will look to take both games from Boyd this season.

Plano West is the most intimidating team in the entire state with all five of their starters being recruited by top college programs. Preseason ranked them as the #11 team in the nation from MaxPreps. The Wolves are led by a ton of quality performers in senior guard Soso Jamambo, senior center Tyler Davis, and senior forwards DJ Hogg and Mickey Mitchell. The recently assembled all-star team looks to avenge last seasons early playoff loss when expectations were just as great.

Plano East lost a big center to graduation and eventually to Texas Tech, but senior guard Issac Asrat will be looking to lead East into the playoffs and past some of the best teams in the state.

“It will be a dogfight with East,” Green said. “That’s for sure.”

The Plano Wildcats will look to take over the Plano schools with senior guards Jason Bardgett and Jaire Hughes. The Jags await games with the Wildcats because they look to be a beatable team, but the team knows better than to overlook a team.

“We have to bring our best game no matter what and deserve that win,” Green said.

The 6-6A district looks to be one of the most competitive in the whole state and possibly the nation with several top ranked teams in the state by MaxPreps, and the Jags will do whatever they can to reach the playoffs. The key will be winning as many games as possible against LISD teams like Hebron and Marcus, but look to have some upset wins against the state’s best teams in West, Allen, and Lewisville. In my opinion, the playoff predictions look to even out with West, Lewisville, Allen, and the Jags as the top 4 teams advancing.